things you did or saw in Paris when you've already been there many many times
 

I am trying to come up with some perhaps more esoteric things to look up, see and do in Paris.

I've got a number of good guidebooks as well as ideas of my own re: my interests, but curious to know if anyone has done anything unusual which will point me in a new direction. thanks!

I have pulled some of the threads here from years past as well.

there is post in here about "100 things to do in Paris". Check it out. I brought that along on my last trip (4th time) and found some new things to do and see. On that trip, my goal was to find the best macaroon (sp) - and it was fun doing the research! :)

Some other not so typical things to do in Paris are visiting the sewer system or the Catacombs.

Paris? Sewer museum is called Musee des Egouts.

Hi Beth,
Our last visit to Paris, we made no plans, other than some restaurant reservations. We decided to get up each morning and just walk and be there, with no itinerary to keep. We had friends there and met them one day and had dinner with them, otherwise, we just wandered wherever our fancy took us.
I did spend a lot of time in shops that had anything to do with house decorating and got many ideas and a few things to bring home.
If someone has a new home, going to Paris is a great way to get ideas for decorating..buying fabric for the house, even if it is just pillows can be great fun. Shopping for antiques on rue Jacob or at the flea markets. Wandering Ille St-Louis and looking at the shops there. Finding paintings, posters for the walls.
We also liked the idea of discovering new places to eat that had not been recommended, sometimes it is just more fun to feel like YOU discovered this place!
Have fun~

One museum that I very seldom if ever see mentioned and that we enjoyed very much on our last trip..our 12th..and where I picked up some great inexpensive gifts in the shop..Musée de la Marine, Palais de Chaillot

I keep a list of things to get to next time and somehow it seems to grow rather than shrink and I've been there more than 10 times. Here are some of the things I either have still on the list or have recently checked off:
Day trip to Conflans St. Honorine NW of Paris. Do a search and find Miaffitte's suggestion on this.
Reunion market in the 20th
Enfants Rouge on Rue de Bretagne shopping area
Village St. Paul in the Marais, another shopping area with antiques
Rue Lepic and the whole Amelie thing in the 18th
Barbes market just out of the Barbes Rochechouart metro in he 18th. Very ethnic. Same for Joineville near Crimee metro
Musee National d'Arts et Metiers in an old abbey in the 3rd with lots of inventions
Srobonne amphitheater
Notre Dame du Travail church
Parc Andre Citroen
Parc Mountisouris
Parc Monceau
Parc Georges Brassens
Butte aux Cailles, street with village-like atmosphere
The passages, primarily in the 2nd and 9th.
Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox cathedral
And my long time nemesis, Val du Grace, the church in the military hospital in the 6th that I can never find open.

Enjoy. I try to start every day in Paris with a market in order to find a new area to explore. Great way to see parts of the city you might otherwise never get to. Enjoy.

Have you been up to St. Denis? Very very cool. I also went to the Cluny for the 1st time, although that is hardly off the beaten path.

Have you read the Da Vinci Code? Read that before your trip and make sure you see all the sights mentioned.

Find a copy of Fodor's "Paris with Kids" book and read up on some of the places it suggests. It mentioned a lot of museums and other sites that would be of interest to adults also that weren't highlighted in other guidebooks.

Study books on the Louvre and its web site and focus on all the art there that you haven't seen before. For example, if you haven't spent time in the ancient Egyptian section, it is huge and amazing.

Speaking of the Louvre, there is that place where you buy lithographs. It used to be hidden away but how it's off the main gift shop...it used to be user friendly but now it seems like it would be pretty time consuming to find the perfect print...find out how that works and find the perfect print! (It might not be all that hard, but I had 3 bored kids at my heels.)

Choose your favorite pastry and try every bakery until you find the best of that pastry in Paris.

Chinatown?

