Head of the Class
by worldglobetrotter
According to travel guru Rick Steves, "In Paris, there are two classes of sightseers--those with a Paris museum pass and those who stand in line. Serious sightseers save time and money by getting this pass."
With the Museum Pass (Carte Musee), you can breeze past the long lines of tourists, standing around with their hands in their pockets, their eyes locked on to you, to the front of the line at more than 70 museums in Paris. It's well worth the investment if you're staying in Paris for a few days and have a list of museums you'd like to visit. You can visit as many as the museums on the list as many times as you'd like, but they must be used in consecutive days.
You can purchase the pass as a 2-day, 4-day or 6-day pass.
The prices are as follows:
2 days: $30
4 days: $45
6 days: $60
The pass isn't activated until the first time you use it when you enter the date on the pass. It's sold at main Metro stations (we got ours at Cite, near Notre Dame) and museums.
The pass isn't worth buying for kids, as most museums are free for those under 18. Kids can skip the lines with their passholder parents.
http://www.parismuseumpass.fr/flash/hp_en.html
This pass is a definite must at Versailles. The lines at Sainte-Chapelle can get really long as well. The looks on the other tourists' faces as you just waltz right up to the ticket booth...if they only knew. There are approximately 70 sites you can visit with the museum pass.
Included sights you're likely to visit:
Louvre
Musee d'Orsay
Sainte-Chapelle
Arc de Triomphe
Les Invalides Museum/Napoleon's Tomb
Conciergerie
Pantheon
Cluny Museum
Pompidou Center
Notre-Dame Towers (but you can't bypass the line here) and crypt
Picasso Museum
Rodin Museum
Cite des Sciences et l'Industrie Museum
Versailles
Chateau of Fontainebleau
Chateau of Chantilly
Not included with the pass:
Eiffel Tower
Montparnasse Tower
Marmottan Museum
Garneir Opera
Notre-Dame treasury
Jacquemart-Andre Museum
Jewish Art and History Museum
Grande Arche de La Defense
Catacombs
With this pass, you can pop freely into sights that you're walking by, even for a few minutes, that otherwise might not be worth the expense.
Birds
by black_mimi99
After tired walking around in Eiffel, so we take a rest on the darden chair and have some bread and ham to eat, then one by one the bird coming, and its nice while we eating company by the birds surrounding! I feel like in cartoon movie where the birds around.... ^_^
L'Académie Française
by Klod5
In front of the Louvre, on the other side of the Seine, the men of most eminent French letters meet to the Académie Française. To be going to see this monument, since the Louvre, to borrow the Pont des Arts is sufficient
Dogs Rule
by CALSF
Paris is a dog-loving city! I'm glad because I love dogs! But...the love of dogs is carried to the pinnacle: dogs are accepted anywhere. Therefore, you may be taken aback initially when you see a huge shepherd mix enter a restaurant or a store. It's fine, that's the Parisian custom and everyone is agreeable with it.
It's really interesting to see all sizes of dogs welcomed into a cafe or a restaurant as well. Doggie even has his or her own seat if he/she is tiny enough to fit on one. No one thinks it's out of the ordinary at all.
And when you go on walks you will see throughout the city-especially in early evening-lots of people walking their dogs. The special thing that I noticed is that the dogs, for the most part, are really well-behaved. Yes, one or two who meet in the streets while walking may have a territorial urge to get in a fight with the other. But that's pretty rare.
The merde (uh, this is the uncensored word meaning 'dog poop') problem is not as problematic as it was some years ago. There are teams of green-suited city workers employed to clean the sidewalks and drains from the poop. However, you still need to watch your step to be sure there's nothing bad underfoot.
Packing List
by Geisha_Girl
The best advice I can give to someone traveling through Paris is, 'PACK LIGHT!' My friends and I learned a hard lesson when we squeezed in as much as we could in our luggage.......and didn't leave room for all of the fabulous shopping!! What happens is you end up (at least I did...twice!) buying another bag en route during your trip to hold all the wonderful NEW items you purchased.
Another reason to pack light is that it's easier for you to maneuver up and down the stairwells in the metro. You can always spot the 'unprepared' tourist as they struggle with bringing their 80lb. Samsonites down the flight of stairs while taking breaths of air in between steps!
We found that minimizing your luggage to just a backpack and/or a carry-one rollaway suitcase was the best way to go! Bringing a pair of comfortable shoes would probably be the best thing you could ever do for yourself when traveling to Paris. Paris is definitely a WALKING city and you do so much of it while you're there. Comfortable yet FASHIONABLE is key. You'd want to be sure to blend in with the crowds as you stroll the Champs Elysees or hike up through Montmartre.
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long line for Helloween
The pediment of la Madeleine - Apr 2010
the gallery
One of the bronze bulls head fountains.
