Paris with Scott

Top 10 Things to Do for First Time in Paris

by PwS | Feb 20, 2020 | Trip Planning

I just found out that a friend is leaving for her first visit to Paris – tomorrow! Work is the main reason for her trip, but she will have some free time and she has asked for a top 10 list for things to do for a first timer in Paris.

Hmmmm……

Did you check out pariswithscott.com? Of course, she said. But, there isn’t a top 10 list to choose from for first-time visitors. Okay, she has me on that. I guess I think everyone is going for days and days on end. It is so sad we can’t all go indefinitely!

Get your satchel ready for being out all day and here are the top 10 to pick from.

Before even getting to number one on the list, beware of pickpockets – everywhere. Keep your money, identification, passport in a secure place on your body. Like your front pocket or in a money wallet around your neck. You will be in high tourist areas and thieves will take your money and your passport. If that happens, you will spend the rest of your time in Paris trying to get your credentials to get out of Paris.

First, there are 3 firsts.

Option 1

Take a ride on one of the open top buses. Multiple companies offer several routes, but take the route that goes by the major sights – up the Champs-Elysees, around the Arc de Triomphe, by the Opera, Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Seine, Les Invalides, Place de la Concorde, etc…. Ask at your hotel which company is closest to your location so you can walk to the bus stop. About 2 1/2 hours without getting off.

Even in winter, the open top tour is a must. Bundle up, wrap your neck with a scarf, and go to the top deck. It doesn’t go fast. And, you can really get a feel for the city and this will help you decide what is really interesting to you.

Option 2

If it is really raining, and the forecast is for rain all day, go to the Louvre. (More on the Louvre in a minute.)

Option 3

If you want to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, reserve your time now , while you are reading this. Seriously, check the website now and reserve your ticket, and check for special notices. This is many people’s top thing to do – so it is crowded. Also, maintenance can result in closures of certain areas – including the top – and the website posts current information. (PWS Note: There is no doubt that the Eiffel Tower is incredible! It is breathtaking to walk around it, look at it from all over the city and see it each day while in Paris. I prefer to admire from underneath, from across at Palais de Chaillot, or from the Champs de Mars. The view from the top is so high up that it is far removed from the city of Paris. I think the views are much better from Arc de Triomphe or the Centre Pompidou. Or, visit Galleries Lafayette for the terrace – and you can always get a snack or meal down below. Even Printemps the food halls have amazing views across the rooftops – including a view of the Eiffel Tower.)

2. Sainte-Chapelle

Sainte-Chapelle is a block and a half away from Notre-Dame de Paris, on Boulevard du Palais. Big red vertical signs mark the entrance. After going through security, you wind your way around to the 13th century royal chapel built in 7 years. First, you visit the lower chapel that is dark and dim with gilded Gothic arches. Then, you walk up a narrow stone staircase and enter the soaring upper chapel with monumental walls of stained glass. This is where the kings of France worshipped for a time. And… it is majestic.

Plan to spend at least an hour at Sainte-Chapelle.

Notre-Dame de Paris would take this spot on any top 10, but the inside is closed. It is unfortunate, but you still must visit Notre-Dame de Paris before or after Sainte-Chapelle. Walk over to Île Saint-Louis to view the flying buttresses and marvel at the magnificent Gothic masterpiece.

3. The Louvre

The most extensive art museum in the world is a must visit. From the glass pyramid by I.M. Pei to the ancient foundations, the building is a work of art in itself. And, the ability for the French to move people into the most visited museum in the world is inspiring, even if it may be a little frustrating. Get yourself up early and be there when the Louvre opens, or go when it is open late to have the easiest access. Or, just be prepared to be in a mob trying to get in. It can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Go with a plan. And one of the best plans is to take the self-guided tour of masterpieces. You will travel through the building seeing the best of the best in the former palace of the monarchs of France.

Plus, there are places to have coffee, a snack, a baguette sandwich, and multiple bookstores with excellent souvenirs, including vast numbers of postcards!

Combine visiting the Louvre with seeing the sublime beauty of the Palais Royal (built in the 1630s) and taking a stroll through the gardens. Break for some coffee or a Badoit before or after at one of the cafés between the Louvre and Palais Royal. You will see them around the Avenue de l’Opéra. Then walk back out to the Rue de Rivoli and into the Jardin des Tuileries (created in 1564) and up to Place de la Concorde. During the French Revolution, a guillotine was on this square.

About 3 hours not including time at a café.

