Paris

OK, so Paris, at number 3 in the world’s most popular tourist cities, is not exactly off the beaten track. However there are still relatively undiscovered activities and locations to be had which allow you to avoid the crowds.

Getting there, accommodation and getting about

From the UK you can travel to Paris by virtually any mode of transport. The most convenient is maybe the Eurostar and, like our Brussels trip, we had in the past booked a hotel conveniently close to the Gare du Nord via the Eurostar website along with the train ticket. For our last visit however the city centre hotel prices seemed to have gone up alarmingly so we decided that a re-think was necessary.

Having had success with the Gîtes de France site in other areas of France we had a quick look and found a reasonably priced place in Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche to the west of Paris, not far from Versailles. It was self-catering but as it was only a couple of hours drive from the channel ports then this was not a problem.

We picked the accommodation mainly because it was a short drive to the Gare de Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche – Forêt de Marly station on the Paris Transilien suburban rail network with the added bonus of free parking 🙂 Train ticket options around Paris appears to be just as confusing as the UK but we found that the Zone 1 to 5 Mobilis tickets were the best option. For 17.30€ these give one day access to any method of transport and you can buy them from the automated ticket machines at the stations. Generally the trains into the centre of Paris were not too crowded, on time and there were 2 trains an hour off peak.

Alternative Things to See and Do

La Défense

The area of La Défense was named, not after a fort or citadel, but after a statue erected to commemorate the defence of Paris during the 1870 Franco-Prussian war. Today it’s the business district but nevertheless has some interesting architecture. The most well known is probably the Grande Arche but there are plenty of others. As well as office buildings there are a number of shopping arcades with a mix of the usual large chains and smaller shops.

View of the Grande Arche from the Esplanade du Général de Gaulle

View of the Esplanade du Général de Gaulle from the steps of the Grande Arche

View of the inside of the Grande Arche

“Le Pouce” by sculptor César Baldaccini. This is ( an extremely ) large scale model of the artist’s own thumb. It’s 12m tall and weighs 18 tons, just the thing for your business district 🙂

A couple more small points:

• La Défense has good rail links and we found that it was more convenient to get off there rather than go into Gare Saint-Lazare which is an extra 15 min travelling.
• You can avoid a lot of queuing to get into Paris museums by buying the tickets from a FNAC store. There’s a big FNAC in La Défense which was virtually empty mid-morning when we went in there ( I think that there’s a 1€ supplement on the tickets )

Free Classical Music Concerts

The École Normale de Musique de Paris is roughly the equivalent of the Royal School of Music in the UK. Every Tuesday and Thursday at 12:30 there are free concerts – Les Concerts de Midi & Demi – given by the higher level students as part of their course. Check the website for details of the concerts each week but we heard a piano recital and it was of an extremely high standard.

Île Saint-Louis

There are two islands in the Seine in the centre of Paris. The well known one is the Île de la Cité which is the one with the Notre-Dame Cathedral on it. The other one, next door, is the Île Saint-Louis which is much less well known but is full of largely unchanged 17^th and 18^th Century architecture.

It’s mainly a residential area but the Saint-Louis-en-l’Île Church is certainly worth visiting. We wandered in because we heard some wonderful organ music being played. There was no specific occasion, it was just the organist practicing – he or she was very good 🙂 There’s a page on the Pleasure of the Pipes website with some great pictures and recordings.

Other Sights

Paris Métro

Entrance to Abbesses Métro station

I love the art nouveau signage and station entrances on the Paris Métro. However there are only three stations that have the original glass roofs designed by Hector Guimard. The Abbesses station ( pictured ) is one, Porte Dauphine and Châtelet are the others.

Strictly speaking Porte Dauphine is the only completely original one – the Abbesses roof was moved from the Hôtel de Ville station in 1974 and Châtelet is a replica.

Other stations, e.g. the Louvre and Arts et Métiers, also have their own unique themes and are worth visiting.

Eiffel Tower at Night

The Eiffel Tower is illuminated at night and there are often special light shows using the tower’s lights. A great place to view them is from the Esplanade de Trocadéro, it’s a popular spot but not so busy that you can’t find a wall to prop the camera on to take some pictures.

The Pont d’Iéna is also a good spot for pictures. It was a bit busy here but I managed to find a lamp post to lean on to remove most of the camera shake ( 1/8^th s exposure )

The Eiffel Tower at night, taken from from the Esplanade de Trocadéro

The Eiffel Tower at night, taken from from the Pont d’Iéna

Tesco Vouchers

UK visitors with Tesco vouchers can exchange them for a 1 hour boat trip on the Seine at very advantageous rates. We got two tickets worth 4x the value of the vouchers.