Paris

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Tenks said:
Maybe my outside perception is just wrong but does anyone think of Dallas as a culture center? I'd be more shocked if there was a place in Dallas with art galleries and music venues.
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Nah there's lots of art galleries and music venues, but obviously in a much lesser concentration than Paris. Probably no place except NYC in the USA has a big art scene.

Not really fair to compare a place like Dallas to Paris on art density, it's going to lose every time.

My point wasn't the concentration of artists, it was the concentration of people interested in art that also had enough money to be attending galleries and (obviously) buying art. These are probably the people you see at all the charity balls and shit in Dallas instead, but thats just nowhere near as visible.
 
Lanx

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woot! said:
I know quite a lot of restaurants in the center of Paris (had my office for 8 years not far from Opera/Le Louvre), so I'll throw in a couple addresses I like :

Good bread and "petits pains" :
-Du pain et des idées (34 Rue Yves Toudic, next to Republique). This is a no contest. Just go there and buy one of everything. Try the "brioche" (Mouna), might not look like it, but it's to die for (and eat it fresh ! ).

"Brasserie" : Not a kind of restaurant I personally go to very often, but this kind of restaurants is very Parisian, and you should try one if you are visiting. Two references come to mind :
-Le Grand Colbert (2 Rue Vivienne, next to the "Jardins du Palais Royal / not far from Opera/Louvre)
-Brasserie Galopin (40 Rue Notre Dame des Victoires , right next to Bourse)
Mind you those two are more on the "upper class" side of things, most people eating there wear suits (it's not mandatory at all, just related to the location), but those are the kind of restaurants you'd see in a movie if they needed to show a Parisian restaurant.
Another, which is really very typical, but not classy (at all) (in fact, doesn't look like shit ; has more kind of a working class feel to it). But if you want to try typical every day, (good) french food, I'd recommend you try this one :
-Le Bougainville (5 Rue de la Banque). The place is always packed for lunch, and there is a reason for that.

Good meat (beef) :
-Santa Carne (24 Rue des Tournelles , right next to Place de la Bastille). Charcoal grilled argentinian beef. Good stuff.
-The Beef Club (58 Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau , that's close to the Louvre). Kind of a hipster/bobo place. But who cares, their beef is good, and their mac&cheese side is god damn delicious. Ask for the "stilton sauce" ; holy fuck ! Book ahead (open only in the evening). Also if you go there a friday or sat night, they have a speakeasy (downstairs).

Italian ?
-Daroco (6 Rue Vivienne , next to the "Jardins du Palais Royal / not far from Opera/Louvre). Located in the former Jean-Paul Gautier workshop (place looks great). Book ahead to be sure.
-Pizzeria Popolare (111 Rue Réaumur, next to Bourse) New and overcrowded, upper level is quite noisy (ask to go downstairs), can't book ahead, but I love their truffle pasta. Their pizzas are not half bad either !
Talking about Pizzas ! Excellent ones can be found here :
-Iovine's (7Bis Rue du Colonel Driant, close to the Louvre as well) This is my personal fav for pizzas in Paris (but they only serve Pizzas, nothing else). Their dough, tomato sauce, and mozarella are top notch.

Bit more classy :
Le Restaurant du Palais Royal (inside the Jardins du Palais Royal). Just got their first Michelin star. Well deserved, but sadly as expected, they raised their prices. Still worth it. (this one you might get away with wearing a hoodie if they see that you are American and that you are eating on the terrace in summer, but inside you'll look very out of place)
Kei (5 Rue Coq Héron) Fine stuff. Kind of the same things that I just said for Le Restaurant du Palais Royal apply here.
Passage 53. (53 passage des Panoramas, next to Bourse). Two star Michelin. Japanese Chef cooking his vision of french cuisine. Was my fav restaurant for several years

