Paris is a wonderful city. Me and the other 50% of people in the city, all carrying and consulting the Paris tourist books, had a great time. Below are just a few of my highlights. I’ll add a few more pictures later but enjoy for now!
Tourist Hits
- St. Chappelle, a chapel near Notre Dame cathedral known for it’s stained glass windows
- Versailles, it’s reputation is 100% accurate, wonderful buildings, wonderful gardens
- Pantheon, spend the money to see the inside, take the crypt tour and the tower tour
- The Louvre, even if you aren’t an art fan, the building itself is enough to keep you occupied
- The Catacombs, the long corridor makes you suspicious but then you arrive!!!
- St. Denis Basillica, wonderful crypt!
- Eglise St. Eustache and the centuries old organ we listened to
- Museum of Letters and Manuscripts, genuine writings from Freud, Einsten, etc
- 500 year old graffiti! St Vincenne castle among other places
Tourist Misses
- Conciergerie – We had some choice words for this one. Don’t waste your time on this ‘fabulous’ historic prison.
- Sewer tour – If you think you’re going to see ancient stuff, think again
Other Hits
- Macaroons! Not those coconut ones either!
- Picnics under the Eiffel tower
- Garbage containers every 10 feet
- Everything in walking distance
- AWESOME subway system (when you’re dead tired)
- Bakeries on every corner
- Creperies on every corner, had at least 1 every and often 3! Sugar crepes are a rare skill though.
- Watching the huge number of people actually carrying around bagettes (not just the movies folks!)
- Very kind people who speak english when they hear your french
Other Misses
- Lack of good sized cold beverages in convenience stores
- Bacon at our hotel
Now, if you told us you were going we could have suggested some of the places in Paris that people don’t really know about.
a.k.a, Pigalle, Mont Martre, Gare du Nord, Barbez, Nueilly sur Seine… those are cool little areas within Paris that have some very different characteristics than the rest. Pockets of culture that are totally unexpected.
Gare du Nord, is the biggest “little india” you’ve ever seen.
Mont Martre, besides being famous because of Amelie and Sacre Couer, has streets upon streets of fabric stores – sounds strange, but actually really interesting to see
Barbez, is almost 100% illegals – you come out of the station and there’s people selling stolen goods and calling it out. Police don’t go here. It can be a little jarring but so long as you stay on the main roads it’s interesting to see the slightly grittier part of the city.
Pigalle, but only by night or during the weekend days. This area gives you an opportunity to see night-life at dark and traditional parisian shopping by day. There are hundreds of little shops selling finery and food stuffs (lot’s of ridiculously overpriced seafood too). This is the area surrounding the Moulin Rouge.
What’s a good size for a cold beverage to you?