visiting Paris

It's hard to come up with a good list of recommendations for friends and family when they're here. I haven't even seen most of Paris and I've lived here for almost 2 years!

But, here's a bit of what I often suggest.

The most obvious, which you can walk in a day really and involves just following the Seine*:
Notre Dame
Louvre
Jardin des Tuileries
Arc de Triomphe
Eiffel Tower
*Be sure to get off the asphalt, away from the cars, and take the stairs down to follow along the Seine.

Or, just stick to the Îles de la Cité and Saint-Louis


Leave the Seine and go up the hill:
Here's a Gmap Pedometer map of a suggested walk through the neighborhood of Pigalle / Montmartre

Pigalle's red light district: if you are there around sunset into early evening you get to see the lights come up in all the sex shops. It makes Paris the "City of Lights" for sure.

I have yet to go to the Musee of Erotica, but hear it is fascinating.

The Moulin Rouge is at Metro Blanche. It is truly unimpressive and not so pretty, but historic nonetheless. I haven't paid for the show yet so I can't comment.

Walk up Rue Lepic to see the Cafe des Deux Moulins (where the character Amelie worked).

Turn right on Rue Abbesses and wander until you hit the fabric district, which also turns into the tourist district because if you look up the hill, on your left there's the Sacre Coeur. Before climbing the hundreds of stairs to the top, fill up on a crepe. I've tried crepes around the city and seriously haven't found a better one than at Le Ronsard - directly in front of the stairs leading up to the Coeur. It's a beautiful church (entry is allowed - even during mass, no fee) and there's an amazing view of Paris. I hear there is a tower with a better view - I've yet to find it.

Leave from behind the Sacre Coeur and wind your way through the charming and impressive neighborhood of Montmartre. See if you can spot Johnny Depp anywhere (my running joke, as I hear he lives in this area).

Stop by the Musee de Montmartre - it houses the history and famous posters of absinthe, but doesn't sell any. A quiet, small courtyard is within the backyard of the museum. Head out of the museum and follow the street as it curves around to Place Dalida. Cut through the passageway, curve around Avenue Junot and keep an eye out for a small set of stone stairs. Follow this passageway past a private bocce courtyard, around an old tree stump, through Hameau des Artistes, which is apparently a hamlet of artists' studios. Head down the stairs and back onto the street. Head to the Cimetière de Montmartre, which houses aforementioned Dalida and a bunch of other great folks. It's super hard to find the entryway, which is tucked away off of Blvd Clichy on Avenue Rachel. While this cemetery doesn't offer Jim Morrison, it does have an abundance of wild cats.

Markets:

Wednesdays and Saturdays the market at Metro Barbes is crazy. It caters to an African clientele, offering melons to peppers to fish to olives (most things go for 1€/kilo). Here's a schedule of all the markets.

Paris as museum:

Really, you don't need to DO anything in Paris but wander and get lost. The city itself is a museum. I really like walking from my apartment up at Pig-Momo all the way south to the river, especially through the Marais area on a Sunday when the rest of Paris is closed.

I always recommend saving Sunday for a falafel on rue Rosiers. I've tried fallafels elsewhere in the world and have yet to find one that beats those in Paris. I'm still debating between whether the best in all the lands is found at Chez Marianne or at L'As du Fallafel (which is promoted by the NYT).

Crossing over the Seine, I love making a stop at Shakespeare and Co bookstore (this is a long film about the dude, George Whitman, who owned and operated it). Saint Germain des Pres has become my second home quartier (neighborhood) after the Pig-Momo hill. My first year of school was at 224 and my second year at 117, basically between the rue du Bac metro and Odeon. And I've walked between both a zillion times, never tiring of it.

At Odeon, turn into the small rue called Cour du Commerce de Saint-Andre. It's a quaint pedestrian-only path. At the end, at 66 Rue Saint-Andres des Arts, I had one of the best French meals at Vins et Terroirs. Finish the loop by continuing on Saint-Andres, which turns into rue de Buci and back out onto Saint Germain. Keep on and you run into the church. Despite the price, it's worth sitting outside (or inside if weather or the crowd pushes you indoors) at the Deux Magots - not only have so many famous people have had coffee there, but it's central to history as so many places are in Paris.

Strolling further on Saint Germain can be painful unless you've got a nice wad of cash to spend in some of the luxury brand stores -- imagine us poor grad students shuffling around this area. I've been wearing some of the same clothes since high school and definitely the same clothes over the past two years as the Armani seasons pass over the windows. Alas, there are some cheaper gems buried within the district, mostly in pub or eatery fashion. I've never had a better chevre chaud salad than those served across the street from Sciences Po at Cafe Basile.

Walk up rue du Bac and you'll be in antique heaven, if you aren't the type to be offended by wares stolen by European patriarchs. Reaching the Seine again, the Musee d'Orsay is just a hop away. I thought I hated impressionism, but having it all in one place and seeing the patterns and colors in this ex-railway station is incredibly cool (photos of the museum in here). And it is here that I first understood why the impressionists chose Paris and France, and saw the beautiful French sky represented accurately.

I've found the Palais Royal an amazing garden (featured in this NYT article on secret gardens), despite much of it locked under construction. Ahhh, but I've heard of way cooler and way prettier gardens. Really, there's so much I've missed while being locked under paper-writing. I haven't been to the Picasso museum or really explored the Jardin du Luxembourg. Thus, I'm spending much of my time right now trying to score a way to be based out of Paris as a consultant. So, instead of visiting Paris, I can live here!!

(Pig-Momo to Palais Royal walk here.)