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What is there to do in Paris?

T

TouchN' Stuff Blvd

Bluelighter
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
Messages
434
By a stroke of some luck, I will soon be going to Paris. I will have just under a week in the city, and I would love suggestions on things to see do or try while there. I don't feel I have the best traveling skills when it comes to really getting the experience of the culture. I plan to see the art museums the louvre, the pompidou and the ARC, and I'd like to try ordering an absinth. Other than that I don't know what I'll be doing - anyone know of any other cool places?
 
Forget the absinth. It's a pale copy of the original 1900's. There's a lot to do in Paris so tell us your center of interests please ;)
 
OHHHH I don't know, art, especially painting, beautiful things, fringe things, Musique concrete, cool artsy places to walk around with galleries and stuff. Vague enough for you? :) Oh and since this is bluelight I guess I would include highs but I don't expect Paris has any sort of drug tourism going on so thats fine. I know nothing about Paris so I am interested in any ideas on places to check out, really!
 
There's the Quartier latin for a start. Parts of 5th and 6th quartiers, lots of art galleries and students, the Sorbonne is great, as is the Beaux-Arts (School of Fine Arts), although Cézanne was refused its admittance, it's a great place to hang out in the sun in a little place populated by cool french youngsters. Here you can score some hash if you're lucky and have a good nose.

More to come.
 
I could tell you but then you would have to take me with you ;)

Sorry I havent been there I am not sure. But I do know that you can make reservations at the big museums so you dont have to stand in line. Have fun.
 
When i was in paris I bought a french playboy, hash and stayed in the hotel room. Somebody od in the room next to me and the wife came running up to my hotel door, beating on it, screaming in french. I was like whoa. She dragged me to the other room where her husband was blue laying on the bed. My friend called emergency services [which took like 15 min to get there] and performed CPR. He got taken out on a stretcher, dont know what happened to him. We high tailed it out of paris the next day.

What is there to do in Paris?
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Drink?
 
go to père lachaise - it's beautiful:

PereLachaise.jpg


i also love the d'orsay - it's beautiful inside and out:

rep.jpg
musee-d-orsay.jpg


just walk around - paris is spectacular.

alasdair
 
Thanks for all the ideas so far, especially you loulou! I secretly made this topic hoping for your input actually since I have lurked enough to know you would be the one to know:) I will be doing a ton of walking, as much as I can in a day! I also am totally adding the d'orsay to my list. I am a tiny bit confused by the quartier system, does the quartier latin also have a number?

Also do many people speak English? Would I just be asking to be ripped off trying to score hash without knowing french?
you guys are awesome btw
 
Excuse me as I copy/paste a recent reply from another thread here on Bluelight......


I could spend a week in Paris alone, it is by far one of my favourite cities. Obviously it is expensive, up there with London in it's ability to suck money, but there are plenty of free/cheap activities to do that make the more expensive accommodation worth while. Fresh food is also cheap and easy to buy so I'd suggest avoiding restaurants if you are on a budget. The metro system is cheapish and covers the whole city. They have really cool buskers on them as well. Compared to the London tube I could sit on the metro all day.

The large Antique market at Porte de Clignancourt, officially called Les Puces de Saint-Ouen, but known to everyone as Les Puces (The Fleas), is cool. It covers seven hectares and is the largest antique market in the world, receiving between 120,000 to 180,000 visitors each weekend. It is in a dodgier part of the city (watch for pick pockets) and it is full of helpful guys willing to sell you a car stereo , but it is easy to spend a whole saturday trawling through some incredible stalls.

Pere-Lachaise Cemetery is a cheap way to spend a few hours. Chopin, Victor Hugo, Oscar Wilde and of course Jim Morrison's grave sites are all here. And it's free.

The Lourve is the best museum to see but there a plenty of smaller amazing galleries about that don't have large crowds. My personal favourite is the Rodin sculpture gallery (The thinker, The Kiss).
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Limited english would be fine to score hash. A knowledge of Moroccan is probably better than French ;)
 
TouchN' Stuff Blvd said:
I am a tiny bit confused by the quartier system, does the quartier latin also have a number?
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No, but it's in the 5th district. The french term is complicated, well if you really want to know, it's written "arrondissement" and there are 20 in Paris.

The things to say to score hash: "Avay vou dü hashish? Combian? Vaint euros pour deu grammes? Ok! Copain! (Have you got some hash? How much? 20 euros for 2 grams? Ok! friend!)

The main weapon here to score good hash is the nose. The student artists will have some good hash.
 
You are so lucky! Paris is my absolute favorite city! I lived there for a little while, studied there, and I've been back to check out the winter months when it's a little less tourist-y.

It's great, and it truly is a magical city. You'll spill something on your shirt, and you'll be mad for just one fraction of a second before coming back to the realization that YOU'RE IN PARIS! Just look up, and you'll see something to put a smile on your face. How can you not? It's a city so rich in all things art and architecture, movies and music and food and ... all right, all right, I'm gushing. (Can you tell that I love Paris?)

