Things to do in Paris (mais oui!)

[renegade4box]

Rue Montorgeuil and Rue Monge are both cool. They're essentially just very active market streets with a lot of bars and restaurants.

Definitely do the Louvre and Orsay. Even just an hour or two in both is well worth the 9 euro ticket. The Louvre alone is worth it for the architecture. The Japanese quarter, while small, is pretty cool and the food is extremely cheap by Paris standards. It's located between the opera and the stock exchange. Hotel de Ville and the Pantheon are also pretty amazing buildings to check out, sometimes the Hotel de Ville has free expos in it that are pretty good.

The Luxembourg gardens/senate are another must see, it's also a rather central location so you don't have to go out of your way. The two cemeteries are also quite amazing, but on a 3 day trip I'd probably skip them.

Things that'd I'd definitely recommend for 3 days:
1. 1-2 hours at the Louvre. I'd recommend a quick walk through the Italian section then run over to Egyptian. If you're not making it to Versailles and want a replacement, see the Napoleon apartments.

After that, walk through the Tuileries, stop at the Place de la Concorde (there's the obelisk, a few amazing hotels, the national assembly, and the American embassy there). Then continue walking down the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe.

Then I'd say do the Luxembourg gardens, walk up past the Senate and check out the Saint Sulpice, get a crepe near Saint Germain and head east up to Saint Michel (the area just south of Notre Dome). It's ultra touristy, but the food is extremely cheap. Go ahead up to Notre Dame and check out the Palais de Justice while you're on the island. If you really like stained glass and have money to throw around, go in and check out the Sainte Chapelle.

Finally I'd say go up to Pigalle, walk around the red light district and by the Moulin Rouge, then head up to Montmarte and Sacre Coeur. This area is pretty sketchy, ignore everyone, help nobody, and whatever you do don't let them tie a string around your finger.

Other tips:
Never put your wallet in your back pocket. Don't speak English loudly on the metro or when walking around at night. Avoid Barbès and Chateau Rouge, if you really need a counterfeit purse, this is where you go, but only go there during the day. Avoid gare du nord if you can, especially at night. Avoid Les Halles at night as well.

Buy metro tickets in packs of 10 (carnet - sounds like car nay). Bikes are pretty cheap too, but you need a CC with a chip it in, and make sure your bike is locked up before walking away and don't put it into a machine that doesn't have power to it.

The catacombs close early and the line can get pretty awful (up to 90 minutes). The Louvre line can get equally as bad during peak times.

If you want night life advice, feel free to post back what you're looking for and I could make some recommendations.

Edit: Just saw the part about shopping. Absolutely do the big places around Opera. Printemps and Galeries Lafayette. I'm a guy and found these places mesmerizing just by the building and atmosphere within. The Bon Marche is also up there as well, and it's conveniently located by the Luxembourg garden. There's another big store by the Hotel de Ville, I believe it's more affordable than the others, but I'm not sure as I never really went through it.

If you want a good french dining experience and don't mind paying a moderate amount, I'd recommend La Rotonde on Montparnasse. It was famous for all the artists that frequently it, and the food is quite good.

As far as bars. SanZ SanS is trendy and enjoyable. I don't recall it being too crazy so it's probably a place that both you and your mom could enjoy.

[diearzte2]

Originally Posted by renegade4box

...by Paris standards...

A phrase often necessary when describing things in Paris lol

cheap by..., nice by..., large by..., safe by..., close by..., polite by...

Originally Posted by renegade4box

ignore everyone, help nobody, and whatever you do don't let them tie a string around your finger.

This is good advice in almost every major city in Europe, though the string around the finger thing I've only really seen at Sacre Couer. What he's talking about is this scam where someone will walk up to you and tie a string around your finger and then try to get you to pay them to take it off.

Another popular scam is someone will stop you while you are walking and present you with a ring that they will say they thought you dropped. It is either:
A) misdirection for someone else (their friend) pick-pocketing you
B) another scam in which they try to get you to give you a reward for "finding" it

Another version of this involves a (fake) police officer that he will call over that will coerce you into giving the guy who found the ring money, either by claiming you stole it or some other .

Because I travel alone a lot, I usually either always have headphones in, whether they are on or off, or just walk quickly and ignore any attempt to get my attention unless they look like lost tourists or something. Headphones are an amazing thing, in pretty much every city I've ever been in they are like the invisibility sunglasses from Big Daddy, everyone just straight up ignores you and harasses the next closest person.

