Kim's Top Ten Tips for Traveling in Paris

In no particular order...

1. Reserve tickets for the Eiffel Tower online



It's ridiculously simple and doesn't cost extra. Why stand in a line when there is absolutely no reason to?! Also - don't take the elevator back down, you'll miss the neat walk where you can see the innards of the tower.

 2. Go to Angelina for tea/coffee/hot chocolate and sweets





An amazing suggestion from my sister's boyfriend, and the perfect frenchy-french ambiance. Totally pricey, but certainly worth it, and very relaxing.


3. Get to the Louvre right when they open

If you're there long enough to warrant purchasing the museum pass (another good idea since it helps you get past some lines), Get thee to the Louvre and line up before they're open. Oh - and use the underground mall entrance, which is less crowded. By the time everyone is inside and buying their tickets, you're already halfway to the Mona Lisa with a museum pass.

4. After booking a hotel, find the closest grocery store

This serves a few purposes: 

1. for when your husband forgets his deodorant 

2. you'll want to buy bottled water here every day instead of next to the touristy attractions because it is so so SO much cheaper 

3. you'll want snacks for breakfast (yogurt) or to do a picnic for lunch or dinner (cheese, ham, rolls and mustard, cookies, you get the idea)

4. it's freaking fun to look around foreign grocery stores. I like doing some of my souvenir shopping here, because you can get gourmet treats like mustard, olive oil and teas, and also get some practical things that might be hard to find elsewhere (like instant espresso sticks), or fun and cheap reusable bags with french writing.

5. Learn some French

Hubby didn't need to since I was in charge of re-learning all my French which was fine. But at least take a look at what foods are so you can quickly navigate a menu, especially if they don't have English versions. (Better yet - if you make a few reservations ahead of time, you'll be able to check out a menu online and plug it into Google Translate to get an idea of what looks good, and you can print it out to take with you!)

6. Walk fast and know where you're going

The Paris metro system has over 300 stations (all of which offer a different design) and if you look like a tourist, you'll be treated like a tourist and possibly a target for pickpockets. We didn't have any problems because we travel light and I spoke French as much as possible, but at least familiarize yourself with the metro map. I downloaded the system map on my phone and plugged in routes to and from places where I knew we'd be, just so it was easier to follow the signs in the metro stations. Nothing is worse than being overrun by a group of people who know where they're going and you're in the way!

7. One word: macaron.

Hubby finally discovered these tasty treats, and almost every time we passed a pastry shop we peeked inside to see their stash.

8. The house wine is always a good selection.

It's incredibly easy to spend an arm and a leg on food here, but like in Italy you can get a carafe of wine that almost always turns out to be delicious and is reasonably priced (for Paris, anyway). Plus, they are usually not as big as a bottle, so you won't feel like you have to stumble out of the restaurant or cafe.

9. Do a heavy lunch instead of a heavy dinner

Paris is all about people watching, and there are plenty of people out during the day! The French have no problem spending a super long lunch doing this, and the meals are usually cheaper during lunch than at dinner.

10. Have a plan!

Going to a new city to explore is stressful all by itself, but when you add in a foreign language and endless activities you think you HAVE to cover it can really drain you. Just a little structure in your day will have you feeling more relaxed and more like you're actually on vacation. Even if it's just making a dinner reservation one day, deciding to do the Louvre the next morning and studying the metro map, you'll have an edge on the competition (those other travelers). It's also helpful to have some background on the places you're visiting so you don't have to waste time figuring out why the Eiffel Tower exists and you can marvel at how awesome it is right away.

Next time: Versailles, where I wish I could spend many more of my vacations.

Quintessentially Paris: The Louvre

Did you know the Louvre used to be a castle/palace? In the basement you can still see a few holdouts from its former self:

Louis XIV used the Louvre to house the royal collection, including antique sculptures. He used the Palace of Versailles as his home (more on that next week!) and during the French revolution, they decided that the Louvre should be a museum from that point forward.

We got there before they opened and found the lesser-used entrance underneath the famous pyramid inside a mall. It was nice having the museum pass, which, after passing through security, we were able to scoot past the ticket lines and go right into the exhibits. We hung out for a few minutes here before making our way to see Mona Lisa:

(He's saying, go this way!)

Get there early like we did, and you can have entire wings to yourself!

As we've heard, the Mona Lisa is super tiny. Still neat to see, but you've all seen it, so I didn't take a picture. Then we backtracked for additional pictures in the sun-filled area with statues.

