Visiting Paris

[Catnuzzle]

I and DD(12) are visiting Paris next week, any hints or tips as I've never been before?
I've prebooked lots of activities but any good restaurants/cafes or shopping area recommendations would be gratefully received.
Anything we should be aware of culturally?
Merci bien!

The UK could do with a bit of that French vim tbh.

MsWhitworth, Yes, why?

Forgot to add, wear a cross body bag and keep it zipped. Pick pockets are rife, as in any major city.

Well, it was 20 years ago when I went so it may have changed but many of the performers were topless and a few in nothing more than a thong.

That does sound a bit pearl-clutching of me, I just didn’t know if you were aware. Some people would be fine with it, some wouldn’t.

@SecondhandMuck agree.
here we did the nursing strike and it was actually better staffed then a normal day , it’s like they are saying “ we are sorry we are having to strike , so we’ll make sure it’ll look as we aren’t ! “….what’s the point ?

Me too

Musée d'Orsay is great, lots of impressionist paintings and a lovely converted train station building. Walk along the river, roads have been turned into pedestrian streets. The Sainte Chapelle has amazing stained glass windows, some of the best.

I would probably avoid the Louvre, it's crazily busy. Spend lots of time walking, buy pastries and cakes, just soak up the atmosphere.

How long are you going for OP, as you seem to already have a very full calendar? Please try to relax and enjoy yourselves as well.

I have only two tips, one is try to speak as much French as possible, if you have school French, and a phrase book, please use them even if you think you sound silly - you may well be teased by any waiters or shop asdistants etc - but they should all appreciate your attempts, as they mostly hate people assuming that they can speak English, and they probably can, but they won't want you to know that! Oh, and if you can read any French, try to check whether any restaurants or coffee shops charge more for window and outside seats, many of them used to, so probably still do. Also, some restaurants have (monetary) tips built into the bill, so try not to tip twice - they won't mind, but your purse might!

The other tip is just a strong reiteration of what PPs have said, be very careful that you and your DD guard against pick pockets. If your hotel room has a secure safe, maybe leave your passports in there, but before you do, check (preferably before you go to France) whether you need to have official I.D. on you all of the time, if you do, it might be better to keep your passports in bum bags under your clothes, and any excess money there too. Apart from that, try to wear outer clothing that has some zip pockets, and keep them zipped, and keep checking them. As at least one PP said, have cross body bags with zips instead of handbags, and never carry anything on your backs - unless you have a snappy Miniture French Poodle zipped inside! When I was last in Paris, the escalators from the Metro (underground) were particularly rife places for pickpockets, and especially if you were also at a station servicing places like the Eiffle Tower.

I do hope these precautions don't put you off @Catnuzzle, I think we would all advise the same for any major city, including London, it is just a very sad indication of how the world is today. I hope that you both have a wonderful time, maybe you could come back and tell us about it afterwards 😊

PS. As long as your DD won't be too embarrassed by almost full female nudity, you should both enjoy the show at the Moulin Rouge. I don't know if it is still going, but in the days when I went to Paris, you would not want to take your DD to somewhere like the Crazy Horse Salon...

I would say definitely spend time just wandering / people watching / having a drink at a little cafe and watching the world go buy and looking in shops... not loads of 'attractions'.

Musee d'Orsay is much more manageable than the Louvre and I love the cafe for lunch behind the clock face. Lots of Impressionist work, less hoardes of tourists hoping to capture a 2 second glimpse of the Mona Lisa whilst in a crowd.

The Marais is a lovely area to wander around and look in shops/cafes. If you're into falafel, get a very cheap and delicious one for lunch around Rue des Rosiers.

The food markets are amazing - the Bastille market is huge/lovely to wander around and get food for a picnic/platter type meal.

If you're into sculpture, the Rodin museum is one of my favourite places in the entire world.

Get to the Eiffel tower as it lights up at night, its so pretty

Oh how I am laughing at the idea that Parisians will appreciate any school girl French. They won’t. My French is pretty good. I always get sneered at in Paris.

my tip would be Sainte-Chapelle also. It’s truly astonishing.

