There was all sorts of breaking news while this blog was on hiatus for a vacation trip to Paris and Amsterdam which occurred during a European heat wave. 

Putting all the news on the backburner as it were, here are some Paris travel tips for those who might be visiting France’s capital city for the first time and/or, like us, are or were relatively disorganized if not disoriented.

Paris is amazing, but it also a maze, and given the poor signage by American standards, even a using a street map may not be totally effective to navigate around the city on foot.

That said, an important tip is to go to the Paris tourism office (officially known as the Convention and Visitors Bureau) and obtain what’s called the ParisPasslib.  It can purchased for 1-5 days.

The five-day pass entitles a visitor for a one-day, unlimited hop-on, hop-off sightseeing bus tour (there are four lines, and these excursions are handy to enable you to get your bearings), a one-hour boat cruise on the Seine, and a four-day museum pass for the 50 museums in the Paris region), and a five-day Metro (subway) ticket.

The five-day option currently costs about $155 euro, which amounts to about a very reasonable $36 U.S. dollars per day. If you jump on the sightseeing bus for the first time after four p.m., you can ride all day the following day at no extra charge.

The nice lady at the bureau’s North Station (Garde du Nord) welcome center was extremely informative and friendly in issuing the ParisPasslib.

Although Paris public transportation is excellent (and somewhat confusing at first), as alluded to above, get ready for a lot of walking during your stay.

Hotels: Even if the summer vacation season, you can find accommodations at relatively reasonable prices if you do some thorough online detective work. Note that hotel rooms in France are tiny as compared to those in the U.S.

Restaurants: There are cafes all over Paris so there is no shortage of places to eat during or after a hectic day of sightseeing. A pro tip on the subject of tips is that the tip is included in your bill, but you can leave something extra for great service, but your mileage may vary on that.

Also, once the server brings your food, you may have to hunt him/her down to get the check. This is in sharp contrast to America where even if you’re deep into a conversation with your companions, the server will bust right in to  to ask if everything is okay or if you need anything else.

Another difference is that Paris servers don’t bring over water when you first sit down, and if you ask for H20, they usually come back with bottled mineral water as a billable item.  When it’s time to pay, your server will also bring over a device to process your credit card in front of you.

This vehicle parked outside a cafe is worse for wear presumably after the FIFA World Cup “celebrations” in Paris.

Situational awareness: Owing to the heat wave, the Metro subway cars were steamy, and some of them are in need of an extreme makeover. Moreover, be on the alert for pickpockets; the p.a. system on subway platforms will sometimes announce warnings to that effect in French and English. Apparently there is a also problem with fare jumpers in the subway system; keep your pass handy because Metro staffers in the stations or making the rounds in the cars may ask you to produce it.

Parenthetically, if the Eiffel Tower is inaccessible, too crowded, or on strike or whatever, some say the view from the Montparnasse Observation Tower is just as good.

If you time your visit to the Arc de Triomphe for around dusk, you can see the lights go on at the Eiffel Tower as depicted in the video below.

Depending on the time and energy that you have available, other must-visit destinations include the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Picasso Museum, the modern art museum at the Pompidou Center, the Rodin Museum, the D’Orsay Museum, and of course, the Louvre.

(“The Thinker” by Auguste Rodin,)

Making your limited time somewhat more manageable and maximize what you can see during your Paris visit, note that some museums are open until late the evening, so check scheduling before you plan your day on the town.

Although there are signs all throughout the Louvre for directing visitors to the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, there is no signage in the room where the Mona Lisa hangs. Nonetheless, expect a big crowd there.

Most museums allow picture taking.

In due course, this blog post will be expanded with additional tips and many more images from Paris.

In the meantime, if you have suggestions about what to do, and how to do it, in Paris, please leave them in the comments below.

Related posts:

Here’s a video clip from the Seine boat ride.

Watch for a follow-up post about Amsterdam. Life is an adventure!