Paris Travel Tips

If you plan on traveling to Paris, here are a few tips that might come in handy and save you a few $$$.

1. Getting into the city from the CDG airport
If you take a taxi into the city, it will cost you the equivalent of $60 to $100 depending on the traffic and where in the city you are heading. Instead, take the RER B line from the RER station in Terminal 3; it costs only 8.40 euros one-way (about $12). You can purchase a ticket in Terminal 3 at the SNCF office or at an automated kiosk. To get to Terminal 3, there is an inter-terminal tram on the councourse level that will take you there. We must've missed it though because we ended up walking there.

As long as you take the RER B line, it doesn't matter which line you take as long as you're heading toward the city (the line splits when it reaches the suburbs on the other side of the city). If you're unsure, just look at the TV monitors situated on the platforms and check to see if your stop is listed. Be sure to keep your ticket as you'll need to use it to exit the turnstiles when you reach your destination.

Châtelet Les-Halles is the main transfer point to the metro from the RER. You can use the same ticket to transfer to the metro.

2. Taking the metro
I've been in Paris now for 12 days and I've only taken the metro once (outside of taking it to the city from the airport). I love walking around the city and exploring the different areas on foot. If, however, you're crunched for time (or don't like walking a lot), there are a couple of options for metro tickets/passes.

Navigo Découverte: You can get a weekly metro pass called the Navigo Découverte, which is 5 euros for the card itself, 4 euros to take a passport sized photo at the photo booth in the station, and 16.80 euros for the weekly fare. It's valid from Monday 12am to Sunday at 11:59pm so if you're arriving mid-week, it doesn't make much sense to purchase one.

Paris Visite Metro Pass: Paris has a tourist metro pass that you can purchase for 8.80 to 48.40 euros depending on the number of zones (3 zones-city center, 6 zones-includes suburbs, Versaille, and airports) and days (available for 1, 2, 3, or 5 days). Personally, I think this is a rip-off, but if you plan on taking the metro often (really often), it may be worth your time.

Booklet of 10 tickets: If you're going to take the metro, my suggestion is to get the booklet of 10 metro tickets, which costs 11.40 euros.

Individual tickets: If you don't want to buy a pass or the booklet, an individual ticket is 1.60 euros that is good for transfers within 1.5 hours.

3. Call your credit card companies to let them know you'll be in Paris and to see what the surcharge will be on purchases you make while you're in Paris
Here's a list of some of the rates, but they may vary depending on your specific account:

AMEX: 2.5% added to purchases

MBNA: Many websites said that MBNA had no fees, but I called and they confirmed a 3% additional surcharge on purchases

Bank of America: 3% surcharge added to purchases

4. ATM fees
If you have a Bank of America account and withdraw from a BNP Paribas, you won't be charged any fees from Bank of America or BNP Paribas. The only drawback is if you have several accounts linked to your card. BNP will only allow you to withdraw from your main account. The exchange rate they give is pretty good too...

5. Currency conversion
If you need to convert dollars to euros before you leave and you're in SF, go to Pacific Foreign Exchange Inc on Sutter and Powell (533 Sutter Street). They gave me a better exchange rate than my bank did, and they charged no commission fees.

6. Paris Museum Pass
If you plan on going museum-hopping, the Paris Museum Pass is a great deal. They are available for 2 days (32 euros), 4 days (48 euros), or 6 days (64 euros). We got the 4 day pass and saved 50 euros between the two of us. You can buy one at any of the participating museums or at a Paris tourism office. Not only will it save you money, but it will save you time since you won't have to stand in the long ticket lines outside each museum.

7. Essential French survival phrases
My French is horrible and practically non-existent, but I've learned a few survival phrases to help me get by.
Hello (good morning / good afternoon) - Bonjour
Hello (good evening) - Bonsoir
Good-bye - Au revoir
Yes - Oui
No - Non
Where is...? - Où est?
Please - S'il vous plait
Thank you - Merci
How much does it cost? - C'est combien?
Do you speak English? - Parlez vous l'anglais?
Excuse me - Excusez-moi (or Pardon)
I don't speak French - Je ne parle pas français

8. In a restaurant...
Restaurants will serve lunch from 12pm to 3pm and dinner from 7pm to 11pm. The lunch rush is at 12:30, and the dinner rush is at 8:30pm. More French survival phrases:
I would like... - Je voudrais...
A pitcher of water - une carafe d'eau
A half bottle of wine - une demi-bouteille de vin
The check please - l'addition s'il vous plait

9. Pack in layers
In the mornings, it's freezing (by my California terms), and by midday, it's nice and sunny. I usually wear several layers and I peel the layers off as the day heats up.
Average high and low temperatures by month:
March 52˚F - 37˚F
April 57˚F - 43˚F
May 64˚F - 48˚F
June 70˚F - 54˚F
July 75˚F - 57˚F

10. Cheap eats
Paris can be an affordable city if you're wise about where you eat. Quinn and I love having picnics in the park (we make our own baguette-filled sandwiches or pick one up from a local boulangerie) and checking out the afternoon menus at otherwise super-pricey restaurants... and then of course, there's the falafel... soooooo good and soooooo cheap. Mi-Va-Mi in the Marais district is my fav (27, rue des Ecouffes, 4th arondissement).