Originally Posted by renegade4box

Other tips:
Never put your wallet in your back pocket. Don't speak English loudly on the metro or when walking around at night. Avoid Barbès and Chateau Rouge, if you really need a counterfeit purse, this is where you go, but only go there during the day. Avoid gare du nord if you can, especially at night. Avoid Les Halles at night as well.

Haha, this is definitely advice I could have used before I went to Paris. The wallet thing is pretty standard for anyone who rides crowded buses/trains frequently. I am like overly aware of where my valuables are whenever I am out in public now. I was pick-pocketed in Rome on the subway, and they actually grabbed shit out of my front right pocket. Luckily, it was just a lighter, I always put my wallet in my front left and keep my left hand in my pocket holding my wallet and hang on to something with my right.

Speaking English there is fine though, especially if you are with other people. Paris is one of the safer cities in the tourist sense because the police are not corrupt and there are always other people around so it is hard to get caught in a bad situation if you don't do stupid things like walk through alleys.

The last part makes me laugh. The first time I was in Paris I stayed across the street from the Barbes Rouchart metro stop. SUPER GHETTO! It was like 5 blocks north of Gare du Nord. I was with 2 other guys though so it was fine. It was actually kind of cool since all the girls in the hostel were straight up afraid to leave the place after 6 o'clock by themselves so we always had people to go out with.

Originally Posted by renegade4box

Buy metro tickets in packs of 10 (carnet - sounds like car nay).

Or act like a local and walk in through the exits. Never been checked on a Paris Metro before. People blatantly do it in front of police, so long as they aren't part of the transit police they don't care.

[wilse]

Originally Posted by zoopnazi

Meh, I would reccomend it. There are some timeless pieces of art there, but it is a VERY large place, and it will take a long time to see even the most famous things.

I was particularily impressed with Winged Victory and Venus de Milo. Just to see them in person is fascinating.

oh i would absolutely recommend the louvre
but with only 3 days and all the other stuff they want to do?
no way - they'll have like an hour or two there once they get through the line
OK WE SAW MONA LISA NOW TIME TO GO

[diearzte2]

Originally Posted by wilse

oh i would absolutely recommend the louvre
but with only 3 days and all the other stuff they want to do?
no way - they'll have like an hour or two there once they get through the line
OK WE SAW MONA LISA NOW TIME TO GO

Seriously, lines don't exist at the Louvre, especially in December.

[wilse]

Originally Posted by diearzte2

Seriously, lines don't exist at the Louvre, especially in December.

ok then they have an extra hour
they'll get to see 1.2% of the louvre instead of 1%

[Bapes]

lol I didn't realize it was that big, I think though I would gladly give up a few places to see more of the louvre, my mom is a huge art buff so I think she has her heart set on that, but I will remind her that we will NOT be able to see even close to half of it with our limited amount of time


also found out we are staying at the Pullman hotel (tentatively), since we booked this trip through a tour company they arrange the hotel for us and it will be the Pullman or something of similar quality, but the 3 days in Paris we have the option to roam free from the tour group so I'm hoping to make the most outta those 3 days!

[ricemaka]

Apart from the obvious (Eiffel Tower), pretty much the places other people have been saying:

Sacre Coeur
Place de la Concorde
Walk down the Champs-Elysees -> Arc de Triomphe
If you have time, Versailles is nice to visit as well

Also, go to the Eiffel Tower near the start of any hour late at night. You might want to check on this, but when I was there this summer, they light it up with a whole bunch of stobes and it sparkles/glitters like crazy.

The Metro makes it so easy to get you pretty much anywhere you want to go. I never felt worried while in Paris about pickpockets and stuff, but I've been to NYC also so I'm used to it. Just take necessary precautions (valuables should be put next to your valuables, your front pockets) never get distracted/let your gaurd down and you shouldn't have a problem.

[diearzte2]

Originally Posted by Bapes

lol I didn't realize it was that big, I think though I would gladly give up a few places to see more of the louvre, my mom is a huge art buff so I think she has her heart set on that, but I will remind her that we will NOT be able to see even close to half of it with our limited amount of time


also found out we are staying at the Pullman hotel (tentatively), since we booked this trip through a tour company they arrange the hotel for us and it will be the Pullman or something of similar quality, but the 3 days in Paris we have the option to roam free from the tour group so I'm hoping to make the most outta those 3 days!