Japanese. Someone mentioned the Japanese restaurants located rue St Anne. I am not a big fan of those. Here are much better ones :
-Lengue (31 Rue de la Parcheminerie). They serve what they describe as a Bento for lunch (a fine and delicious one) and becomes an Izakaia at night. I love it. Great collection of Japanese alcohols (some amazing whiskies), the chef is a fine wine connoisseur.
-Momoka (5 Rue Jean-Baptiste Pigalle). Good stuff as well
-Isse Izakaya (45 Rue de Richelieu) : their bento is very good as well.
Now for more specific stuff, but that are kind of street food oriented
Want Gyoza : go to Gyoza Bar (passage des Panoramas);
Ramen ? Go to Kotteri Ramen Naritake (be ready to wait in line outside)
Udon ? Udon bistro Kunitoraya (1 Rue Villedo)
Kare ? (Japanese Curry) : Ok I don't know any exceptional ones, I just take one at Taisho Ken 3 or Sapporo, they are ok, but nothing crazy.

Korean ? Jan Chi (6 Rue Thérèse)

Burgers : You can find some perfectly good burgers in Paris now. They are not gigantic, but they are tasty and made with quality ingredients :
-PNY (Paris New York) : 1 Rue Perrée (next to Republique, they have two other locations, but this one is my fav). Try the "Smoky Blue" (with extra bacon for good measure :p ) and ask for "loaded fries".
-Roomies . (14 Rue du Cygne ; Next to Chatelet - Les Halles) Here you tell them what you want in your burger. Good meat, crunchy fries.

Wine Bar. Want to sample some excellent wines ? You are so very right !
-Try "Legrand filles et fils" (located in the "Galerie Vivienne" , close to the Louvre/Palais Royal). It can be very expensive (they do have some very affordable stuff though), but the place is beautiful, and they do have some top of the line wines that you will not find anywhere else (think Petrus, La Tâche, Haut-Brion, Yquem and so on). They also have a delicatessen shop, just go look.

Coffee (and by coffee I mean espresso) :
-Telescope (5 Rue Villedo). If you like good coffee, this is the place to go. I go there almost every other day. The owner knows his shit. (fyi : they have a "no laptop" policy, never really understood why. Just don't go expecting to be able to work from there)
You could also try L'Arbre a Cafe (next to Sentier).

Feel like eating huge amounts of meat and seafood ? (I'm talking about 1kg of beef tenderloin on skewers)
-Pedra Alta (11 Boulevard Beaumarchais, there are several in Paris. In fact it's a Portuguese restaurant. They have pretty good meat imho)

There ! Hope this helps. And if you are looking for something else or more specific, just ask.


They are not Romanians (inhabitants of Romania), but Romani people ("roms" , aka Gypsies ) ;)
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woot! said:
Le Mesturet (77 Rue de Richelieu) Quite similar to the "Bougainville" in many ways. Also, good selection of wines here.
La Poulette de Grain (261 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, next to Nation) : know that they also serve a good brunch (but only in the weekends I think)
Le bistrot de Maëlle et Augustin (42 Rue Coquillière, book ahead) smallest of the three, feels the least like a "bistro", but my favourite regarding the food (bit more modern than the two others).

And now that I am thinking about brunch : another great place for that, in a very nice location (esp in summer) :
"La Gare" (19 Chaussée de la Muette) The place itself is a very old train station, the tables are setup where the tracks used to be.


-The most important thing to know, is that Paris is a tiny city, so do not be afraid to walk and just wander around randomly, especially in the single digit "arrondissements", which compose the center of Paris (you can always know in which arrondissement you are by looking at the street nameplates, the number on top is the arrondissement).
Yeah, that would really be my main advice : explore randomly. Start at a landmark (say Arc de Triomphe), aim roughly east (or west if you start at the Pantheon for example). Give yourself one hour and start wandering around. Take the streets where there are fewer people (the heart of the city is perfectly safe. The crowded places are the ones where you'd have to worry about pickpockets if you look too much like a tourist anyways). Look around you. When the timer's up : check where you are, define a new general direction. Rinse - repeat.