4. Crepe From a Crepe Stand

Choose savory or sweet, maybe the one right outside the Tuileries Garden on the Place de la Concorde? Or, at night near the Pont Neuf watching the boats motor past? This may rank as number 1 in the top 10 experiences.

5. Baguette Sandwich

Choose the traditional – jambon gruyere – ham, swiss cheese and butter on a baguette. Don’t go for the new ones with lettuce, tomato, mozzarella and who knows what else. You can find them everywhere, even at convenience stores, but walk into a boulangerie for some of the best. A real boulangerie makes its own bread on the premises from yeast, flour, water and salt, with no preservatives. Grab a croissant while you are at it. You will want it as a snack later or a post baguette dessert!

6. Place des Vosges

The red brick and stone buildings of the Place des Vosges were built by Henri IV in the early 1600s. Walking under the archways and into the garden really give a feel for a microcosm within Paris. Beautiful buildings, perfect scale, relaxed atmosphere, planned gardens that are meticulously maintained…a sensory delight.

To get to Place des Vosges look for Rue de Birague off the Rue de Rivoli. See the July Column at Place de la Bastille before. Plus, a Monoprix is across the street from Rue de Birague. Duck in for water, reasonably priced souvenirs, crackers and snacks.

From the Place des Vosges, walk a few blocks over to Rue des Rosiers in the Jewish Quarter for delicious falafel at Florence Kahn or L’As du Fallafel. Continue on to the Hôtel de Ville and take a photo like Doisneau.

7. Centre Pompidou

The iconic marvel of 1970s is a definite top 10 to visit with its different colors for different circulations: blue for air, green for water, yellow for electricity and red for people. Centre Pompidou is about 6 blocks from Notre-Dame de Paris and about 3 1/2 blocks from Hôtel de Ville. Go to the top for some of the best views of Paris. Next, go over to Église Saint-Eustache.

Allow 3.5 hours from Place de la Bastille, brief shopping at Monoprix, visiting Place des Vosges, stopping to eat, visiting Centre Pompidou and walking to Église Saint-Eustache. This is without seeing an exhibition Centre Pompidou,

8. Time in a Café

Sit across the Seine from Notre-Dame de Paris, or visit Café de Flore or Les Deux Magots, or whatever café may be near your hotel. Order even the least expensive coffee or lemonade and you will buy yourself time to soak up the atmosphere, enjoy the view, get comfortable in your surroundings, or just rest for a bit. If you have a full day, visit a café after dinner. In the morning, any open café is a great place to stand at the bar for a quick coffee and croissant for breakfast. Make this top 10 one of your most repeated.

Time estimate – up to you.

9. Montmartre

Yes, Virginia, there is a vineyard in Paris up on Montmartre.

Have you seen Moulin Rouge, the movie? Montmartre is where it all took place. Satine’s elephant sat high above Paris with views of the entire city. And, that is what you will have on the steps of the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur. Go a few blocks over and you will walk in Toulouse-Lautrec’s footsteps. As well as many other famous and infamous personages of Paris. Unlike the days from long ago, at the square you will be surrounded by caricature artists, plus accordion music, lots of berets, and restaurants where you should probably not eat. Keep walking and you can find a vineyard! Go to Montmartre for the view, the exterior of Basilica of Sacré-Cœur and the square.

It is a steep walk up or take the funiculaire. At the top, about 1.5 hours.

10. Arc de Triomphe

At the top of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, this National Monument is worth a visit and the climb up the stairs to the top. Paris is laid out before you in all directions. I think the views from l’Arc de Triomphe are the best of all views. And, now you can book your time and ticket in advance without waiting in line.

About an hour.

11. Versailles

If you have seen as much of Paris as you want, and you have half a day to dedicate to one destination, go on a tour of Versailles. Multiple tour operators have easy-to-get-to locations, or will even collect you from your hotel. There are not enough superlatives to describe the palace and the gardens. This is where my mother said, “No wonder they had a revolution.” I know it is beyond the top 10, but the first ones were truly in Paris.

At least 1/2 day.

REMEMBER

Keep your wallet/passport/identification safe – at all times.
Places on the map are farther away than they look. Spend money wisely on Métro passes and/or taxis. If you are short on time, it may be worth a cab ride or taking the Métro to speed you to your destination.

Do you have your own list of the top 10 things to do in Paris? I would love to hear from you. Send them to me!

Paris 2019 – Free Admission to the Louvre on the First Saturday Night of Every Month

by PwS | Jan 2, 2019 | History, Museums, Paris, Trip Planning

As of January, 2019, the Musée du Louvre opens its doors for free to all visitors on the first Saturday night of each month! That’s right – for free – from 6:00pm to 8:45pm.

