Walk . . .
Learn the Language, Make a List of What to See, Buy Museum Pass and Metro Card, Renew Passport, Change to International Cell Phone Plan, Subscribe to Paris for the Holidays,
and Walk . . .
Paris Walks (Suggested Routes)
What’s the best kit for walking? (Victoria Lambert: The Telegraph)
You may be fit – bike to work, run 5 kilometers every morning, maintain a proper Body-Mass-Index, eat fruits and vegetables, drink lots of water, but not be prepared to stand on your feet for several hours at the Louvre, D’Orsay, or Pompidou. And walk through several churches and cemeteries, move through the Metro, shop the Markets, orienteer to the best Paris boulangerie and climb to Sacre Couer (or up into the Arch de Triumph)
Get up on your feet and walk instead of ride.
Find the shoes you will wear. Balance what is presentable for checking into the Sofitel, with something lightweight, that you can wear on the plane, can jog in, etc. One spare pair of shoes is all that you need if you are packing light and the ultimate scenario is one pair of shoes for the whole trip.
(and it will be wet – you will walk through the rain and step a puddle among the cobblestones)
Paris is an endurance event. Our town of Chicago is a great destination, but there are many areas which we have not discovered. For some reason, when we enter Paris we take the challenge to explore every corner of the Louvre, the depths of the sewers, the remote cottages of Versailles; it’s a bonafide expedition.
So walk
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Images:
Bob Shoes (2011) fine walking shoes of leather
Shoes (1888) Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890) Metropolitan Museum of Art
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