To My Beautiful Friends, Marcus & Lisa
As you embark on your journey overseas, and your journey in a metaphorical sense, I am feeling so happy and so jealous that you get to be, breathe and bumble your way through my old stomping ground that is Paris and countless other European sites. I am impressed to write you this little guide because I know that even as a French-speaker, Paris was one of those places that I could feel completely lost in. The trick is to be comfortable in being lost. Keep your wits about you and chill out.
I could tell you loads of things to do in all sorts of European countries and cities, but I want you to really fall in love with my city the way I fell in love with it. Apart from the gorgeous, Haussmann-designed city architecture, and the art (ohhh the art), you will find that the best thing you can do is walk. Walk everywhere. The metro is definitely an experience worth having, don't get me wrong. But sometimes, the city is better experienced slowly, and completely.
So, a couple of neighbourhoods "quartiers"you should check out, remembering Paris' arrondissements (neighbourhoods/districts) are numbered 1-20, and spiral out like a snail shell, with the Louvre etc right smack bang in the middle at number 1):
If you get off at METRO STOP Blanche, gaze for a split second at the Moulin Rouge (tacky as all hell) and then head up the Butte Montmartre (it's the hill with the Sacré Coeur on the top) along Rue Lepic. You'll see a typical French market street - loads of bakeries, delis, patisseries, butcheries, florists, etc. About half way up there is the Café des Deux Moulins (famous for the film Amélie). Despite the overload of tourists, locals also visit it because regardless of its popularity with tourists, the food is actually not half bad (particularly the desserts - Amélie's famous Crème Brûlée is served here, a typical french onion soup and the "chocolat viennois" - trust me, it's good). If you feel lost, just keep heading up the hill. Eventually you'll reach the top, winding through the hill's cobble streets and seeing plenty of little op shops and vintage stores. At the top is the Basilique de Sacré Coeur. It has a view of the whole city which is definitely worth fighting through the crowds. If you head straight back down the hill through the touristy shops (watch out for pickpockets, gypsies and men trying to tie bracelets on your arm!), you'll find yourself spat our somewhere close to Pigalle station. Nearby is a café called KB Coffeeshop (I think it is on Rue des Martyrs ?) with free Wi-Fi and Australian-style coffee (be warned, typical French coffee is not something anyone would boast over).
If you keep heading down Rue des Martyrs, you'll find further cute shops. Maybe catch the metro from Notre Dame de Lorette or brave the maze of streets and get yourself to Galleries Lafayette near Opéra/Boulevard Haussmann (it is the David Jones of Paris, but soooooo much better). Climb the building to the top level and you'll find yourself looking right over the city but from the point of view of the rooftops, so you're still fully immersed in the city itself. It's pretty darn nice.
Around the northern side also, if you get off at Hotel de Ville, is a nice maze of streets with shops and coffee places called "Le Marais". It's a high end neighbourhood but still quite rustic. Around there is Centre Pompidou (a modern art gallery famous for the coloured rods and pipes on the outside). From Hotel de Ville, you'll be able to spot the Notre Dame on Ile de la Cité and walk across to Ile St Louis (the smaller island in the middle of the city beside the Ile de la Cité). I know it's winter, but grab a Berthillon ice-cream from Ile St Louis and go sit along the Seine (the river) and eat it. It's magic down by the water any time of year. You can imagine all the people walking around over 100 years ago doing the same thing. And there, you can just take time to watch the city, and think. Breathe. Because smack bang in the middle of chaos and culture is silence. It will forever be a favourite place to me.
My favourite Park in the city is Parc des Buttes Chaumont. It's in the 19th arrondissement and there ain't much around it but it was originally a quarry till some rich old dude decide "let's make a park with a waterfall and all sorts of thangs." There is, in the park, a little place called Rosa du Bonheur and it's a great place to go on a cold evening if you want somewhere quiet to drink wine and hot chocolate and watch the city fall asleep.
Pere Lachaise is a pretty cool place too - a Cemetery definitely worth perusing. Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde and others are all laid to rest here.
As for something a bit more familiar, Have a wander along Canal St Martin all the way through to Place de la Bastille and onto the river, but stop in at either Ten Belles on Rue de la Grange aux Belles, Tuckshop, or Holybelly on Rue Lucien Sampaix. Best aussie-trained baristas in the city. Hands down. English friendly, too! 75010 (the neighbourhood that Canal St Martin runs through) is a pretty hip area. Lots of cool bookshops, etc. A real young-Parisian vibe.
