ahiddenbird

Thanks for all the advice so far in my post yesterday about restaurants for our first evening in Paris! On a related note, I'm hoping for some suggestions for first day activities...

We are set to land at CDG at 9:30 in the morning, and even with getting to our hostel and settling in, maybe getting some snacks etc. at the Franprix down the street, we'll probably still have most of the afternoon at our disposal.

Our hostel is, as I mentioned in yesterday's post, in the 9th arrondissement, in the Opéra Area. The address is 39 Rue Rodier, if that helps.

We are happy to do a lot of walking though, so no need to limit activities to that general area. And while we probably don't want to do anything that is too mentally taxing, something that would keep us awake until it is reasonable to go to bed would be ideal.

If it makes a difference, this will be my second visit to Paris, and the friends I will be with have never been. So we're pretty green when it comes to Paris! If you were us, how would you spend your time on that first afternoon?

ira

Hi ah,

We always just spend the first day walking around, widow shopping, people watching.

check out your location at www.maps.google.com.

You are 20 min from the Tuileries.

Parmenter

"First jet lag day--Use the Metro for very easy to use low cost transport. Buy a 'carnet', that I think is good for 10 rides.
Take a Seine River cruise to get a nice overview of Paris sights and sit on the prow (south point) of the Ile de Cite and watch the world and the river go by.

Fodorite018

The hop on hop off bus is a nice way to orient to the city. Plus it keeps you out in the fresh air, which always keeps me awake.

A cruise on the Seine is nice too. We use Vedettes, which you can purchase discount tickets online before you leave. There is no set date/time with those tickets, so you are not locked into anything. Just show up with the printout and you are set. Again, this keeps you out in the fresh air. I like doing this in the evening so as to see the Eiffel Tower when it twinkles. Both of these are great for first time visitors.

Otherwise just walking around outside, getting the lay of the land, helps me quite a bit.

surfmom

I like to be outside - adjusts your body and the added benefit of fresh air.

Go for a walk in the Tuileries - stop at one of the cafes and have a snack.

Go for a bike ride - climb Sacre Couer for an overview of the city... (I find if I do something active, I feel better and sleep is well deserved).

Gretchen

We usually arrive about the same as you. We go to our hotel and drop bags in their luggage room. Then get some lunch at a local brasserie or cafe. Walk around--buy museum passes or transportation stuff if doing that. We usually take the Seine cruise in the late afternoon, then a light supper and to bed by 8 or so. The next day we are good to go.
We went with friends once who had never been to Paris so did the HOHO bus which worked out fine.
We usually take the Seine cruise from Pont Neuf so walk around that area which is good for orientation also.

HappyTrvlr

Take a boat ride on the Seine,; it will orient you to the city's museums and monuments and the breeze will keep you awake. Google both Bateaux Mouches and Vedettes du Pont- Neuf .

ira

add www.batobus.com to the list.

It's like a HO/HO bus.

LSky

Go to Montmartre and enjoy the Sacre Couer. Poke and wander overlook the city.

Come back down and watch the Eiffel Tower light up.

Pegontheroad

My trip to Paris was negatively affected by jet lag. We traveled from Spokane, Washington--first across the U.S. and then across the Atlantic. Hideously long trip. My travel companion (my sister) was so excited by her first trip to Europe that she was wide awake.

The same was not true for me. We took the bateau boat for a tour and I couldn't stay awake, no matter how hard I tried.

Nowadays, I may take a short nap after arrival depending on whether I am able to sleep on the plane. If I can get any sleep at all, I stay awake. If not, I have a nap. The nap doesn't interfere with my ability to sleep that night.

On my last trip, which was to Spain, I didn't feel top notch for the first day. I assume that was the result of residual jet lag, which really affects me--both going and returning home.

denisea

In that area, I might do a little shopping around Place du Madeleine. My favorites are Fauchon and Maille. We always take home Maille mustard from Paris. There is a Laduree not far from there to sample macarons or other pastries. Eating helps me stay awake-but I am always energized once I get there!
I would also run by Opera Garnier, as I think it is one of the most beautiful buildings in Paris. There are lots of fun food shops....not cheap but still fun to visit.

