10 Special Things You Should Do (in Paris)
One (un)
Visit McDonalds on Rue de Rivoli before visiting Le Louvre
and have a Cafe Alonge, Pan du Chocolate and Jus d’Orange
Ask for a token de Toilet so you can take-a-pee before getting in line at the museum
(this is better than anything that you will consume in Le Louvre)
Two (deuz)
Ride the Velib Paris Bike Share
Paris is best experienced and navigated atop two-wheels
(experience the cobblestones, motorcycles and tiny cars)
Bring your helmet, it bolsters the degree of confidence. . .
(although bringing our yellow biking vest from home distinguished us from the other Paris bikers and we were given a ticket of over $100 – ½ for traveling through a red-light, maybe ½ for fashion faux pas)
Three (trois)
Buy a Paris Museum Pass,
get in line early in the morning
and go to as many museums as you can
Four (quatre)
Visit Maria Calas
Walk down into the Columbarium (Division 87) at Père-Lachaise to visit her remains
OK, her remains were stolen, then relocated
(but it like visiting Marilyn)
Five (cinq)
Climb the stairs up into the Arc de Triomphe (or the Towers of Notre Dame)
The staircase experience is better than the view at the top,
but you will always feel a special relationship to this monument on the Champs-Élysées
Six (six)
Go down into the Metro and use the subway as your primary source of transportation
Seems like you are with more Parisians than tourists (and that is what we look for)
Seven (sept)
Get Lost in Paris. It is so easy, and you will have a good story
This is the best way to see Paris
Eight (huite)
Go See “Lisa”
This is so trite and shallow and not so rewarding
But ya-gotta-see the Mona Lisa
The Salle des Etats is the most crowded room at the Louvre
which is why we are one of the 1st in line and we come here immediately
Then turn around to view the Wedding at Cana, painted by Paolo Veronese,
the largest painting at Le Louvre
Nine (neuf)
Run Paris
Join a MeetUp Group and run Paris with a Group
or go out and run down the streets and through the gardens
For us, there is nothing better than running through the Gardens of Versailles in the Dark early Morning
Ten (dix)
Go to a common Grocery Store and buy the things that you don’t see at home
Eat the Smelliest Cheese that you can find
Buy a loaf of Poilane bread and taste how it is special
Find the largest bottle of cheap Paris grocery store perfume and douse yourself, repeatedly
(as you stretch your wardrobe over 10 days)
This essence of Paris will be with you for some time
Our overriding principal concerning “what to do” is something which avoids the tourism of this highly visited tourist destination. Which means finding a way to avoid the lines, arriving early – before the lines. Go to church (Notre Dame) early. Sunrise Service on Christmas Day
Paris for the Holidays 