Whatever will we do in Paris?

I asked this question on the Slowtalk message board and was rewarded with a long list of great suggestions in this thread. I’ve summarized and organized those suggestions here for easy reference while we’re in Paris. Thanks everyone!

First, we will gaze out our windows on this view, then we will choose from the suggestions listed below.

Words of wisdom

Don’t plan every day’s activities. Let what happens happen. Live in Paris the way Parisians do, as much as you can. Resist busy-ness and relish everyday activities. (ckenb)

Daily routine

Become a “regular” somewhere, anywhere. (chachalaca)

The closest café (to our apartment) is the Café du Monde on the Place Maubert — it’s not small and intimate, but there’s great people-watching on the terrace in good weather. (Ann)

Get up early and ramble through the Tuileries alone. (chachalaca)

Spend every Sunday reading (a front for people watching) in Jardin du Luxembourg. (chachalaca)

Make sure to have a coffee in the hardware cafe of BHV. (chachalaca)

Sit out in a sidewalk cafe and lean back, take the sun on your face. It might be cold out, but the sun is warm. Sip your Beaujolais. Ah. (Dennis Michael Martin)

Buy fresh baguette/bread everyday. Take time to go food shopping – almost everyday, in various markets. (just travel)

Take long walks in various arrondisements. (just travel)

Really settle into a neighborhood and to become a regular at the local boulangerie and epicerie, not to mention the cafe at the corner where you can sit and watch the world go by. (Tourmama, aka Judy)

Try this restaurant/cafe/salon de the in the 5th, La Fourmi Ailee, 8 rue du Fouarre. (sophia1)

Food and wine

Visit Au Verger de la Madeleine (wine/spirits shop) when Gilles is working…he is so kind and will answer any/all questions. He is especially good at reccommending restaurants that are fabulous and worth the extra euro! (chachalaca)

Le J’Go because we always do and it never disappoints; make sure to order the Lou Pastifret (chachalaca)

Have tea at Marriage Freres or Ladurée. (chachalaca)

Visit a chestnut vendor’s stand. (chachalaca)

Have a chestnut crepe. (chachalaca)

Eat lunch at one of the back-room tables at Au Petit Fer a Cheval. Don’t be put off by the bar in front. Get the Plat du Jour. If you have room, go for the Tarte Tatin (faites maison). And don’t miss a visit to the WC. Amazing! (Dennis Michael Martin)

Find a good oyster bar and give yourself a tutorial on French oysters. Look for a place where a person wearing a rubber apron is standing out front opening them. (Dennis Michael Martin)

A good oyster bar: L’Ecallier du Bistro, 22 rue Paul Bert, 11th. 01.43.72.76.77 (Happy in Paris)

Go to the local poisonnerie at Place Maubert and order a dozen (well, we ordered TWO, to be honest) — go shopping and when you come back in an hour, the oysters will be shucked and packaged, ready to take home and eat at much less cost than in an oyster bar. (Ann, passing on a tip from Americana)

Buy a crepe Grand Marnier from a sidewalk vendor and walk along eating it out of your hand. (Dennis Michael Martin)

For a fabulous view of the Eiffel Tower sparkling at night, and the food is pretty good, too: (Happy in Paris)

Les Ombres, 220 rue de l’Université, 7th.
01.47.53.68.00
http://www.lesombres-restaurant.com

Find a good wine bar and become a regular there! After all, French wines are, well, amazing! (Christian)

Shopping

Go to the flea markets. I especially like the Porte des Vanve because it is all outside on the street, accessible and small, comparatively! (chachalaca)

Dehillerin (to buy whisks…sad I know but if you like to cook…well..it’s a highlight) (Linda aka “The Rhodes”) (It’s not sad, it’s one of the things I look forward to most! Chris)

Spend a FEW HOURS in Shakespeare & Co. (Linda aka “The Rhodes”)

The Red Wheelbarrel, 22 Rue St Paul, 4th. The best little bookstore in Paris. For Paris books, perhaps the best in the world. (Happy in Paris)

