My wife and I are going to Paris for ten days. This is our first visit to Paris. Would really like your recommendations of things to do, places to eat, things to see. We have all of the guide books and will hit the major sites. What I am looking for are places you have visited that are memorable or ways you have seen certain attractions (The Louvre) that seemed to miss the crowds.
check out the Picaso museum, it's next door to thd Victor Hugu house as I recall. both in the Latin Quarter...as I recall. nightclub: Les Bains Douche
Picasso is excellent... the Museum des Arts and Metiers (going from memory) is interesting and often completely empty. Take the train from Paris to Chartres - a beautiful town with a great self-guided walking tour. The cathedral is stunning. Oh... and go to the Montarnasse area to eat crepes.
To see Notre Dame and other sites from an interesting perspective, take the tour boat up the river. You board near the Eiffel Tower. Make sure you head to Monmarte for an early dinner, leaving time to browse the stalls for art and watch the sun set from Sacre Couer. Agreed on the Picasso Museum. I enjoy it more than the Louvre or Musee d'Orsay. Check out Versailles.
I second Montmarte for dinner. One great restaurant there is Claire de la Lune. There are a lot of good restaurants in the St germain des Pres neighborhood. There are also a lot of good pubs and bars there to hang out afterward. the Marais neighborhood is quite nice to walk around. the place des voges is a beautiful square to visit. the Carnavalet museum is nearby. housed in a renaisance chateau it is the official history museum of the city of paris. it holds a lot of artifacts from the french revolution. one obscure museum I enjoyed was the Plan des Reliefs museum located in the attic of the huge, former military barracks known as the Ivalides. It houses models of cities' fortifications commisioned by Louis XIV. They are very similar to very large model train sets. Cluny Museum houses a very large Medieval art collection in the former Roman Bath of Paris. If you plan on visiting a bunch of museums, look into purchasing a museum pass. With 10 days I would definately take a sidetrip outside Paris. Maybe Versailles, maybe Loire Valley. When I visited I had a 3 day weekend at the end of a 2 week business trip and went all the way down to Avignon. It was very worth it.
Another good museum is the Rodin Museum, right next to Hotel des Invalides. It's an old workshop of Rodin and the garden is really neat with busts of all his famous sculptures. As far as food and wine goes, I really liked Willi's Wine Bar. When are you going?
My experiences there are seasonal. Meaning its getting too cold now. We enjoy the large park outside the Louve, very relaxing to sit and have a bottle of wine and watch kids play. I agrre ten days in Paris requires some day trips - Versailles tops that list. BTW, be careful on the Metro, tons of picpockets especially around tourist areas.
I wouldn't call it too cold this time of year... we went over Thanksgiving and it was great. I agree about St. Germain de Pres - a great part of town.
I agree on the Rodin Museum. It is often overlooked but is well worth the visit. The grounds are very pleasant to walk around even without the sculpture. I would also recommend the catacombs. The Parisians apparently ran out of room in the cemetaries in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and dug up all the graves and relocated the bones down in the catacombs. The workers engaged in some macabre "art" stacking the bones. Invest in a Museum Card during your stay. Not only do you get a cheaper price on admission to the museums, but you get a dedicated entrance so you don't have to wait in line. Ten days strikes me as a long time to be in any one city. Chartres is a great day trip that I would highly recommend. I think Versailles is a bit overrated, but others will disagree with me and I certainly understand that you might feel as though you missed out on something if you skipped it. You can do the Normandy beaches in a single day from Paris, though it does make for a very long day.
Thanks for the ideas. I think we are definitely going to visit Chartres and Versailles. We are definitely getting that Museum pass for six days, as we can check out the places at our leisure. We are also big into the food and wine exploration, so we are big on walking a specific part of the city for the day. We have rented an apartment in the Marais and will be taking our daughter, who is rather young. Have toured Normandy in the past, and while recommended, looks like we will pass on that for this trip. I think we have 10 museums on the list and some of these non-major museums sound great and we will add to the list. Any tips on getting from CDG to Gare du Nord using the rail? Is it easy to do?