That's a nice location, I had a meeting in that area last time I was in Paris. Should be able to get anywhere you want to go in a reasonable amount of time.

The Louvre is gigantic. There is some crazy stat like if you could be in there 24/7, spend 30 seconds looking at each piece before moving to the next one, it would take you close to 2 months to look at everything.

Edit: But don't let that prevent you from going. That is probably the dumbest thing I have ever heard someone recommend. Most people don't have the luxury of being in Paris and planning to be there again in the near future. If you are there, do what you want to do. The single most famous piece of artwork in the world is there, for most people it is priority number one. I definitely saw it at the first opportunity I had.

[wilse]

Originally Posted by diearzte2

That's a nice location, I had a meeting in that area last time I was in Paris. Should be able to get anywhere you want to go in a reasonable amount of time.

The Louvre is gigantic. There is some crazy stat like if you could be in there 24/7, spend 30 seconds looking at each piece before moving to the next one, it would take you close to 2 months to look at everything.

Edit: But don't let that prevent you from going. That is probably the dumbest thing I have ever heard someone recommend. Most people don't have the luxury of being in Paris and planning to be there again in the near future. If you are there, do what you want to do. The single most famous piece of artwork in the world is there, for most people it is priority number one. I definitely saw it at the first opportunity I had.

and i completely disagree with you
i don't think it is dumb advice at all
you could either see 1% of the louvre
or 100% of the orsay
or 75% of the pompidou

i'm suggesting that, with the very very limited time they are spending in paris
and with the long list of other things they are already dedicated to do
there will be very little time left for exploring the louvre
and with that little amount of time, i think they'd see a lot more value in their time doing something else
the louvre is just not a quick-time activity

you can offer your own advice - that's great
but you don't have to insult me for offering mine
in the end, it will be up to the OP
and it can't hurt to have advice from multiple perspectives to consider
how cool you are for insulting someone who happens to have a different opinion than you

[diearzte2]

Right...

If you make it to Rome, and are only spending 3 days there, just skip the Colosseum, it is really big. Just go to the Pantheon instead. It's like the same thing basically, but much smaller so you can totally see all of it in that kind of time.

[wilse]

Originally Posted by diearzte2

Right...

If you make it to Rome, and are only spending 3 days there, just skip the Colosseum, it is really big. Just go to the Pantheon instead. It's like the same thing basically, but much smaller so you can totally see all of it in that kind of time.

like i said
i totally respect your right to have a differing opinion
and i think it is a good thing for the OP to get multiple pieces of advice
but you don't have to be condescending and insulting about it, do you?

[diearzte2]

Originally Posted by wilse

like i said
i totally respect your right to have a differing opinion
and i think it is a good thing for the OP to get multiple pieces of advice
but you don't have to be condescending and insulting about it, do you?

I suppose, but I really haven't been all that offensive except for that last post. I don't really see why you originally took offense.

For a lot of people, visiting Europe is very likely a one time thing. To suggest not seeing the most famous piece of artwork in the world because one wouldn't be able to see all of the artwork that is showcased with it is just really odd logic. Perhaps you are able to fly several thousand miles and prioritize based on future trips, but most people are not. The Louvre is probably the most famous museum in the world, with a whole hell of a lot of art that is very well known. You would be hard pressed to find someone who could name a single piece of art in the D'Orsay.

[HybridPyro]

If your tour of the Rhine is longer than a day, I would suggest cancelling it. There is only one stretch of the Rhine that is particularily scenic, the rest is quite industrial and boring.

[Bapes]

Originally Posted by HybridPyro

If your tour of the Rhine is longer than a day, I would suggest cancelling it. There is only one stretch of the Rhine that is particularily scenic, the rest is quite industrial and boring.

actually it's a European River cruise so we are going through 7 cities and stopping each day to explore that city, all the way from Luxembourg to Amsterdam

[diearzte2]

Originally Posted by Bapes

actually it's a European River cruise so we are going through 7 cities and stopping each day to explore that city, all the way from Luxembourg to Amsterdam

Those are supposed to be sweet. I've been reading about them.