So much to do!!! But don't feel like you need to do everything. Just go with what your gut and your mind and heart feels like on the day. Wake up and just walk. It's a magic city with something good everywhere. Just remember your please and thank yous and you're ready to go.
I love you two. I hope you see the world and let the world see you. Bonne aventure ! xxx
I could tell you loads of things to do in all sorts of European countries and cities, but I want you to really fall in love with my city the way I fell in love with it. Apart from the gorgeous, Haussmann-designed city architecture, and the art (ohhh the art), you will find that the best thing you can do is walk. Walk everywhere. The metro is definitely an experience worth having, don't get me wrong. But sometimes, the city is better experienced slowly, and completely.
So, a couple of neighbourhoods "quartiers"you should check out, remembering Paris' arrondissements (neighbourhoods/districts) are numbered 1-20, and spiral out like a snail shell, with the Louvre etc right smack bang in the middle at number 1):
If you get off at METRO STOP Blanche, gaze for a split second at the Moulin Rouge (tacky as all hell) and then head up the Butte Montmartre (it's the hill with the Sacré Coeur on the top) along Rue Lepic. You'll see a typical French market street - loads of bakeries, delis, patisseries, butcheries, florists, etc. About half way up there is the Café des Deux Moulins (famous for the film Amélie). Despite the overload of tourists, locals also visit it because regardless of its popularity with tourists, the food is actually not half bad (particularly the desserts - Amélie's famous Crème Brûlée is served here, a typical french onion soup and the "chocolat viennois" - trust me, it's good). If you feel lost, just keep heading up the hill. Eventually you'll reach the top, winding through the hill's cobble streets and seeing plenty of little op shops and vintage stores. At the top is the Basilique de Sacré Coeur. It has a view of the whole city which is definitely worth fighting through the crowds. If you head straight back down the hill through the touristy shops (watch out for pickpockets, gypsies and men trying to tie bracelets on your arm!), you'll find yourself spat our somewhere close to Pigalle station. Nearby is a café called KB Coffeeshop (I think it is on Rue des Martyrs ?) with free Wi-Fi and Australian-style coffee (be warned, typical French coffee is not something anyone would boast over).
If you keep heading down Rue des Martyrs, you'll find further cute shops. Maybe catch the metro from Notre Dame de Lorette or brave the maze of streets and get yourself to Galleries Lafayette near Opéra/Boulevard Haussmann (it is the David Jones of Paris, but soooooo much better). Climb the building to the top level and you'll find yourself looking right over the city but from the point of view of the rooftops, so you're still fully immersed in the city itself. It's pretty darn nice.
Around the northern side also, if you get off at Hotel de Ville, is a nice maze of streets with shops and coffee places called "Le Marais". It's a high end neighbourhood but still quite rustic. Around there is Centre Pompidou (a modern art gallery famous for the coloured rods and pipes on the outside). From Hotel de Ville, you'll be able to spot the Notre Dame on Ile de la Cité and walk across to Ile St Louis (the smaller island in the middle of the city beside the Ile de la Cité). I know it's winter, but grab a Berthillon ice-cream from Ile St Louis and go sit along the Seine (the river) and eat it. It's magic down by the water any time of year. You can imagine all the people walking around over 100 years ago doing the same thing. And there, you can just take time to watch the city, and think. Breathe. Because smack bang in the middle of chaos and culture is silence. It will forever be a favourite place to me.
My favourite Park in the city is Parc des Buttes Chaumont. It's in the 19th arrondissement and there ain't much around it but it was originally a quarry till some rich old dude decide "let's make a park with a waterfall and all sorts of thangs." There is, in the park, a little place called Rosa du Bonheur and it's a great place to go on a cold evening if you want somewhere quiet to drink wine and hot chocolate and watch the city fall asleep.
Pere Lachaise is a pretty cool place too - a Cemetery definitely worth perusing. Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde and others are all laid to rest here.
As for something a bit more familiar, Have a wander along Canal St Martin all the way through to Place de la Bastille and onto the river, but stop in at either Ten Belles on Rue de la Grange aux Belles, Tuckshop, or Holybelly on Rue Lucien Sampaix. Best aussie-trained baristas in the city. Hands down. English friendly, too! 75010 (the neighbourhood that Canal St Martin runs through) is a pretty hip area. Lots of cool bookshops, etc. A real young-Parisian vibe.
So much to do!!! But don't feel like you need to do everything. Just go with what your gut and your mind and heart feels like on the day. Wake up and just walk. It's a magic city with something good everywhere. Just remember your please and thank yous and you're ready to go.
I love you two. I hope you see the world and let the world see you. Bonne aventure ! xxx