11. Check the voltage requirements on your electronics before you pack them
This one sounds like common sense and pretty straightforward. I swore I checked before I packed everything, but I got here and found out that my curling iron isn't compatible with the voltage requirements here. Also, my hair dryer was compatible but it only worked for the first couple of days before it sparked and died. I had to buy a new one...

12. I had an epiphany: macaroons are overrated
I think I was brainwashed into the macaroon craze. You see them wherever you go! Pain au chocolat, hot chocolate, and French pastries (except macaroons) are what it's all about! (The only exception would be Ladurée's pistachio and chocolate macaroons... but only if you're willing to wait half an hour in line!) I'm sure I'll probably still try making macaroons one of these days and will probably have one within the next week (maybe two weeks) or so. I've just realized that I don't need to eat a macaroon everyday that I'm here. Hopefully, my waist line will thank me for that. Pain au chocolat, on the other hand, is a different story. :-)

Verrines & day-old bread

Going to the market always seems to be an adventure... I really wish I knew more French. Sometimes, I rely on the pictures on the packages, and other times, I just guess and cross my fingers and hope that I'm buying what I think I'm buying.

I had never heard of a verrine until I came to Paris. A verrine is an appetizer or a dessert that is made by layering the components of the dish in a glass. It makes for a pretty presentation and can be made out of virtually anything. Today, I concocted my first verrine; it was made of tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, and polenta with a bit of seasoning and sprinkled with some shredded cheese.

I had half of a baguette leftover from yesterday's lunch, and I couldn't let it got to waste so I thought of some ideas of what I could make with it today. It turns out that day-old bread is a great thing to have on hand! I made some good ol' fashioned bread pudding for my mid-afternoon snack and then used some of the breadcrumbs for my stuffed baked tomato (atop cucumber and homemade hummus).

When the cat's away, the mice will play... Quinn's back in SF this weekend so I'm in Paris all by my lonesome :-( It just means that I'll have to taste test all the patisseries in Paris so that I can drag Quinn back to the good ones!

Today was a quiet day with Quinn gone. I spent the morning cleaning/organizing the apartment and did laundry as well. I definitely take the dryers at home for granted. My clothes are still hanging on a rack to dry, and I could only do one load because there's only one drying rack.

Off for my daily walk, I headed towards school. I wanted to make sure that I could get there on my own without Quinn leading the way. I forgot to bring a map with me but just as well, I got there in one piece as I recalled the landmarks on the streets to turn - Ben & Jerry's, the Gap, flower stands, etc.

5+ miles later, I returned home for lunch and to snack on the Pierre Hermé macaroons that I picked up along the way. Unbeknownst to me, I had ordered an olive macaroon from Pierre Hermé. Olive! When I think of macaroons, I think of caramel, passion fruit, pistachio, chocolate, vanilla, and other sweet flavors but definitely not olive! I thought it might be pistachio so when I walked into the small patisserie, I said, "un macaroon vert s'il vous plaît"...big mistake. All in all, it wasn't thaaat bad, just a little surprising when I bit into the chunks of olives hidden in the macaroon filling (I'm not a big olive fan as it is). According to a brochure they handed me with my purchase, it looks like Pierre Hermé also makes macaroons with foie gras...interesting. The other macaroons I tried from Pierre Hermé (chocolate and vanilla) were quite delicious but Ladurée is still my fav.

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I took an evening stroll around my neighborhood. There's a church, St. Eustache, at the end of the street, which is currently being restored/renovated, and just around the corner, there is a street market that comes a couple days out of the week. They sell fruits, veggies, poultry, fish, and knick-knacks. The fish and poultry just sit outside on a bed of ice all day long...

I also found our neighborhood Monoprix. We've been going to one a couple of miles down the way. Monoprix has a supermarket, toiletries, clothing, housewares, and almost anything else you can think of. It reminds me of an über-mini Walmart. It's odd that on a random night of the week, I found entertainment in perusing the aisles of goodies at the Monoprix. In the food section, they sold snail shells.

