Any suggestions about things I shouldn't miss while in Paris next week?

[Disappearer]

I'll be in Paris next week for holidays (10-16) so I am gonna follow the forum tradition and ask whether there are any things (at this time around or in general) which a WATMMer  shouldn't miss.
I  guess asking for scheduled shows  (or even parties / underground clubs playing lush tunes) during a Pandemic is pretty pointless, since even the few things which would be scheduled in mid-August, are most likely not happening, but if anyone has any suggestions about quirky / original / special in some way things to do and/or places / events / attractions I should probably check,  apart from the typical touristy stuff, I'd be glad to know. Thanks!

[KovalainenFanBoy]

the way out

[Limo]

12 hours ago, Disappearer said:

apart from the typical touristy stuff,

You’re in Paris.

In August.

Just do the touristy stuff. It’s Paris - a lot of it is pretty great.

[usagi]

the Louvre is worth going to even if it is a tourist trap. now would be the best time actually, while world travel is at an all-time low.

[d-a-m-o]

14 hours ago, KovalainenFanBoy said:

the way out

This.

x 1000.

[diatoms]

                                                go see mona lisa's new fleshy lump by her left tear duct

                                

[Limo]

1 hour ago, usagi said:

the Louvre is worth going to even if it is a tourist trap. now would be the best time actually, while world travel is at an all-time low.

This.

Although the term “tourist trap” is a bit unfair for what it is: a really good museum, probably one of the best in the world, and therefore extremely popular.

Musee D’Orsay (19th century, so impressionists and *spits* Van Gogh) is also popular for a reason and, like the Louvre, well worth the time you spend queuing up.

Try to find out when they’re having services in the Sacre Coeur and attend one. The organ is huge and the French really like pounding their church organs. If they’re doing recitals, that’s even better.

There’s a museum of outsider art at the foot of Montmartre that has interesting exhibitions every now and then.

Etc.

Etc.

[usagi]

it is a world-class museum, of course. it's just a tourist trap in the sense that it's flooded with visitors constantly, or was at least when I went there >10 yrs ago.

9 minutes ago, rhmilo said:

*spits* Van Gogh

lol

[Limo]

1 hour ago, usagi said:

it is a world-class museum, of course. it's just a tourist trap in the sense that it's flooded with visitors constantly, or was at least when I went there >10 yrs ago.

I understand where you’re coming from and having lots of visitors is certainly annoying. For me, however, a “tourist trap” is something that is designed to entrap (and fleece) tourists and that has no attraction (any more) for anyone else. The ramblas in Barcelona would be an example: all tourists and trinket shops and nothing else. Or think of something like the Borobudur, which by itself is interesting enough but where you need to make your way through at least half a kilometer of gift shops before you can get back out again (it also has extortionate prices for foreigners, although I wouldn’t personally consider that to be unfair).

The Louvre on the other hand is surprisingly cheap to get into and it has very few gift shops (certainly less than the Vatican). I also like how it has a cafetaria that serves simple and, get this, affordable meals so you can get your energy levels back up and visit more of its stunningly vast collection. A real tourist trap would fleece and gouge you at every opportunity. The Louvre does not.

 

[Scaramouche]

1 hour ago, rhmilo said:

Although the term “tourist trap” is a bit unfair for what it is: a really good museum, probably one of the best in the world, and therefore extremely popular.

Try to find out when they’re having services in the Sacre Coeur and attend one. The organ is huge and the French really like pounding their church organs. If they’re doing recitals, that’s even better.

Aye.

Even with all tourists, the Louvre is worth a visit. Maybe with COVID restrictions/tourist numbers, you'll have a bit more space and time with some of the key attractions?

Sacre Coeur is beautiful, even if only chilling with the view, it's just nice to hang out up there when the weather permits. 

Food. Even if it's just finding a good bakery, and getting yourself a baguette and taking a stroll... the bakeries are to die for.  Food. Paris is relatively small, I think it's a good city for strolling, and soaking up the ambience. 

[brian trageskin]

try the pita falafel in rue des rosiers, le marais district. it's worth the detour imo. nothing french about it though.

