Paris tips

[skaredshtles]

Really enjoyed the Musée Marmottan when we were there in '99. They had "Impression Sunrise" by Monet which was the most striking painting I've ever seen.

[bennymac]

At the musee d’orsay the painting of Cain (son of Adam and Eve) stopped me in my tracks. Just incredible.

[bad dancer]

Only thing I'd add to the "just wander around" advice is "wander around on a bike" if you can swing it with the GF and her mom. Or without them.

There are lots of bike share / rental opportunities (e.g., Lime and Velib ). The city has made a strong commitment to bike infrastructure (see e.g. https://sf.streetsblog.org/2023/05/0...-is-incroyable). Feels much safer than most big cities I've biked in. And it's a great way to cover ground, people watch, get off the beaten path. I found myself on a bike following Canal St Martin (near Place de Republic) a couple years back - would never have found it on foot.

I cycled in Paris for a couple days just in awe of the place. If you can hit an outdoor market like the Marche Villette on a Saturday it is a must. Street food was amazing and lots of old cool stuff along with amazing people watching.

Paris fashion game is on point even on a bike !

[Peruvian]

Paris fashion game is on point even on a bike !

This. Your Boulder Carhartts, Merrell hikers, and FS hoodie won’t cut it unless you want to have everyone look at you with pure distain. I recommend a fresh pair of black jeans that fit well, some proper shoes, and a sport coat of some sort with a collared shirt.

[skinipenem]

And black leather shoes, not gym shoes, if you want to get into a club.

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk

[charlesj]

This. Your Boulder Carhartts, Merrell hikers, and FS hoodie won’t cut it unless you want to have everyone look at you with pure distain. I recommend a fresh pair of black jeans that fit well, some proper shoes, and a sport coat of some sort with a collared shirt.

x2

In the third arrondisement is an amazing museum partially housed in a gothic church, le Musée des Arts et Métiers. Arts and Crafts, wiki says Industrial Design, it’s essentially old tech like Foucault’s Pendulem, architectural models, steam stuff, widgets and gadgets. The French were innovative engineers, scientists and designers and this modest museum highlights all the cool old stuff, the bigger newer stuff is in a massive museum on the outskirts of town.

Place des Vosges is a great place to park yourself at a café and people watch.

You might want to read a bit about the Paris Commune, Franco Prussian War, why Paris has those majestic grand boulevards, and where did all those bones in the catacombs come from.

The metro is efficient and some of the stations are unique. The Louvre stop has some repro pieces, the Arts et Metiers stop looks like you’re in a Jules Verne steam punk submarine. Some metro stations look the same as when they were new. As cool and efficient as the metro is it’s mostly underground. The buses are slower but they provide great views of the city

Great town. Have fun.

[Stew Pid]

Apres Sacre Coeur
https://www.daliparis.com/

[PB]

Came for the Paris tits, but got distracted.

[mcski]

French Whores are the best whores

[Meadow Skipper]

French Whores are the best whores

Because…?

[highangle]

They're all up from farm leagues someplace else?

[ianpnw]

Here’s a nice apartment w 2 bedrooms and an elevator in the 2nd (https://www.airbnb.com/slink/0zfG9ov5). Great quiet street, walking distance to stores, Rue Montorgueil, les Halles, the Marais etc etc.
And if it rains, check out the galeries (https://www.gpsmycity.com/directory/...ages-1158.html) - covered arcades stuffed w cafes, funky stores, cool architecture. Galerie Vivienne has a cool bistro too

[coldfeet]

a few thoughts:
- When you walk into a shop/cafe/restaurant/whatever, say "bonjour" before starting the conversation and asking them for whatever it is you want.
- If you can speak any French at all, try to open the conversation with as much French as possible and let the French person decide if they're going to try their English on you, rather than just speaking English at them. These two minor politenesses probably relieve most French vs English tourist grumpiness.
- Try a North African restaurant - Moroccan, Algerian, etc.
- Musée Marmottan, as mentioned earlier. It's far enough off the beaten path that the tourist traffic should be much less, although the only time I went was many years ago and things could have changed.

[Iowagriz]

Bumping Danno's thread as we just booked 2 weeks in/out of CDG. Last week of October and first week of November.

We've never been to Paris, so current plan is 6 days in the city. Mix of normal tourist stuff, plus city walks and tracking down some of the food and drink recommendations that are already mentioned. Any thoughts on the dinner river cruises? Seems like a cool way to see the city.

Then 2 nights in the Loire Valley. Castles and wine tasting tours. Open to suggestions for those, or small towns to stay. It looks like we could base out of Tours if we wanted.

Which leaves us another 2-4 days to go someplace else. Chartes as mentioned above. Mont st Michelle would be great but looks too be a hassle to get to. Maybe TGV it north to Lille or into Belgium (is Brugges the town with canals like Venice?).

Anyway... keep the tips coming, we only have a few weeks to finish planning.

[old goat]

We try to do river cruises in any city that has a river. I don't know about a dinner cruise though. I'd want to be looking not eating.
I don't if I mentioned our favorite Paris restaurant--Chez Lena et Mimile in the 5th (or 6th)
Normandy is worth a visit. Giverny. The invasion beaches, the American cemetery. The apple cider. Rouen cathedral if you're not churched out. If you can get over to Brittany and see the Bayeux tapestry.
You don't really haveto plan city walks in Paris. The tourist stuff is all walking distance so you see plenty on the way to wherever you are going. Have a street crepe for lunch. Wherever you stay dinner will be close at hand.

[Buzzworthy]

Then 2 nights in the Loire Valley. Castles and wine tasting tours. Open to suggestions for those, or small towns to stay. It looks like we could base out of Tours if we wanted.

