I'm going to Paris France! Any suggestions?

In My Humble Opinion
21

I dunno the arondissement…it’s on the Right Bank, about halfway between the Tuileries and Montmartre, maybe ten blocks south of the Montmartre cemetery*.

I disagree with the folks who are advising you not to eat. I spent the summer of 1980 in Paris, as a 19-year-old with the typical 19-year-old’s budget, and I ate extremely well. (A small joint on the rue Lepic is remembered especially fondly: I dined upon turkey necks braised with lentils and a bottle of plonk…the bill came to about three bucks American.) I went back at 30 with the typical 30-year-old’s budget, and I ate like a god damn king.

If you go to Paris and take your meals in a McDonald’s, you will be richly deserving of local scorn.

Making your own lunch isn’t a bad idea, though…a baguette, a chuck of cheese, a piece of sausage, a bottle of red wine, and you’re set for an afternoon picnic!

  • It goes without saying that I recommend the boneyards highly…Pere Lachese, as vix said, and also Montmartre and Montparnasse. Don’t miss Baudelaire’s groovy tomb in the latter.
22

The strongest suggestion I could offer is to choose some sort of theme for your travels. You can’t possibly do the country justice in eight days. A tour of the best Loire Chateaux, a little shopping, and one good museum in Paris sounds about right.

And regardless of what you’ve heard, please be sporting about speaking French. I survived three weeks armed with a pocket dictionary, a phrase book, and an audio cassette. Had a magnificent time.

23

Regarding food: I recommend you check out a book called “Cheap Eats in Paris”. It served me well. (If I had it in NY, I’d loan it to you).

24

We had a book of walking tours we just loved, when we were there. I sort of liked feeling like we were getting the laid-back, insiders, not-really-all-that-touristy Paris experience.

Get that raclette restaurant address from missbunny. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Call me a complete and utter heathen, but I spent very little time in the Louvre. I guess I felt it was just too overwhelming given that we didn’t have much time. We enjoyed the other museums we went into, though. Immensely. I didn’t like the Centre Pompadou. I guess I didn’t just quite get what the hell its point was. Funky architecture? I dunno.

As a final suggestion: Take me along. I won’t be much help in terms of culture, language, experience, or local knowledge, but I’ll carry your shopping bags and stuff.

25

Paris lover here. I didn’t see it mentioned above, so I’ll suggest my 2 favorites: The Catacombs and a tour of the sewers of Paris. I believe they may be included in the Museum Pass, right up there with the Louvre & Arc de Triomphe. Bon voyage!

26

i was only in paris for two days, but it was really beautiful! just walking around is great, i loved the architecture. the latin quarter is fun to wander around but my friend told me it’s also known as ‘bacteria alley’ so i don’t know about eating there. the people were so so nice and i the only french i know is ‘je ne parle pas francais’ (‘i can’t speak french’) and how to order orange juice (+please, thank you and hello). definitely the picasso museum is worth a look, as well as the pere la chaisse cemetery (i’d get a map too, it’s like a city in a city!). there’s this cool tile store too near the bastille… i think the next time i go i want to check out the catacombs and that moreau museum mentioned earlier. sounds cool!

and maybe you already know about it, but http://www.timeout.com has a lot of city info and can tell you about concerts and restaurants and more.

27

even sven beat me to this one (which is why I opened the thread): Sainte Chappelle in the Palais de Justice on the Ile de la Cité must be seen. Pick a bright hazy day if at all possible. (Clouds reduce the effect and clear-and-bright focuses too much attention on the sunny side.) Go near noon to get the most light.

(And sew a Canadian Maple Leaf on your backpack or purse. :wink: )

28

Zebra: here’s the name of the restaurant I was talking about. Sorry it took so long; I couldn’t find it and had to track down the name from some other people.

Les Miss’
26, rue Legendre Paris 17e
Tel. 47.63.14.19
specialites - raclette et fondues - carte originale

I’d call first to make sure it’s still there - it’s been a couple of years since I went.

29

Thanks for all the tips!
Ike, I found the museum on the map and it is on our list of places to go.

We are definetly taking the boat ride one of the nights.
China Guy most of those places are on our to see list. That one on the river looks really cool on it’s web site.

Something I found out is that Paris (or maybe all of France) ATMs use only 4 digit pins and I have an 8 digit pin so my ATM card won’t work there. Good thing my wife’s still has a 4 number pin.

Tom after what happened in Terhan a while back I always said to myself that when I travel I would know where the Canadian embassy was and I marked it on my Paris map.

Oh and if you are single and are into chicks and live in NYC plan a trip to France now.

Why?