Having been to Paris several times, on our last trip we visited:

Musee Nissim de Camondo, a lovely mansion preserved as it was when the owner gifted it to France
http://www.ucad.fr/ucadgb/indexgb.html

Basilica at St. Denis, on the outskirts of Paris but still on the metro line, this fabulous basilica is the burial site for many of the French monarchs

Paris walk in Montmartre, affiliated with the company that does the terrific London Walks, we saw lots of things that don't show up in the guidebooks
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pariswalking/

Musee Carnavalet, the city of Paris museum, free every day. Mostly it is in French but still worth a visit even if you can't read the signs.

We also visited the Paris sewers, least favorite thing of all the places we visited on this trip.

If you are considering any day trips, we ventured down to Reims on the train, saw the lovely cathedral there and went on a tour at one of the champagne houses. It was a full day trip, I really enjoyed it. I was really surprised though at how expensive the train was, it was 40E per person round trip, the train took an hour 40 minutes.

thank you, this is fabulous! making a list and checking it twice...

Explore the Passages

-Sunday brunch at the Jacquemart-Andre
-The 3-hour St. Martin Canal ride
-The art squat at 59 Rivoli
-Writer Harriet Welty's wine/cheese/culture presentation (see her website)
-Find a gospel choir concert
-Viaduc des arts and walk the gardens above
-Visit every church you pass; hope for organ practice

Hi flygirl. In looking for a website for the Parc de Buttes Chaumont, a place I went to on a Sunday on my last trip to Paris and loved, I found this person's website, with his ideas of "Paris off the beaten path"...

http://www.virtualtourist.com/vt/18308/6/141b/

flygirl,
Have you been out to Monets house? Not Giverny but the one in Passey?
Have you been to , I think it is Belleville, where they still have vineyards? A small village within Paris.
I read something today that sounded wonderful, hiring a person to teach you French, but not just a class or tutor, they take you somewhere, a museum for instance..and they teach you as you go along.
Or a cooking class, just for a day?
These are all on my list of what to do next trip~

Hi Sky(Beth?) and Scarlett, (Candice?), have you ever thought of going to an arrondissement you haven't been before?

mimi
P's For those who love old dolls, the Passage Dadot(S"?)
When is the last time all of you have been there. I never have been more than two days at a time because we were on our way. Exceot one year in 1979 when I first fell in love with Provence.

you know, I think I am going to try to pick one of these things, and also, take my Collected Traveler book with me - or at least pick something out of it. I tell you, that author really picks a lot of cool stuff herself!

thanks for the insights.

http://www.paris-gourmet.com/who.html
French for a Day - shopping/cooking (and eating the finished product) day with escort

passage Dodat, for the dolls.

To Cigalechanta:Where is Passage Dodat? Are the dolls just to view or for purchasing?

I like Passage Jouffroy; it has a black and white tiled floor and the Hotel Chopin is at the one end. My favourite shop there is Pain d'Epice; the window is filled with the most marvelous doll houses and bears. My last trip (October) I bought a shop which you put together..a patisserie. I got shelves and a counter and some flooring. There are a couple of shops selling miniatures in this passage.

My next trip I want to look for a patisserie display case to go in our kitchen. Maybe someone knows where I can order one here in Canada (or from the States).

Take any bus to the end of the line and get off and wander.

Go to Ile des Impressionistes for lunch at La Maison Fournaise, where Renoir painted "Luncheon of the Boating Party." Visit the museum there.

Take a boat ride on the Canal-St-Martin.

Have Sunday brunch at the Jacquemart-André.

Check out the Village Suisse

Have dinner at Chartier.

Take a walk in the Parc Monceau.

Buy a goat carcass at the Rue Mouffetard market.

Have tea at the Café de la Paix.

Galerie Véro-Dodat, the most elegant and enchanting of the 20 or so remaining passages de Paris-and easily my favorite-is tucked away between the Rue du Bouloi and the Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, just a stone's throw from the Louvre. Passage has the shop of Robert Capias dolls for sale and to be mended I think.