Taking the train from CDG is really no problem at all. Depending on what airline you are flying, the train station is a short or long walk away, but regardless it is easily walkable even with luggage. But to my mind, that is the only way to get from CDG into Paris because a taxi will cost a small fortune and will probably take longer than the train.
This is actually from Chitwood's wife. My brother, another Texas Ex, became an ex-pat in Paris in 1989, so I've spent a lot of time hanging out in Paris. If you haven't been there before, no city beats Paris for sights seen by simply walking. Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Musee D'Orsay, and the Eiffel Tower are all within walking distance, but you'd be crazy to do it all in one day. My brother lives in Montmartre and it's an awesome place to grab a crepe and see the Sacre Coeur. Avoid going on a weekend because you'll be pestered non-stop by artists trying to do a drawing of you. They all speak English and they can spot Americans from 3 blocks away. If I was going to Paris today, without my kids with me, my favorite spots to visit: 1. Musee Picasso 2. Musee Rodin 3. Sacre Coeur 4. Musee D'Orsay 5. Ste. Chapelle (on the Ile de la Cite, also), especially if it's sunny outside Must sees for 1st timers: Notre Dame Eiffel Tower Musee D'Orsay Off-beat spots that I like: Place de Vosges in the Marais -- nice place to picnic Monument to the Jews Deported during WWII -- it's on the tip of Ile de la Cite (Notre Dame) and it's incredibly solemn. The Louvre -- not the famous sections with the Mona Lisa and the Winged Victory, but the miles and miles of paintings and antiquities in other parts. I've been in parts of the Louvre and not seen other tourists for 1/2 an hour. It was an incredible experience. Chateau Vincennes -- big park with old fortress. good place to picnic Musee Cluny -- it's a tapestry museum, but in a very old part of Paris. Not a must see but entertaining: Bateaux Mouches -- totally touristy, but a great way to see Paris on the first day when you are totally jet lagged and don't feel like walking 5 miles Salvador Dali exhibition on Montmartre Hopefully, it won't be too touristy for you, but I went in early April with my kids thinking that it would be an off season and we still faced long lines at the Musee D'Orsay and the Louvre. Try going first thing in the morning, if you can. And last but not least, it's pretty hard to find bad food in Paris. In my younger days, I'd buy a baguette sandwich and a bottle of wine and watch the boats go by at the tip of Ile de la Cite under the Pont Neuf. Actually, I may do that the next time that I go. I'm horribly jealous and I'm already making plans to go back next year. Have a great time!
Sorry, just saw that you'll have your daughter with you. My kids loved Paris: The Metro was tops Eiffel Tower The multitude of carousels The Louvre and the Glass Pyramid There's a kids' park in Bois de Boulogne that my brother takes his son to (7 yo) and Parc de la Villette is supposed to be cool for kids. If you have any questions about going with kids, just mesage us.
Luxembourg Gardens is another good place to take a walk or picnic and bring your kids with you. There's a huge fountain in the park where the kids sail little boats. Of course, this is dependant on weather. Enjoy Paris! It's a great city and the most beautiful I've ever visited (spent eight months there studying abroad).
Since you have plenty of time, pack a picnic lunch, take the metro out to Saint-Cloud, walk across the Seine and go up to the old Parc de Saint-Cloud. The gardens are what remain of a royal chateau that burned down in 1870 or so. It's very peaceful and beautiful with great views of Paris. The Link There are plenty of great little restaurants around the metro stop that are worth visiting, too.
La sainte chapelle on the île de la cité has the most breathtaking stained glass in Paris. The fountain of St Michel on the rive gauche (right across from notre dame) is especially comforting to all Longhorn fans. You'll see what I mean. One of the best walks I took was at Père Lechaise cemetery in the very eastern part of town. You will be blown away by the people who are buried there. The Trocadéro is great place to enjoy the views, especially if the fountains are running. If you need to change currency, go to Opera, and find the rue scribe between Opera and the Grand Magasins. You won't get a better rate in town. If you need to get across town quickly, use the RER. One of my favorite parts of Paris were how some of the metro stops are decorated. Cité has some very definite feminine overtones. Concorde is just plain cool. St Michel/Sorbonne, Arts et Metiers, Assemblé National, Odéon, etc are some very groovy stops.
