What do you do in Paris?

try wandering through the passages.

On another thread I wrote:

You might want see if you can pick up the book Parcs et Jardins de Paris ...à pied which offers 23 walks through various neighborhoods of Paris. The book seems to be a collaboration between the Fédération Française de la Randonnée Pédestre and the Mairie de Paris. FNAC might have a copy or might be able to tell you where to get it.

Wow, where to begin. Just a few initial thoughts:
- walk across the Pont des Arts (and every other bridge!)
- have a picnic in the Jardin du Luxembourg
- visit the Musee D'Orsay
- lunch at Au Lys d'Argent on the Ile Saint-Louis followed by exploration of the tiny island and it's larger neighbor, l'Ile de la Cite
- dinner at Oh Duo - a little out of the way, but the food is INCREDIBLE and the hosts are wonderful -54, Avenue Emile Zola
- dinner at Le Petit Pontoise - 9, Rue Pontoise
- visiting the Sainte-Chappelle in the daytime and then attending a concert in the evening

Well, I'm a museum and history fiend, so my wanderings probably won't be of much interest to you. I've been to Paris several times and I never manage to see all that I'm interested in. Lots of people shop, though, you know.

I'll be there for eight days in May and have just started pondering this very question because this will be my first solo visit. I know from my other solo trip to France that the difficult part for me is deciding what to do every day without consulting someone else. It's weird not to have to plan around what someone else wants to do/see/eat.

My vague lineup:

I've booked a ticket to the ballet at the Opera Garnier, which I have never visited. Looking forward both to the performance and the theater with its Chagall ceiling.

St. Denis

The itsy bitsy and weird museums of the 15th (check your Green Guide).

Victor Hugo's house

Balzac's house (I'm open to other suggestions along this line, by the way)

Jacquemart Andre museum

La Madeleine and other churches--I've missed most of them

Carnavalet Musuem

Invalides

Pantheon

Arenes de Lutece

Musee Quai de Branly

Musee de Judaisme

Conciergerie

Revisit the gardens I've seen and check out some new ones.

I hope there are some special exhibitions, but will check on that closer to my trip.

Fontainebleu?

Giverny?

Book a massage?

Sleep late. Go running. Have fun.

By the way, Morrissey is playing three days after I leave. It has always been an irrational fantasy of mine to see the Smiths/Morrissey in Paris, so if I had known I would have chosen different dates and that would have been up on my list. Someday.

Have a great trip and please let us know what you end up doing.

I'm not sure I understand the question. Are you looking for suggestions? It would help to list the places you've already been and have no interest in returning to.

You could plan some themed walks. There are several detailed walking itineraries on the boards. I don't have the threads saved to my favourites but if you do a search you'll easily find them. Try degas or kerouac and paris walk.

You could go shopping and browsing at food or flea markets.

You could look up the Paris Opera website and see what operas and ballets are playing. The Palais Garnier is an exceptionally beautiful theater and seeing a performance in that setting is a memorable experience.

You could go to the big museums' websites and find out what special exhibitions will be on during your visit. I think the Pompidou, for example, is having Kadinsky and Alexander Calder exhibitions this spring.

Myself, I've only been to Paris twice. My first trip was two weeks long, my second trip one week. The first time, we spent lots and lots of time walking through different neighborhoods, visiting museums, took daytrips to Chartres and Versailles and Fontainbleau, and spent the evenings in restaurants and bars.

The second time I went alone and I spent most of my time in museums (returned to the Louvre but the rest were "new" to me). I went to St Denis and saw the basilica and spent the afternoon in the neighborhood. I went to the ballet.

I'm interested in art so I welcome repeat visits to my favourite museums, especially a place like the Louvre which is so huge it would several visits to even begin to see it all.

If you're interested in modern architecture you might like the Pompidou Centre, la Defence, and the Institut du Monde Arabe to name a couple of places off the top of my head.

Basilique St Denis is the first church built in the Gothic style.

If you're interested in Art Deco design, you should look up MademoiselleFifi's trip reports.

There's the catacombs, and the sewer museum tour, and the cemetaries- Pere Lachaise and Montmartre and Montparnasse.

ciaony, do you like to read? Have you picked up a nicely illustrated Paris guidebook? (a la Knopf or Eyewitness) It seems to me that you haven't been exposed to a thorough inventory of the treasures and pleasures of Paris. How did you plan and know what you wanted to see for your first visit? If you find it difficult to unearth interesting places, there is a chance Paris isn't your 'cup of tea' (yes, that happens once in a while).

