I was in Paris with my parents and uncle this past break and we had just about four days to spend in the incredible city. My experience with Paris was limited to the two weeks or so that I had spent there back in the summer of 2011. However, before this trip, I polished up on my Parisian geography and roughly pared down the most important sites in Paris based on proximity. On past trips, I had been accused of overplanning – I am guilty of crafting detailed itineraries and then being very insistent on following them – and so I tried to keep my Paris document to a list of options from which we could choose each day. It worked and we ended up seeing a lot of Paris despite only being there for a few days and spending a disproportionate amount of time in cafes.
The rough outline of what we did is as follows:
- Day 1: arrive, drop off luggage at hotel, Champs Elysées and Arc de Triomphe
- Day 2: St. Michel, Notre Dame, Saint-Germain-des-Près, Pont des Arts, Musée d’Orsay, Jardins des Tuileries, Louvre, Galeries Lafayette
- Day 3: La Tour Eiffel, Champ de Mars, Bateaux Mouches, Grand Palais, Christmas market on Champs Elysées
- Day 4: Montmartre, Sacré Coeur, Cité Universitaire
There are certainly a few caveats to our four day itinerary. My parents and uncle had never been to Paris before so the goal was to show them as much of the city as we could in the four days. A few other factors that came into play were the cold weather (it was near freezing the whole time we were there and we had packed for 10C weather), inconvenient hunger (and needing to find a place to eat), and also a general distaste for waiting in line. We walked around the outside of the Musée d’Orsay and Louvre. Likewise with the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and Sacré Coeur. I know that lots of people would gasp in shock at our manner of tourism, but in our defense we were very relaxed and zen. Waiting in line has a way of putting a damper on high moods and we actively avoided that while we were in Paris.
In our four days in Paris, we ate breakfast at a different café each day. We ate lunch at cafés or small restaurants and then usually ate dinner back at the apartment. Breakfast in Paris typically consisted of a croissant per person, some baguette with butter and jam, coffee or tea, and sometimes orange juice and yogurt. Lunch often consisted of pasta, sandwiches (Croque Madame, Croque Monsieur), omelettes, and chicken. I think I would recommend a few things with regards to eating in Paris – definitely look at menus, even if there’s no English and you speak no French, as you’ll start to pick up on some staple food items. I’d recommend trying those staple items if you’re looking for an authentic experience, as they’re probably closest to what locals eat.
Looking back at this trip, I have to say that I was impressed by the amount of walking we did. The way in which we structured our days centered around walking between landmarks that are nearby to one another and only subwaying when necessary. We didn’t take any buses as I’m not particularly familiar with the Parisian bus system. I would say that the subway system is not particularly complex if you’re familiar with New York or other major North American cities. A few things to keep in mind: be careful with your belongings (look out for pickpockets), don’t be ostentatious, check the destination of each train when you board (as routes often fork), and make sure to keep your ticket when you enter the subway system as you often need it upon exiting.
In closing, I’m not sure that I went as in-depth in Paris as I would have liked to for my second trip. I would have liked more time to browse at stores in each neighbourhood and the leisure to walk through some of the museums and galleries. However, given that this was an introductory trip for the majority of my travel party, and we were trying to be efficient with time and energy, I think we did a good job of getting to know Paris a little better and starting to chip away at the incredible city that is Paris.