If you hop on the Metro over to the Bastille, a walk on Promenade Plantee is a free way to enjoy Paris and stay outside. I much prefer it to the Tuilleries. I think even a boatride on the Seine is a good way to see some of Paris on day one.

Just stay up and go to bed on Paris time. Lots of water also helps and stay hydrated on the flight to help you feel more energetic on arrival.

ahiddenbird

Thank you for all the fantastic suggestions everyone! I especially like the ideas of the river cruise and visiting Laudree; would you believe I only had ONE (1) pastry during my last stay in Paris?

I plan to make up for it this time.

Also, denisea: I like the idea of Maille mustard as a souvenir! I'll be visiting family in Austria later on in my trip and I think some good mustard would make a nice present! As long as it would survive in my backpack for a couple of weeks...I wonder what else I could bring in terms of condiments/preserves that would keep well?

amer_can

Bato bus was noted earlier as like the hop on hop off but it is the same ticket..interchangeable good for 1/2 day the first day (PM) and the morning of the next if you go in the PM day 1. By the time you get into the city, checked in and have a bite it will be afternoon so the ticket should be good for the 2 half days. The bato boat/bus gives a wonderfully different take on the appearance of the city. We always do hoho the first day where ever we go and are always happy (except once in London due to traffic gridlock..UGH) Jet lag doesn't always affect everyone the same and you and/or companion may not feel it so don't worry about it .

Myer

What you do really isn't important. What is important is that you don't go to your room and take a nap.

Make sure you keep active (hopefully you got sleep on the plane) until it's bedtime locally. If you normally go to bed at 11PM then make sure that's about when you go to bed local time. Don't give in even if you're tired. That way your body will get onto local time by the first morning and you'll be ready to go.

mamcalice

We find that the most important thing is to stay outside as much as possible and to keep moving. A walk along the Seine is nice or a visit to Luxembourg Gardens. Have a light dinner as close to your regular dinner time as possible and go to bed by 10. Everyone is a little different but we find fresh air and moving around to work for us.

twoflower

We travelled from NZ via Thailand. That's a 13-hour flight, an overnight stop in Bangkok, then a 12-hour flight - so we understand what you mean by not wanting to do anything too taxing! At the same time, we're not ones to waste good day-light hours napping - our motto is to get into local time a.s.a.p. Here's what we did on that first day in Paris. (Sorry, this may read like a mini trip report - I've edited it from emails I sent to friends back home at the time).

After settling into our hotel and getting our bearings we took the metro to Palais-Royal then proceeded to walk along Rue de Rivoli in the wrong direction! (Thus proving the need not to do anything too taxing on day one)! But the Rue de Rivoli markets absorbed us for a while, and soon we hit the Place de l'Opera which we wanted to see anyway. Before its various revolutions Paris was a stinking warren of narrow twisting alleyways easily blocked and barricaded by trouble-makers tossing their furniture out and piling it up to form barriers. (If you’ve seen “Les Miserables” you’ve got the picture). After the 1848 revolt, Napoleon III summoned chief engineer Baron Hausman and said something like: “I’m fed up with these Parisians revolting. (Or was it “revolting Parisians”)? How about gutting these narrow alleys and replacing them with boulevards too wide to barricade and dead straight so I can fire cannon down them and bowl the buggers over?”

Which Hausman dutifully did, and standing in the middle of Place de l'Opera is where you’ll see it most dramatically. Without turning your head you can see down 5 wide boulevards running off straight in 5 different directions away from you. Quite a sight: 5 sets of roof-lines outlined like a “V” against the sky, converging to a pinpoint in the distance.

From there we walked (passing a colourful bar called “The American Dream”) to the Place de la Concorde. Heads used to roll here, back when the guillotine entertained Paris’s great unwashed. The blade-whizzing, head-tumbling, crowd-roaring din of yesteryear (and let’s not forget the click-clack of Mme Defarge's knitting needles) has been replaced by the hum of distant traffic and the happy chatter of tourists. It’s a pleasant spot, spacious and open, with two ornately carved fountains and an obelisk standing to attention between them.