The last leg...

Thank goodness today was the last day of our Paris Museum Pass. I'm all "museum-ed out." I hardly made it through the entire day, but fortunately, there was light at the end of the tunnel, a promise to go to Secco Patisserie.

We went to three museums today...

Musée d'Orsay

(most famous for its collection of impressionist artwork; my fav was the post-impressionist collection of Van Gogh)

We did Rick Steve's audio tour for Musée d'Orsay. If you come to Paris, Rick Steve's audio tours are a definite must!

Musée de l'Armée

(houses the tomb of Napoleon)

Musée Rodin

(displays "The Thinker" among many of Rodin's other masterpieces)

We took a break in the middle of the day to have a picnic lunch (from Julien Boulangerie - Yum!!!!) on the sprawling green lawn of the Invalides.

The light at the end of the tunnel... Secco Patisserie! We picked up some goodies at Secco before heading back - pain au chocolat (duh!), cheesecake, and a madeleine. The pain au chocolat was delish, but not nearly as good as Maison Jouvin's or Fauchon's. The cheesecake was heavenly, and the cookie-like crust was beyond amazing. The madeleine was buttery and scrumptious with just a hint of lemony goodness.

After a tiring day (j'ai été fatigué!), we decided to take the metro home. Ten days in Paris, and today was the first day we took the metro! It reminded me of BART/muni back in SF but the crowds of people in the subway station were pretty overwhelming. If you stop for half a second, you'll get run over!

Among some of my 7 miles of walking today, I listened to the audiobook for The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn. Before I left for Paris, this book was recommended to me since the author is an American who loses her job (thank goodness I still have mine!) and goes to Paris to attend Le Cordon Bleu. In one day, I've listened to the audiobook through Chapter 4, and I'm enthralled by how the book parallels what I've recently gone through. I couldn't stop listening to it... I even listened to some of it as I sat gazing at some of Rodin's sculputures at Musée Rodin!

Rick Steve's Historic Paris Walk

What a day! We downloaded Rick Steve's audioguide for the Historic Paris Walk and set off to the Île de la Cité. Among the sites we learned about during our walk today were:

Notre-Dame

(it took 2 centuries to build!)

Point Zero

(the center of Paris, the point from which all distances are measured)

Archaeological Crypt

(a journey through the history of Paris)

Mémorial de la Déportation

(a memorial to the 200,000 French victims of the Nazi concentration camps)

Île Saint-Louis

(an uppity residential neighborhood, which is also the home of Berthillon gelato)

Berthillon's chocolat amer gelato is the most chocolate-y, richest ice cream I've ever had!

It's a definite must-try for the chocoholic!

Sainte-Chapelle

(beautiful Gothic church architecture filled with stained glass;

built to house the Crown of Thorns)

Palais de Justice

(local government building)

Conciergerie

(housed prisoners who were sent to the guillotine - including Marie Antoinette)

The Seine and Paris Plage

(on summer days, tons of sand are hauled in to cover the roads and create beaches along the river)

After finishing our history lesson for the day, we headed to Le Kong for an early dinner. The best part about our meal was the bread and butter that came before our meal. omg! It was the best butter I've ever had in my entire life. Whenever I go to a restaurant, I almost always pass on the bread and butter (unless I'm having the garlic rolls at C&O's, the pumpernickel at Cheesecake Factory, or the cheddar bay biscuits at Red Lobster). Today though, I ate almost the whole baguette by myself!

We just learned that there is a massive underground shopping mall just below our feet... literally, it's less than a block away from our front door, and we didn't know it was there this whole time! The "Forum des Halles" has a movie theater, coffee shops, and shopping galore. My favorite was the bookstore. We wandered around for a bit, and I was mesmerized by the cookbooks section. They had entire cookbooks on macaroons, french cooking, and so much more!!! Too bad everything was in French or else I might have spent all my money there!

Musée Picasso dans le Marais

The Musée Picasso in Le Marais holds 3,000 pieces of Picasso's artwork from throughout his life. Although we only saw a fraction of that when we visited today, we were able to see the diversity of his art through the different mediums and styles he used. If you visit Paris and you're short on time, the Musée Picasso is "auditable" as Quinn would say.

We went back to try the runner-up of falafel shops in the Marais, Chez Marianne. It looks like most of the online reviews we read were right. Chez Marianne made it to the bottom of our list in the falafel category. Although it was quite tasty, it was incredibly messy and fell apart by the time we were finished. It also didn't have as much pizzazz as their neighboring falafel competitors, L'As du Falafel and Mi-Va-Mi.