Maybe this will stir something:
http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/100-great-things-to-do-in-paris.cfm

Well the food markets are terrific. I can happily plan my day around going to the food market and checking out the neighborhoods. I also love the cemeteries and they are great for taking pictures. Wandering the neighborhoods is endlessly entertaining to me - the Marais is especially interesting. I like the 'walking tours' that are in guidebooks. Going up to the top of Notre Dame is great and many cool photo ops. I can't imagine going to Paris and not walking up those stairs to the top.

What do I do? Sleep late, take breakfast in bed, watch French TV, walk, shop, go to museums, go to bars, taste test different flavors of Amorino, test the comfort of different cafe chairs, go to the park, drink champagne, people watch, ride the metro, eat, drink more champagne, go to another park, go to another bar,eat some more, shop some more, stay up all night and watch the sunrise, go to a movie,take a boat ride, go to a concert, flirt with Frenchmen. But one thing I never do in Paris is take the bus. YMMV.

ciony, like you, I love armagnac. You must visit
Ryst Duperon at 79 rue du Bac. They specialize in
Armagnac and have tastings in this very old shop.

I (and to a lesser extent, DH) are history and art buffs. Each time, we visit one or two of the museums we've already been to, plus one or two new museums. We try to visit new neighborhoods - last time, it was the lovel area around Musee Marmatton (a beautiful little museum, too).

We always take an evening trip of the Vedettes boats, the company that leaves from the end of the Pont Neuf. I never get tired of those views. Most visits, we also visit the Arc de Triomphe, mostly because it's so funny to watch the cars whizzing around.

On our last visit, our son and I made a quest of trying macarons at every bakery we could.

The next time we visit, I'd like to stay in the Montparnasse area and explore around there some more.

Wow, these seem like great suggestions.
I'm looking deeper into each of them.
Keep 'em coming, please. I definitely want to do that Armagnac tasting and one of those listed walks.
What's up with the Moulin Rouge? Should I bother?

Last summer we took a Segway tour at night. It turned out to be one of the most fun things we have ever done. Different, and exciting. I recommend it for any age group. We had our dd and dgd with us, they still talk about how much fun we had.

We take a half bottle of champagne out onto the Pont des Arts at about 7:45 or 8:45 in the evening. This gives us enough time to find a seat or a place at the rail, open the bottle of wine, and wait until the Eiffel Tower begins to twinkle at the hour.

We also particularly like wine bards where you can select a glasser two of wine and a petite assiette of meat and cheese and small peppers and enjoy. For example...

http://www.wineterroirs.com/2004/08/paris_wine_bars.html

Pjk

Peter_krynicki,
thanks for this tip. Where are the seats?
Is this the best Eiffel Tower best viewpoint?

Well, we're both history freaks - so we go to every museum, cathedral and historical sight in the city. We also enjoy exploring the various neighborhoods, browsing galleries and bookshops, sitting in a cafe with a glass of wine watching the world go by (at busy intersections). Have you considered day trips - there are a bunch that are interesting - Chartres, Versailles, Fontainbleu, Giverny and even further using the TGV.

BUT - if you can;t come up with a long list of your own in about 10 minutes - I would consider going someplace else - where you haven't seen everything you're interested in.

I just wander around. I pick one part of the city per day and start with that, then work my way back to my hotel's neighborhood as the day goes on. I love sitting in the public gardens (Tuilleries, Luxembourg), and sitting drinking wine in sidewalk cafes. I like walking along the Seine.

Check out Rue Cler (not far from the Eiffel Tower). It's a 2 or 3 block long pedestrian street and a very typical Parisian neighborhood, with cheese and wine shops, a bakery, and several sidewalk cafes.

I used to only take the Metro to get around, but on my last trip I used the bus quite a bit. The bus is slower, but you can see the neighborhoods as you go from place to place. Bus #69 is a great route to just see the sights. The biggest problem I had was finding the stops, but now there is an interactive map for the all the public transport, including the bus system at http://ratp.fr/ (click on the British flag for English). If you get a transport pass, you can just get on and off the buses as something strikes your fancy.

