Going to Paris for Christmas

[CaptainZero]

Anyone from there or been there? Anywhere I should go for decent nightlife that may involve some loud Marshalls? Actually any good night life spots would be good to hear about.

 

[Alt Freak]

My sister is there now and will be there for a week! Sorry never been so don't know of to much to do

 

[Strateuphoria]

Jazz everywhere man, in taxi's, shops, on the streets, in restuarants, pubs etc. elbow rubbing, smokers, poshness, horny bitches, red wine etc.

 

[CaptainZero]

Yep I'm going to drink the shit out of the wine, and smoke a lot of cuban cigars, but I'm looking for night life! Jazz is cool, I can appreciate any music, and whatever the specialty is, I'm there.

 

[Username2]

Historic City with lots of history to see if that is your thing, I love history. The parts of town that would have headbanging music I am sure are there but have no idea where. I found the food to be nasty except for the coffee and deserts..yummy.

If you haven't been there use the Trip Advisor link to find things you may want to plan for. The Notre Dame Cathedral is pretty cool.
Things to Do in Paris - Paris Attractions - TripAdvisor

If you can make it out to the American Cemetery at Colleville Sur Mer (Normandy) DO IT, very humbling and a must visit IMO for any American. I did this tour from Paris.
http://www.linkparis.com/normandy-dday-tour.htm

Watch out for the scams, there are some pros that will rip your American ass off. Also watch out for pick pockets around tourist attractions, there are some pros at that also, they work in pairs usually. Notify your credit card company and tell them where you will be and for how long. DO NOT USE A DEBIT CARD. Also buying trip insurance in case you get sick, arrested, or some other emergency is always worth the peace of mind.

I didn't care for Paris, I much prefer Germany and the Netherlands. Always fun for an adventure though, just seems I am always so happy when landing back in the states, as f'ed up as we have some things its worse everywhere else. Have fun

 

[CaptainZero]

Yeah, I pretty much have looked up all the 'popular' attractions and of course I'm going to see them all. I'm pretty interested in seeing all of the old architecture. I doubt anyone I'm with will be looking into the night life, so I may be on my own for that. Since I'm into music and I know there are some people from France on the forum, I'm hoping someone will have something no one else knows about we can do.

 

[Papus]

1) Get up early and be waiting before opening time at the doors of the Louvre to proceed straight to the Mona Lisa gallery before the seething hoardes of tourists ruin the experience - I did this and managed to get about 20 minutes with Leonardo's masterpiece in an empty room before the Japanese invaded.

2) Don't overlook the Musee d'Orsay - this is a MUST SEE along with the Louvre

3) Try to get tickets to a pipe organ recital at Notre Dame, failing that: attend Mass - I know, it's fucken ghastly and anti-rock n roll, but you MUST hear that instrument in full flight - it's the Metal of the 12th Century

4) Slowly walk the length of the Champs Elysee from the Louvre to Arc du Triomphe - allow an hour or two for this.

5) Visit Pere Lachaise cemetary, worship at Jim Morrison's grave (amongst others - Abelard & Heloise are also buried there if you're a medieval history buff)

6) Climb to the top of Sacre Cour Basilica in Montmarte (fucken great view of Paris - the OTHER view besides from the Eiffel Tower)

7) Climb to the top of Notre Dame

8) Visit the spot where Diana was murdered by the Establishment for marrying a Muslim

9) Do as the Parisians do - sit in cafe's all day and observe everyone else

10) DO NOT be a dumb-ass American tourist. Learn to say PLEASE, THANKYOU & EXCUSE ME in French. Other phrases will help too: HOW MUCH? WHERE IS? You get the drift. The Parisians don't give a fuck about tourists - in fact they hate them, so be NICE and you'll go far

11) Just read you like the architecture - visit these:

Eglise Madeleine
Eglise Saint Sulpice
Pompidou Centre
Place Vendome
Rodin museum

 

[rjtm]

DO NOT be a dumb-ass American tourist. Learn to say PLEASE, THANKYOU & EXCUSE ME in French. Other phrases will help too: HOW MUCH? WHERE IS? You get the drift. The Parisians don't give a fuck about tourists - in fact they hate them, so be NICE and you'll go far

Please- Sil vous Plait (sil-vu-play)
Thank you- Merci (mersi)
excuse me- Excusez-moi (excusay mwa)
How much- Combien (combiun)
Where is- où est (Ooo eee)

Keep in mind, most of the times you do not pronounce the last letter of the word (sometimes the last letters). No, I did not get this from a translator, and yes, I do now french

Hope this helps

 

[CaptainZero]

Thanks Papus!

