Ten Things I Learned While In Paris Pt. 2

Let's continue the "Ten Things I Learned While In Paris" with Part 2 - Lessons 6-10. Did you miss Part 1? Click here to read lessons 1-5.

Ready? Let's jump right in.

6. See that double decker tourist bus roaming the city? Doooooo it!

Think you'll look like a stereotypical tourist if you ride those double decker hop on/hop off buses roaming almost every major city these days? WHO CARES! I am a huge advocate for riding these buses so you can get transportation to all the major sites, hop on wherever you want and hop off at a destination you are interested in, and get some travel guidance via a recording you can listen to with (usually) provided ear buds or a live guide. In Paris, it was a pre-recorded guide and they gave us ear buds (new ones for the germaphobes wondering out there) and we could select our channel to listen to our language. I know the locals probably cannot stand seeing these buses everywhere but when you are in a major city for the first time, these are available, and the weather is nice - I highly recommend it. When we arrived in Paris, our hotel was not going to be ready for hours so we had some time to kill. Feeling jet lagged we needed an option to allow us to see things while not over exerting ourselves. We wandered to the Eiffel Tower and sat on the grass, amazed we were actually IN PARIS LOOKING AT THE EIFFEL TOWER (yes, I was that excited) and after seeing the buses stop several times we decided to hop on as well. We almost made the entire city loop before my fellow travelers started dropping like flies. The jet lag was getting to us. Outside of that though - I highly recommend it to get your bearings. There are multiple options. The two we saw while there were the Red Tour Buses and Paris L'Open Tourand they typically shared the same hop on/hop off spots.

7. If you want to see the Louvre (or any museum in Paris), get the Museum Pass

I read about it in my travel book, otherwise I never would have heard of the Museum Pass. It made us feel like rock stars because having the Museum Pass allowed us to skip the lines and enter the museums very quickly. I panicked a bit because the book said to buy them ahead of time but I had my fingers crossed they would be available in Paris somewhere and the risk paid off. The first museum we visited, Napoleon's Tomb, had them and I bought a 2 day pass for everyone (after doing my happy museum pass dance). The list of museums included for the pass is LONG and it includes the highly anticipated Louvre Museum. The price is a little high but it is worth its weight in gold. When we walked up to the Louvre entrance the line was miles long and we realized that was just the line to get through security - it didn't even include the entrance! That was an additional line. We saw a little sign to the left and just zipped through with our museum pass and avoided waiting in the blazing hot sun. We did this for every museum we visited. So worth it - especially when the people waiting would ask why we could pass them while they waited (VIP's coming through!).

8. Boulangerie Patiserrie is not the name of the bakery

Every time I read about visiting a bakery in Paris, I had to wipe the drool off my face. I looked forward to eating a beautiful French pastry or bread every day of my trip - and we succeeded. On our first day of wandering, we found this beautiful boulangerie patisserie around the corner from the hotel.  We were starving (and jet legged), so we decided to stop in to see what delicious treats they had to offer. We were not disappointed. We all ordered a pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant) and it was definitely the best chocolate croissant of my life. I am not exaggerating. We went back there - every - single - day of our trip. We affectionately called it "pink chairs" for the hot pink chairs sitting out front. I thought the name of it was "Boulangerie Patisserie" but then noticed one day the awning said "Suffren 55" and wondered if that was it's real name. I checked my travel book to discover boulangerie is "a bakery that produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven" (via Wikipedia) while patisserie is "a bakery which specializes in pastries and sweets. It is a legally controlled title that may only be used by bakeries that employ a licensed master pastry chef" (via Wikipedia). We were enjoying the best of both worlds.