Sightseeing/Activities/Events

See a ballet/play/concert (chachalaca)

I second the idea of ballet or opera; several times I’ve gotten tickets for the Paris Opera Ballet at the Garnier, AFTER I’ve arrived in Paris. It amuses me that you need to reserve for dinner months in advance, but you can get an excellent seat a day or so before. (Marian)

Go to the Rodin museum if you haven’t. Especially before spring, the scuptures are more stunning without the foliage. You don’t even have to go IN to the museum, just do the outside visit. (chachalaca)

Take the metro out to the far, far ends of Chateau de Vincennes (which I hear is newly restored and lovely, but you’re not visiting those sites!) walk through the chateau grounds (not so lovely) to the big park, and spend the day there. (chachalaca)

I’m not sure when the tulips are usually in bloom in Paris, but it should be at least during the last part of your time there. I especially remember the ones in the gardens next to (behind?) Notre Dame. But maybe that was a little later in April. Not sure. (Dennis Michael Martin)

Spend the day at the Bois de Boulogne. This year, we will revisit Bois de Vincennes. We go to Bois de Boulogne almost everytime we are in Paris but it has been a decade since we were at the Bois de Vincennes. (just travel)

Walk through the Jardin des Plantes and see what’s in bloom. Something usually is. (Dennis Michael Martin)

Walk down to the downstream tip of the Ile de La Cite and sit there, dangling your legs over the water. Try NOT to become hypnotized. (Dennis Michael Martin)

Spend a couple of hours wandering around in Pere Lachaise cemetery. Somehow this is always most pleasant on a Sunday afternoon. (Dennis Michael Martin)

Explore the canal-side life on the Canal St. Martin. (Dennis Michael Martin)

Treat yourself to an hour in the Nissim de Camondo museum. (Dennis Michael Martin)

Take a trip out to St. Denis and then a stroll along the Canal St. Martin followed by a stop at a SPAM market (DanM)

Attend organ concerts at St. Sulpice and St. Eustache (DanM)

Visit the Parc des Buttes Chaumont in the 19th. I remember it as being kind of rugged – and there are great views of the city from there. (Tourmama, aka Judy)

Visit the free-wheeling Drouot auction house. Drouot is sort of half way between a street fair and a full-fledged museum. (Americana in Parigi)

Check out the calendar of street fairs for Paris and nearby. They are great fun.
(Americana in Parigi)

Stroll down rue Martyrs one Sunday morning when it becomes pedestrian only, take rue Clauzel over to the lovely little pl. Gustave Toudouze and get a sidewalk table at one of the cafe/resto/tea-rooms there and soak up the good life. (Laidback)

Spend time in the Bois de Boulogne on a Sunday afternoon, watching the French families enjoy themselves. (Marian)

Visit Sacre Coeur (Linda aka “The Rhodes”)

Visit Pere Lachaise (Linda aka “The Rhodes”)

7lézards and New Morning are my 2 Paris jazz bars. Especially 7lézards, one group often plays my husband’s compositions. (Americana in Parigi)

Take a tango class. Here is a site that is updated daily. (tuscanartist)

The Jardins japonais Albert Kahn would seem to be a serene and interesting place to wander for a couple of hours. (Judy aka Tourmama)

Daytrips

Visit Chartres and the labyrinth. (chachalaca)

Spend hours, maybe a day, milling through the gardens of Versailles on a fountain day, not standing in line for the chateau tours. (chachalaca)

Choose a nice sunny day and take the train to Trouville and walk all day on the unending white sand beach lined with Proustian villas and come home to Paris at sundown. (Americana in Parigi)

Rent some bikes and go to the Marne valley with the RER A (i think) and ride along the Marne have lunch at the floating cafe where the impressionists painted. Chez Gégène in Joinville, where Dominique Sanda and Stefania Zandrelli ended up after a winey dinner and where they danced the tango in “The Conformist.” (tuscanartist)