I second the Rodin museum. It’s nearly worth going just for its metro station.
Roof terrace of Galleries Lafayette too.
Not sure about Moulin Rouge. It’s a bit 🫤
Antique market in the north of the city is great but probably not interesting to a 12 year old.

For info, the bin strike is over. Next big protest is on the 6th.

Certainly not my experience last summer - very much the opposite.

Have a lovely time.

you do need to have your wits about you in Paris re pickpockets especially on and around the metro. Aged 12 my crossbody bag was nicked off me, I still don’t know why. Don’t me too put off though, just prepared

Paris marathon is on 2nd April so will be busier than normal over the weekend.

If you have time book the Catacombs, they are fascinating

The moulin rouge is like a 1970's Butlins show with extra glitter, and they use live animals which I really did not enjoy. Wouldn't go back.

You can walk through a nice park in the direction of the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysee from the Louvre, starting on the side with the big glass pyramid, with views of the Eiffel Tower on the way. I went with DP who was working there for a couple of days last year and on the first day I just walked around and looked at everything. I covered a lot of ground and saw a good few of the main sites.

As well as the above I saw the (original?) Statue of Liberty in a different nice park and went to a small Marie Curie museum, which is near the university area. Even with my very rusty 30 YO schoolgirl French, interspersed with some accidental Spanish because that's the foreign language that I'm far more used to speaking, I managed to be polite and not get openly sneered at when I bought a coffee or a sandwich in a shop (I remember from some TV travel show that the 'beurre Jambon', just a ham and butter baguette, was the thing to get, so I had one one those).

Despite wandering around busy areas on my own, and going on the Metro, I never felt like I was at risk of being pickpocketed, although when we were on the train from the airport, DP commented that he thought some youths who got on one stop, pushed their way through a couple of crowded carriages and then off at the next stop might have been 'up to something'.

It's a shame you aren't getting out to Versailles, because that's what I did the second day, and it was a lovely and memorable day out, again with lots of walking, although you could hire little golf carts, which looked like fun.

Well the ones I have had Franglais conversations with told me that even though they might laugh at us for our awful pronunciation etc, they do appreciate it when English people at least try to speak some French. But maybe the ones I have talked with were all lying, and were not just the normally nice and friendly people I like spending time with.

If they don't like us even trying to speak their language, and if they don't want our money either, then they should just put signs in their shop and restaurant windows, banning English people. But hey, at least I gave you a laugh @BitOutOfPractice, but I hope you soon learn to appreciate proper humour, rather than OTT laughing at something in your imagination. By the way, sneering seems to be an Art Form particular to Parisians, and apparently people like you as well, who have may have spent too much time in their company? 😉

Bumping this thread to ask- does anyone know of a Parisian version of something like M&S? DH and I are on our way there today and in my rush to finish packing last night I somehow managed to not put my bras in my case… will need to buy a couple more but don’t want to spend a fortune!

Wow @TheLadyofShalott1 that’s a very extreme reaction to a throwaway comment! Merely a commentary on my experience of Paris and speaking with Parisians. And you know I wasn’t actually laughing. It’s a figure of speech. Would you like to critique my visit suggestion as well?

Completely depends what your bra size is. If you have small boobs then go to H&M, C&A or Etam for a basic bra. If you're up to an E or F cup then Intimissimi might be your best bet. Any bigger than that and you could try your luck somewhere like Galeries Lafayette where I think they stock brands like Freya, but they are expensive so I'd probably just wear the one you have on until you get home.

@TheLadyofShalott1 In my experience Parisians do appreciate your attempts to speak French, however basic. If they switch to English it's probably just because they want to show you they cab speak English. If you really do come across someone who is dreadfully rude and snooty, which I hope you don't, it won't be anything you've said or done, or even anything to do with them being Parisian. Some people are just arseholes.

Do make liberal use of "bonjour" and "merci". Literally say "bonjour" to everyone you talk to, before you've said anything else. If you have any other French phrases, like if you can manage "un croissant et un pain au chocolat s'il-vous-plaît" in a boulangerie, it will be appreciated. But everyone who works in Paris will be well used to tourists, and whilst it might not be the place where you will receive the warmest welcome in the world, Parisians aren't terrifying monsters, they're human like everyone else!