Of course, for many years Paris has been a popular short break destination for Londoners, all the more so since Eurostar started up during the 1990's. In some ways it's a bit naff giving advice about what to do in Paris because everyone's got their favourite restaurant, bar, hotel, shopping district, and lots more besides. None the less, and even though guides are plentiful too, GB's Two Top Tourism Tips for Paris are as follows:
- Culture: The Museé de L’Orangerie has recently re-opened its doors after a lengthy renovation. It's quite small, so it's ideal for anyone who wants a tiny bit of culture but who doesn't want to get too distracted from shopping for whatever other activities they prefer. It's the home of Monet's famous paintings call the Nymphéas (Water Lillies). Even if one's seen them before, just going to sit in one of the rooms where these impressive paintings hang is very relaxing and peaceful.
Gardens: On the outskirts of the inner city, in the Bois de Boulogne, lies Le Parc de Bagatelle. If one travels by Metro the nearest station is the Pont de Neuilly, and the gardens are about a 20 minute walk south of the station. Travelling by taxi is much easier of course, although finding a taxi to get back the city can be a bit of a problem.
I've visited these gardens before but never in early spring, so when I was in Paris last weekend with boyfriend number 1 we got into a taxi and asked the driver to take us there.
"Les jardins de Bagatelle?" the taxi driver repeats, sounding surprised. "Yes," he continues in English, "on a nice day like today, it's a very good choice :-)."
"Why are you surprised?" I ask him.
"Tourists don't usually ask for Bagatelle. It's a place for French people!"
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3 comments:
I've also loved the Musee d'Orsay and the Roman Baths on the left bank. As I'm a big history buff, the medieval remains under the square in front of Notre Dame were fascinating, too.
Glad you had a nice Easter in Paris; I spent four years there (second half of '80s) and enjoyed it a lot - of course I've been back a few times since then. I'm pleased you know the Parc de Bagatelle; relatively few foreigners do. In fact I lived not a million miles from there, between avenue Foch and the foot of avenue de la Grande Armée in the 16eme; there was a great seafood reastuarant at the foot of my street - best around 1 or 2am in winter, when it was usually still packed - not to mention the Paris branch of Godiva chocolates, one of the better Belgian chocolate houses, which was also in my street. Oh, and yes, there was certainly 'fun' to be had; I'll look forward to reading about your experiences there if you write about that, although I probably won't get to read it for 10 or so days as after tonight I'll probably be offline whilst travelling and staying with friends until the end of next week.
Also worth a trip is the jardin of the Palais Royal, despite being close to the Louvre few tourists and after a decade of decline there are now some nice shops and restaurants
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