* this is a continuation of our "Two Weeks in Northern Europe" blog, our visit in June 2016.
Paris is a HUGE, diverse city with so many sights and beautiful architecture. Like London, we could only stay for a day and a half so all of our sightseeing was rolled into one day, and the other half-day was spent traveling (from London, and to Edinburgh when leaving). Kyle and I are definitely glad to have experienced Paris, but have a few mixed emotions about Paris because of some aspects of the city, which I'll discuss now.
Because I don't want it to get lost in the rest of the post, here's some upfront information I think you need to know. I think I had romanticized the city and so in my mind it would be a perfect Parisian day; I was definitely wrong. You need to know what to expect, and then maybe you won't be as surprised as I was. However, this was solely our experience (although others' reviews online may have affirmed it), and you could have a completely different one.
First, there is a fairly large homeless population that camps out in the canals of the Seine. Also, we read that a lot of criminal transactions take place here as well even though we didn't experience it. Something to note. We walked along the Seine for a large portion of our day here as it is centrally located; we didn't quite feel as safe here and the smells were pretty overwhelming. I'm not trying to be judgmental, but honest. The crime rate is average as any big city, not more, but these are places to watch out for. Also, we read but did not experience (thank goodness) that pickpocketers are rampant here and you must keep your items very close to you and locked down, especially on the metro.
There aren't public bathrooms ANYWHERE, and other than sit-down restaurants which require purchases to use, most regular establishments don't have them either. We had to frequently get beers or desserts at restaurants to just use the bathroom. Most maps will show you where public restrooms are, but they are far and few in between and the plumbing is so old and underdeveloped in historical areas that they are frequently out of service. Some metro stations have them but not many. Kyle will admit (if you ask) to a toddler-sized meltdown in the evening near the Notre Dame that ended in a few frusterated tears (mine) due to lack of bathrooms, as we hadn't gone in 3-4 hours and he was getting pretty desperate. I concluded that this probably contributed to the smell of urine EVERYWHERE we went, because people get desperate and have to go. Kyle considered finding a bush somewhere but I told him I really didn't want him to get arrested in a foreign country, or contribute to the smell. So my point is this: maybe don't drink as much water just this once when you're in Paris, and maybe research and note where public bathrooms are in areas that you're visiting. :/
Along with urine, it smells like cigarettes everywhere. Many people in France smoke, and it is widely accepted. If you have a reactive airway or are sensitive to it (like I am), try to stay in big, open spaces, and try to look for restaurants that have "no smoking" signs. But don't be surprised if you catch whiffs of it frequently. Also, I was surpised at how much graffiti there was. It oviously didn't harm or bother us, but it was sad to see it on almost every building, which made the city appear a lot "dirtier" than I imagined it would be.
Almost everybody speaks English, but you won't hear it that often. We found that locals are (generally) a little resistive to comforming to tourists' needs. When you are making a purchase they will talk to you in English, but other than that we didn't get much help when asking for directions and such.
Thankfully, almost every sight-seeing experience is free, so it was a pretty thrifty trip. However, I was there to eat at every turn, being the foodie that I am, and I found that I needed cash most places. Fortunately, we knew this ahead of time and got Euros at the airport upon arrival with our Bank of America travel rewards Visa (I researched one for this trip that didn't have foreign transaction fees and could pull cash from). We didn't really see any ATMS anywhere, but I'll admit we weren't really looking because we had all the cash we needed. Make sure you have Euros (especially coins) for the city ahead of time.
Again, this was just our experience, you could have a completely different one. If you're prepared, you'll be fine, and hopefully have a great, safe time!
Now, onto the fun stuff now that business is out of the way!
We arrived in Paris in the afternoon at the Orly airport because tickets were cheaper flying in and out of it, and, like the London City airport, it has direct access to the metro. The bigger international airport, Charles de Gaulle, is miles away, and really should only be used for international flights if necessary.
We stayed at an Airbnb in the Republique area, and I would highly reccommend it to anyone. There are HUNDREDS of eateries, cafes, bars, shopping, and amenities all in a few-mile radius. You won't run out of things to do. The first thing we did was find a laundromat and get some dinner in Republique since it was too late to go and sight-see. There was one close to our apartment after a quick google search, and we ate at the cutest little corner restaurant next door while our clothes were washing (like I said, they're everywhere).
Airbnb has a great overview of this neighborhood that you might want to check out: https://www.airbnb.com/locations/paris/republique
The nearest metro station is "Republique."
Our flat was the topmost one and tiny, but very cozy for the two of us. I learned from a local that the top flats of these old buildings are the smallest and are more like attics and were reserved for servants' living quarters. Personally I think they have the best views so most people are really missing out.
Here's the flat we stayed in if you're interested: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/10536346?guests=1&adults=1
Another bonus of our flat was that there was a crepe stand literally right next to our door on the street. I got savory breakfast crepes and espresso each morning, win!
First thing in the morning we set out (after crepes) for sight-seeing. The metro is really easy to use if you have a map.
My favorite tour guide app is Ulmon. They have an app called Ulmon Guides which lets you save your favorite places and activities and makes a map for you. They have guides to most major cities in Europe. The entire guide is downloadable for each city so you can use it offline, which is a feature I was looking for overseas, as we did not have cell service. If you do have service/data, you can use it like Google maps and it will tell you the best way to get from place to place, or from where you are. When you connect to wifi though, of course, it can also do this if you aren't using data. It includes a metro map as well for cities with metro, and will tell you the exact stops to make and, when connected to data, will tell you the wait times. You can also purchase tickets to attractions. I highly recommend using this app instead of guidebooks, we wouldn't have survived without it!
