| Author |
Message |
    
Bill P
Citizen
Username: Mrincredible
Post Number: 216
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Monday, April 18, 2005 - 3:50 pm: |     |
Hey all.
I'm taking Mrs. Incredible to Paris for a week this spring. I'll keep the question simple: suggestions? Specifically wondering about unusual things, out-of-the-way stuff, great restaurants or cafes you may have discovered.
Thanks! |
Dave
Moderator
Username: Dave
Post Number: 5986
Registered: 4-1997
| | Posted on Monday, April 18, 2005 - 4:09 pm: | |
A good start page:
http://travel2.nytimes.com/top/features/travel/destinations/europe/france/paris/ guide.html |
LilLB
Citizen
Username: Lillb
Post Number: 567
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Monday, April 18, 2005 - 4:20 pm: | |
Go to the Maille Mustard Boutique. Sounds strange, but you can actually taste different mustards and they have ones only available from the boutique that you can't find here - makes an unusual souvenir to give people too... If you walk along the Champs d'Elysee (sp?) (heading away from L'Arch de Triumph), hang a left where the guillotine used to be (there's an Egyptian obelisk there now). It's on your right as you enter the main shopping area there. Not far from Fauchon.
http://www.maille.com/maille/fr/CustomPage.aspx?TopElement=TopChoose&MiddleEleme nt=ShopMaille&BottomElement=Navigation |
Tom Kerns
Supporter
Username: Tom_kerns
Post Number: 34
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Monday, April 18, 2005 - 4:48 pm: | |
Brasserie Flo is a relatively inexpensive out of the way french bistro that my wife and I went to about 15 years ago. Unbelievable experience, food and wine.
Address/phone (googled it):
7, cour des Petites-Écuries
Paris, 75010
01 42 46 15 59
Paris in the springtime. Have fun!! |
Hank Zona
Supporter
Username: Hankzona
Post Number: 2572
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Monday, April 18, 2005 - 4:57 pm: | |
Tom and I are on many similar wavelengths lately...Brasserie Flo is an old Alsatian brasserie (brasseries originally being beer halls opened by Alsatians fleeing German rule, but now more bistro than anything)...really good Alsatian food and wine, a truly interesting local crowd, and great fresh seafood towers.
The Rodin Museum is one of my favorite places...the museum was his home and studio...and alot of his work is exhibited there, but its cool to think so much of it was produced right there. |
Innisowen
Citizen
Username: Innisowen
Post Number: 652
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Monday, April 18, 2005 - 10:20 pm: | |
Place des Vosges is always worth an afternoon--- the novelist Victor Hugo had his apartments on the Place, and it has preserved its atmosphere. Just up the street from Place des Vosges is a little family restaurant ( about 12 tables) called La Mule du Pape (8, rue du Pas de la Mule, tel nr 42745580). Just a couple of blocks away, another neighborhood bistrot, Restaurant Camille, at 24, rue des Francs-Bourgeois,42722050. What I like about these two is their neighborhood feel, and their unpretentious good food.
If you're interested in music, when you leave Camille, you cross the small side street, and there is a luthier's shop, with stringed instruments in various stages of construction or repair. A few times, we've been lucky enough to walk in while musicians have been "testing" their instruments.
Bonne randonnee! |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 6365
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Monday, April 18, 2005 - 11:51 pm: | |
My wife and I were there in July 2002, before we were married. We wanted to check out the sewer museum but didn't manage to. We'll be there in August, so maybe we will then. We'll have my kids with us, age 16 and 13.
Wow, I still have the museum in my address book!
Musée des Égouts
place Résistance
face au 93 quai d'Orsay
tel 01 53 68 27 81
|
Amie Brockway-Metcalf
Citizen
Username: Amie
Post Number: 206
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 19, 2005 - 8:06 am: | |
There's an amazing live bebop club in the Latin Quarter, right off St Germaine, that's housed in a underground 16th century dungeon. You have take three flights of circular stairs hacked out of the bedrock to get down there.
The fashion museum is wonderful too. The Louvre is overwhelming--do a quick trip through there and spend your time at the Musée D'Orsay instead.
Hands down the best food in Paris is sitting at a local cafe, a glass of house red and a ham sandwich. The best breakfast is scarfing down a proper pain au chocolat outside a bakery. |
Lucky13
Citizen
Username: Lucky13
Post Number: 216
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 19, 2005 - 11:30 am: | |
when you first arrive, head straight to the eiffel tower and head for the top- you can understand in a few minutes how paris is laid out, something that you'd never figure out at street level.
tip- paris refers to its neighborhoods by their zip codes, the last 2 digits. when you ask where something is, they will precede the street address with the "district" (zip code).
off the beaten path, the new picasso museum is very nice.
montmartre is a v ery beautiful place to visit.
there is a beautiful park west of boulogne, called the parc du st cloud- it is on a bluff overlooking the city and is a local favorite.
also, the bois du boulogne is a nice park during the day.
you have to see versailles. ride a bus out there. spend the entire day. it's really almost indescribable, the opulence of the quarters.
