Truly unique experiences in Paris?
Feb 11th, 2005, 01:25 AM
#41
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On the lower end of the rue de Charonne, near the Charonne Metro station in the 11th, you can buy a takeout lunch from one of the few "working man's" eateries that remain in Paris. None of your fancy traiteur fare, but lots of choices among honest, homestyle cooking. Carry your plastic container at bit farther up the rue de Charonne and dine illegally in the lovely pocket park hidden away on the left hand side with its entry through a 60's apartment building, on what used to be the grounds of an insane asylum!
Feb 11th, 2005, 03:14 AM
#43
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Go up to the top of the Tour Montparnasse on a clear day. It's never crowded, and you can see all of Paris.
Try a strip show at Pigalle. It can be very charming -- not so much erotic as cute. I guess it depends on the show. I went to one in the 1970s, when I was in my 20s, with American friends.
Walk or drive up the rue Saint-Denis, afternoon or evening, to see all the prostitutes standing in doorways.
Shop at the Marche de l'avenue de Saxe near Invalides and the Tour Eiffel on a Saturday morning. Or the Marche de la Place Monge on Saturday mornings.
Try a strip show at Pigalle. It can be very charming -- not so much erotic as cute. I guess it depends on the show. I went to one in the 1970s, when I was in my 20s, with American friends.
Walk or drive up the rue Saint-Denis, afternoon or evening, to see all the prostitutes standing in doorways.
Shop at the Marche de l'avenue de Saxe near Invalides and the Tour Eiffel on a Saturday morning. Or the Marche de la Place Monge on Saturday mornings.
Feb 11th, 2005, 03:18 AM
#44
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Feb 11th, 2005, 05:25 AM
#46
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Visit the furniture showrooms and specialty hardware shops and the landmark Freres Nordin refinishing supplies store on the rue du Faubourg St. Antoine, the common border of the 11th and 12 arrondissements, and the furniture makers and restorers and chair caners and common woodworkers in the impasses that lead off the rue du Faubourg St. Antoine between Place de la Bastille and the Faidherbe-Chaligny Metro, and on the lower end of the rue de Montreuil in the 11th. They've been there since the Revolution, and they had a lot to do with starting it! There's a "furniture pimp" on the rue du Faubourg St. Antoine a ways up from Place de la Bastille toward Place de la Nation, on the right hand side of the street, who invites folks to visit the several furniture makers in one of the impasses. (And please buy that 18th-century grandmother's clock in the window of the restaurer on the nearby rue Titon before I get slaphappy and claim it.)
Feb 12th, 2005, 06:26 AM
#48
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I have killed myself and my feet,searching for places like you seek. My idea of wild and those suggested didn't quite match up. I suggest that instead, you let Paris happen to you. Meaning, take a day and mosey, saunter, explore and you will find a special nook and make a memory all your own. Just let it happen and you will have your own special places to add to this list. I have never been dissappointed with this method. There is a neighborhood specializing in every interest you can imagine. Maybe start at one of those and discover. Have a wonderful time.
Feb 12th, 2005, 07:04 AM
#49
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To elaine - well the tour is about 3 hours long and full of many stories but the one that really stuck in my head was one of the markers (oh I can't remember who! maybe Oscar Wilde) is a full sized man laying down. People have been known to rub certain anatomical parts to enhance fertility. The marker is bronze and its obvious there's been some rubbing going on. Nuff said! Take the tour next time you're there. The graves of Jim Morrison, Edith Pilaf and many others are in the cemetary. Interesting and scenic. SueC1
Feb 12th, 2005, 08:05 AM
#50
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Lunch at La Mascotte in Montmarte.(a bit off the beaten track and oh so grand).
I think there is a website devoted to the catacombs someone sent to us before our most recent trip. It discussed items like the supper club in the catacombs et al. I'll try to find it and note it here.
I think there is a website devoted to the catacombs someone sent to us before our most recent trip. It discussed items like the supper club in the catacombs et al. I'll try to find it and note it here.
Feb 12th, 2005, 08:19 AM
#51
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suec1, thanks for the info.
I've been to the cemetery with a map, just didn't take a tour.
It can't be the Oscar Wilde grave that has the fertility association, as the male figure on that grave is missing its
male member.
I just googled it, the fertility rub is associated with the grave of Victor Noir, a journalist, the statue appears to have a bulge in the nether area, under the clothes.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...7044-2002Aug16
I've been to the cemetery with a map, just didn't take a tour.
It can't be the Oscar Wilde grave that has the fertility association, as the male figure on that grave is missing its
male member.
I just googled it, the fertility rub is associated with the grave of Victor Noir, a journalist, the statue appears to have a bulge in the nether area, under the clothes.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...7044-2002Aug16
Feb 12th, 2005, 09:04 AM
#52
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Elaine is correct--Deux Maggots is in the St Germain area but not more than a few blocks from Latin Quarter. We had walked 8 miles or so with only my husbands scribbled directions instead of our DK Paris guide book. Deux Magots is more like an upscale wine bar patronized mainly by French businesmen. I t appeared that the regulars were served some rather elegant looking appetizers. After our long walk and a warm day we ordered beer. The price per beer was equivalent of around $9--keep this in mind when ordering. Fun atmosphere though.