With the trees, it was peaceful and offered a respite from the ambling crowds. We also found the Code of Hammurabi:

And the Sphinx! Neat.

After our fill of culture, we got a few pictures outside....

And then proceeded to lunch. I was getting a bit bratty with all the crowds, and because the place I wanted to go eat was packed, but we got through it. We totally had McDonald's for dinner on our last night in the city, which as I may have mentioned before, is far superior to any McDonald's in the US.

While Paris was nice, it's still a big city and with that comes masses of tourists (PS - why did I see so many people taking pictures with iPads and iPad minis? Just get a camera, you look ridiculous). We were definitely ready for the rest of the trip, which was planned to be a lot more relaxed, and with better accommodations.

Would I go back to Paris? Yes, but I wouldn't stay as long, and I'd stay somewhere else. I'd go for more leisurely shopping and even more sitting outside sipping wine. Next time, tune in for a post about my Top Ten Travel Tips for Paris :-)

Quintessentially Paris: the Eiffel Tower

The end of our second day was one of the highlights of the trip for me, because we booked tickets to go up the Eiffel Tower at 10:00pm at night.

In Europe, we sit much farther north of the equator that we're used to in the US, so during the summer it stays light really late. On this particular evening, the sunset was at approximately 9:50, so as we were walking up to the tower we were treated to beautiful lighting like this:

If I could offer one tip about going to Paris (oooh, I think I'll do a top ten tips blog post!), it would be to book tickets in advance online for the Eiffel Tower. It doesn't cost extra and you don't have to stand in line like a sucker - you just show up a little before your designated time and go through a special line to get on the next elevator up. That's how vacations should be.

Anyway, as we got closer, we took more pictures....

Until it was finally time for us to go up the elevator to the second floor. The elevators are all open, so you can see you're going up really high the entire time. Once we got off the elevator, we made for the side of the building to capture the views with the waning light.

And then? Magic. Every evening starting at 10:00, and then each hour into the evening, the Eiffel Tower lights up in a spectacular fashion. Sparkly lights abound!!

We took a break and grabbed a few hot chocolates to have inside as the sun continued to set (and because it was getting a little chilly so high up) before heading out for some additional pictures.

Instead of taking the elevator back down, we opted instead to take the stairs down to the first and then ground floors. This was an excellent idea, because you can see the building up close and get a totally different perspective.

So fun! I would have loved to hang out there all day. They had a bar and restaurant and they're working on renovating the first floor (to include a glass floor!) You could walk around and read about the history of the building, Mr. Eiffel himself, and the building materials. It really has something for everyone: romance, history, and engineering.

Paris by Train

I can't tell you how great it is to go on a trip to another country and not have to go to the airport - no TSA, no bag limit, and no hassles. Oh yeah - and no time zone change!

We left our apartment to get on a train to Frankfurt where we'd catch the high speed train to Paris on Saturday morning. Some of us took a nap:

We pulled into the Paris East station a little after 1:00pm, after 4 hours on the train. I had bookmarked the metro stations so we'd know where to get on/off, and we checked into our hotel by 2:00pm.

We had lunch nearby before heading down to see the Arc de Triomphe before strolling down the Champs-Élysées, and walked over to our dinner destination, Maison de la Truffe (House of Truffles!)

Our dinner was great! Recently the hubby has discovered how tasty the truffle is, so I thought it would be fun to go to a restaurant that featured them. Mmm, steak and risotto.....

On the way back we stopped to take a picture here for the hubby:

On Sunday we got an early start because I heard the lines were atrocious at the Catacombes. As soon as we got off the metro nearby, we smelled the bakery. Hubby insisted I go in and buy him a chocolate croissant. He had his hungry eyes on:

That's the sight of a man in love. With chocolate.


























After we were fueled up with those, some McDonald's breakfast sandwiches and an espresso, we got to stand in a line for two hours.

Yup. It took that long, since they only allow 200 people down there at once, but we stuck it out so we could  get down to see a cave full of bones!

So creepy! But fun :-)

After some lunch, we went over to Notre Dame, were I heard there was supposed to be an organ concert, something that hubby was really looking forward to.

Alas, it was not a concert. We stumbled into a mass instead.

Bummer. Pretty, but a bummer.

Next post is all about that beautiful thing, the Eiffel Tower :-)