Many of these are on my list, but it's nice to see others that aren't from someone who's been there, and isn't named Rick Steves.

I'm kind of assuming we'll go to a Christmas Eve mass at Notre Dame, but not sure yet. We have reservations for Christmas day dinner in the Eifel Tower. I'm kind of big on photography, so the walk down the Champs Elysee is on my list. Did you go to the top of the Arc do Triomphe?

Please keep the ideas coming!

 

[CaptainZero]

Please- Sil vous Plait (sil-vu-play)
Thank you- Merci (mersi)
excuse me- Excusez-moi (excusay mwa)
How much- Combien (combiun)
Where is- où est (Ooo eee)

Keep in mind, most of the times you do not pronounce the last letter of the word (sometimes the last letters). No, I did not get this from a translator, and yes, I do now french

Hope this helps

Yes it does. I bought some online lessons, but haven't put in the time I should. In fact, very little. I have about a week and a half to figure out how to read a menu and I the other basics. Should be enough to get me through. I mainly need 'another glass of wine/beer please'

 

[Papus]

Saint Sulpice's organ is almost as earth-shattering as Notre Dame's - worth checking out

 

[Mike_j]

Go to Amsterdam instead. Party fucking central and better looking chicks!! Much better than Paris and the French are pretty miserable anyway.

 

[Gtarzan81]

Check out Belleville in the 20th ariondisemont. I spent a bit of time there, and it's pretty cool.

 

[DirtySteve]

I was in Paris for new years '94. I was only there for one day, it rained the whole time and most of Paris was flooded so a lot of things were closed. I went there with some friends on a bus tour from Germany when I was in the AF. The river was so flooded boats couldn't fit under the bridges. The Eiffel tower was sitting in a lake and was closed to the public. Every time the bus tour stopped somewhere (like the louvre) we headed for the closest bar instead.

So we were hammered and got lost on the subway looking for Jim Morrisons grave site, we went to the wrong cemetary. By the time we found the right one it was dark and it was closed. What a bummer!

Well we finally made it back to the Arc de Triomphe hitting every bar along the way. Then it was just one huge street party with Champagne all around. At midnight everyone in the street made a hole and anyone who had a bottle threw it into the middle of the street until there was this huge pile of broken glass.

I just told you everything I remember. ha ha, I might have seen some cool stuff, I don't know. What a party!

 

[dhaywood17]

Don't forget to leave macaulay culkin at home!

 

[poeman33]

My Wife has been there twice, at my expense, and without me. She goes to France with a painting group. She never mentioned Marshalls...but wine is cheaper than water...literally. She preferred the little places on corners and such, rather than clubs. Probably a good thing with a good of women out alone and drinking lots of wine. I probably don't want to know about all of her stories

 

[lucidspoon]

My buddy's getting married there in a couple years, so I'm saving up to go.

 

[CaptainZero]

Thanks everyone. I'm sure I'll be drinking the wine like water too. Keep them coming please!

 

[lucidspoon]

I've heard it's expensive for food and stuff. I know fast food was really expensive when I was in Ireland. Stuff like McDonalds worked out to $10-$15 for "value" meals. Actual pubs had better food for about the same price, but I'd imagine most food in Paris will be expensive.

I'm going to try to save up $10,000 to spend 2 weeks just to be safe. My wife and I have a friend in England that we could stay with part of the trip to see other parts of Europe, so hopefully that will save some money.

 

[CaptainZero]

We rented an apartment through parisforrent.com. I'll let you know how it goes. It seemed better than a hotel. All the hotels I could afford seemed really tiny and I need internet to work while I'm there and the hotel internet was spendy. The apartment has free internet and free phone to the US. I doubt I'll spend too much time in a McDonalds, but maybe Hard Rock.