Let's Plan A Trip To Paris

Let's Plan A Trip To Paris

Lesson 1:

Okay, let's begin...

Day 1: To the Top

Morning

Arrive in Paris! Bonjour! Bienvenue!

Afternoon

Check-in to lodging. Explore your immediate neighborhood. Find a light lunch or snack. (Or have an early dinner on Rue Saint-Dominique now and do the Eiffel Tower after.)

Evening

Start your Paris adventure at the top – go to the Eiffel Tower(Metro: Bir-Hakeim) to get your bird’s-eye bearings on this stunning city. Take the Eiffel Tower stairs to the second floor before riding an elevator to the top. The exercise and fresh air will help combat the jet lag.

Afterward, walk southeast (away from the Seine River) down Avenue de la Bourdonnais, then take a left on Rue Saint-Dominique, home to a plethora of cafes, brasseries and restaurants. Try bustling locals’ favorite, Le Campanella, just off the main drag at 18 Avenue Bosquet (go right).

After dinner, continue back along Rue Saint-Dominique for another block, then take a right on Rue Cler. Walk this classic market street, buy dessert and picnic supplies. Take the Metro home at École Militaire. But before descending underground, look back over your shoulder: Are the Eiffel Tower's 20,000 lights on?

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Day 2: Historic Paris Walkabout

Morning

Over breakfast (no later than 7:30am), download the JeFile app and use it to reserve a time slot for the Notre-Dame Cathedral Tower Climb. Arrive at Notre-Dame Cathedral (Metro: Cité) on the big Seine River island, Île de la Cité, by about 8:30am. Spend an hour or two in awe of Notre Dame’s Gothic interior, then make tracks for your tower climb reservation on Rue du Cloître Notre Dame (face front of the cathedral, go to the left).

After exiting the tower, return to the front of Notre-Dame and appreciate the busy façade and tower you just trekked atop. Find Point Zero, a round, silver marker in the ground showing the location from which all distances in Paris are measured. Take a fun picture here. Next, visit the Archeological Cryptunder the plaza a couple hundred feet away for a multimedia-meets-ruins taste of Roman Paris.

Afternoon

From the crypt, walk east back down Rue du Cloître Notre Dame until it ends. Cross over the narrow Pont Saint-Louis bridge. You are now standing on the other Seine River island, Île Saint-Louis.
This upscale neighborhood boasts gorgeous architecture, great shopping, fantastic restaurants, adorable ice cream shops and delicious creperies. Eat lunch anywhere along Rue Saint-Louis en l'Île, which bisects the island lengthwise.

After lunch, leave Île Saint-Louis the way you came via Pont Saint-Louis bridge, but this time take a left on Quai de l'Archevêché and cross over the Seine River to the Left Bank, hanging a right on the first street, Quai de la Tournelle.

Walk along the Seine River. Peruse the famous Seine Booksellers until reaching Rue Lagrange. Go into the little park diagonally across, Square René Viviani, to relax beside Paris’ oldest tree. (It’s seen better days.)

Take the park’s northwest exit, directly across from Rue de la Bûcherie to stop in at Shakespeare & Company (37 Rue de la Bûcherie) bookstore. Can you feel the presence of Lost Generation greats, including Hemingway, who posted up at this shop? Fill your water bottles at the green fountain out front.

Follow Rue de la Bûcherie until it turns into Rue de la Huchette for a taste of the Latin Quarter. Huchette dead-ends at Place Saint-Michel. Go left to see the Fontaine Saint-Michel, then turn around and walk back to the Seine River and continue strolling the Seine River promenade, heading west away from Notre Dame past more booksellers.

If you’ve got the energy, take a right at Boulevard du Palais for Sainte Chappelle’s stained-glass extravaganza or escape the heat and crowds in the Conciergerie’s cool confines and murderous history.

Evening

Continue walking along the Seine River. Eventually, you’ll reach the Pont Neuf, Paris’ oldest Seine River bridge, but don’t cross it just yet.

Instead, take a left on Rue Dauphine and purchase dinner picnic supplies at gourmet outfitter, FRANCART Maison Gourmande (30 Rue Dauphine) or grab some takeout nearby.

Take your booty back across Pont Neuf to the little park to the left under the bridge at the very tip of Île de la Cité, Square du Vert-Galant. Spread a blanket in the grass or sit by the Seine and breathe it all in.

(I can’t promise this will happen to you, but one time my family and I were picnicking here when one of the Seine’s ubiquitous firefighter boats pulled up in front of us. Two firefighters jumped into the river; one swam ashore and winked at us as he got out. He proceeded to run up the stairs to the Pont Neuf, climb over the bridge’s concrete railing, execute a perfect dive back into the Seine and swim back to the boat, which then motored off.)

Catch the Metro home at Pont Neuf (finish crossing the bridge to the Right Bank and take an immediate left).

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