Places to visit in Paris

[Westyfield2]

Another one I forgot to mention, Les Invalides. It's got Napoleon's tomb and some other cool stuff.

Oh and also, if you're under 25 you can get free entry to most of the museums as a student (just show your driving license to prove your age).

1) Do not take the RED tour bus (or ANY tour bus for that matter). They are absolutely horrible and a scandalous rip off. They have english audio spoken by a french woman with an obvious french accent making it hard to understand anything, literally next to no information (it only speaks to say the names of the monuments and maaaaybe one fact about them) and the rest of the time it plays tinny horrible quality classic music on loop. It was the worst bus tour ever - and I enjoy doing these things in general.

Eh?

I did the red tour bus last week ("Les Cars Rouge"). Yes it had annoying music when stuck in traffic, but the commentary was perfectly easy to understand and did more than just the monument names. As for cost, well it's Paris. Nothing is cheap.

4) Louvre, is definitely worth a visit but you need a whole day for it.

Did it in one hour. Go to the side entrance (Porte Des Lions) and there's literally no queue, every other mug is queuing to get in the Pyramid and you can just walk straight in. I then went straight up to the Mona Lisa (really don't get what all the fuss is about, it's ugly) and then did some of the Egyptian stuff before getting bored. If you're there later in the day there will probably be a queue of eleventy million asians taking their photo next to the Mona Lisa so go early (what's with taking a photo of you infront of the famous thing and blocking everyone else? Just take a photo of it if you need, not with you in the way of it!)

Seriously, Parisians are rude, unbelievably poor in hygiene (get on their tube and you'll see what I mean) and their customer service is infamously horrible. Prepare to be completely ignored if you don't speak french and for some very dirty waiters and waitresses (handling your glasses and bottles from the rim and the top with open palms etc..).

Eh? Wind back 20 years and that was true, but these days they've realised that English is the language of the world and if they want our money then they'll have to speak it (plus all the Asians were speaking in English to the French waiter etc). Yes they all smoke, but I didn't have any trouble with customer service. As long as you make a token effort to speak a bit of French to start with ("une table pour deux s'il vous plaît") then they're fine and will switch to English or allocate you the waiter that does speak English. Start straight away in English and there might be the odd stroppy one. Menus are mostly in French, but again you can ask and they'll translate to English for you.

 

[Freefaller]

Indeed - quite glad for you not to go back, leaves the place free from negative people

 

[ntg]

Another one I forgot to mention, Les Invalides. It's got Napoleon's tomb and some other cool stuff.

Oh and also, if you're under 25 you can get free entry to most of the museums as a student (just show your driving license to prove your age).

Eh?

I did the red tour bus last week ("Les Cars Rouge"). Yes it had annoying music when stuck in traffic, but the commentary was perfectly easy to understand and did more than just the monument names. As for cost, well it's Paris. Nothing is cheap.

The cost is pretty much the same as for any other major European capital. The commentary is very little compared to what you get in other places, really the bare minimum.

Did it in one hour. Go to the side entrance (Porte Des Lions) and there's literally no queue, every other mug is queuing to get in the Pyramid and you can just walk straight in.

I wasn't talking about the queue, I was talking about seeing the museum pieces.

I then went straight up to the Mona Lisa (really don't get what all the fuss is about, it's ugly) and then did some of the Egyptian stuff before getting bored. If you're there later in the day there will probably be a queue of eleventy million asians taking their photo next to the Mona Lisa so go early (what's with taking a photo of you infront of the famous thing and blocking everyone else? Just take a photo of it if you need, not with you in the way of it!)

The Louvre has so much stuff you can spend as much time as you like, but going there and getting out in an hour is really leaving a lot unseen and hardly worth the cost/effort. To make the most of it you need many hours.

Eh? Wind back 20 years and that was true, but these days they've realised that English is the language of the world and if they want our money then they'll have to speak it (plus all the Asians were speaking in English to the French waiter etc).

Eh..no they haven't realised anything and they haven't changed at all, they won't speak English, still. Go to any coffee shop outside the major train stations (Gare Du Nord, Gare De Lyon etc.) and try and see if you can find anyone speaking or even understanding English.

I was 9 years ago in Paris and went this year as well. Same attitude and same behaviour towards tourists, nothing has changed. Any other major European destination and everyone speaks English very well, except Paris. Their hygiene standards are also subpar to any other European capital, which is inexcusable.

Yes they all smoke, but I didn't have any trouble with customer service. As long as you make a token effort to speak a bit of French to start with ("une table pour deux s'il vous plaît") then they're fine and will switch to English or allocate you the waiter that does speak English. Start straight away in English and there might be the odd stroppy one. Menus are mostly in French, but again you can ask and they'll translate to English for you.

Ah..you said it yourself, if you speak to them in French it's all fine, no surprise there. I was referring about tourists who don't speak French. Don't compare yourself that you speak even a little bit of French (if not more) to others who don't. It's a whole different story there.

Anyway the comments above are based on my experiences of Paris, other people's may differ, but I've been twice so I can't put it down to bad luck in the first time.