if you're set on doing the louvre, prepare for a long day of slugging it out with tourists.
if you're religious at all, or simply missing english, and it's sunday morning, there is a wonderful english-speaking baptist-affiliated church just west of town. you can take the RER there. |
Duder
Citizen
Username: El_duderino
Post Number: 623
Registered: 2-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 19, 2005 - 11:40 am: | |
What's the age over-under for paying respects to Jim Morrison at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery? Always an interesting scene, anyway. It satisfies your out-of-the-way request. Many other famous people buried there, including Oscar Wilde. Surrounding area is nice, too, kind of everyday Paris away from the big tourist spots. |
mrmaplewood
Citizen
Username: Mrmaplewood
Post Number: 178
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 19, 2005 - 2:16 pm: | |
Hospital Hotel on the square next to Notre Dame. Eight floors of hospital and one floor of hotel. Stayed in one room on the top floor with a skylight that looked right up to the cathederal towers. That's unusual. |
kathleen
Citizen
Username: Symbolic
Post Number: 7
Registered: 3-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 19, 2005 - 11:18 pm: | |
My favorite guide to Paris is Jack's Inimitable Travel Guide
http://www.jack-travel.com/Paris/ParisHtml/paris_visit_and_walk.htm
Favorite things to do in Paris:
Take the Batobus at sunset:
http://www.batobus.com/
Go to the Marmottan
http://www.parisdigest.com/museums/museemarmottan.htm
Listen to the organ at Saint-Sulpice
http://www.stsulpice.com/
Top of the list of things to do the next time I'm in Paris: Walk along the canals
http://www.paristempo.com/canal.html
Tips: Don't go all the way to the top of the Eiffel tower. The line is too long and the best view is actually from the first stage. Even better, you can see an equally good view for free at the department store Samartaine:
http://www.paris-eiffel-tower-news.com/paris-stories/paris-story-samaritaine.htm
Last but not least, the best things in Paris are free: strolls along the Seine and enjoying the parks.
|
kathleen
Citizen
Username: Symbolic
Post Number: 8
Registered: 3-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 19, 2005 - 11:20 pm: | |
Oh -- if it's a nice day, have an afternoon beer in the garden of Rodin's house. |
kathleen
Citizen
Username: Symbolic
Post Number: 10
Registered: 3-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 20, 2005 - 9:05 am: | |
One added thought: Saint-Denis. Far less crowded than Notre Dame and a magnificent work of art, with great historical interest. Easy to get to via the Metro. |
eliz
Supporter
Username: Eliz
Post Number: 1035
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 20, 2005 - 9:46 am: | |
Lunch at Atelier Joel Robuchon - it's just bar seating and you choose from a menu of small plates and great wines by the glass. Fantastic.
Brasserie Flo is part of a big chain that, imo, is past it's prime.
I was in Paris in September with a couple of extreme foodies and we ate at several of the hottest restaurants - most disappointed - with the exception of Robuchon. I would agree with Amy that the best meals to be had are at the local cafes/bistros/brasseries in the neighborhood wherever you are staying. Hopefully you will have a good concierge who can point you to a few perfect little places.
|
Innisowen
Citizen
Username: Innisowen
Post Number: 659
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 20, 2005 - 11:32 am: | |
I would add my vote to Kathleen's concerning the basilique de Saint-Denis(burial place of French kings and queens), especially in the ethereal light of a sunny Parisian morning. It's in a somewhat run-down neighborhood of Paris, not as chic as the ile de la Cite and Notre Dame, but perfectly safe, rarely crowded with tourists, and with some interesting local cafes for coffee, a sandwich, and a Calvados or two. |
kathleen
Citizen
Username: Symbolic
Post Number: 12
Registered: 3-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 20, 2005 - 4:59 pm: | |
The basilica St-Denis is just a few steps away from its Metro stop. I felt totally safe. A "not chic" neighborhood in Paris means discount stores are selling useful things like plastic laundry tubs and socks, not 5 euro maccaroons. "The light of a sunny Paris morning" is the right time to go (especially since French workers drink Calvados in the morning). But even on a hot sunny afternoon, it's cool inside, especially down in the crypts where Marie Antoinette is buried. |
bookgal
Citizen
Username: Bookgal
Post Number: 623
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, April 30, 2005 - 10:22 pm: | |
If you do go to the Place de Vosges and meander round the Marais, stop for lunch or dinner at Baracane. Really good cahors, great cassoulet and the most wonderful pruneaux and armagnac ice cream. |
bookgal
Citizen
Username: Bookgal
Post Number: 624
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, April 30, 2005 - 11:14 pm: | |
It is just the best city to walk around, I love the Marais and the Bastille areas. Lots of interesting little galleries have popped up in the Bastille area over the last few years.
Second the recommendation for the Rodin museum and suggest the Picasso museum. Grab a quick lunch on the Quai des Augustins along the Seine, or go for sunday lunch on the L'Isle St. Louis, there is a fun Alsatian place frequented by large families, locals and tourists alike. If you read French check out all the fabulous second hand bookstores. |
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