If the weather is good, a trip out to Giverny can be a delight, especially since you are a photo buff. Before you go, look through a book of Monet's paintings. Once there, you can spot many of the paintings sites. For an idea of what you will see, you can access my collection of Giverny photos at www.flickr.com/photos/basingstoke2/collections.

The Montorgueil Market in the 2nd is historic and has wonderful authentic shops. Stop there at the Stohrer Patissier Traiteur for some out of this world pastriesThey have been at that spot since 1730. The Baba au Rhum is a specialty. Eat two and I dare you to walk a straight line.

By the way, if you go to the flickr site above, the Giverny pictures are in the Europe 2008 collection. They were taken the first week of May. Scenes of the Montorgueil market are also in that collection.

The Pont des Arts is a pedestrian bridge with wooden benches along the middle. It is the next bridge over, away from the Pont Neuf which connects the Left bank with the Ile de la Cite and then the Right Bank. It is a hugely popular place for younsters of all ages to be at night and has a good view (as in excuse to watch) the tower.

Pjk

This gives you an idea of what the Pont des Arts is like on a warm Easter weekend and what the view of the tower would be like at night...

http://pjk.smugmug.com/photos/145507375_bEKfV-M.jpg

Pjk

thank you Peter.

I didnt remember the benches as I have only crossed that bridge once briefly.

We cant wait to spend more time exploring Paris.

For those such as myself that didnt know what this was...

Armagnac (pronounced [aʁmaˈɲak]) is a distinctive kind of brandy or eau de vie produced in the Armagnac region in Gascony, southwest France. It is distilled from wine usually made from a blend of grapes including Ugni Blanc, Colombard, and Baco Blanc, using column stills rather than the pot stills used in the production of Cognac.

basingstroke,

Your scenes of Rue Montorgueil are amazing.

I also love..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/basingstoke2/2625814127/in/set-72157605912862557/

Look...

http://pjk.smugmug.com/photos/285326015_TwJsK-M.jpg

Pjk

Washington Post article
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/06/AR2009030601266.html

"Alfort's 250-year-old National Veterinary School (second oldest in the world)" - there is a very bizarre museum attached; I have had it in my "list" for the past few years but have yet to get there....now the Post has discovered it too.

Some other ideas:
Second tier museums, such as the Dapper, the Aquarium, Camando (stunning home left to the City of Paris), Jacquamart-Andre, another stunning home with a marvelous tea/brunch schedule

The Meet Parisiens at Work program/and its dinners in private home
The Paris Greeters, where volunteers walk you through their home territory
Chocolate tours
One of the boat tours of the Canal St. Martin (3 hours)
Parc Villette
One or all of the flea markets

Any of the church concerts

I second a day trip to Giverny, if you haven't already been. And even if you have, it's a lovely day out. Here are more images, if you're interested: http://gardentouring.fotopic.net/c1542908.html

I also greatly enjoy walking in Parc Bercy, Jardin des Plantes, Vaux le Vicomte, Versailles, and here are some images of each, if you're interested:
http://gardentouring.fotopic.net/c790134.html

The area behind the Sorbonne, between the Pantheon and Jardin des Plantes, is endlessly interesting, with many small old streets, including rue Mouffetard where there is an open market every day as well as many small cafes and shops, including a wonderful small dress shop - sorry I can't remember it's name, it's on the east side of rue Mouffetard, and my daughter and I have several favorite skirts and sweaters we've bought there over the years. Nearby, on rue Daubenton, is a wonderful quirky little shop called La Tuile a Loup, where I always stop to purchase a small piece of pottery or interesting piece of art. Here's a photo of the shop: http://gardentouring.fotopic.net/p51647914.html Hemingway lived in this area.

And of course I always spend many hours in the old bookshops and always find a few treasures to take home.

If you read the Paris trip reports, you will find an exceptional amout of things to do.

We were in Paris for the 6th time in Sept.'09 and after reading all the reviews, we had more new things on our list than we could ever see in 10 days. All the reason to go back next year.

There's actually a copy of Parcs et Jardins de Paris ...à pied on Amazon right now for $29.99. It's listed as "store overstock".

What's the cover price?

