Paris - Need help on what to vist.

Old Jul 30th, 2003, 09:47 AM
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Three days in Paris! What bliss!

Here's what I would do with 3 days:

Day One, Left Bank Day - start out smack dab in the middle of things with the Notre Dame Cathedral on the Ile de la Cite. Then cross over the Pont au Double (That's the double tax bridge, where they used to tax you coming and going, therefore the name) and just pop in to see the famous bookstore, Shakespeare & Co, whose original owner, Sylvia Beach, was the only one who would take a chance and publish James Joyce's Ulysses. Right next door is the one of the oldest churches in Paris, St Julien le Pauvre, with the oldest tree in Paris all propped up with cement. Look across the river back at the wonderful view of Notre Dame.

If you feel like it, wander down to the Pantheon dedicated "Aux Grands Hommes...La Patrie Reconnaissante" = free translation "To our Great Men, The Nation is Grateful" [Maybe someone else can do better!] = and know that the great men are Voltaire, Victor Hugo, etc. and not Charles de Gaulle - as yet. I always find it so civilizing to read that legend and know who is buried inside.

Also very near to the Pantheon is St Etienne du Mont, which is THE church for Parisians and which was built for St. Genevieve, patron saint of Paris. The outside of St Etienne is a hodgepodge of architectural styles. The inside contains the sole remaining rood screen (bridge?)not destroyed in the French Revolution.

Then walk over to the Sorbonne and take a picture of yourself before this august university.

Then cross over the Boulevard Saint Michel knowing that in 1968 when the students torn up the cobblestones to throw at the police, another French revolution was started and toppled a government. The street is now paved in cement - but the history!

You will find yourself in the Luxembourg Gardens. I feel so civilized again looking at the Luxembourg Palace knowing that it houses the French Senate and find no barbed wire, etc. just a peaceful pond with lots of ducks in it and only one policeman visible.

Move up St Germain de Pres and go to the church of that name, the oldest church in Paris. Sit right across the church at Les Deux Magots made famous by Hemingway, et al. Order a syrop de menthe like a Parisian (if you like mint drinks)and the waiter will know you are not a stranger but an old hand in Paris.

Spend the afternoon in the Musee d'Orsay.

Evening on one of the Seine boats.

Day Two, Right Bank Day: Start right smack dab in the middle and just wander around the Ile St Louis and know that this ritzy part of town started out as the laundry facility for early Paris.

Cross over to the Ile de la Cite and visit the magical Sainte Chapelle. Then cross over to the Right Bank and go to the Louvre.

You can visit or not the inside of the Louvre as had been suggested here.

After the Louvre, walk what I'll call the STRAIGHT mile. Go through the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, through the Tuileries Gardens, past the Place de la Concorde onto the Champs Elysees. Then ever onward and forward to the large Arc de Triomphe. [If you have the time, you can detour off the Champs Elysees to the Grand and Petit Palais]

You can stop here or you can keep on going straight on the Avenue de Grande Armee to the Place de la Maillot and still further along the Avenue Charles de Gaulle all the way to La Defense. (I wouldn't recommend this part on a three day tour, though!)

If there is time, I would go by metro to Les Invalides, visit that area, including Napoleon's Tomb, and just be in the Eiffel Tower area by nightfall.

Eiffel Tower at night.

Day Three, Right Bank and Montmartre
- This is the day to wander all the rest of the places you haven't yet gone to: Place Vendome, Marais, Montmartre, etc.

Hey, you got room in your luggage to squirrel me in a corner? Have a great time!
jason888 is offline  
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