by the way, adhemar, the Vigipirate plan is still in effect. That means military patrols in subway, trains, airports and around touristic hotpoints. We are used to see them, but that can be unsettling for someone. Don’t take photographs of them.
wow, did not know about that.
That was my strategy when I was there (September/October 2010 and August 2015). Another thing you can do at the Eiffel Tower if you’re able: climb the stairs to the first level instead of taking the elevator. There’s a separate ticket booth for that, and the line is shorter.
I disagree with one of these - the Eiffel Tower is best enjoyed at night.
You can make an exception and do both! Make a reservation to eat at the Le Jules Verne restaurant in advance, like a year in advance. That is the one thing I didn’t get to do that I’ll plan on next time.
Oh, yes.
And if at Versailles, plan to eat at a restaurant - we ate at Angelina’s, it was very elegant.
I ate Champaign grapes from Marie Antoinette’s garden just outside of her cottage. Really wasn’t supposed to but the were perfectly ripe in early October and walking through the 30 foot long trellis they were right in my face with no one to see. C’est la vie!
Might sound morbid, but Père Lachaise Cemetery is definitely worth a visit.
That all depends on where, exactly, you choose to do either. I’ve never had that experience in numerous visits to both cities.
We had no problems eating and drinking at night in Paris. And it was all very enjoyable. Granted, at night we didn’t carry bags or cameras or anything like that.
Lol! We we’re on our way to find the Mona Lisa at the Louvre and in the gallery was a sea of Chinese people crowding and jostling in front of the painting, their cameras were going nuts like the paparazzi you’d think it was Elvis Presley returned from the dead.
I am hoping if I get the earliest appointment I can to enter the Louvre I can hit the Mona Lisa gallery before it gets too crowded.
I have been told to use the Carrousel du Louvre entrance as the lines there are usually much shorter than the main entrance.
there is also a tour that will skip a lot of the lines, hit the highlights including the Mona Lisa and then you are free to roam the museum. it had an early morning entry time as well.
right now I am waiting on my passport
^^ This is also my experience, in two visits. And the first time we were definitely staying in a “non-touristy,” lower-rent area of town.
Anecdote: my first trip to Paris was, I think, in 2012. My wife and I went to the Eiffel Tower at midnight for the light show, then walked all the way back to our apartment all the way across the city. It took at least an hour through a variety of areas - no problem at all and a beautiful nighttime stroll. Of course, it’s a city, you have to be aware and smart; but then, I live in a city, so maybe I’m just used to it.
These would have been my first two suggestions. Have fun.
And most of them weren’t even taking shots of the ML, instead doing group selfies in front of it. A huge sea of people jostling to do their selfie. Hello, can I look at the painting? Totally not worth even entering the area.
I was in Paris 5 years ago. We landed on a Sunday and found only one restaurant open in our neighborhood (the 6th). Neither of us had any great desire to go to the Louvre, but we felt we HAD to, so we did the Louvre express. The Mona Lisa (oddly enough, room was deserted), Venus, and Winged Victory. In and out in an hour. We did go to the top of the Eiffel Tower in late afternoon, had drinks/dinner nearby, watched it light up, and rode the carousel. You should know French for the basics: hello, good bye, please, thank you. I found no problem with the French because I am polite to a fault.
I’m guessing part of the problem is that visitors are underwhelmed by the Mona Lisa. I’ve taken a few people there and the first response is always a confused “That’s it?”. Since they don’t understand they look at it for a few seconds and then do the next most important thing: take selfies to post on social media to brag about what they’re doing and how much culture they have.
The last two times I was there it was in December, and the sunset was around 5 pm. We did a lot of walking in the evenings with no issues at all, it was quite nice.
One of those trips was shortly after the yellow vest protests had flared up again. My wife did have a yellow rain jacket, and one afternoon a teen girl approached her and asked if she was a protester. The jacket was reversible, and it was soon turned inside out to become a purple jacket.
I suppose we were lucky to miss any disruption due to the protests, but we were, of course, affected by a transit strike. Nobody visits Paris without getting affected by a transit strike.
The Mona Lisa is hung on a freestanding wall in the middle of a gallery space, with one of those barrier-snake queues to approach it. There are other artworks on the walls of the same gallery; the queue occupies the middle of the space, with the perimeter left clear for access to those other works.
Some of those other paintings in the gallery are genuinely great, and worth seeing. They’re just not, y’know, massively famous. And because they’re in the same room as the Mona Lisa, they get largely ignored. The people who are there to check off seeing the famous painting don’t bother to look at them, and the people who like art for its own sake typically avoid the gallery because they’re irritated by the crowd. That means those other works get underappreciated, and it’s a shame.
So here’s a bit of a protip. If you do have an interest in art, go ahead and visit that gallery, but don’t bother getting in line for the Famous One. The perimeter walking space is usually less busy, because the “serious” patrons avoid the room, which gives you good access to the other paintings on the surrounding walls. Plus, you can see the Mona Lisa anyway, peripherally, and feel the thrill of being in the same airspace as this world-famous piece.
(If you want to feel genuine awe at Leonardo’s work, go to Milan and see the Last Supper. It’s an astonishing, humbling, truly sacred experience.)
Directly opposite is the biggest painting in the Louvre, the Veronese Wedding Feast at Cana. And it’s a treat.