Back along rue de Rivoli at the eastern end of the Louvre, is a small square we had intended to start our walk if we hadn't come the wrong way from the metro. Here late one night during the revolution Marie-Antoinette snuck out to join hubby Louis XVI in a bid to escape. Historically, Marie-Antoinette has a bad press as a bit of a bimbo; and given that the escape failed because she took a wrong turn and wandered aimlessly on the wrong side of the river for 2 hours, delaying their getaway with ultimately fatal consequences, I'd been inclined to go along with this view of her. Now, having just taken a wrong direction myself, I’m perhaps more sympathetic. OK, I had just emerged from below ground in a city I didn't know, but poor old M-A didn't get out much either without a retinue of guards and maids, and it in the dead of night when street lighting wasn't what it is today. (Although Paris did have street lighting back then, being one of Europe’s first cities to get it).

We took the route that Marie Antoinette did but shouldn’t have, down to the Seine, turning right, and crossing what is today the bridge of golden lovelocks. (That’s our name for it, anyway - lovers write their names on a gold padlock and lock it to the wires on either side of the bridge). It’s a spectacular sight: both sides of the bridge glistening gold in the sun. Here and there the bridge wires have been cut to remove a lock. Sad.

Across the river and turning right, the buildings fall away from the road edge. Leading off this space – heading back so as to be hidden from view - is the narrow, curving Rue de la Seine. Here the noise and traffic and people disappear; you’re in a world of peace and silence. A small fenced patch of grass with a statue of Voltaire is the first thing to catch your eye. Amazing sculpture, pure white, with a face of fierce, mischievous intelligence - the face of someone who'd delight in throwing a provocative remark into the dinner-table conversation then sit back and enjoy the outrage. (Which is pretty much what he spent a lot of his life doing - sitting safely out of reach in Switzerland and publishing scurrilous magazine articles about the goings-on of the French royal family).

Rue de la Seine swings right and on your left is Gabriel Pierné Square, a small tree-shaded haven with grass and paths and seats and small statues of mymphs and nymphettes. Just the place to sit a while, chilling out from the jetlag. A little further along is a quiet neighbourhood bar called La Palette with outside seating, which we didn't stop at but noted for future reference. Right into rue Jacob, along two short blocks, and on your left is the hidden and secret Place de Furstenburg, a leafy little round square(?) in which four Paulownias encircle a 5-armed street lamp. There's a quiet, old-fashioned other-worldliness about it, and as we relaxed in the dappled sunlight a vintage car rounded the corner and chugged shinily past us. Surreal, but fitting.

Beyond St Germain de Pres at the end of the street, we were back amongst crowded cafes and bars and St Sulpice church which has become touristy since Dan Brown's “The Da Vinci Code”. We weren’t in a mood for any of it, so retreated instead to the previously-mentioned La Palette. It was the perfect unwinding after our long flights, some city buzz, and an afternoon of (albeit quiet) exploration: sitting in the late afternoon sun sipping a Grimbergen amongst a sprinkling of locals from the surrounding apartments, and not another tourist in sight!

irishface

Two flower, I loved your description of Napoleon's thinking when he had Paris redesigned! It made me laugh!

I am printing out this page for my upcoming trip. Thanks all!

eastave

The one time I took a boat cruise (in London) on my arrival day I slept through the whole thing. I would be careful about activities that allow you to sit down for an extended period of time, even if it is outside.

ahiddenbird

twoflower: thanks for sharing your lovely first day in Paris! It really does sound like just the right way to go about things; nice and peaceful, no pressure!

While I've heard of the ill-fated escape attempt, I have never heard that story about Marie Antoinette getting lost and ultimately causing the escape attempt to fail! I can't judge her too harshly on that account, though, since my sense of direction (even in broad day light) leaves quite a lot to be desired.

I do feel pretty sorry for the poor thing, in fact. I read Antonia Frasier's bio on her a while back and she really doesn't seem to be anything worse than a spoiled, simple sort of person, but really not all that bad.

Anyway, thanks for the story and your very helpful advice! I'm going to make a specific point of standing in the middle of the Place de l'Opera!