9. Wander around your neighborhood (and learn it's number)

Part of the magic of Paris is how it is divided into neighborhoods or "arrondisements". Everyone has their own opinion on which ones are the best (best food - best attractions - best locations - best people - etc) and we selected our hotel based on how close it was to the Eiffel Tower. This meant we were in the 7th arrondisement which included some of the major tourist attractions, like the Eiffel Tower and Napoleon's Tomb. We quickly located the bakery (see lesson #8 if you want to drool some more), grocery store, mini grocer, ATM, pharmacist, and a handful of cafes (see lesson #3 of Part 1). All were within a quick and easy walking distance and we found by frequenting them, those who worked there began to greet us a little more warmly. It made us feel less like visitors in a foreign land and more like we had our feet underneath us with our own "spots" to get what we needed. Side note: The pharmacy came in especially handy when one of our travelers came down with a cold - on a Sunday when everything was closed. Other than the tourist sites - almost everything is closed on Sundays, so plan ahead for the "just in case" scenario. The biggest thing to get to know about your neighborhood? The number. Every cab we got into needed both the neighborhood number as well as the hotel address. Giving the arrondisement number helped them to narrow it down quickly to where your hotel was located. Several times, we helped direct the driver to our hotel once we were close enough.

10. Get to know Paris before you go....

It's really sad how many times I told people I was visiting Paris and their response was "Good luck. They are so rude over there". I had to wonder - why this reaction? What is really going on here? I've lived overseas most of my life and understand that part of traveling is realizing things will be different wherever you go and that is part of the magic of travel. Alas, we Americans tend to want the checkmark of visiting somewhere but still want the comforts of home when we get there. You can't have it both ways. So, how do you prepare yourself for this? Nerd it up! READ, read, and read some more about Paris. I picked up several books and also read multiple travel websites on hints, tips, and tricks to know before you go. It helped so much. It's where I learned I should teach myself some French. It's how I discovered the offline apps I recommended. I also discovered the tip on keeping your paws to yourself (and found it to be true). It's also how I knew about the museum pass and arrondisements. You following me? I used the learned information of others and it helped me to feel more comfortable, enjoy myself, and grow a little. As a result, I found Paris to be wonderful and will definitely go again. Here are the books and websites I read. I know there are plenty more out there but hopefully these will help you like they did for me. Rick Steves' Paris 2013 (book) | Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong (book) | Stuff Parisians Like (book) | Trip Advisor - Paris (website) | Virtual Tourist - Paris(website) So, I hope these ten lessons learned are helpful for you or gave you a better idea of the small slice of Paris I got the chance the experience. This just scratches the surface of the city and I cannot wait to go there again.....someday.

Ten Things I Learned While In Paris Pt. 1 | Paris Photography Paris Travel Tips

While I can't, in any way, claim to be an expert on Paris I can say on my recent trip I learned a few things while there that really made my time memorable. I've put together my list of "10 Things I Learned While In Paris". I've broken it down into 2 parts to make it more manageable (and keep you coming back for more! Just kidding). I hope you learn something from it! Here are my lessons learned 1-5 and I will post the rest of my lessons learned later this week.

1. Take the time to learn some key phrases in French

No one expects you to become fluent in French before you go but taking the time to learn some key phrases will really help you go far. It's polite, it opens the door, and many people appreciate you trying. Most everyone I met knew English but you could always tell they appreciated my *attempt* at French. I even had someone correct my pronunciation of a word in French but they did it in the nicest way. The French are very proud and particular about their language, so this can be commonplace but DO NOT let it undermine your confidence. Go for it! I learned my greetings (hello, goodbye, good morning/evening, goodnight, see you later/tomorrow), numbers, asking for a table for 3, the words for fish and shellfish, how to tell people I am allergic to fish and shellfish (Yeah, I am THAT person. I've been told Asia might kill me. Thoughts?), and telling a cab where to take us. I did this using the free podcast Coffee Break French and making note cards.

