Top Bohemian Spots in Paris
My friend Marty is headed to Paris and asked for some tips. From my many months living in a artist squat in Rue Trinite and at the Shakespeare & Company bookstore:
- Shakespere and Company Bookstore/Bohemian Hostel - write a one page autobiography to exchange for a place to stay... if they have room. Help a little around the store in the morning and then go enjoy your day. Watch out when George gives himself a haircut with a lighter! (52min)
- Three Ducks Hostel - beers and other fellow travelers
- Centre Pompidou - I love modern art. This inside-out building is a beauty to look at.
- Louvre - You gotta see the Mona and other famous work on display. (Go in the back way and ask someone for their ticket stub).
- Notre Dame - many entertainers on the grounds around the church in the evenings
- Sacre Coeur - great view, beware the pick pockets and salesmen
- Tour Eiffel - Go on a slow day. Take a lunch and go to the top to enjoy. A must do.
- Latin Quarter - Good Eats. Look for Maoz Falafel for a tasty cheap healthy meal.
- Metro 14 - fully automated subway line from St-Lazare to Gare de Lyon. Ride in the first car and look out the front window and the train moves under the city... Fun photo op!
- Omlette - look for an omlette on a breakfast menu. The ones I had in Paris were amazing.
- Panini - quick cheap lunch.
- Nutella & Banana Crepe - quick cheap breakfast!
Anything "must see's" that I missed?
Comments
There are a *lot* of places for food. Try to in border of Paris too. Like "La Jatte" Island, walk a bit in the gardens at the Seine shores, and then go eat at "Le petit Poucet" (cheap good french food - go for the menu: 27€) or "La café de la jatte".
Walk from "Les grands magasins" (Printemps, Galeries Lafayette) to "Les champs Elysées"... and If you want make little detours to have a look to Madeleine, Saint-Lazare, Opera (lovely place)...
Le Marais (Gay area) is nice
And you can have fun at popular/animated neighborhoods too (Republique, Bastille).
And in case you wonder, yes I'll miss Paris :P I'll regret not having enjoyed more the town before moving !
Whenever I go to Paris, the first thing I do is hunt for a banana and nutella crepe. I'm not really in Paris until I have one. The second thing I do is get lost.
Also, you might want to tell him to check out the Paris page on <a href="http://www.43places.com/places/view/104335">43 Places</a>. There's even a list of off-the-beaten-path <a href="http://www.43places.com/tag/off+the+beaten+path/104335">places</a>.
Linked:
• 43 places: Paris
• 43 Places: Paris - Tagged: "off-the-beaten-path"
Bastille
the fleamarket on saturdays at Porte de Clignoncourt
former haunt of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre. -- some café glamour you'll want to be inside appearing to look out, while you're really surveying the action from behind your dark sunglasses.
Also you must check out, what Amelie made popular, Cafe Des Deux Moulins on Rue Lepic. and if you head up Rue Lepic, up into that 18th ardissoment, there are tons of little cafes along there and up Rue de Abbesses.
Right around the corner, there is Le Taroudant II (8 rue Aristide Bruant, tel: 00 33 1 42 64 95 81).The FOOD is amazing and you can't visit Paris without visiting this place, the couscous is amazing and the Fig liquieur they serve at the end of the meal is gratis and they make themselves... Ahhhhhhh!!! Mint Tea, make a night of it, Across the street is a little "best western" that is owned by a guy from Huntington Beach California, and the rates are UNBELIEVEABLE, the views are great, the location is perfect and I would stay there again in a heartbeat!!!
I have so much more.... You must try the Afrikan Chocolate ( hot chocolate with cream, oohhhhhh) Perfect on a rainy romantic Parisian day! Try Cafe Angelia,
226 rue de Rivoli, 75001 ParisAcross from the LouveHAVE A GREAT TIME!
Delish.
I only spent a few days in Paris, and I pretty much have down everything you have down.
At Sacré Coeur, be sure to visit the dungeons and take the walk around the rotundas. It's a few Euros and absolutely worth it - the view from the top of the top of Montmartre!
Outside the Louvre, stop in at the Tuileries - completely free. There are often little children having boat races on the fountains, and I played several rounds of bocce with some gentlemen on their lunch hour.
The Luxembourg Gardens are an absolute must-see, along with the Panthéon. From the top of the hill there, one can see directly to the Tour Eiffel. I myself spent a lot of time in the Cluny, and the lovely little mediaeval gardens just outside it (there's a great panini/crêpe place just across the street that's part of the cheapest 24 hour internet café in Paris. I used to get a panini and a coke and take lunch in the jardins, watching the kids play).
I loved Shakespeare & Co, but found the books to be overpriced. There's another English-language bookstore over by the Centre Pompidou where I was able to find all the same books for half the price.
I also high enjoyed the Marais. Place des Vosges is a good place to stop in if you're looking to see the heart of the French Revolution.
... I miss Paris.
It took me a year to appreciate Paris. But I love wanderig in Montmartre. The coolest bars are in the Latin Quarter too. Before you leave Paris you must go at least once at the Jardin Du Luxembourg. I could spend hours there, daydreaming on a chair, in front of the fountain. le Parc De La Géode is also a great place. The best places in Paris are the parks, the museums & the flea markets.
Bon séjour :)
There's also Les Egouts if you're into...ummm...boat rides ;)
If you are NOT on a budget or have a good credit card then dinner at the top of the Tour de Montparnasse is spectacular. The dinner is excellent, and the view sublime. Do request a window seat overlooking the Eiffel Tower.
You can see the Eiffel Tower 'fizzing' on the hour AND you don't have to look at the Tour de Montparnasse which is very ugly! Don't expect much change from £200 though for two with all the trimmings.
[V]arty