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!

Also IMHO, @EggBlanket and @RosaBonheur are right about the eiffel tower - the best view is from the monparnasse tower. It's the only place you can't see it from too - and contrary to the Eiffel Tower the tour Montparnasse is ugly AF.

This has made me want to retry Paris.
I've been 3 times and wasn't particularly impressed but I think it may have been my attitude rather than the city.
Perhaps my tip ( and for my future self) is to embrace it and try to stay away from really touristy bits. Like London, it's the whole touristy side that is not so pleasant, and not the city itself.
I hope you have a lovely time!

@FindingMeno I think you'r right - I live here and really don't understand the touristy bits. My friends and I ( Parisians) actually use a phrase that roughly translated is "If you don't behave I take you to Do your shopping on the Champs Elysées/ Go up the Eiffel Tower". Paris is so much more than the tourist parts.

I forgot a tip for the Louvre, If you go, go as early as you can, go in through the galerie and not the pyramid to save time and then if you're doing Sully - once you get in go as fast as you can to the end and then do it backwards to avoid crowds.

I would second the Rodin museum - amazing. Also if it is dry, head to Père Lachaise cemetery- it's incredible. So many famous people buried there and it's beautiful. Tho I get hanging out in a cemetery is not everyone's cup of tea ! But it's a tourist attraction !

@TheLadyofShalott1 tldr

@EggBlanket quite spart from you not being the thread police 🙄 we were actively sticking to the brief of discussing things the op should consider culturally. Unlike you who has derailed the thread with your own, different question about things to do, which op didn’t even ask 😂

I've not been for a few years but I second not trying to pack too much in, mooch about and enjoy the beautiful city as an experience in itself. Picnic lunches in Le Jardín du Luxembourg were a relaxing interlude.

We preferred the Musee D'Orsay to the Louvre and loved the Rodin Museum, and a small Monet gallery further out full of Waterlilies paintings.

I would also give going up the Eiffel Tower a miss. We had pre booked but it was still queue after queue after queue. Viewing from the top of Galleries Lafayette was great.

Les Puces is great for a Sunday wander as well.

I live fairly close so go a couple of times a year. I usually have one planned event like an exhibition then spend the rest of the time just walking and watching, it's wonderful!

And that comment's not rude? Wow.

@BitOutOfPractice what's saint chapllle

I welcome people including my family laughing at my attempts at French.

Considering I got a very low mark in exams and dh got a high one I can get by far better.

Paris is far far worse for pick pockets! Every time I've had something experience and heard and seen loads.
Not once in London!

There are loads of professional gangs all around please have anti slash bags and spread money cards around and take photo of passports.

Be strong and assertive and vigilant.

Had one unpleasant lady in pharmacy but otherwise normal people

@Floofyduffypuddy its an amazing chapel in the Palais de la Cité on the Île de la Cité in the Seine. It seems to be made entirely of stained glass. It’s stunning. In fact the whole Île de la Cité is worth a visit. It was home to the French kings for centuries.

Brilliant thanks. That's not the little island behind notre damn is it?

Notre Dame is on the Île de la Cité.

As long as you’re not brown and/or overtly Muslim looking you’ll be fine even with the rude sneering.
My parents have family from Reunion who have homes in Paris. I’ve been a few times to visit from the 90’s until about 10 years ago.
Rudest, meanest, racist, Islamaphobic (of course it’s at its peak now)
would ignore you in the shops, serve other customers before you, pretend they didn’t have tables for you, laugh openly to your face if you tried to say anything French.
Thank god we had French family who came with us to most places because every time we were on our own they basically spat in our face. Because my mother wore Asian clothes and my sister had a hijab on.
It’s a pretty city though, Versailles was gorge, Disneyland paris was nice when we’re kids lol and we did an even better one: Asterix park!

The only way I'm aware of is to pay a grossly inflated price for a 'skip the line' ticket. You can Google it and will find agencies such as Get Your Guide offering these. However, as others have said I'd give it a miss if I were you (and if you can convince your family) as staffing in a queue for hours may spoil your day.