-People under 40 pretty much all speak english, so don't be afraid to ask for directions. The trick is to ask nicely, and to try to squeeze a couple french words in front. Get a phrasebook or an app on your phone, and learn just a few key sentences. It's so easy/simple, yet so rewarding. 100% worth it.
Start with something like "Bonjour ! Excusez-moi, pouvez vous me dire ou se trouve ... ?" (Hello, Excuse me, can you tell me where ... is located ?), works wonders.
Whereas if you start by asking "Excuse me, do you speak english ?" a lot of them might just answer "Non" even though they do (I think a lot of them are just not confident in their language skills or are ashamed)
Anyways ; asking nicely might seem obvious, but I've seen tourists just block the way of someone that was obviously headed to his work in a hurry and just throw "Where is blablabla ?". Yeah ... that is not going to work.

-Champs Elysees : Honestly, the place is just full of tourists and "racailles". Mind you, you don't risk anything, the place is packed with cops and soldiers as well. It's just not pleasant. Go there once because well, it's the Champs Elysees. just visit it in the morning when the street is empty. Note : All the other streets going from the Arc de Triomphe are much nicer -> Go explore !


So true. Both from the northern and southern airport. Every time I come back from a trip, I am appalled at the image those ugly suburbs project on visitors. They come expecting beautiful architecture, Haussmanian buildings ... and the first thing they see arriving in France feels like going through a 4th world country.

Bonus : Super accurate map of the city :p (plus you get to learn a couple words ! )
*note : I didn't make this map, just translating it.
View attachment 141836
Vieux = Old people
Putes & Touristes = hookers & tourists
Racailles = riffraff. Kids from the poor suburbs
Banlieusards = commuters
Coupe-gorge = cut throat
Bobos = hmm hard to translate, refers to some form of liberals. People who are typically well educated, have money (not super rich), but vote left.
Rien = Nothing
Chinois = Chinese people
Pedes = fags
Fringues = clothing
Personne n'y va = nobody goes there
Bourges = Rich people
Chalalas = Pretty much all the Teens/tweens that are not "racailles"
Reste du Monde = rest of the world
Pauvres = poor people
Ploucs = roughly means "rednecks"
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thanks put this stuff in google keep
 
Chillz

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My quick 3 Paris tips:
1.) The absolute best dinner you could have, is a picnic up at Sacre Coeur while watching the sun set over Paris. Buy a decent bottle of wine, a fresh baguette at a bakery and some cheese (Camembert is typical french and delicious) at a fromagerie or supermarket an you'll be all set.
2.) For sight seeing and visiting museums like the Louvre, Musee D'orsay, Notre Dame or Versailles: be there early when they open or you will stand in line forever at the security checks and for tickets.
3.) Metro: buy day tickets (Mobilis, not the Visite) to get around in Paris quickly and hassle free. Mobilis is much cheaper then Visite missing only some odd Rebates nobody really uses. If you stay for more then a cpl. of days i would even recommend the weeky pass Navigo Decouverte for 28€.
 
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Gurgeh

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Chillz said:
My quick 3 Paris tips:

3.) Metro: buy day tickets (Mobilis, not the Visite) to get around in Paris quickly and hassle free. Mobilis is much cheaper then Visite missing only some odd Rebates nobody really uses. If you stay for more then a cpl. of days i would even recommend the weeky pass Navigo Decouverte for 28€.
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The weekly navigo decouverte is 22.15€, you can use all public transportation in Paris and the suburbs., so if you stay more than one day, it's better than mobilis, you can even go to the airports using it, disneyland and Versailles... so you can buy one upon landing and that should be it as far as transportation expanses go.
 
Cad

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Gurgeh said:
The weekly navigo decouverte is 22.15€, you can use all public transportation in Paris and the suburbs., so if you stay more than one day, it's better than mobilis, you can even go to the airports using it, disneyland and Versailles... so you can buy one upon landing and that should be it as far as transportation expanses go.
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Yea we could have used the metro a lot more than we did if we had bought this, we ended up walking a lot because we just bought the 15-pack or whatever of metro tickets. Now, walking in Paris is fine and there's a lot to see, so it worked out ok. But the Paris metro is pretty nice and when you have google maps to navigate which entrance to go to and which line to take (the maps they print on the walls make NO sense...) it is convenient and fast.
 
woot!