Paul Boulangerie also didn't measure up to it's promise. Both the pain au chocolat and the apple tart tasted generically like something we'd get back in the States. We won't be going back to this boulangerie anytime soon...

Thank goodness Quinn made dinner tonight and made up for all of the short falls today... eggs, rice, and soy sauce... it was like we were back in SF!! (Quinn won me over on our second date by cooking me eggs, rice, and spam - my fav!)

Pedometer count for the day: 6 miles

Tourist Day #1

Today is the first day that I've felt like a tourist. It was day one of our Paris Museum Pass so we went to the Louvre, Musée de l'Orangerie, Champs-Elysées, the Arc de Triomphe, and made a few stops along the way.

Going off only 3 hours of sleep (I can't seem to kick the jet lag!), we got to the Louvre before opening time and before the crowds. Thanks to Rick Steve's Louvre audio tour (highly recommended!), we survived the Louvre and learned a bit about the different pieces of artwork along the way. The Winged Victory, the Mona Lisa, and Venus de Milo are shown below.

We lived like Parisians today and ate a picnic of baguette sandwiches across from the Arc du Carrousel. I love the tomatoes in France! They are so fresh here! Growing up, I used to hate raw tomatoes (and I still sometimes cringe at the sight of sun dried tomatoes!).


The Musée de l'Orangerie was our next stop. It had 2 large pretty impressive rooms covered in wall-to-wall paintings of Monet's water lilies. If you visit Paris and have the Paris Museum Pass (highly recommended!), visit the 2 rooms of Monet's painting for just a few minutes and skip the rest of the museum.

We walked the Champs-Elysées on our way to the Arc de Triomphe. Along the way, we stopped at Ladurée for some macaroons and a tarte tartin. The line was soooo long; we must've waited at least a good half hour before getting to the front of the line to put in our order... but it was soooo worth it. The chocolate and pistache macaroons were amazing! The chocolat macaroon reminded me of the smooth, rich taste of a brownie (but so much better!!). They were chewy on the inside with such perfect, delicate shells. I'd have to say the pistache was my favorite... so good I can't even describe it! The tarte tartin was even better (according to Quinn). I could only have a few bites because it was so sweet, but it was like goodness on top of caramel goodness. I couldn't hear myself think because Quinn was raving on and on about how he'd never had anything so good in his entire life.

We reached the Arc de Triomphe, climbed the 284 steps to the top, and took in the panoramic views of Paris. It's definitely worth a quick trip to the top.
Pedometer count for the day: 8+ miles!

Saint Germain des Prés

We spent much of the day walking around Saint Germain des Prés and hanging out at cafés. We had our first café crème at Café de Flore. It must have been the most expensive cup of coffee I've had in my entire life... 15 euros for two cups of coffee!! It was good but not thaaaat good. This was the first tourist "rip-off" of our life in Paris. Oh well... c'est la vie.

Along our walk, we stopped at the Village Voice bookshop, on Rue Princesse to peruse and warm up a bit. Everything was in English (yay!), but we didn't end up buying anything since the appartment came fully stocked with a bookshelf full of travel guides and novels.


Our "treat" for the day was our stop at Poilâne, a boulangerie / patisserie famous for their apple tarts and butter cookies. It seemed like the perfect place for me! For the past couple of months, I've been obsessed about making the perfect apple tart and the perfect shortbread cookies. I can't even count how many apple tart variations I've made (Quinn has been my ever so gracious taste tester). I could open up the Poilâne of California! To the right is a picture of some apple tarts I made in SF one afternoon.

Poilâne's apple tart was not too tart, not too sweet, perfectly flaky, and oh so good. We should have passed on their butter cookies; they tasted very ordinary and are nothing to write home about.

It took all of my willpower not to stop at all of patisseries we saw on the way to Poilâne: Pierre Hermé, Gérard Mulot, Eric Kayser, Fabien Ledoux, and Ladurée. I'll have to save those for another day.

The next stop was Le Bon Marché, which is sometimes regarded as the first department store in the world. It was much like any other major department store we have in the States... Quinn was hungry so we went searching for La Grande Épicerie. Our walking tour guide referenced it as a "magnificent food emporium" so I was expecting some sort of massive food court, but it was just a little café in the back of the store. We relaxed there for a bit as we daydreamed and talked about some small-business ideas.

Our journey home consisted of multiple stops trying to find a place where we could buy the Paris Museum Pass. We stopped at the Musée Delacroix, the Louvre, and a Paris tourist office. Third time's the charm! We were able to finally buy our 4-day Paris Museum Pass at the tourist office on Rue de Pyramides. At least we were able to get our first peek inside the Louvre!