| Author | Message | ||
     Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.208.112.230 |
On sunday I'm headed to Paris for a week. Any recommendations on great places to visit, other than the usual suspects? I fancy experiencing some Parisienne Gothic... | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.177.119.24 |
Lucky sod - not been for a couple of years, but hopefully we'll be a popping over soon. | ||
| Simonavery (Simonavery) Username: Simonavery Registered: 05-2009 Posted From: 91.110.239.192 |
I'm deeply envious. Paris is one of my favourite places on Earth (Venice is the other). Given the chance I'd drop everything and move there right now. I suppose it's pretty obvious but Pere Lachaise is as gothic as it gets. We wandered around there for hours last time my girlfriend and I were there. You just have to avoid the mad guy in the Jim Morrison t-shirt who attempts to give you a 'free' tour of the cemetary. He's crazy. Entertaining, but crazy. The catacombs in Montparnasse are also well worth a look; it doesn't get much more gothic than a mile's worth of bones! | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.241.143 |
The Red Light District is great for a wander - lots of cool little bars and cafes. The Musee d'Orsay is better than the Louvre. try to see The Lady and the Unicorn at the Musee National du Moyen Age - it's wonderful. Also, the Catacombs (which were closed when we went) is apparently a must-see. And Notre Dame is always worth a visit. I love Paris, me. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.177.119.24 |
Oh yes, a thumbs up for the catacombs - I love a good ossuary! I'd recommend a look at any cemetary, not just Pere Lachaise, as all the ones near the centre are interesting and have many famous corpses interred, and some great monuments too. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.170.66.115 |
I've only ever been by Paris, never to it. I've some pidgeon French which I'm hoping to improve (got some CDs, which are useful). Must try get over there some time when I've a quid for the ferry crossing. Of course, you're then stuck in Calais with the wannabe immigrants . . . | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.151.125.173 |
Only ever been once - hated the place. Maybe I should give it another try.... gcw | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.170.66.115 |
I love the French accent, the throatiness of the language. It's an interesting language to learn, because although it's actually one of the younger European languages, its syntax is more similar to old English, the stuff of Shakespearian construction -- "go you?" etc -- than modern English. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.170.66.115 |
Steve? How you getting there? I've been the Chunnel route, Eurostar. To me it was science fiction stuff, a tunnel under the sea, but everyone else was a bit bored by it all. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.247.45 |
Montparnasse is beautiful, and its cemetery and catacombs are mind-enhancing places to visit. The Marais district has a great bookshop cafe that's open late. There's a museum of Gustave Moreau paintings that includes a canvas depicting a weird subterranean ritual – the participants mostly being somewhere in between human and goat. The Rue des Mauvais Garcons (a well-named alley, believe me) has an interesting bar... not necessarily to your taste however. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.17.106 |
The Pompidou Centre or Versailles perhaps. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.20.31.211 |
Type Paris into Google Images and remind yourself that the city still exists. Half of the results are, culturally, its bipolar opposite. | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.208.112.230 |
Thanks for the recommendations, guys. Seems likes there's more to Paris that the Champs-Elysees and the Blackpool tower. My appetite is well and truly whetted. We're going by Eurostar, Mark. I've been through the Chunnel before, several years ago. The tunnel bit's a bit weird. I expected to leave Britain's grey concrete wasteland in the north side and emerge into French rural vineyards basking in sunshine. In reality, both sides looked equally as depressing. Gary F - The last time I entered Paris, she leaked the damn videotape onto the internet...  | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.171.129.72 |
Same geology, Steve. You go from Kent's rolling downs to the French eqivalent, but with ugly concrete towns both sides of the Chunnel, as kind of way stations.... Enjoy! | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.177.119.24 |
I've only ever travelled to Paris via Eurotunnel on the train, although I've been to other bits by car. Been to Paris five or six times now, so not lots, but enough to start getting a feel for the place (or at least to think I have). | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.197.113 |
Have a great time in Paris, Steve! Don't get lost in the catacombs... I've been all over the south of France, but never to Paris, although I still hope to one day. | ||
| Mark West (Mark_west) Username: Mark_west Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.39.177.173 |
Have a great time, Steve - I loved Notre Dame and that whole area, walking along the Seine. Beautiful place. |