Wife says Amboise, Château de Chenonceau are great places to not miss.

Which leaves us another 2-4 days to go someplace else. Chartes as mentioned above. Mont st Michelle would be great but looks too be a hassle to get to. Maybe TGV it north to Lille or into Belgium (is Brugges the town with canals like Venice?).

I read her this and she said quite loudly, do not miss Mont st Michelle! You will regret it. She is now reminiscing about her last trip there and it was a bucket list item.
Also check out the coastal town of Saint Malo.

[m2711c]

as long as your in town, consider renting a sail boat for an hour or two... i had a blast doing that when i was last there.







same as it ever was.




'course, i was 12 at the time, but honestly, i think i would enjoy it just as much today.





https://cvgotravel.com/sailboats-at-luxembourg-gardens/

https://en.les-petits-bateaux.fr

[old goat]

Wife says Amboise, Château de Chenonceau are great places to not miss.



I read her this and she said quite loudly, do not miss Mont st Michelle! You will regret it. She is now reminiscing about her last trip there and it was a bucket list item.
Also check out the coastal town of Saint Malo.

Worth staying on Mt Ste Michel. The restaurant there served us special shrimp only found there (crawdads actually) and lamb only grown there (like regular lamb but salty.)

[warthog]

:
- When you walk into a shop/cafe/restaurant/whatever, say "bonjour" before starting the conversation and asking them for whatever it is you want.

Unless it is night, of course. Hilarity ensues if it is night.

[warthog]

Bumping Danno's thread as we just booked 2 weeks in/out of CDG. Last week of October and first week of November.

We've never been to Paris, so current plan is 6 days in the city. Mix of normal tourist stuff, plus city walks and tracking down some of the food and drink recommendations that are already mentioned. Any thoughts on the dinner river cruises? Seems like a cool way to see the city.

Then 2 nights in the Loire Valley. Castles and wine tasting tours. Open to suggestions for those, or small towns to stay. It looks like we could base out of Tours if we wanted.

Which leaves us another 2-4 days to go someplace else. Chartes as mentioned above. Mont st Michelle would be great but looks too be a hassle to get to. Maybe TGV it north to Lille or into Belgium (is Brugges the town with canals like Venice?).

Anyway... keep the tips coming, we only have a few weeks to finish planning.

I can't recommend Bruges enough. I spent a ton of time there when I lived in London. Every trip seemed to put us through there coming and going.

Aix is very nice too. We flew from Paris-Nice/AIX, then to Florence and ended in Taormina Sicily.

With 2-4 days on the tail end, maybe consider another country, or check out the alps regions.
If you haven't committed to a flight schedule, fly out of somewhere else so you don't have to backtrack.

[Danno]

Fucking Bruges.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Unless it is night, of course. Hilarity ensues if it is night.

Always happens with me. We'll go into a shop or restaurant and I'll screw up "bonjour", my wife will elbow me which would be followed by said wife and the shopkeeper or waiter having an extended conversation about my ineptitude with nothing but hand gestures and facial expressions. It's actually a great ice breaker in the right places.

[Meadow Skipper]

Unless it is night, of course. Hilarity ensues if it is night.

I asked my Parisienne friend when to switch from bonjour to bonsoir, and she told me about when it gets dark.

[singlesline]

Bumping Danno's thread as we just booked 2 weeks in/out of CDG. Last week of October and first week of November.

We've never been to Paris, so current plan is 6 days in the city. Mix of normal tourist stuff, plus city walks and tracking down some of the food and drink recommendations that are already mentioned. Any thoughts on the dinner river cruises? Seems like a cool way to see the city.

Then 2 nights in the Loire Valley. Castles and wine tasting tours. Open to suggestions for those, or small towns to stay. It looks like we could base out of Tours if we wanted.

Which leaves us another 2-4 days to go someplace else. Chartes as mentioned above. Mont st Michelle would be great but looks too be a hassle to get to. Maybe TGV it north to Lille or into Belgium (is Brugges the town with canals like Venice?).

Anyway... keep the tips coming, we only have a few weeks to finish planning.

We did a bit of time in Annecy and Lyon. Lyon was great, but has a lot of conceptual overlap with Paris.

Our french friends were surprised we went to Annecy (forgetting perhaps that one of them recommended it) as it is not a destination many Americans make it to but is a popular domestic tourist destination.

Very cute town on an alpine lake with some picturesque canals (some say the "Venice of the Alps" although that might be stretching it). Multiple 1-2 michelin star restaurants.

If I had planned ahead better, I really would have loved to have secured a sailboat rental to go out on the lake. Would have also loved to rent bikes and do the ~42km loop around the lake with stops at cafes and the like.

And late october/november is almost certainly too late (probably starting to snow on summits), but there's supposed to be some good MTB as well--you can take a city bus up the Semnoz for shuttled riding back into town and I remember seeing a lot of other stuff on trailforks.

[singlesline]

Hopping on a bike share bike is a fun way to get around.

Go eat here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/fxfcaqgugGeHrQtB8

My wife’s Parisian friends took us there last fall and honestly it was almost as good as the $$$ 3-star tasting menu place the night before. Just a delightful neighborhood bistro where you order a starter, main (and maybe dessert) from a normal sounding rotating menu…but all the details are nailed perfectly.

Definitely need a reservation though, both because the place is tiny and because getting reservations is a "thing" in Paris.

Also, bumping my restaurant recommendation.

There are obviously a million great places in Paris and you can't go wrong with any of them, but this one really stuck out to me as a tiny little gem of a place.