Preparation:
Buy Rick Steve's travel book about Paris. Seriously it was a huge life saver! We got the kindle version which was nice but I think I would have preferred the actual book to switch back and forth between the pages.
Buy a map, a GOOD map, perferrably one that folds and is laminated...and one that has the metro routes on it. This will be a lifesaver too.
Research the area you want to stay in. We stayed at Hotel Normandy and loved it! We were a block away from the Louvre and there was a grocery store practically across the street. The travel agents were around the corner and we had about 4 different metro stations all within a short walk. The room was well maintained and most importantly the room cam with it's own SHOWER and TOILET! There are alot of places that have communal bathrooms and I just couldn't do that.
Look at the weather, it's always changing so make sure you bring the proper clothes.
Learn their culture, seriously do some research and remember Paris is not America, their standards and way of life are different. Try to learn about it and be respectful when you are there. We found that people were most helpful when we understood the processes.
Make sure you have your camera! I literally have over 800 pictures from our trip and I love every one of them.
Travel Must Do's in Paris:
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| Inside Notre Dame |
These passes can be bought at any of the museums that participate or at the Travel Agents that are all over the city. It was nice because they spoke English and accepted American credit cards. We went to one right by our hotel and it literally took less than 5 minutes to get our pass.
My top 5 favorite places we visited were:
1) Notre Dame Cathedral: Waiting in line for 45 mins just to go to the top was so worth it! It's a beautiful view and its not too crowded because they only let a certain number of people up at one time. It is timed but they give you plenty of time to enjoy the scenery. Not very many restrooms in the cathedral, make sure you go to the bathroom ahead of time or have .50 cents on you to pay the cafes across the street so you can use their bathrooms.
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| Eiffel Tower at Sunrise |
3.) The Louvre: This one is definitely on the top five. We spent 6 hours and barely scratched the surface. I can understand how some people get overwhelmed in such a large place. But we loved it. I think what made it better for us is that we both chose a type of art work we wanted to see and we stuck to those areas of the museum. And by getting a little lost we got to see more than we had hoped. In the Louvre the translation headsets are 5Euros and totally worth it. They are interactive and they even help you if you get lost. It was nice hearing the descriptions for a lot of the paintings and statues. TIP: If the line is too long near the pyramid entrance there is a side door that not many people know about. I believe it's on the side closest to the river by the bridge. I would need a map to show you but the side entrance is good for pass holders and it's s little known secret we were not only told about ahead of time but also discovered for ourselves. I also loved the gardens and parks around the Louvre. It's easy to spend an entire day in that neighborhood. Bring a picnic or get food from the cafes there or even if you walk a block or two away from it you'll find many other cafes that aren't quite as expensive and most still can speak English.
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| At the Louvre See the cool headsets |
5.) Versailles: Talk about a gorgeous place to be! My goodness I loved this place. There was so many details to the gardens and the home. Going inside the home is a little crowded and by this point in our trip we were getting annoyed with all the people so we didn't stay long. Wish we would have done this as one of our first days so we could have enjoyed it a little bit more. But we did spend a good amount of time walking the gardens and along the lake. It was so peaceful because hardly anyone was out walking around they all stayed close to the main building. Definitely recommend wearing good shoes on this trip, ones that you can walk on gravel and dirt pathways. Heels or sandals are not the best. TIP: When purchasing tickets the normal metro tickets won't work you need to buy one specifically for Versailles, on the RER train. They will cost about 13 Euros round trip for one person (If I'm remembering correctly, I might be high balling it just in case I'm wrong.) You can buy these tickets at any metro station that sells metro tickets. On the map it will show you were those are with a big T. Also if you buy them from the metro they are still good to use once you transfer from the RER train to the city metro.
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| View from the Eiffel Tower at Sunset |
There are so many other wonderful places that we really enjoyed. I know Jesse loved the Pompidou and I loved the night cruise. We didn't do the dinner cruises, they were SO expensive and the tour on the big bus was just as much fun. We got seats on the top of the boat so I could take pictures without the glare of the glass. But if it were snowing or raining I think the bottom would be just fine because you'd eventually get to see both sides.