Louvre to Open First Saturday Night Each Month with Free Admission

Attempting to attract more first-time locals to visit, the Louvre adds the first Saturday of each month to its free admission line up. As the most visited museum in the world, the Louvre has no problem attracting visitors. But, it wants more locals to visit as well.

With this exciting news out of Paris, the Louvre adds more time for locals and visitors from all over the world to visit the Louvre without paying the price of admission. Right now, a full-price admission ticket is 17 euros. For a family of 4, that price could keep away many families working full time jobs and trying to make ends meet. So, to try to get more locals in the doors, it has opened on an additional night. That is good fortune for visitors, too!

Past Efforts

In the past, the Louvre opened on the first Sunday of each month with free admission, trying to draw in the locals. But, after reviewing data on visitors coming at that increasingly popular free day, the museum lacked an increase in locals. It appears that more and more international visitors are taking advantage of the 12 free Sundays each year. Who doesn’t want a free entry?

One goal of the Louvre is to engage locals. Saturday night seems like an obvious gateway to reach suburban locals wanting a night out. Louvre officials hope that this additional free time does the job and entices young adults and families from outside Paris proper to take advantage of the world’s most-visited museum. In addition to being free, the museum is hosting a board game area and a reading corner – all trying to lure young families in the door!

Bonus for You!

Of course, for non-local visitors, it is a boon as well. Night visits are an extraordinary way to see the massive royal palace and its dumbfounding treasures. Along with looking out of the windows into the night sky of the city, fewer people visit at night. You may wind up in a gallery with entire rooms to yourself. Admire the art with only your family and friends. Climb the worn marble stairs alone. Wander through the vast space and imagine the kings and queens that were there before you.

Musée du Louvre

Hours: Open Wednesday – Sunday from 9am to 6pm
Night opening until 9:45pm on Wednesdays and Fridays
Night opening until 8:45pm on FIRST Saturday of the month beginning January 2019
CLOSED TUESDAYS
CLOSED: on the following holidays: January 1, May 1, May 8 and December 25.
Arrondissement: 1st
Nearest Métro: Two stops serve the Louvre. Exiting at Louvre-Rivoli, you will be at the eastern-most end of the Louvre. Exiting at Palais-Royal–Musée du Louvre, you will be closer to the pyramid entrance and very close to the entrance at the Passage de Richelieu (if they will let you in) and the entrance through the Carousel de Louvre – kind of underground shopping area that leads you to the main entrance under the pyramid.
Nourishment: Food and drink options available inside the Louvre in various locations – enjoy a baguette sandwich overlooking the entrance while watching the people come down the stairs under the pyramid!
Official website: https://www.louvre.fr/en/
Suggested time to visit: In the evenings on the days it is open late

You may also be interested in one of the lesser known museums in Paris, such as Musée Picasso Paris, Musée Marmottan Monet or Musée Rodin. See the article on “15 Lesser-Known Museums in Paris” for more details here.

Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre)

by PwS | Feb 23, 2018 | Art, History, Museums

The Louvre Museum is the biggest museum in the world. Some in New York may beg to differ, but the Louvre is the biggest. Wait until you see it in person – from the outside and from the inside. Then you can decide for yourself if it is the biggest. At around 5 football fields long, it dominates the scenery along much of the Seine. You can see it from many of the bridges crossing the river. The architectural style of the exterior changed as additions were made, and sometimes the vast exterior walls may trick you into thinking it is a different building, but, it isn’t. The Louvre is really that big.

Not only is it big, but all the parts of the Louvre are GRAND. The courtyards are enormous, some of the galleries are immense, some paintings and stone sculptures are gigantic! Even the roof and ceilings are endless. Subtle and sublime details are grand as well. Worn marble stairs look and feel soft. Carvings and reliefs fill the rooms and corridors. Vaulted passageways designed with minute details and all parts mesh to make the building a work of art unto itself.

The Louvre: From Fortress and Prison to Royal Palace

The Louvre began as a medieval fortress on the edge of the city for protection and as a prison. Go underground (Level -1) in the Sully wing to see the remnants of the original 12th century structure. Eventually, the Louvre became a royal palace and home to the kings of France. After many years as a working palace, the Louvre became a museum in 1793. Not just any museum, but THE museum all other museums aspired to become. The royal history of the art collection can be seen on the identification tags next to the works of art – look for, “from the collection of Louis XIV,” or choose a monarch and you will probably find the name. Pretty impressive, huh?