[Disappearer]

Quote

the way out

 

3 hours ago, d-a-m-o said:

This.

x 1000.

That bad? Seeing you live in France you should definitely know better than me, so I definitely hope you are being sarcastic or it's a  "grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" case.
I remember while in Berlin and  since I wasn't exactly  delighted with the idea of queuing up in Berghain to catch whatever boring techno was considered hip in 2018 (I like my techno Detroit/Jeff Mills or Beltram-flavoured but that's prolly my fault, living in the past...), asking for places spinning break-oriented stuff. People were like "Um...you should have probably gone to London instead..." (granted, this remark was mainly because of the music request rather the city in general).

The next year,  while in London and while had a blast catching Ceephax and Altern-8 @ "I Love Acid" the previous night, the "alternative rock" side of me was also seeking for a place spinning that kind of stuff. To my surprise, asking people in Shoreditch and Hackney resulted in people staring at me like they had no idea what I am talking about, which was quite weird, I mean it's London we are talking about. Then again,  that's also probably due the fact it's not the 90's anymore... Then some nice lad at the Jack the Ripper pub blatantly said: "Quality music in London?!! This city is now dead to the bone, just get to a plane and go to Berlin mate!", which according to additional remarks he made, it wasn't about the music only... But, british weather aside of course, I fucking loved London so I was happy to argue with him... But, I digress...

Edited August 2, 2021 by Disappearer

[d-a-m-o]

Aside from cultural / historical stuff, Paris is a hellhole. This is getting worse day by day since the 90's...

[brian trageskin]

from what i understand, people who live in paris like it (mostly). the rest of the french population doesn't (mostly). foreigners love it.

personally, i hate it. i find it very ugly (i know i'm in the minority - different strokes i guess), parisians are famously unfriendly (mostly), but i'm probably biased since i don't know the cool places to chill and the like. parisians do like their city for the most part, which seems to indicate that knowing the city well is key to appreciating it, as a french person.

11 minutes ago, d-a-m-o said:

Aside from cultural / historical stuff, Paris is a hellhole. This is getting worse day by day since the 90's...

yeah it's basically a hellhole in my book. strong babylonian vibes imo.

[brian trageskin]

6 minutes ago, brian trageskin said:

from what i understand, people who live in paris like it (mostly). the rest of the french population doesn't (mostly). 

this is actually a mind-blowing fact: if you live somewhere, you probably like that place. otherwise, why would you choose to live there? /self-facepalm

[Limo]

1 hour ago, d-a-m-o said:

Aside from cultural / historical stuff, Paris is a hellhole. This is getting worse day by day since the 90's...

Quote

• Gender: Male
• Country: France

Aahhh … I love the French and their sunny outlook on life. Their attitude towards their own country, which by most objective standards is one of the most pleasant in the world, is especially refreshing.

Paris is not a hellhole. It’s crowded and full of tourists and therefore expensive and somewhat difficult to find your bearings in, but in no way is it in the same league as, oh, Jakarta, Teheran ... or Winnipeg.

[brian trageskin]

1 hour ago, rhmilo said:

Aahhh … I love the French and their sunny outlook on life. Their attitude towards their own country, which by most objective standards is one of the most pleasant in the world, is especially refreshing.

Paris is not a hellhole. It’s crowded and full of tourists and therefore expensive and somewhat difficult to find your bearings in, but in no way is it in the same league as, oh, Jakarta, Teheran ... or Winnipeg.

let's be real for a second: 

first, yeah, the french are notorious for despising their own country/culture, despite the fact that they don't have much to complain about compared to most places in the world. basically, being unsatisfied and complaining about everything and anything is an integral part of french culture, imo. 

but we're not talking about france as a whole here. parisians get a lot of hate from the rest of the population (les provinciaux, la province) because a lot of them can be real assholes/pretentious/snobbish/unwelcoming/overall unfriendly.

