Visiting Paris

[peter grimes]

So my wife and I are visiting Paris at the end of June. She's never been, I went in school, but that was about 25 years ago. I have no interest in doing things like going up the Eiffel Tower, going to Moulin Rouge, spending hours in a Museum (except for the museum of science and industry), or going to Versailles.

But she's definitely going to Versailles one day. So I'm thinking I might do a day-trip to somewhere. Any suggestions?

I like archaeology, geology, engineering... I also like sailing, canoeing, and biking. I was thinking of renting a bike and doing a long ride or something.

Also, if anyone has suggestions for interesting things to do / places to visit / restaurants, I'm all ears

 

[Antilogic]

What about the Catacombs? Do you want to walk down hallways of skeletons and bones?

 

[Formaldehyde]

I know you said no museums. But I'm going to recommend one anyway: The Musée d'Orsay.

It was certainly the highlight of my trip along with the restaurants. But I'm a sucker for impressionism.


Link to video.

 

[peter grimes]

I should have chosen better wording than I did.

I meant that suggesting museums isn't what I'm looking for, as it's really easy to figure out what I'll like and what I can skip. We're only going to have 4 full days, and it would be all too easy to spend all of them in Museums. But if we did that, then we wouldn't really have spent much time in Paris itself.

I'll watch the video, though. We did go there 25 years ago, but 15 year old me was a very different person - I'm sure I would get a lot more out of it today than I did back then.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

What about the Catacombs? Do you want to walk down hallways of skeletons and bones?

Awesome stuff! Next time I gotta check that out!

 

[peter grimes]

Awesome stuff! Next time I gotta check that out!

Yeah, I'm pretty sure we're going to do this...

 

[Verbose]

I like archaeology, geology, engineering...

Maybe the Cité des Sciences in the Parc la Vilette? (Or it might all be in French, or too much of it pitched to kids? It's a another French science museum anyway.)
http://www.universcience.fr/fr/accueil

I'd at least want to check the temporary exhibition about what modern archaeology now thinks the Gauls, as opposed to the old "Nos ancêtres les gaulois"...

 

[HannibalBarka]

Oh definetly a wine region visit. you have 3 good options: the Loire valley (around Tours basically), Burgundy or Champagne. If you're interested in geology, Champagne region is a better option I think, it's also really close to Paris. You'll do champagne tasting and you'll visit interesting caves. You may want to do that with your half though as champagne is a lady-killer ;-)

 

[peter grimes]

Oh definetly a wine region visit. you have 3 good options: the Loire valley (around Tours basically), Burgundy or Champagne. If you're interested in geology, Champagne region is a better option I think, it's also really close to Paris. You'll do champagne tasting and you'll visit interesting caves. You may want to do that with your half though as champagne is a lady-killer ;-)

Except we're not drinking while she's pregnant

But is Champagne close enough for a day trip? I had always thought it was ~6 hours distant.

 

[really]

If your wife is determined to go to Versailles you could take the train to Chartres which is about an hour away and stops in Versailles (Versailles Chantiers) to visit the cathredral and stuff.

Otherwise I would just recommend you find a spot to sit back and watch the world go by...

Also the European Cup will be on during the month of June - you should go to a pub to watch one of the matches.

 

[HannibalBarka]

Except we're not drinking while she's pregnant

But is Champagne close enough for a day trip? I had always thought it was ~6 hours distant.

Oups . there is still a lot of good food there even for pregnent women

Champagne region is next to Paris. Eperney, the capital city of champagne, is 100 miles from Paris. You should hire a car a drive there, try to go there on a week day although june is one of least touristic periods.

 

[Ergo Sum]

If anyone has favorite bars or some such in Paris I would appreciate hearing about that myself. Music festivals in fall too? Sorry to coopt thread

 

[peter grimes]

If anyone has favorite bars or some such in Paris I would appreciate hearing about that myself. Music festivals in fall too? Sorry to coopt thread

Don't apologize - no reason at all to not have all 'Visitng Paris' stuff in one thread

 

[Ailedhoo]

I know a grand restaurant with a bit of history to it. It is the La Coupole. Many Parisians go there. I found the food grand.

Special mention goes to one of their signature dishes, the Indian lamb curry, taking to the table of order in silver cart and served by an Indian dressed up in traditional clothing.

 

[Quintillus]

The Catacombs are interesting, and don't take all day, even when there's a line to get in (which there probably will be in June).

The Eiffel Tower is actually worth it, so I'd recommend going along with it if your wife wants to. Versailles, on the other hand, I think you're making the right choice by skipping. The palace itself is plenty impressive, but it's absolutely thronged with tourists, to the point that it noticeably impacts the quality of visiting it.

The Chartres cathedral is nice, and at least when I was there less crowded than the famous Parisian ones. But I wasn't in the town for long. One more general suggestion I have - which wouldn't work during daylight hours - is that if there's a sound and light show at a cathedral, consider going to it. I went to one in Rouen, and it was actually pretty impressive. I don't know if those are at all common closer to Paris.

Restaurant-wise, it's fairly crowded, but there's quite a few good places in the 1st Arrondisement that you can get in without reservations. I don't think it's necessary to single out individual establishments in a city like Paris.

Another possibility is taking the Eurostar up to Brussels for the day. It's only an hour and a half to get there, so it's a realistic day trip. Personally, I don't like Brussels as much as Paris, and prefer the smaller Belgian towns to Brussels. But, it's worth considering. Amongst the towns I really enjoyed where Ghent (on the Gent-Sint-Pieters stop), which apparently is only half an hour from Bruxelles-Midi, where the Eurostar arrives, so it might be doable. The castle in Ghent is especially nice, and, like a lot of those towns, simply exploring the town.

Of course, simply exploring Paris is a good option as well. And I'm sure 4 days won't be enough to explore Paris.

Experience: Not much, I've only been to Belgium and Paris twice, most recently about 13 months ago.

 

[Save_Ferris]

The Eiffel Tower is overrated, you can't have a Paris trip without it. Apart from that, I would highly recommend a tour of Notre Dame and the Louvre.

Also, there are some great small bookstores along the Seine.

 

[ComradeDavo]

The Louvre is must for Paris. Sure, the Mona Lisa gets all the attention but there are alot of great paintings in there, very much worth going. I loved it when I went a few years back.