Pere Lachaise is pretty cool - lots of famous people buried there, including Honore de Balzac, Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Pissaro, Delacroix, Chopin, Edith Piaf. A lot of tourists go there and visit Morrison's grave, which is not what it used to be (there's a guard and most of the grafitti is gone). It is a really cool and macabre place to explore. If you go, I recommend walking around and exploring the graves listed above - you will still find some grafitti for Morrison in off-the-beaten-path locations.
First, my apologies for not reporting back sooner and thanking everyone for the great advice. It was employed and the result was one of the top trips I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. A couple of thoughts: First, as much as I had heard about the beauty of Paris, I was blown away – just an incredibly elegant city. The people were great, very helpful. We learned a number of phrases before we left and work our French as much as we could. We rented an apartment in the Marais near the Hotel de Ville; the location was ideal. Places the stood out: We visited the Louvre twice, once on Sunday and then again Friday night. I would highly recommend visiting the Louvre on a Friday night. The crowds are down and the lighting is just spectacular. Of course the Denon wing gets all the press, but the third floor of the Richelieu wing with the Flemish masters was equally sublime. The Rodin Museum – Beautiful grounds with all of the signature works; just a lovely space and very serene. Picasso Museum – I always forget the variety of forms the Picasso experimented with and eventually mastered. The museum provides a great retrospective of his career and I continue to be impressed by his continuous sense of exploration and creativity. Left Bank – Did a self-guided walking tour (Frommer’s Paris Walks) of both the Latin Quarter and the Faubourg St. Germain. Would recommend the same. Musee D’Orsay – Start with the structure (a Beaux Artes era train station), which has been restored to create a spectacular exhibition space. Then add a collection of seminal works that astound you as you work your way through the space. Then the café on the top floor with a view of the Seine – just a memorable experience. Versailles – We took the train and the site when you walk around the corner and see the palace for the first time is spectacular. We liked the interior – but the gardens really stole the show. They just envelope you as you make your way along. Ste-Chapelle – Beautiful, awe-inspiring, magnificent, you get the drill. Even better that the glass is on the second floor of the chapel, so you get a since of anticipation as you walk up the steps before you are blown back. Hotel Costes – Went for drinks one nights and was one of the best bars in which I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying a cocktail. Everyone in there is beautiful and the women are universally off the charts – a level of talent that you maybe get in high-end bars in Rome or NYC. Just unbelievable. Restaurants L’Atelier de Maitre Albert Guy Savoy – Located on the Left Bank near Notre Dame. This is a rotisserie with outstanding beef, game, and side dishes, housed in a restored space with modern touches. This is not a steakhouse, although grilled meats are the specialties. The Link Benoit – Benoit is now owned by Alain Ducasse and this is an old standard Bistro. Probably the best piece of veal I have ever tasted – just off the charts with the flavor of the veal and the sauce. Also had a GREAT bottle of White Bourgogne that they helped us choose. Again, very nice and helpful. Located near the Pompidou Center. The Link BENOIT 20 rue St-Martin, Paris 75004, France. Telephone +33 (0)1 42 72 25 76 Fax +33 (0)1 42 72 45 68 Email: restaurant.benoit@wanadoo.fr Final note, if you are taking your girlfriend to Paris and she does not rape you in the sack nightly – dump her ASAP. If a chick cannot be impressed by Paris then do not waste your time. Feel free to PM me for more info.
Take a day tour to Normandy and the landing beaches. Our trip included stops at an incredible D-Day museum in Caen. Pointe du Hoc. Omaha Beach. Juno Beach and the big American cemetery at St. Laurent. It was the highlight of the trip for me. Leave at 7 a.m. and return about 10 p.m. I'm sure there are several tours to choose from. I'd like to spend a couple days in Normandy when we go back.
