travel: Paris
General
Paris is one of those places that if you've been travelling and return home, people will ask if you went there and then follow up with questions about the Eiffel Tower, The Louvre and the like - names that are familiar to many even if they've never been near the place.
Paris is cheaper than London in many ways (but not all) but it is still quite an expensive place to eat, shop, and stay but that's perhaps not the main point if you're on a trip and have the opportunity of being there a few days - the point is the beauty of the place, the atmosphere, the culture and history.
What follows is a necessarily short and incomplete guide to what is a fairly big and complicated place with little things worth seeing around every second corner in some parts of town. We won't talk about the Louvre or the Eiffel Tower because it's on most people's list anyway.
One of the best ways to see the place is to go to an area you like the sound of, and just wander without cares or schedule.
Food
There is an absolutely enormous variety of places to eat in Paris and these days you can even get a vegetarian meal. If you have a top-end budget, then just get the Michelin red book and work your way through. For the budget end there's not that much that's heard of outside particular neighbourhoods. Flunch is a cheapo stand-by (with one right beside the Centre Pompidou). It serves big quantities of basic food that is frequently overcooked. French people sneer at the place but there is no shortage of them in these restaurants.
Psycho non-smokers, as of jan 1 2008, will most likely delight in the fact that you can't smoke in cafes, bars, and restaurants any more. Others think it has ruined the atmosphere of the small cafes and bars, and has lessened the previously relaxed tone of such places. For more civilised treatment on this front, you need to go to Germany.
Accomodation
From the Georges V and the Crillion to a basic Youth Hostel, there is a huge range available with the top game being finding the latest underpriced but impressively cool boutique hotel... a game we're not going to play!
Shopping
If it's shopping you want then, of course there is plenty here, but for sheer breadth and even, often, better prices, you're better off in London.
Having said that, a wander around the area of the Madeleine, including the Faubourg Saint Honore is certainly pleasant and places like Comme des Garcons provide as interesting (and expensive) things as you'll find anywhere. What is instructive for fashion watchers is to go into places like H & M and compare what's there with elsewhere - Paris is conservative and bourgeois. The rise and rise of property values and rents as more and more money is invested in unproductive assets is a problem here just as it is in New York or London. Steeper rents means shopkeepers are less willing to take chances.
The Marais has a lot of interesting smaller shops including a fair few fashion shops. Not too many have much wow-factor though. We quite liked American expat Consuello Zoelly's retro nowism.
The Champs Elysee might be a spectacular grand avenue but the shops will only be interesting if you've never seen a luxury superbrand shop before ... or, phone stores. We could go on about the dumbing down of luxury by these brands - the death of discernment and the like - but we won't. If you go to your local bookshop and leaf through "Cool Shops in Paris" or similar, you'll find the Champs E. doesn't rate a mention. It's well worth a visit for other reasons though.
Then there are the big department stores, Galleries Lafayette and Printemps which are close by L'Opera and not far from the Madeleine. These are impressively large and impressively full of stuff but they're very "same ole, same ole" as far as the nature of the stuff is concerned. We were startled to discover, when looking for a hat, that the much smaller Lille Printemps had more interesting stock. Make that "way more interesting".
Night Spots
Too many to count, and in all shapes and sizes but we'll mention a few - The Rue des Poissoniers has a few big dance music clubs, The Rex and Triptych for two ... which we might have spelt wrong. In the general area of Pere Lachaise there's the Fleche d'Or although all these places have quite conservative booking practises with shows with lots of retro-ish things on offer. More alternative venues include the likes of Point d'Ephemere which is right alongside a canal and also has a very reasonable restaurant which serves up good sized portions of interesting food for good prices.
Les Halles
Once famous for its markets, this has a lot of stores of varying interest, lots of restaurants, the beautiful big church Saint Eustache, and the gorgeous small one, Saint Merri, which has recently had a lot of restoration work done. There is a large park, a fairly confusing Metro station, and lots and lots of tourists. A lot of the area is pedestrianised though, so what might be a crush on normal sidewalks is mostly quite OK.
The Centre George Pompidou is close by and its controversial design and very full program of cultural activities also attracts crowds - particularly on the weekend when there are frequently long queues to get in. Once inside there are always exhibitions that need to be paid for but there's often something in the basement for free. There is free wi-fi available but it is annoyingly complicated to access and they seem to have blocked access to mailserver ports so you need a web interface - gmail and the like is fine. There's also a huge and very good but, understandably, mostly French language arts bookshop which has a huge range but unfortunately no comfy seats to lounge in.
Just near the Pompidou is IRCAM which is well-known for its electronic music concerts and workshops.
The Marais
Just next door to Les Halles and just beyond the Pompidou, is the Marais. This is one of the most characterful parts of Paris, with ancient winding streets full with galleries, fashion shops, cafes and restaurants and lots of apartments as well - a real neighbourhood.
Pere Lachaise Cemetary
The Doors frontman Jim Morrison was buried here after a mysterious death in Paris and hordes of people have come to visit his grave since. What used to be a fairly Gothic spot with all sorts of interesting graffiti has been cleaned up and there are people who say that his remains have actually been repatriated. Who knows?
Lachaise is actually a fairly big place and many interesting people have been buried here. This all harks back to the days when Paris was the happening place on Earth - something that is no longer true.
An interesting factlet we were told was that aside from very famous people like JDM, Pere Lachaise is run as a business and if your family has someone buried there, you need to pay reasonably substantial amounts for the person to stay there. We were a little shocked.
Montmartre
Famous for the large church on top of the hill, Sacre Coeur, and a certain ambience, as well as copious numbers of tourist trap restaurants and scary tourist art shops, there is quite a view from the front of Sacre Coeur. It seems to be traditional to bring along a guitar or some percussion instrument and sit on the front steps and sing a few songs. Inside the church are many services each day and, if you put your name down beforehand, you can spend the night in the church after Vespers.
Champs Elysee
Forget the shops and just take the walk from the Louvre through the gardens and past the Place de la Concorde (once Place de la Revolution where many people were murdered) and up the Champs Elysee to the Arc de Triomphe.
Notre Dame
Yes, well, along with the Eiffel Tower, you just have to go and have a look. It is worth it as well, and if you're really into ancient churches, we suggest you take a trip to Amiens to see Europe's largest Gothic cathedral. It's about an hour's train ride from the Gare du Nord. Fin Paris these days is more about the atmosphere and the general rather than the specific - the atmosphere is rich with the long and interesting history of the place. Certainly there are specific things to see and do but these quite often relate to the past as well. Wander and enjoy and allow yourself to be surprised.
Bookmark:
post to Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUponfront page / music / software / games / hardware /wetware / guides / books / art / search / travel /rss / podcasts / contact us