Because you would probably visit the French Tourism office on 50th and Madison (16th floor) and in that office is the HOTTEST little French BABE ever. Oh my GOD! I was struck MUTE by this woman. She had two name tags, one said Intern and the other said Goddess I think. (actually it was Angelique or however the French spell that name) If you are visiting NYC I suggest walking over the Brooklyn Bridge and seeing this woman.

30

You mean the area between Place St Germain des Pres and Place St Michel? I think the main drag along there is the rue de St Andre des Artes…lots of great little holes-in-the-wall run by Algerians, that serve up grilled meat and raw onions on baguettes!

I LIVED on those things, when I was 19 and my stomach was made of cast-iron.

31

Art? History?

Naw, that don’t have any of that in Paris. :wink:

I’ll second and third most of the suggestions here (especially the art pass, cuisine, and the Palace of Versailles). I heard that most museums are free on Sunday but the crowds are huge so it may not be worth it.

Also, if you click on my little red website house it will take you to one of my pages of vacations. There are a few photos from Paris that you can look at for ideas if you would like.

JFTR, I didn’t really experience any rudeness from the locals.

32

Silly Americans, thinking that sewing a maple leaf on your backpack will let you pass as Canucks. Harrumph. Don’t you know that we have a secret badge that identifies us as Canadians to other Canadians? You will be caught out and stomped :wink:

(This is actually true-- It’s how I was identified as a Canuck during my recent jaunt to Europe.)

Anyways, back to Paris. Parisians, like everyone else in the world, are totally polite as long as you make the attempt to speak in their language first.

Don’t eat at McDonald’s if you can help it. You willhave a tough time finding somewhere to eat between 2 and 6 o’clock, though.

Dinner (the good ones) starts around 7:30. Do your day stuff, then go back to your hotel and take a nap, then go out to eat and spend the night on the town.

Places to see: The Arc de Triomphe has a ceremony every evening at 6:30 where they relight the eternal flame.

The reason Cliffy was stuck at the top of the Eiffel Tower is that you can’t walk down from the very top. The stairs only go up to level 2. I do recommend taking the stairs up that far-- there’s lots of neat reading on the way up.

If you’re into science, go the the Pasteur Museum. He kept everything that he ever worked on, the museum is his actual house, and hardly anyone goes so you’ll pretty much have it all to yourself. It only takes 60 minutes or so to see the whole thing.

My other preferred museums are the Musee d’Orsay, and the Musee Rodin. Go early, because the crowds get pretty bad (although I was there in May).

Did you know that there’s a gladiatorial arena in Paris? It’s in the Latin quarter, and called Les Arenes de Lutece. Not much to see (other than to walk around an honest-to-goodness Roman era piece of architecture) but it’s tres cool if you’re into that thing. Good place for a picnic, but not really worth a special trip.

Les jardins de Luxembourg was really nice in May-- dunno what it’s like in November.

I only caught one real piece of nightlife, La Caveau des Huchettes. Live jazz music in the basement every night, but you better bring your dancing shoes.
Bon Voyage!

33

Don’t go to McDonald’s, go to Pomme de Pain instead. It’s a French “fast-food” chain, and it’s really brilliant. They have great sandwiches and great desserts. Try the banana chocolate tart. There’s another place a bit like it called “La Brioche Dorée” and another one called “Paul”. All these places have really good snacks, sandwiches, etc. But stay away from small, nameless, dirty-looking poky little places with two-day-old sandwiches, those suck.

One thing you should definitely not forget to have here is crêpes. Try the banana chocolate or crème de marron kinds. They’re better at the little stands than in cafés or restaurants, because they must be had fresh. Cafés usually just warm them up from a soft, flabby stack of pre-made ones. If someone tries to do that to you at one of the small stands, get Mrs. Zebra to request a fresh one. Try galettes, the buckwheat version, too, but beware that they usually pile on a lot of greasy cheese and ham.

As for expensive restaurants, the only ones I like here are non-French ones, since I’m vegetarian.

Don’t worry, French people are really not that rude. They stare a lot (and won’t look away if you meet their eyes) but that’s because it isn’t considered rude here. And they’re not as anti-American as they pretend to be.

There is usually an overwhelming stench in most metro stations so if you aren’t really poor just take taxis instead. Taxi fare is really cheap. You can get just about anywhere for 50 FF. Whatever you do, avoid taking metro line 4 (the north-south line), I’ve had to wait over an hour for that line.

The 11th is a national holiday so some things might be closed on that day.

Bring clothes suitable for cold weather and rain.