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Cad said:
(the maps they print on the walls make NO sense...)
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The maps displayed on the walls of the subway stations can actually be quite useful.
They are not maps of the subway station itself, but maps of what is located over the station and show you where you will end up in the streets outside if you follow a given exit number.
 
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woot! said:
The maps displayed on the walls of the subway stations can actually be quite useful.
They are not maps of the subway station itself, but maps of what is located over the station and show you where you will end up in the streets outside if you follow a given exit number.
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I mean the transit maps they print which show how to get to say, Montmartre from Invalides. You'd never figure it out from their dumb map.
 
Szlia

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woot! said:
Bobos = hmm hard to translate, refers to some form of liberals. People who are typically well educated, have money (not super rich), but vote left.
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The term, which stands for bourgeois-bohème, is actually also used in english but not as much as in french. Mainly in relation to this book: Bobos in Paradise - Wikipedia (note that the article says the author coined the term, but it exists in french since the '70s apparently but not exactly with the current definition).
 
Lanx

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Gurgeh said:
The weekly navigo decouverte is 22.15€, you can use all public transportation in Paris and the suburbs., so if you stay more than one day, it's better than mobilis, you can even go to the airports using it, disneyland and Versailles... so you can buy one upon landing and that should be it as far as transportation expanses go.
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this stupid shitty pass didn't work out for me, and i doubt would work for anyone visiting Paris.
1. it's time sensitive, the pass is dependent not on when YOU buy it, but is only valid for the purchase week from mon-sun, so you fly in on mon, you're good, you fly in on thurs, you're fucked.
2. you also need to pay 5euros for just the pass itself
3. you also need a passport photo, like a physical photo, and like 99% of the normal world, you wouldn't have this around so you have to goto a nearby photobooth and take one for another 5euros.
 
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Gurgeh

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Lanx said:
this stupid shitty pass didn't work out for me, and i doubt would work for anyone visiting Paris.
1. it's time sensitive, the pass is dependent not on when YOU buy it, but is only valid for the purchase week from mon-sun, so you fly in on mon, you're good, you fly in on thurs, you're fucked.
2. you also need to pay 5euros for just the pass itself
3. you also need a passport photo, like a physical photo, and like 99% of the normal world, you wouldn't have this around so you have to goto a nearby photobooth and take one for another 5euros.
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Yep that's true, still, if you fly on thursday you'll have to buy it twice, that's 50€ for unlimited travel in the whole Ile-de-France which, again, include airports, disney, versailles. A ticket airport-paris is already nearly 10€, a daily ticket is 7,3€ (if you stay inside paris, up to 17€ if you go outside paris), so basicaly, even if you fly on thursday, buying it will save you 10-20€ and will save you the assle of figuring out what kind of ticket you need.
As for the photo, you have photo booths in most stations.
 
Lanx

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Gurgeh said:
Yep that's true, still, if you fly on thursday you'll have to buy it twice, that's 50€ for unlimited travel in the whole Ile-de-France which, again, include airports, disney, versailles. A ticket airport-paris is already nearly 10€, a daily ticket is 7,3€ (if you stay inside paris, up to 17€ if you go outside paris), so basicaly, even if you fly on thursday, buying it will save you 10-20€ and will save you the assle of figuring out what kind of ticket you need.
As for the photo, you have photo booths in most stations.
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yea, it's imo ONLY a good deal for the airport, if it was more user friendly, coming right out of CDG taking the tram you're presented w/ two dumbass ticket machines, w/ no ticketguy in sight.

Not only is this not helpful, these ticket machines are 50% useless to the traveler who doesn't have euros cuz these machines (which you later see in all the metros) only take either a credit card, WITH chip or coin euro only, no bills, of which ATMs only dole out bills.

So in order to make this navigo thing worthwhile, you have to find a teller if at all possible, after taking the airtram exiting CDG, i never saw a teller coming from or going to CDG.