So here's what to do and a couple of pro tips:

First, walk around, walk everywhere, and try to dress your best; Paris is one of the fashion capitals of the world, and wearing your best worn-out, grass-scuffed soccer shoes will not cut the mustard. If you want to fit in with everyone else, invest in a pair of PUMAS. I swear, they're crazy about PUMAS in Paris. It's just a more fashionable city-shoe, I guess.

So, where should you walk to? Well, there's the Louvre, of course, the Musée d'Orsay, and all of the touristy attractions like the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, and so on... Sure, check those things out, but where you'll really want to walk to is to L'As du Falafel. It's in the 9th, and man, oh man, we're talking falafel the size of your head and so good you might want to bring a change of clothes just in case you pee yourself. It's also a really cheap meal. Just stand in line, grab your falafel, and hang out with the pigeons. (They like to eat whatever falls off your falafel. lol)

Oh, and window shop! But don't be rude and go into every little shop you see without giving the proprietor an enthusiastic "bonjour!" or "bon soir!" It's not like here where you can go into a shop, touch everything, and then leave without buying a thing or saying hello to the person behind the counter. Honestly, and this may sound just a little bit hokey, but some of the best times we had in Paris were when we just walked around window shopping, eating falafel and generally just hanging out.

Anyway, L'As du Falafel is a hidden treasure, and so you'll definitely want to go there. If you feel like drinking, there are plenty of little dives you can slip into to grab a quick drink, but again, dress nicely; and remember, drinking in public is not frowned upon, but getting wasted in public is. You might want to grab a cheap bottle of wine from any one of the supermarkets and find a park bench somewhere. It's the coolest thing to just walk through a park, find a bench or a little grassy area, and then pop the cork on a cheap bottle of wine; and don't feel bad about buying a cheap bottle of wine... it's all domestic, and it's all really, really good. ;) Unlike many places here in the states, the French actually use their public space like parks and things.

Damn! I have to run, but when I get back I'll tell you more about the places to go and the things to do, like eating the fruit! I'll have to tell you about the fruit, because you're going to want to eat a lot of their fruit. It's like doll food, everything is so colorful like plastic and it's all so ripe and delicious... OK... but later!
 
It might also be a good idea to post this thread in EADD.
A forum of Europeans is a great resource!

:D
 
OK, so you'll definitely want to find the open-air markets where they sell strawberries, and peaches, and watermelon, and grapes, and all the fruits that you've had before, but fruits that will taste like nothing you've ever had before. It's unreal, but don't touch the fruit, point! If you want something, point to it and they'll grab it for you. I can't remember exactly where we found these open-air markets, but I do know that we stopped by one not far from the catacombs.

Oh, and this reminds me, you'll want to grab all the things you need for Sunday on Saturday because everything will be closed, all of the supermarkets and everything else. Sunday's the day to lay low and unwind, and they take it seriously. lol

I'm not sure what more to add, I mean, there's a lot to do in Paris. Go check out a movie, go to a club if that's your thing (and expect to find many a tourist looking for drugs), go shopping or window shopping and go eat a great meal. There's a great Vietnamese restaurant that I can't remember the name of right now but that I can look up for you if you like Vietnamese food. Oh, but don't expect to find great Indian food anywhere. The French aren't too big on spicy food, and it will surely disappoint you. :(

Honestly, I think that you'll be surprised by what you find. I think you'll be surprised at how content you are to just sit down somewhere and people-watch. OK, that might sound creepy, but Paris is a very different city than, say, New York. It's not the go-go-go city with outlandishly tall buildings and where everyone's anxious all of the time. It's a city where nearly all of the buildings are just five stories high, where people will have somewhere to be and something to do but it's not so much getting there and doing it that's the the important thing as it is something else that I can't quite put my finger on. It just feels like a very different kind of city, and it's hard to describe.

Anyway, let us know how your trip is!
 
If you want a good chinese restaurant, go to the 13th district (13e arrondissement). But be careful, there are bad chinese restaurants too!

For clubbing I don't know, not my thing, but there are very good music clubs in Pigalle and La Bastille. For Pigalle, avoid at all costs the sex tourist traps (ALL the sex clubs are tourist trap), prostitution is legal but not in clubs. If you want a sex session go on the net and search from here, a lot of girls speak English.

Drugs are very frowned upon in France, but everybody does it. Stay discreet is the keyword.
 
TouchN' Stuff Blvd said:
By a stroke of some luck, I will soon be going to Paris. I will have just under a week in the city, and I would love suggestions on things to see do or try while there. I don't feel I have the best traveling skills when it comes to really getting the experience of the culture. I plan to see the art museums the louvre, the pompidou and the ARC, and I'd like to try ordering an absinth. Other than that I don't know what I'll be doing - anyone know of any other cool places?
Click to expand...

I think what this really boils down is what would be cool for YOU to do, in which case you should tell us about yourself? Whats your Budget? Are you out doorsy/indoorsy? Is there anything your are interested in?

I ask this because If your looking for something to do I'm guessing your looking for something other than just the Louvre, or the Eiffel tower.

You like bones? All of Paris has a system of human bone filled catacombs open to the public. Its not every day you see walls literally stacked the with ceiling with bones. Very crazy stuff.
 
Vous pouvez prendre le temps d'apprendre la langue. C'est belle.
 
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