also, paris is imo a very hostile/unforgiving environment to live in, compared to other french cities. which doesn't have to do with paris in particular, i guess it's pretty much the same in any metropolis all over the world. but combine that with the parisians' unfriendliness and what are you left with? the urban environment. personally, i hate the hausmannian style and the neo-classical stuff, or whatever it's called (i know nothing about architecture so don't roast me on that). notre-dame, for example, is beautiful, and i don't deny that some of the buildings and places are beautiful, but they only represent a tiny fraction of what paris really is imo. yes, the louvre is amazing, so is the musée d'orsay, yes, the eiffel tower, the sacré-coeur, etc. etc. and yeah, the best concerts/gigs/cultural events are in paris. but the daily experience is far removed from that obviously (i've been in paris countless times and my mom lives there). i'm not gonna pretend i know the city well though, i really don't. 

obviously, this is only my subjective impression. lots of people love paris, mainly parisians themselves. 

anyway this has nothing to do with the topic. i just hate paris, and in the purest french tradition, i never miss an opportunity to shit on stuff and give my opinion when no one's asked for it  

[iococoi]

Liberté, égalité, café au lait!

[Enthusiast]

Recommend the Catacombs and Pere Lachaise if you are a fan of death.

[zkom]

The best time I had in Paris was getting some wines and cheeses and going on a pique-nique in Le Jardin du Luxembourg. Oh là là.

[brian trageskin]

[cichlisuite]

Paris is awesome, but I'm not a Parisien, so idk... Been there in 2002 and 2005 and both times I had super mega time spending there. The first was a middle school excursion and we did all those art and historical places. The second time I was invited by a friend I met as an exchange student, and she showed me different places, weird bars and bodegas, shops, weird corners and markets, suspicious places, etc, and night clubs, of course. The early 2000s were a blast for night life.

Today, because of this corona madness, I guess you should see the basic tourist traps, as someone already said before, it probably wont be as crowded as any other time: the louvre, and saint-chapelle, sacre-coeur, invalides, musee d'orsee, the arch in la defense, montmartre, the latin quarter, place de la concorde, st. germain blvd, moulin rouge, the luxembourg gardens, the pantheon, versailles, georges pompidou centre, the famous cemetary i forgot the name of, there's a an awesome botanical garden, and the boat ride on the senne is cool, you could probably even get a table at cafe de flore lol. There used to be a huge record shop in la fayette building...

As for the more alternative places, I can't really tell since it's more than 15 years since my visit, and things probably changed since then, and I also don't remember the addresses and locations anymore. It helps if you know someone who lives in Paris. Maybe be aware of the pushy street sellers around the major tourist areas. They will swarm you and not leave you alone if you give them just a bit of attention. My friend got mugged by one of those. Pushy but fun sellers on the markets, don't speak a breath of english. If I remember anything else I will write more.

Edited August 2, 2021 by cichlisuite

[neurone]

11 hours ago, Shimon_Shimon said:

I think it's a good city for strolling, and soaking up the ambience.

yeah this ! a nice weird altrenative trip to paris. but it's physically challenging if you wanna push a bit deep into it.

about Paris in general : alongside some guys up there, I would  say, yes paris is peculiar, not very friendly, even haughty, costy... I won't leave in here,

but, for someone who came in there from other place (either foreigners or french) there's a lot to do and see in there.

but,(say, for muzic and pzrties) you have to know where the sweet spots are. (that's what you ask for I guess )

unfortunately for you  I don't live in paris and did'nt have been there since years, so I can't give you some good tips right now. I hope you will enjoy your trip in france , would it be in paris or in the "province"

11 hours ago, Shimon_Shimon said:

I think it's a good city for strolling, and soaking up the ambience.

Yep that's it.

above all : If you're in Paris for some reason, get the best out of it. If you have to choose a place in france for holydays, choose somewhere else i.m.o.   ....edit : well eh , or go to paris, idk.... I'm not leaving my city very often so what do I know

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 2, 2021 by neurone

[cichlisuite]

Oh, the Auguste Rodin's museum is really really nice, it has a forma viva in the surrounding court where you can also find la porte de l'enfer

Atelier de Lumieres is gorgeous, and has incredible displays and shows

oh man, so many lovely memories of that city

and I'm so old, fuck, time flies lol

Edited August 2, 2021 by cichlisuite

[drillkicker]

I seem to remember James Joyce saying that Paris was the only city that he ever enjoyed being in.