34

The best part about your trip is you are going in November. No fantastically long lines. I went in January, and yes it was cold, and with the exception of the Champs-Elysees (big sales in January) there were no crowds. It was great. I know many people who have gone to Paris in the summer and spent half their vacation waiting in lines.

As for suggestions…

  1. No tours! Get a good guidebook, a metro pass and wander the city.

  2. As obvious as this may sound, go to Le Louvre, and spend some bucks on a good guide book. My wife and I bought a fantastic one (suggested by a Sorbonne student who was standing next to us in line) and we spent all day wandering from fantastic piece to fantastic piece. The book made our apprecition that much more complete (we’re not exactly art experts, so the book helped). The only downside was the book was stolen from us near the end of day. I set it down to take a picture of the wife, and it got pinched when I wasn’t looking.

  3. As obvious as this may sound, walk from Le Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe and go up to the top. It is an enchanting walk and the view from the top of the Arc de Triomphe is grand. Also, don’t forget to look down. The Etoile (the traffic circle that surrounds the Arc de Triomphe) is classic Paris. The traffic is chaos, but somehow, everybody keeps moving.

35

Parisians are not rude. Certainly not while I was there. We weren’t thirty seconds off the metro from the airport before someone asked us if he could help us find anything. (Speaking fluent French probably helped somewhat, although maybe not, since it’s fluent Quebecois I speak - picture someone with an Ozark accent trying to pick their way through Harrods’ in London.)

On no account rent a car in Paris. There’s worse than no need. No point in Paris is further than 500 metres from a metro station.

The metro itself can be a sight, and not just the way I might think about it. Try taking metro line 6 from Charles-de-Gaulle - Étoile (direction Nation via Denfert-Rochereau). As you leave Passy metro, the tracks jump out of the tunnel to cross the Seine on an elevated bridge, and you swoop past the Eiffel Tower. If you do it at night, the tower is all lit up and reflects on the water as you speed past towards Bir-Hakeim metro. It’s extremely beautiful and took my mom and me totally by surprise.

If you eat in any Lebanese restaurants, try some mouhalabieh. It’s an unbelievable dessert made from orange flowers.

One out of the way place is the Arènes de Lutèce (metro Place-Monge). It’s the remains of a Roman arena that nobody seems to know about. It’s very peaceful.

36

Christ, penny, I hope you never find yourself riding the New York City subways. Your head might blow off your shoulders.

Zebra’s used to the East Side IRT, and in the Filth, Dirt, Loud Noises, and Funny Smells ratings chart, Paris and NYC aren’t even on the same page. The stations of the Metro always looked to me like I could eat off the floor in 'em.

37

I just wanted to add something about the whole “the French are very rude to Americans” thing, because a friend of mine who went seemed to have a great deal of her enjoyment taken away by this perception and the way she was treated. I read a book a number of years ago about a man who lived with his French wife in Paris for 20 years. He explained when a Frenchman is less than polite to you, it’s not because you’re an American. As he described it, being insulting to someone is the national pastime. He described holiday dinners were the putdowns and such would fly unmercifully. So I just wanted to mention this so you don’t suffer the same fate as my friend.

Oh, and skip the Moulin Rouge if you were planning to go there. Any romantic notions about the place that you might like to preserve will be ruined in the process.

38

I spent my honeymoon in France and loved it. The first week we wandered aimlessly around Provence, relaxing in the cafes and eating like royalty. We eventually stumbled into Beaujolais country and had one of our most memorable days/meals/wine experiences. The second week we spent in Paris and had a great time. Do the touristy things…you’re a tourist afterall. Admitedly I used to walk around NYC wondering while all the tourists were doing the touristy thing…the stuff I took for granted was new to them. Do, however, skip the touristy restaurants as there are many, many great places to eat…the Jules Verne Room halfway up the Eiffel Tower is as touristy as I would get, and it’s damn good. If you enjoy wine, the Bistro Du(?) Sommelier had a memorable six course meal, each course matched with a different wine.

Absolutely go to Versailles. It’s spectacular to imagine people used to live like that.

39

I don’t know which metro stations you’ve been to, Uke, but I’ve seen both dogs and people using the floors and steps as a bathroom (and I mean both types of bathroom!) in the metro stations here. Okay, I have heard of the same thing happening in the New York subways. I haven’t had much experience of the latter, but from what I’ve seen, it seems to me that in degree of filthiness they are about the same. However, the Paris metro seems about a million times safer than the New York subway. There, I was more afraid that my head would be blown off than anything else…

40

I’m not sure if this has been mentioned. Make sure you check when the Louvre and other places you want to visit are open. The Louvre I know from bitter experience is closed one day during the week, IIRC on Wednesday. WTF? anyway, something to be aware of.