What I do in Paris:

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/november-in-paris-nikkis-trip-report.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/paris-rendezvous-nikkis-trip-report.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/paris-encore-nikkis-trip-report.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/beads-and-circuses-nikkis-paris-trip-report.cfm

I have Sunday brunch at the Jacquemart-Andree
I wander in the Marais
I spend the morning at the Belleville market
I shop at La Vaissellerie, Gibert-Jeune, Gudul, and stationery stores
I take busses to the end of the line and wander around and walk back
I have a drink at Le Ciel
I sit at cafes on the Boul St-Germain and people-watch
I go to supermarkets and browse the shelves and buy unusual things
I have afternoon tea at the Intercontinental on the Place Opera
I wander around the Ile St-Louis
I go to the bird market outside Notre Dame
I go out to the Ile des Impressionistes and have lunch at La Maison Fournaise
I wander around the old galleries
I visit the Mosquee de Paris and have mint tea in the garden
I go to the exhibits at the Centre Pompidou
I go to the Musee Marmottan, then stroll around the neighborhood
I take the train out to Avers-sur-Oise to visit the town, say my respects to Vincent, and see the holographic exhibit at the chateau.
I take the train to Saint-Denis and spend the day
I visit jazz bars in the evening
I go to Au Lapin Agile and drink cherry brandy and sing with the locals

Do you need more?

I appreciate all of this information, posters.

This has turned into quite a good thread.

st. Cirq...

YES... MORE...

Get some macaroons at Laduree -- Yum -- lots of flavors!
Ice cream at Berthillon.
Musee D'Orsay
Booked a Champagne region tour/tasting through Viator -- day trip to Epernay and Reihms -- Moet & Chandon and Mumm's cellars and the cathedral in Reihms where all the French kings were coronated.
View from the top of Notre Dame.
View from the top of Sacre Coeur.
Luxembourg Gardens.
Liked the shopping better in the Marais than the 6th.
If you've got a hankerin' for some Mexican food, get the enchiladas at Indiana.
Versailles.

imaginaryjazz,

The book costs 15.20€ from the FFRP (http://www.ffrp.asso.fr).

You have great tips from all of us, now ...find your own and share these new ones with us.
Bon Voyage!

Exhibitions. Art exhibitions. Paris gets the best temporary art exhibitions of any place I know. Last month we went to at least 6 major temporary exhibits, 4 of those being photography. If you are a photography person, you will get to see some of the best in Paris.

Ballet.
Opera.

My husband and I have been to Paris 4 years in a row. We love Paris. The highest point in Paris is the Sacre'Couer. If you go, take a lunch and spend time looking out at Paris. There is a cafe at the bottom of the stairs, which has a great view looking up at the Sacre' Couer.

Even if you are not a history buff, take a day trip to Normandy, you will never forget it!

A day trip to Brugge was a lot of fun. There are two ways to go: Guided Tour (Cityrama)or if you are adventerous take the train (for the day) We did both.

The Museums are free the first weekend of the month. At the Louvre there is a pretty good eatery, most people may not know. The Louvre also has a park, which is great and nearby is the Jardin Tulluries (love this park too).

The Galleries Lafayette is a beautiful mall with certain floors you can afford The top floor has a lookout where you can look out over Paris. You can also have a glass of wine there. There is also an eatery. The men's section is a separate part of the mall.

Open bus tour at night gives you a view of how beautiful Paris is. Luxenbourg Jardins is a beautiful park to walkthrough or sit and read a book. Saturdays there is a morning markst that we love to go to.

The 1st arrondesment is the most expensive districts to stay in and at night there isn't a lot going on. We loved staying in St Germain 5th/6th arrond. There is always something going on there.

You will be suprised at what you can see in a day. We walked just about everywhere. We didn't have too much of a problem finding the places we wanted to go to. (get a city map)

Most cafes are great, but the one directly across from the Notre Dame was the worst we visited. Speaking of the Notre Dame, take the boat their you will get to see how beautiful it is from the back something you will miss if you walk or take a taxi.

Don't take the boat trip down the Sienne at night too crowded go any other time of the day/evening.

Could go on forever....

this is so good I'm marking.
Interesting to realize how many places mentioned I've been to, and so many more to go

M.

bookmarking

What about that Moulin Rouge show? Is that worth seeing?

bookmark

>>>What about that Moulin Rouge show? Is that worth seeing?<<<

That's 90 euro per person for a run of the mill Vegas-style show. 80 euro will buy you a top tier seat for the Paris Opera Ballet, one of the best ballet companies in the world.

105 trips to Paris and I've never gone to the Moulin Rouge and never want to. I love Au Lapin Agile, though.