Tour Eiffel (Eiffel Tower)
We wanted to go to the Eiffel Tower first thing to beat the crowds, but I'm not sure if we did. There were a lot more people there than I would have imagined for first thing in the morning, but there could have been even more if we would have waited. Unfortunately, the Champ de Mars Park (right under the tower) was closed that day due to a big event related to the Euro Cup finals (which took place in Paris that week, and is why in all our pictures theres a giant soccer ball hanging from the tower) so we had to walk across the Pont d'lena bridge to the Palais de Chaillot and Trocadero Gardens for our views. The Palais de Chaillot where we took pictures from includes several architectural, naval & ethnographic museums, and is above beautiful fountains & gardens. The gardens are on a hill, so the views are marvelous anyway.
When you get of the metro (Bir-Hakeim) just south-west to the tower there are signs to walk right to the tower, you can't miss it. If you're wanting to go straight to Trocadero Gardens and not walk past the tower, you can get off the metro right next to it at the Trocadero stop.
The pictures are shown in order, walking past and away from the tower to end at Palais de Chaillot.
Arc de Triomphe (Arch of Triumph)
We left at the Trocadero stop and arrived just a few minutes later north at the Arch. I just wanted to stop by and take in the traffic madness for a second, as it's probably the most noteworthy roundabout in the world besides Picadilly (I just realized I must have a thing for big roundabouts because I always want to take pictures there).
There is an underground tunnel to take to get the Arch, and you can climb a staircase to the top. Kyle and I didn't do this because I was afraid it would take up too much time, but I hear the views of Paris from there are great! I've heard all the great "nighttime" pictures of Paris with the tower and all the lights are from there, so if you can, go at night.
Musee du Louvre (the Louvre Museum)
Next was the Louvre. The nearest metro station is Palais Royal Musee du Louvre. This is where I instantly fell in love with the French architecture. It is so detailed and breathtaking!
My sister had told me that, in her opinion, the Louvre wasn't actually worth going in to, and most of the internet agrees. There's great art, yes, but the Mona Lisa is the star of the show and you get to look at it for like, a minute before they make you move on (apparently). Also, unless you buy expensive front-of-the-line passes, most wait in line for hours. We didn't have that kind of time or money so we toured the grounds instead because I had read they were just as wonderful. Kyle isn't in to art anyway so even though I would have completely content looking at art all day, he probably would have been miserable.
It did not disappoint. I could have hung out here all day, to be honest. It was really clean and had the quintessential French ambiance I had been looking for. We got another espresso and some macarons from a coffee cart and layed on the grass for a bit to people-watch. In our GoPro video at the start of this post you can see the whole park, and a bonus shot of pigeons lovingly attacking a bicyclist for food. Pretty entertaining.
Sooooo beautiful.
Cathedrale Notre-Dame (the Notre Dame Cathedral)
Next we headed to The Notre Dame. This was the one I was most excited for; being in one of the most beautiful, historic cathedrals in the world was totally awesome. And I wanted to find Quasimodo, no big deal.
We waited in line for only about 20 mins, they only let a certain number of people in at a time. It was everything I expected and more. I took way too many pictures because it was just so dang gorgeous. They knew how to build churches back then. I'm so glad we went, especially now, as just this week most of the inside and roof was ruined by fire; so heartbreaking! It will be awhile, but I'm sure they'll revive it to it's former glory. They say candles were still burning on mantles left by tourists that day after the fire was gone, so if that doesn't say anything about her strength, I don't know what does.
On the way back to the metro we decided to walk down Rue d'Arcole because we saw it had a bunch of souvenir shops and bakeries. We found a little bakery called Hure that had almost every French dessert you could imagine including some excellent macarons and patriotic merengue, and we got to pick up a few postcards to bring home.
After the Notre Dame we went back home to rest a bit and freshen up for dinner. We knew we wanted to go back to the Notre Dame area so we could see it at night. We ate dinner in one of the hundreds of restaurants in Republique after a nap and then headed back to the Notre Dame. First on the agenda was putting a lock on the Ponte des Arts bridge. You can find locks at all the souvenir shops along the Seine. The thousands of locks had been cleaned up and the railing was replaced with glass so locks couldnt be clipped to them anymore, but people got creative. There's railings on the side on the street, and there were also tons of locks on lampposts. I had sort of a lemming mentality about this; as it's not *technically* illegal and "everyone does it", although its annoying for city officials, I gave the act my stamp of approval. I generally like rules and Kyle and I tend to stick to them but... when in Paris?
If you watch the Gopro video, at this point we ran into a live band in the courthouse square near the Notre Dame. They sang French anthems but also played some punk-rock-y songs (my fav) and so I thoroughly enjoyed that. After awhile we went to the restaurant across the street and copntinued to listen to the music on the patio while partaking in one of my favorite desserts, Creme-brulee. Yumm!
Like London, we were WIPED from a completely full day, so we headed back to Republique to catch some zz's and the metro in the morning to Orly. All metro stops can be connected to the pink line (I don't remeber the names if they had them) and then a connecting light rail to "Aeroport d'Orly" (Its the airplane symbol at the bottom of the map, at the end of the dotted brown line). We rode for about 45 mins, and it dropped us off straight into the terminal. Even though it's a small airport, its got plenty of little eateries and souvenir shops.
Next we were headed to Edinburgh, the land of my people! You can find that post here: https://www.bisconerstakeontheworld.com/post/two-days-in-edinburgh-scotland
I hope this blog about Paris has been of help to you, and I encourage you to go (even though I warned you at the beginning, it's a really great city in many ways)! I would love to hear your questions or comments on the city, log in/subscribe below to do so.
As the French would say, au revoir (until we meet again)! xxx