One other recommendation would be to start the day early as possible. And try to be the first people at the major tourist sites. I think that really helped us avoid the crowds and minimize our wait time, if any. Also try to travel during the weekdays and be aware of the museums hours and days they are closed. They aren't the normal Saturday or Sunday like they are here in the states.
2- Money: Bring at least $100 in cash to the airport with you and exchange it out for small euro bills at the first place you can find. The reason being is that if you plan on taking the metro to your hotel or the bus. The metro kiosks don't take american credit cards and the coin machines don't take bills larger than 20 Euros. It's an outrageous exchange rate but you'll be happy you did it when you can breeze by everyone and get your tickets right away. But there's really no need to bring more than that. Make sure to ask your bank ahead of time what the exchange fee is on purchases or withdrawals overseas. I think with USAA it was 3%. Also on the topic of money you can easily withdrawal money from any ATM, just make sure it's a ligament bank before you insert your card and always have a back up card in case the first one gets eaten by the machine.
Most large tourist sites take american credit cards so you don't need much cash just enough to buy dinners and other small things for the smaller places where the credit cards won't work.
TRICK: Most restrooms are free if you are a paying customer but if you're looking for a nice clean place to go to the bathroom be sure to have .25 or .50 Euros on hand almost any cafe will let you use their toilette's if you can pay to use them.
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| Exploring the first day we got there, my first view of the Eiffel Tower. |
great ways to get around. The metro was my favorite way to get around. The signs are so well marked and easy to read. The only scary part is trying to buy the tickets, We purchased the ticket packet that had 10 tickets each, we ended up using 3 of those for our trip. What was nice about it was that we could share and we didn't have to pay to try and figure out the card or get our picture taken. We might have spent more in the long run but to us it was the easiest and less stressful way of getting around. We attempted the city bikes that are everywhere but the thing with those is that you have to have a credit card with a chip and a pin number. One without the other will do you no good. Trust me I tried! I wanted to do the hop on and hop off busses because they really were every where and it would have been fun to see the city as we were traveling from place to place. But it just never worked for us to use it. I've had many people though tell me that when they were on a short visit that the bus was the best way to see multiple attractions in one day and still really be able to take in the beauty of the city.
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| On a night walk |
By foot was possibly the slowest and most painful way...after a while I started walking like I was pregnant. Here's is my TIP/TRICK: You can still look and dress fashionable in Paris without having to resort to tennis shoes (even though there was a day I would have worn Mickey Mouse slippers if they were available). My tip is to bring not one, not two pairs of comfortable shoes but three! Now this is only if you're going for a long period of time. If it's a short trip two pairs will do just fine. But I learned the hard way and kept wearing the same shoes day after day. It wasn't until the 5 day that I realized I needed to change it up. As soon as I did my feet felt 100x better. After two days of those shoes I wanted out of them as well, so I tried putting on my first pair and I think my feet actually cried. I brought, my "riding" boots, sandals, and I wish I would have brought a nice pair of converse. But I've got to say our walks were some of my favorite times. When I wasn't in pain we got to see some of the prettiest neighborhoods that weren't over run by tourist. We really got to experience the life of a Parisian and really got to experience the city.
4- What I would do Different: If we ever get a chance to go back, I would learn to speak more French than just Bonjour and Merci. I would bring more shoes and less clothes. I would have been happier and tried better not to fight with my husband and much (see previous posts). I would have tried more foods. But other than that, it's hard to top our amazing 8 day trip. If you're interested in our day by day itinerary please comment below and I'll get one typed up for you.
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| On top of the Arc de Triumph |
PS: This is one of the best places I've eaten in life! It was a little pricey and our only meal we spent over 100 Euros on but we did have at least 3 drinks each and a dessert but the food was incredible! And it was off the beaten path so not very loud and even had live music.
I'll have to do French cuisine another post!
Next Week I'll post about Washington DC...Was in the spirit with all the midterm voting...did you vote?
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