I'm not debating if it was monetarily worthwhile, it is, only if you're able to get one once you get off the plane, find a fucking photo booth, while having enough euros or a credit card with chip and showing the teller you want a

"weekly navigo decouverte"

It's just that the logistics to obtain this stupid pass for a traveler is fraught with hurdles, and once you learn you can just buy a stupid one way book from tabac shops for 14.5 euros and the RER-b to CDG is 10euros and the RER-c to Versailles is 3euros, along with seeing every migrant just jumping the turnstiles or going through the one way entry, you youself just do the same.

Hell i went through the one way only areas 4x while in Paris, cuz Googlemaps pointed me to enter the one-way exit station, and of course once i'm there, i'm not going to go back out, so you just reach up and pull the damn door open.
 
Gurgeh

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Lanx said:
yea, it's imo ONLY a good deal for the airport, if it was more user friendly, coming right out of CDG taking the tram you're presented w/ two dumbass ticket machines, w/ no ticketguy in sight.

Not only is this not helpful, these ticket machines are 50% useless to the traveler who doesn't have euros cuz these machines (which you later see in all the metros) only take either a credit card, WITH chip or coin euro only, no bills, of which ATMs only dole out bills.

So in order to make this navigo thing worthwhile, you have to find a teller if at all possible, after taking the airtram exiting CDG, i never saw a teller coming from or going to CDG.

I'm not debating if it was monetarily worthwhile, it is, only if you're able to get one once you get off the plane, find a fucking photo booth, while having enough euros or a credit card with chip and showing the teller you want a

"weekly navigo decouverte"

It's just that the logistics to obtain this stupid pass for a traveler is fraught with hurdles, and once you learn you can just buy a stupid one way book from tabac shops for 14.5 euros and the RER-b to CDG is 10euros and the RER-c to Versailles is 3euros, along with seeing every migrant just jumping the turnstiles or going through the one way entry, you youself just do the same.

Hell i went through the one way only areas 4x while in Paris, cuz Googlemaps pointed me to enter the one-way exit station, and of course once i'm there, i'm not going to go back out, so you just reach up and pull the damn door open.
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Oh, yeah, of course they're making it hard for the newly arrived tourist to buy it ! Why sell something cheap and convenient, when you can extract 2 or 3 times as much by selling crap ! You've got 30 millions foreign tourists coming to Paris every year, if you scam each 10€ on average thanks to unclear and unpractical vending machines, that's quite a lof of money at the end of the year !
That being said, at least in France it's possible to buy the same ticket as the locals, which are dirt cheap (navigo pass are heavily subsidized, unlike "tourists" tickets), in many other countries I went to, you had to be resident to get the good deals.
 
Lanx

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Gurgeh said:
Oh, yeah, of course they're making it hard for the newly arrived tourist to buy it ! Why sell something cheap and convenient, when you can extract 2 or 3 times as much by selling crap ! You've got 30 millions foreign tourists coming to Paris every year, if you scam each 10€ on average thanks to unclear and unpractical vending machines, that's quite a lof of money at the end of the year !
That being said, at least in France it's possible to buy the same ticket as the locals, which are dirt cheap (navigo pass are heavily subsidized, unlike "tourists" tickets), in many other countries I went to, you had to be resident to get the good deals.
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i don't even know how many ppl want to even take the RER-b out of CDG to Paris, a one way ticket is 10euros each, most likely you're traveling w/ someone, so that's a 20euro trip, when an Uber from CDG to Paris is 50euros. for 30extra euros you can take a shitty Uber to your hotel/bnb.

It was hell lugging around luggage from CDG to the RER-b, up and down stairs, 1, 50lb bag and 1, 35lb bag (i was spoiling my wife by taking her bag too), and both of us were packing light, cuz we had a bnb w/ a washer and re-wore the same clothes many days.

Then once you get out of the RER-b, theres no way you can walk to your place with a combination of cobblestones, narrow sidewalks and traffic lights that are only a "suggestion".
 