2. Download travel apps that work offline

I've never traveled before with a smartphone and when I discovered there were apps I could download which allow me to travel around Paris and not need my 3G or LTE signal, I was stoked! My go to apps while wandering around the city were the Trip Advisor City Guides - Paris app and theTime Out Paris app. Both allowed you to use them offline and included excellent features like top 10 lists of each type of activity, descriptions, contact info, addresses, and more. My favorite feature of all was theTrip Advisor City Guides - Paris' GPS that allowed you to find out what was near you and would use an arrow to point you in the correct direction. It wasn't always perfectly accurate but it was a huge help anyways. I also downloaded the Google Translate app but this can only be used with WiFi, which I typically couldn't access WiFi until I was in my hotel room. It did come in handy in the hotel when we needed a floor fan and the front desk clerk, after not understanding my request, pulled up Google translate and let me type in fan in English and she translated it to "ventilateur".

I also had my SpeakEasy French app with me and this was EXCELLENT to look up phrases in French. It's broken down into categories (Communication, Emergency, Getting Around, etc) and also allows you to hear the pronunciation of the phrase. I had to save the phrases into my Favorites while on WiFi and then could access those favorites while offline.

3. They aren't kidding - there are cafes everywhere

We only ate at 1 location twice (it was close to the hotel and we were tired) and we ate out at practically every meal. Like New York City, it is entirely possible to never eat at the same place twice while in Paris. When we were hungry we would just wander down the street and knew we would come upon a cafe. It was beautiful (and hot) while we were there, so we got to enjoy the outdoors. The cafe's post their menu outside for everyone to look at and, as I learned, they usually have an English menu available as well. If you ask, they will get it for you. We usually would just ask for a table (in my attempt at French) at whatever cafe we found and almost every spot figured out we were American (or English speakers) and would automatically bring an English menu out. If you're nervous about the food being different and not knowing what you are eating - don't be. Yes, it will be different (that's part of the fantastikness of traveling) but most places will have the English menu to help you out. It's an excellent experience and be ready to R-E-L-A-X and take your time. None of this American nonsense of rushing to sit, rushing to eat, and rushing to turn the table over. The staff will let you sit there as long as you want. They are getting paid the same either way (not like American servers with the miniscule wages plus tips as their salary).

4. Bonjour is the best way to start every conversation 

Walking into a store or restaurant, getting into a cab, approaching a help desk - anywhere - that you walk up to a stranger and need assistance it is customary to begin the conversation with "Bonjour". Just saying "Bonjour" (Hello) and then making your request is perfectly fine. No need for all the additional semantics like "How are you?" and "Nice weather today". "Hello" and "Can you help me with...." are sufficient. It is considered especially rude to walk into a store and not say "Bonjour" to the shopkeeper, even if that's the only thing you ever say to them.

On a side note - while shopping it's also rude to touch everything, especially clothing. As Americans, we like to paw everything so just keep your mitts to yourself and remember "Look with your eyes, not with your hands" (right mom?). If you are in a nice boutique and you like something, ask the shopkeeper to assist you.

5. There are tons of "sales people" on the Eiffel Tower green

Every night, Eiffel Tower lights up with a beautiful sparkle of lights for everyone to ooh and ahh at while sitting on the grass. I wasn't aware until we returned, but until recently the greens in front of the Eiffel Tower were off limits but while we were there everyone hung out on the greens waiting for evening to come and the light show to begin. Most made a night of it with their own picnics, drinks, and blankets. It was wonderful and was only marred by the roaming "sales people" with bags of booze/cigarettes/wine asking everyone if they wanted "Beer? Wine? Champagne? Cigarette?". At first, we would politely decline but if you're there long enough they would inevitably swing back around and ask again and we began acting like they weren't there. I think in the 2 hours we were there they swung by at least 30 times. In addition, there were other people walking around with hoops of miniature Eiffel Tower statues and glow toys for the kids. The police are cracking down on these entrepreneurs, which we saw a couple times when they would show up and the sales people would scatter like the wind. It was quite entertaining.

So those are my first 5 lessons learned. Let’s continue the “Ten Things I Learned While In Paris” with Part 2 – Lessons 6-10. Click here to read lessons 6-10.