With Courtesy of Paris Eiffel Tower News et Monument Paris
Welcome to Paris! This page has been designed especially for you who may visit Paris for the first time. We wanted to give you some advice to prepare your arrival, and some exciting ideas to do during your stay in the City of Light. Happy reading!
Once the stress of travel and installed in your comfortable room, you're ready to go on an adventure to the streets of the capital! But before you set foot outside, make sure you dress comfortably for the occasion.
First, put on yourself. Getting Walking in, because you stop very often to discover lots of interesting details. You know how a day of shopping in stores you can ruin your legs ... Stop-and-go stop again ... In short, if your feet are not good shoes, prepare to suffer.
Visit the Eiffel Tower is for example or 30 minutes waiting queue to buy the ticket, yet several minutes waiting for the elevator, an hour of trampling in the floors of the Tower, still down for several minutes. ... So you a good pair of shoes, and too bad for fashion if you need to sacrifice beauty for comfort!
The weather in Paris can be capricious: a beautiful sunny morning can quickly turn into a rainy and accompanied by a cold wind gently. For our Canadian friends used to the time of Montreal, the climate during these soft. But for our visitors to the south of France, it is good to know that apart from the period May-September, Paris is not hot. So do not hesitate to carry a fleece and a wind breaker in your luggage.
In any case, do not forget your umbrella, which will sometimes be your best friend in the streets, especially if you want to take pictures of everything ... Rain and camera lenses do not mix.
You are now ready to leave, well equipped for the occasion. A few tips for you:
Avoid taking a taxi during the day, and especially to 11.00 am in the morning and late afternoon, 4 to 8. The streets are clogged, and take the bus during these hours, be sure to watch the meter turn without doing anything. Take the subway is more simple, less expensive and very fast. Here is a map of the Paris subway.
The price of taxi ride: the taxi meter (meter) displays the fare and one of three letters: A, B or C. If you're in Paris or on the Boulevard, the A rate applies during the day from 6:00 to 20:00 and the B rate during the night until 6.00 am. When you leave Paris intra-muros, the driver will turn on the B rate during the day and the C rate from 20.00. If you are far from Paris, the C rate applies. You pay extra for every luggage loaded in the trunk of the car and if you take the cab from an airport. Do not catch a taxi in the street if you are within 100 meters of a railway station: taxis can not load passengers near a station, they must go to the head station the station itself. So stay away from the station, or go to the bus station to station.
The restaurants are beginning to fill up around 12:15 and remain filled until 13:30. At night, they meet from 19.30 and not désemplissent usually not before 22:00. If you do not want to wait to eat dinner early, 18h00 to 19h00. Warning: Restaurants rarely serve between 14.00 and 18.00.
Having a drink on the terrace of a cafe and watch the passers Parisians and foreigners: sidewalk kidding! But be aware that drinks are often charged higher prices inside the coffee.
The waiters are often charged. They are not rude, just in a hurry. Do not take it badly if you turn away when you take a little time: they quickly. They come back anyway at your table.
In Parisian restaurants, servers do not necessarily return you to ascertain the quality of your meals when you were served. Do not feel ignored, however. They just want to avoid disturbing you in your tasting.
Tipping: Your bill is "service charge", ie you do not need to leave a tip. If you want to give pleasure to the server, let him 1 euro coffee, and a few euros in the restaurant. But you are not kept. For our Canadian friends, you slip your credit card (the one you sign) will not line "Gratuity".
You are now armed with these tips, you are ready to conquer the asphalt. Purg, 17 km long and takes you to 15 meters high in the heart of the borough XII (la Coulée Verte). You can also spend some quality time in any of green spaces in the capital: the Jardins du Luxembourg, Buttes-Chaumont, Montsouris park or park Georges Brassens. Do not forget to go discover les jardins du XIVème arrondissement (the gardens of the XIV). And if you want the history and architecture, therefore walk in St Germain des Pres and the side of the Church of St. Sulpice.
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