Visiting Paris

"Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seat belts and extinguish all cigarettes: we are beginning our descent and within ten minutes we will be landing at the Charles de Gaulle airport." Perhaps your heart beat a little faster when the hostess made this announcement, because it meant you were arriving in Paris for the first time, with a feeling of excitement about what might lie ahead. At the airport you took the bus which has left you at the Invalides or the Porte Maillot terminal. Here you have to decide how to get to your hotel: by taxi or on Paris's underground railway, the Metro.

The Paris Pages

Montmartre

Once you have freshened up in your hotel room after your long and tiring trip, you will probably decide, full of enthusiasm and curiosity, to begin without delay your personal conquest of Paris, about which you have heard so much. And there are many things to see in this enormous and complex city.
There is the city of high fashion, with its boutiques full of splendid clothes around Place Vendome, Faubourg St-Honore or Rue de la Paix.There is the picturesque city, the city of the artists and intelectuals: in the "villages" of St-Germain-des-Pres or Montmartre, or along the Seine embankments with their "bouquinistes". And there is the historical city, with its monuments, testifying to its long and fascinanting history.
You will certainly want to sit outside in an open-air cafe and enjoy a "grand creme" with a "croissant", a snack to keep you going until lunchtime. There will be no lack of company there, because the Parisians spend a great deal of time in the bars and cafes at all hours of the day and night, chatting, talking of politics or business - talking of anything ynd everything. The typical Parisian is a great talker and is often mocking and ironic. Gesticulating, he discusses the day's events in a colourful language, full of Parisian slang or "argot", with the flat rapis Parisian accent. The cab-drivers and the "quatre-saisons" vendors ( the ones who sell fruit and vegetables from their barrows) are famous for their salty, colourful language.

Tour of the city

Now for your tour of the city: thera are, of course, tours organized by agencies, which can give you a rapid panoramic idea of Paris. But we hope you will have time to go on foot and really see the city. Neverthless you will certainly enjoy a cruise along the Seine in a "Bateau-Mouche", which offers a view of Paris from an unusual angle. During the cruise you can also have lunch or dinner ( cruises leave from Pont de l'Alma, Quai de Montebello and the Square du Vert-Galant at the Pont Neuf).
more Tour of the City -- seine cruise

Many people are starting to book their hotels online but to get cheap hotels including a relaxing spa resort, you may want to do some reasearch. You can easily find pet friendly hotels where you can have that other member of the family join you in your vacationing as well.

>> Place Vendome >>