Long Weekend in Paris

Paris is expensive in all aspects, and many Americans who are not into the high-class foods may find it difficult to find enjoyable food, that you would be willing to pay for, ie. 12 euro hamburgers without the bun!

Quick Tips:

Paris McDonald's has a great deal on breakfast, 5 euros gets you a ton of food, muffin, juice, yogurt, and a few other things.

The Louvre is seriously discounted, half price at least in late afternoon, but it is huge so if you plan to see a lot of stuff this is not a good option. Try to do the Eiffel Tower early in the morning, before the crowds hit, Sunday is best.

Best Way To Get Around:

METRO! This is just about the only way to get around to all of Paris without spending a fortune, you can purchase cards that will hold certain amounts of money, or by the day, this is best so you are not always buying new passes every time. Be prepared when you are getting on the Metro or you will get run over, and it is also a good idea to keep you wallet in hand at all times! My dad just a few weeks ago nabbed a guy trying to steal his, he said there were at least two guys in on it, so keep you eyes open.

Very small all the way around. We had to fold up our baby stroller just to enter the front door! The room was equally small. There is an elevator to get to the rooms, all are on the second floor or higher, and the elevator was actually more roomy than the stairwell for getting luggage and such upstairs. But on the bright side it was one of the only hotels in Paris close to attractions but also affordable. There was a nice pub around the corner and it was short walk to the metro station, and not a bad walk at all to the Eiffel Tower, maybe 15 minutes.

The room had the standard TV, bathroom, window opened to the outside, and I believe an iron, if I remember right. There was a sitting room in the lobby and it was on a nice typical old Paris street with food markets right on the corner. I would advise not driving here, the hotel is on a street only wide enough for one car, not to mention that the traffic on the main road is horrible. Everything is in walking distance or at least to the metro.

This can be a little hard to find, and to be honest I think we just ended up running into it. It is not far from the Louvre, and if you happen to walk from there you will pass some quaint upscale shopping areas, but also some less desirable areas, walking at night is not recommended just for the plain fact that you could get lost on the endless rows of similar looking streets. The food is typical Hard Rock Cafe, as is the interior. The size is much larger than it looks on the outside and there is a dance floor on the lower level that you can also see from the upstairs seating that runs along 3 sides of the building around the dance floor. The fourth wall holds a 2 story video screen that can be seen from all floors. If you order retail goods from your table they will bring them to you so you can avoid the store. Some the the Hard Rocks I have been to just make you go pick them up at the store anyway, so this is a time saver.

CROWED! We honestly only went to say we were there and to see the Mona Lisa, and one or two of the other major sights. If your plan is like this then go later in the afternoon, the price goes down as do the lines to get in. But any time of the day that you go the exhibits will be crowded. The Mona Lisa is quite the hike to get to, worse if you have a baby stroller or wheelchair and need to use elevators. There is a constant huge crowd in front of it, and it is much smaller than you would imagine so you need to get closer to see any real detail. There are other many interesting thins to be seen though, if you go during the week there are open work rooms where preservation and preparation are done right in front of you, and the ceilings are not to be overlooked either.

A must do while in Paris, even if just to say "I went up the Eiffel Tower." Yes, you can take the stairs; my sister opted for this option and it is a good one if your legs will hold out, as it is less expensive. Or do like the rest of the lazy Americans and take the elevator! You will have to wait in line for tickets either way, and the shortest line of the four days we were there was Sunday morning.

The elevator will take you first to the middle landing where there is a place to eat as well as an observation area. You then hop on another elevator to take you to the uppermost level. This is where you can get the views of Paris! I had never realized how large a city Paris was until this. From up here you can pick out most of the major sights, and also see the transition from Old Paris to the newer business districts of Paris.

The Eiffel Tower is really much larger and taller in person than I would have imagined. The elevators are an experience themselves, as they travel at an angle, and you get a view of the inner workings of the construction, though I would guess that taking the stairs would provide a better view of this.

I was told the restaurant on the first landing is rather expensive, but there was such a crowd there that we never could find out. There is also a restaurant at the base of one of the pillars; I grabbed a peak at the menu and it was incredibly expensive (in the range of 30 euro per person and up). The price for the elevators was €12 per person, though we did not have to pay for our 1-year-old.

A good tip for this is do not go on Sunday mornings! Because of services we were not able to go inside but the outside was still rather impressive to see. The height in conjunction with the small width is odd to see, it looks rather disproportionate more so when you look around the side of the building and see how long the building is. There were large crowds of people gathered at the entrance, most were observing the service going on rather than just looking inside, and there were quite a few people outside as well. There are several statues in the courtyard in front of the building of knights on horses. The courtyard also has cement benches built into the small wall surrounding the courtyard so you can sit and take it all in or just relax. There are numerous bistros on the surrounding streets and it is a short impressive walk to the Seine River as well. One fun thing I enjoyed was the Metro stop here that still had the old early 1900s era Metro sign to mark the entrance, the only one like it I noticed in Paris.

This the the major shopping avenue in Paris with one end starting at the Arc de Tromphe and ending at the Rond Point. The variety of shops here is amazing and so are some of the things you may see. To begin we first saw a group of Rugby team supporters take over the road for about 1/2 a block cheering with their banner and stopping traffic. Our second incident here was the Nike store, which I was dying to get into, was closed for a few hours due to 2 major tennis starts signing autographs. The gathering was interesting and we did get some tennis balls stamped Nike Paris for free! Being an American living in Germany for 2 years this street was my haven with stores like Nike, Adidas, Disney, and a 3-story Gap store. There are also upscale stores such as Louis Vuitton, Cartier, and Hugo Boss. This is also where the Planet Hollywood is located, and for Ice Cream fans Haggen Das. There is also great people-watching here from locals to tourists of all nationalities. There is an underground parking place, but as with all places in Paris the metro is best, we got off at the Arc de Tromph stop and walked to the other end and then on to the Louvre, a long walk that consumed a good portion of the day, but also allowing you to take in many of the sight sounds and smells of Paris.

So I complain a lot about the food in Paris but there are a few foods that should not be missed. The crapes... these are a must have, this was my lunch of choice most of the time, there are stands all over that have them, my personal favorite is Nutella with bananas. Another thing not to miss is the waffles at the stand under the Eiffel Tower. Shaped like the waffles you would get in the US but sprinkled with sugar, very light and fluffy, a breakfast favorite, as we started nearly each day under the Eiffel Tower before heading out. For picky eaters and those going on a budget the McDonald's breakfast is perfect. The "buffet" is five euros and you get a sampling of everything they serve, yogurt, muffins, juice, and lots more, it will fill you up and at a lot less than any other breakfast we tried in Paris.

Nearly everyone who has seen movies or pictures of Paris knows that there is an expansive grassy park like area in front of the Eiffel Tower, but under the Tower is also a great place to relax, or if you have kids let them run. We spent a ton of time people-watching and letting my one year old run the gravel area which is surrounded by benches. This is also where the gypsies like to hang out though. I was told that they are famous for mugging people, however, in all of the time I was there I never noticed anything other than them selling trinkets. The area is also fairly well policed. In the gravel, out in the grass, or walking on the nearby garden paths, this is a great place to relax, and almost feel like you are not even in a city.