Herrt

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I find it funny you stayed on Rue Dauphin, the wife and I were on Rue Danton, next to Fountain Saint-Michel. What a fantastic area, friendly people. Close to everything, we walked an average of 24km per day in Paris for the 7 days we were there.
This was my second trip and having the experience of the first one under my belt made this one sooo much better.
Being up early in Paris is a bonus, you are almost always first in line at attractions, even if you have the museum pass with fast pass, so does everyone else, showing up to stand in line for an hour when you thought you were going to be able to walk right in is a bummer. So get out of bed early hit a sidewalk cafe for Au-Lait and walk or ride transit to your first stop of the day and enjoy beating everyone.

I would not recommend at 11pm leaving Sacre Coeur (Awesome night-time view of Paris) and deciding to bypass the closest Metro Anvers to walk to Clingancourt, because the station at Chateau Rouge is closed for 2 freaking years, walking deeper into 18th after midnight was quite the experience and my wife being a little worrisome figured we were going to die, but hey I enjoyed it!

The metro maps may as well have been written in chinese for how easy they were to understand the first 2 days we were there (my first trip was on a tour so never had to deal with anything other than getting on a bus)
then on the second night we went out for dinner and I drank so much I had to stagger to the metro then the room, funny thing was while sitting in the station I was looking at the maps and they made perfect sense to me. I was over thinking them. Very easy to use.

So much to say about our trip and our experience in Paris. I will leave that for the thread I started.
Biggest thing about travelling, my moto stands for all things I do in life. Anything bad or good that happens, It is all part of the adventure.
 
Alex

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Going to France for a friend's over the top destination party and I'll be flying in/out of Paris. Obviously not going to go all the way to Europe for a weekend party so I'm going to spend some time in the city. How many days would y'all suggest? Planning on checking out art museums, probably some live music, some of the sites, and eating/drinking. My friend actually lives in Paris but I'm not going to get unbiased feedback from her.
 
Lanx

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Alex said:
Going to France for a friend's over the top destination party and I'll be flying in/out of Paris. Obviously not going to go all the way to Europe for a weekend party so I'm going to spend some time in the city. How many days would y'all suggest? Planning on checking out art museums, probably some live music, some of the sites, and eating/drinking. My friend actually lives in Paris but I'm not going to get unbiased feedback from her.
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check out the museum pass, it "might" save you money depending on how many and which ones you want to visit, but the big advantage is to skip the lines
Museum Pass for Paris - Paris tourist office - Paris tourist office, easily save 30mins or more per
 
Foler

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Alex said:
Going to France for a friend's over the top destination party and I'll be flying in/out of Paris. Obviously not going to go all the way to Europe for a weekend party so I'm going to spend some time in the city. How many days would y'all suggest? Planning on checking out art museums, probably some live music, some of the sites, and eating/drinking. My friend actually lives in Paris but I'm not going to get unbiased feedback from her.
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Eat and drink. Favorite part about Paris. Also check the Euro politics thread to make sure you don't end up getting shot by a police officer or blown to peices by a muzzie. Would recommend NOT attending large concert venues.
 
Gurgeh

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Foler said:
Eat and drink. Favorite part about Paris. Also check the Euro politics thread to make sure you don't end up getting shot by a police officer or blown to peices by a muzzie. Would recommend NOT attending large concert venues.
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Likelyhood of getting shot at a concert in Paris probably isn't much different as the one of getting shot in one in the US... Same comment regarding the police, if you see a bunch of antifas being chased by the police do what you would do in the US...

Alex said:
Going to France for a friend's over the top destination party and I'll be flying in/out of Paris. Obviously not going to go all the way to Europe for a weekend party so I'm going to spend some time in the city. How many days would y'all suggest? Planning on checking out art museums, probably some live music, some of the sites, and eating/drinking. My friend actually lives in Paris but I'm not going to get unbiased feedback from her.
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I'd suggest to stay whatever time you like spending in large foreign cities you go to. Paris is nice and special, but not more nice nor special than many other cities in the world. Personnaly I like to stay 4 nights in large cities I don't know. I wouldn't recommend spending more than that, unless you are really into museums, that shit is time consuming and there seem to be an infinite number of them.
 
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