Feb 12th, 2005, 10:35 AM
#53
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then there is the magasin du soldat salve (salvation army thrift shop) which used to be in a corbusier designed building arounf the corner from the metro biblioteque.
it has now been moved outside the peripherique but still accessible by metro. i don't recall the address but i'm sure a call would solve that.
it is a fun experience: everything from furs to forks. antique dealers frequent it for furniture finds and the books and records (vinyl) are amazing.
we always use it to buy plates and utensils for picnics or in hotelroom dining on each trip (and then, donate them back).
it has now been moved outside the peripherique but still accessible by metro. i don't recall the address but i'm sure a call would solve that.
it is a fun experience: everything from furs to forks. antique dealers frequent it for furniture finds and the books and records (vinyl) are amazing.
we always use it to buy plates and utensils for picnics or in hotelroom dining on each trip (and then, donate them back).
Feb 12th, 2005, 11:15 AM
#54
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nini, I disagree with your description of Deux Magots as an upscale winebar patronized primarily by businessmen. For one thing it's a cafe. Regulars were served appetizers? I'm not a regular, and I've been served various kinds of food including snacks/appetizers.
I think perhaps during your 8 mile walk you confused it with another place.
I think perhaps during your 8 mile walk you confused it with another place.
Feb 12th, 2005, 03:21 PM
#55
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OP: "attractions that one might not see in a typical tourist book"
Responses:
* Shakespeare and Co.
* the puppet show at the Luxembourg Gardens.
* Pere Lachaise cemetery
* the Catacombs
* Tour Montparnasse
* Les Deux Magots cafe
All worthy of a visit but also all in every Paris guidebook I've ever seen!
Responses:
* Shakespeare and Co.
* the puppet show at the Luxembourg Gardens.
* Pere Lachaise cemetery
* the Catacombs
* Tour Montparnasse
* Les Deux Magots cafe
All worthy of a visit but also all in every Paris guidebook I've ever seen!
Feb 12th, 2005, 03:37 PM
#56
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We usually stay around the corner from the Deux Magots on rue Jacob. It is in what I believe is considered to be the heart of St Germain. It is within walking distance of the Latin Quarter but it is definitely not IN the Latin Quarter. And it is more than a few blocks.
It is a cafe, which has a bar. We often have late night drinks, afternoon snacks,breakfast or once in a while a late evening omelete .. the locals in the neighborhood are often there, as well as tourists and businessmen.
More than once we have sat next to visiting motion picture people having a meal and neighborhood ladies with their children.
nini, perhaps you were in another cafe and got the names confused?
It is a cafe, which has a bar. We often have late night drinks, afternoon snacks,breakfast or once in a while a late evening omelete .. the locals in the neighborhood are often there, as well as tourists and businessmen.
More than once we have sat next to visiting motion picture people having a meal and neighborhood ladies with their children.
nini, perhaps you were in another cafe and got the names confused?
Feb 12th, 2005, 03:41 PM
#57
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suec, we are going to the cemetary this March, we thought it was a good idea to take the train past the stop and walk in that way? Do you remember which entrance you used?
We figure the entire morning will be spent there..right?
We figure the entire morning will be spent there..right?
Feb 12th, 2005, 03:42 PM
#58
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A couple of years ago an American writer named Adam Gopnik wrote a lovely book called "Paris to the Moon", a memoir of a few years that he and his wife spent living in Paris. There was a thread on it here at the time, perhaps a search will bring it up.
Anyway, the book contains a number of specific descriptions and directions concerning small courtyards, parks and passageways in Paris that primarily only long-time residents would know. They are not eccentric or bizarre, just relatively unknown.
Anyway, the book contains a number of specific descriptions and directions concerning small courtyards, parks and passageways in Paris that primarily only long-time residents would know. They are not eccentric or bizarre, just relatively unknown.
Feb 12th, 2005, 03:45 PM
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Hi Scarlett, hope you don't mind my chiming in.
www.paris.org/Expos/PereLachaise/pl.history.html has maps of the cemetery
http://www.gargl.net/lachaise/ has printable maps of each section
If you go bring sneakers or comfortable walking shoes to Paris, this is the place to wear them. The roadways, such as they are, are cobblestone. To find some of the graves you have to walk among them in the dirt. And most notable of all, there are very very steep hills in this cemetery.
Near the main entrance (at the Pere LaChaise metro stop) there is someone who sells maps of the cemetery, and there’s no point in going in unless you have a map. However, I kept my map because next time I’m going to travel to the next metro stop on the same line, the Gambetta stop. Perhaps there is someone at that entrance also selling maps. That stop is closer to the graves of Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, and Gertrude Stein, but more importantly, it is at the 'top' of the cemetery and would help avoid having to climb those amazingly difficult hills. If there is no one at that stop selling maps (and I’d be surprised) it would still be better imo to buy the map at the Pere LaChaise entrance and then walk on the street around the cemetery, or get back on the metro for one stop to get to the other entrance, rather than scaling the hills through the cemetery.
www.paris.org/Expos/PereLachaise/pl.history.html has maps of the cemetery
http://www.gargl.net/lachaise/ has printable maps of each section
If you go bring sneakers or comfortable walking shoes to Paris, this is the place to wear them. The roadways, such as they are, are cobblestone. To find some of the graves you have to walk among them in the dirt. And most notable of all, there are very very steep hills in this cemetery.
Near the main entrance (at the Pere LaChaise metro stop) there is someone who sells maps of the cemetery, and there’s no point in going in unless you have a map. However, I kept my map because next time I’m going to travel to the next metro stop on the same line, the Gambetta stop. Perhaps there is someone at that entrance also selling maps. That stop is closer to the graves of Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, and Gertrude Stein, but more importantly, it is at the 'top' of the cemetery and would help avoid having to climb those amazingly difficult hills. If there is no one at that stop selling maps (and I’d be surprised) it would still be better imo to buy the map at the Pere LaChaise entrance and then walk on the street around the cemetery, or get back on the metro for one stop to get to the other entrance, rather than scaling the hills through the cemetery.