With so many years as a royal residence, it has seen more palace intrigue than will ever be written. The escapades in the dark hallways and stairs are unimaginable. As you walk on a far-flung set of steps, think of how dark it would be in the middle of the night. Imagine a royal family member or one of the court ringing a bell and a servant scurrying in the night, holding only a single candle, into the deep dark recesses of the palace. Then trying to find the right door, trying to locate the bell ringer. After attending to the royalty and collecting the slop jar (or for whatever the necessity in the middle of the night), the servant would creep along to make his or her way out of the maze of steps and hallways and back to the workers’ quarters. Who knows what could have been lurking in the shadows on just that one errand?

A Palace Now for Priceless Art and Gardens

Now the servants are gone, but the Louvre employs thousands of people to make your experience in the historic royal palace memorable and safe. They help visitors navigate through the collection, making sure priceless artworks remain untouched, pointing out the location of the toilets and generally guaranteeing the collection remains intact.

The Louvre’s official websites states that its collection includes, “Western artworks from the Middle Ages to 1848, as well as the art of the ancient civilizations that preceded and influenced them. Some 35,000 artworks are on display, the oldest of which date back over seven thousand years.” (Just an FYI, the Musée d’Orsay picks up at 1849.) Not to mention, the building itself is an architectural work of art whose construction spans the 12th to the 21st centuries.

Visit the Louvre with a Plan

The Louvre will be impressive even if you do not go inside. But, if you decide to go in, make a plan for what you will do once you get into the museum. Besides being the biggest museum in the world, the art and artifacts are of unsurpassed quality and by the most important artists and civilizations in history. That means it is generally a mob scene and completely overwhelming. It is easy to get lost in the crowds and move into areas that you are not really interested in seeing. That is disastrous in such a magnificent museum.

A great introduction to the Louvre is to pick one of the “visitor trails” that the Louvre website provides online and do a self-guided walking tour. Each trail has specific instructions to lead you through the Louvre to 10 or so world-renowned works of art. The trails take about an hour from start to finish, depending on how long you linger in admiration and whether or not you get sidetracked. That time does not include going through security and getting into the reception area of the museum. Then add on getting your bearings and going through the line to purchase a ticket or through the ticket-checker line if you already have a paper ticket or museum pass.

See the Classic Masterpieces, a Special Exhibit, or Both

The “Masterpieces” trails are a terrific introduction to the Louvre. One masterpiece trail is accessible for all, and the other is for those who choose to take the steps. The Louvre site also suggests other trails that are tailored to more specific interests. There is even a Da Vinci Code trail! Take a look.

Buy your tickets in advance. Once you make it past security, there are lines going into each wing for those who have tickets, and there are lines to purchase tickets from a ticket machines or an actual person. Get in the correct line.

Also to note, if there is a special exhibition that you want to see that has timed entry and requires a special ticket, ensure you purchase tickets for that exhibit. Once, I bought tickets online for a Vermeer show, way in advance. I checked the tickets, thought they were for the exhibition, guarded them in my satchel all the way to Paris, and when I got to the entrance, the guard told me that my ticket was for general admission to the Louvre – not to the exhibition. Beware! Check your tickets!

Putting this on your calendar? Remember, you may only spend an hour looking at the art, but take into consideration the time it takes to get in, go through security, then get in line to go in, go to the bathroom and finally get to your starting point. Plan accordingly.

The Louvre: Make Your Plan

What makes it special: What doesn’t make it special?
Nearest Métro: Two stops serve the Louvre. Exiting at Louvre-Rivoli, you will be at the eastern-most end of the Louvre. Exiting at Palais-Royal–Musée du Louvre, you will be closer to the pyramid entrance and very close to the entrance at the Passage de Richelieu (if they will let you in) and the entrance through the Carousel de Louvre – kind of underground shopping area that leads you to the main entrance under the pyramid.
Nourishment: Food and drink options are available inside the Louvre in various locations – enjoy a baguette sandwich overlooking the entrance while watching the people come down the stairs under the pyramid!
Arrondissement: 1st
Hours: Wednesday – Monday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Night opening until 9:45 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays
CLOSED ON TUESDAYS
Also closed: January 1, May 1 and December 25
Official website: https://www.louvre.fr/en/
Suggested time to visit: As soon as it opens or in the evenings on the days it is open late

Change as of August 2019: If you have a museum pass, you must now reserve a time to enter the Louvre. You can always buy timed entry tickets online as well.