Do in Paris

• I suggest *not* to buy package tours or several-day Metro passes. Tourists feel like they are on a race course to break even when Paris is all about slowly enjoying the best. Often times tourists return home with un-used tickets. Because of the waiting lines and your energy level, you might find that one museum per day is your max. Ahead of your visit, carefully select attractions you would like to visit and buy tickets on-line. Many tickets can be purchased and printed from the US or displayed on your smart phone.

There are scores of Museums in Paris. Most are worth a visit. Many museums have a free section. Look for special exhibits that interest you. Audio guides are very good. Many now offer a smart phone app. Guided tours are often worth the extra price.

• Guided Tours such as Walking Tours, Bike Tours, Segway Tours and more are quite good and offer a wider area in a short time with interaction with a local English- speaking expert.

• Private Guided Tour - for couples, families and groups (270€)

• Self-Guided Walks can be excellent with on-line prepared plans. Most walks take very careful instruction following from stop to stop.

Because of the intensity of activities and sights, you might want to focus on specific Parisian themes such as

• History (The French Revolution, Medieval Paris, Cathedrals, World Wars
• Foodie Tour - buying, chefs, restaurant tours
• Wine bar crawls, pub crawls
• Fresh markets
  • Episeries
  • Le Bon Marché
  • Foodie Streets & Markets
    • Rue des Rosiers
    • Marché d'Aligre
    • Marché des Batignoles
    • Rue des Martyrs
    • Marché des Enfants Rouges
    • Marché Saxe-Breteuil
    • Rue Saint-Anne (Japonese)
    • La Boucherie Moderne
• Boulangerie
  • Des Gateaux et du Pain
  • Blé Sucré
  • Le Pais des Amis
  • Utopie
• Wine - tasting, buying, instruction
• Walking
  • Guided Tours
  • Self-Guided Tours
  • Tour for Teens
  • Movie locations
  • Make a Sketchbook
  • Art Galleries
    • Vernissages

• museums
• Expositions
• Famous photographers
• Sites of famous photographs
• Instruction
• European Museum of Photography
• Foundation Henri Cartier-Bresson 79, rue des Archives 75003 Paris

• Paris Photo
• Mois de la Photo
• Camera Obscura

• writers, locations, writer hang-outs
• Theater in English Music

high-end, quirky, fashion, perfume

• Middle Ages
• Art Deco
• 21st Century

That you can do nowhere else but Paris

• Escape & Adventure Games hosted by actors, interactive games of puzzles, treasure hunts, adventure and fantasy for individuals or in groups such as corporate team-building exercise

• 21 Things To Do for Free in Paris

are very good. Most have commentary in multiple languages, including English. On big barges, sometimes the sound is not understandable so choose a smaller cruise line like Vedettes. Plan to board around sunset to enjoy the evening and lights when it is darker.

Buy tickets on-line and arrive an hour early. It is common to have two-hour wait lines. Eiffel Town visit could be followed with a hot chocolate and pastry at café Carrette then a walk to the Arc de Triumphe but do not walk up to the top of the Arc; it's not worth it. Afterwards, stroll down the grand boulevard Champs Elysée where there are tons of high-end shops.

Suggestion : Although the view from the Eiffel Tower is magnificent, but once perched on the Eiffel Tower, you cannot see the tower. A resolution to this paradox is to visit La Tour Montparnasse to take a drink and view of the Eiffel Tower from a higher vantage point. Caution: meals are not great and too expensive. The expensive drinks are worth the view.

is spectacular. It is a vast treasure of art from the centuries. I have lived here 18 years, visit often and have not seen it all. Most times there are special and extensive exhibitions. Within this vast museum, I am lost every time. To avoid crowds, enter by the underground Metro Louvre–Rivoli station. Buy tickets on-line

• Musée Orangerie is excellent, specializing in 20th Century Impressionist Art (especially Monet) and not far from the Louvre. On-line tickets. After a day at the Louvre, you may want to save excellent l'Orangerie for another time so you can take your time to enjoy.
• Musée d'Orsay is incredible. Take the escalators to the top floor for the Impressionist paintings then work your way downward on foot since it is less tiring going down. Buy on-line tickets.
• Chateau de Versailles is the magnificent Palace of Louis XIV outside Paris. Save it for a time when you stay in Paris for more than one week. A visit is a very full day and physically exhausting. But do it once in your life, eh? Package tickets are OK allowing you to cut lines. Enter by the Queens Entry. Time slot reservation is mandatory for all.
• Musee Rodin
• Musee Jacquemart-André
• Sewers of Paris
• Notre Dame de Paris the magnificent Gothic Cathedral remains closed to the interior due to the 2019 fire until at least year 2024
• Cathedral Sainte Chapelle an astounding Cathedral with a bright airy interior stained glass windows you will never forget. Very close to Notre Dame de Paris but beware of long lines. You know the routine, buy tickets on-line and arrive early. The many classical concerts in La Sainte Chapelle are popular.
• Attend an Art Gallery Opening Night and rub elbows with the beautiful people of Paris.
• Participate in a Paris political demonstration . Strikes and demonstrations are a French national past-time. Site cestlagreve.fr is a great reference of daily strikes in France as there are too many for any individual to know. For the adventurous only, marches and demonstrations are usually peaceful and safe but check English news and the US Embassy in Paris for announcements. A few demonstrations spontaneously become very violent… yeah, like tear gas, burning automobiles and breaking store-front windows followed by heavy riot police intervention with helicopter and armored military vehicle support.

• Bones & Bones - Catacombs of Paris - walk among the piled-high bones of thousands of dead Parisians. Creepy but astounding.
• Kings & Queens of France - Basilica Saint-Denis almost every king from the 10th century to 19th century
• Napoleon Bonapart - des Invalides
• Cemetary Montparnasse
  • Jean Paul Sartre & Simone de Bouvoir • Serge Gainsbourg • Charles Baudelaire
• Cemetery Pere Lachaise
  • Jim Morrison
  • Edith Pilaf
  • Balzac
  • Proust
  • Chopin
  • Sarah Bernhardt
  • Oscar Wilde