My Top Things to do in Paris (as a non-tourist)

Rissy and I become part of the exhibit at Beaubourg.

Before moving back to Paris, I started reading "My Life in France" by Julia Child. The first chapter, a discussion on Julia Child's own experiences moving to Paris, was aptly named "La Belle France."She talked about meeting French people and Expats, enjoying the wine and food, and her personal favorite, walking around the markets with its fresh smells and colorful sights... and all done on a very limited budget.  It was a wonderful way to reignite my own excitement to return to Paris.

Being in the US for 3 months has given me a chance to think about all the things I've missed most about living in Paris. Here I have compiled my favorite things to do in Paris as a non-tourist. I wasted no time.... I've been back for a week and have already gone through the list.

1. Picnic along the Canal St. Martin or the Seine

On the banks of the Seine

Hannah and David munching baguettes at the Canal St. Martin

As soon as it becomes warm enough, scores of Parisians can be found with their choice of baguettes, meats, cheeses, wine, beer, and cigarettes along the banks of the Seine or the Canal. I personally prefer the Canal because it is less crowded and is further away from the main tourist attractions. A good spot to start looking is near the Jaurès metro stop which is at the junction of the Canal St. Martin and the wider Bassin de la Villette. Grocery stores (Franprix, Carrefour) can easily be found for the deli meats (they have many charcuterie assortments), patés, cheeses, wines, beers, etc. The important thing is to get the baguette from the boulangerie, not the grocery store... your taste buds will thank you!

2. Walking around the Marais

This one may be categorized as a bit more for the tourists, but I definitely love meandering through this part of the city. Anytime people visit me, I usually take them on a walk through this area. The great thing is that this area is so diverse that I can tailor a walk through this neighborhood to my friend's specific interests. The Marais is unofficially the Jewish and Gay area, with many kosher restaurants (many concentrated at rue des Rosiers) and gay clubs and bars (near rue des Archives).  But there are also vintages stores and many interesting and unique shops, such as a shop that specializes in Absinthe or Lomography. There are also nicer, more typical shops for clothes, trinkets, furnitures, etc. The (free) Musée Carnavalet, the museum about the history of Paris and the Place des Vosges, a beautiful square containing Victor Hugo's house is in this area.

3. Velibs!

Marie and Jeff checking out the Velib' station

Paris has a very handy bike-share system called the Velib, with 18,000 bike stations throughout the city and bike paths complete with little bike traffic lights. They are 1.70€ to rent for the day, with the first 30 minutes ride (each trip) free. That is, if you ride in 30 minute intervals throughout the day, you do not have to pay extra. Additional 30 min is 1€. There is also a 150€ safety deposit that is returned at the end of the 24 hours. It's a bit difficult for Americans to rent these because it requires a credit card with a "chip" instead of the magnetic strip. Although my friends were able to get a debit card with the chip at the exchange office which worked on the Velibs. This was handy at other automated machines as well (such as metro ticket stations).

Marie cruising in a bike lane

Jeff picking his bike

4. Eating/Drinking outdoors (on the Terrasse)

Christina, Abby, and Lisa waiting for the next round of drinks.

This is perhaps the quintessential Parisian experience. Sitting on the terrasse (the outdoor seating) of a café or brasserie, drinking, eating, people-watching, chatting, generally just slowing down. There are many reasons French people love this: 1) they like being outdoors during warm weather, 2) you can smoke on the terrasse, and 3) they love drinking. But as an American, the actual experience is not always as glamorous as this sounds because many outdoor areas are on narrow sidewalks, with tables extending right up to the curb. Thus it can be crowded (by other tables or pedestrians walking by) and smoky (from French people smoking on the terrasse or exhaust from the cars driving by). To avoid the undesirable portion of this experience, find a place that has ample sidewalk!

Philippe enjoying a Panaché and a Monaco on the terrasse.

5. Eating Crepes!

Crepe with Caramel au Buerre Salé, crepe with chocolate, and a glass of cider.

I admit that I am a big crepe snob... and I missed eating really good, authentic crepes. There are a couple of good places in Paris (although to get really great ones, you need to go to Brittany). The savory crepe is made out of buckwheat and the sweet crepe is made out of flour. The default savory crepe contains ham, eggs (typically sunny-side up), and emmental cheese. For me, you could never go wrong with the goat cheese (chevre) with something sweet (honey or jam), or something with caramelized onions. My favorite sweet crepe is caramel au buerre salé... very authentic to the Brittany region, if the creperie does not have this on their menu, I just don't believe that they will have good crepes. And of course, no crepe meal is complete without cider served in a ceramic bowl or cup. It's common French knowledge to drink cider with crepes.

6. Walking around Flea/Antique Markets (les Puces/les Brocantes)

People inspecting items at Puces de Vanves

Often times there are traveling outdoor Puces and Brocantes around different areas, set up in the medians of the road. There are also permanent ones such as Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen (the largest flea market, just north of Paris... I got lost here once) or Puces de Vanves (smaller market in south Paris). It's always fun to walk around and look at the items (and perhaps buy Harry Potter in French for 1€). You can also get food at many of these places and hear traveling musicians.

Traveling piano

Supplemental activities:

There are a couple of other things I wanted to add to this list, but don't quite fit the list description because they are actually outside of Paris (Fontainebleau) or is a proper tourist attraction (Saint Chapelle).

7. The Forests of Fontainebleau

The forests of Fontainebleau

Fontainebleau is just a wonderland of activities with natural trees and an extravagant castle. Although I have never been to the castle... the allure for me is Nature. Paris is such a crowded and dense city, that it is nice to escape every now and then. It's a great place for walking or hiking, biking, picnicking, and, my personal favorite, bouldering. There are many rocks spread all over the area that it would take several days and a car to cover all of them. There are also "climbing circuits" set up, to guide you from climb to climb in the same vicinity at similar climbing grades.

Boulder showing two climbs for the red circuit and the blue circuit

Hannah crushing a boulder

8. Saint Chapelle

The majority of people here would definitely be tourists, and not residents. But it is quite beautiful, and my favorite touristy thing to see.

Stain glass windows

Painted ceilings

Occupying Frankfurt

This weekend I am visiting Megan in Frankfurt, Germany (her company sent her here for the month of February). There are a few things to visit and sightsee around the city... but mostly we've been hanging out at bars/beergardens/applewineries (apparently apfelwein is popular in Frankfurt).

Here is us trying to fit in with the other Frankfurters:

Megan and I occupy Frankfurt.  That is my angry face.

We spent the evening in Sachsenhausen area of Frankfurt, a small area with many bars and restaurants. It was quite lively in comparison to other parts of the city. After visiting 2 other bars, we finally settled at Klapper 33. The bar was full of soccer-loving Frankfurters singing classic German songs (sounded like classic rock songs... think about a German Bon Jovi). It is also Carneval weekend, so many people were dressed in costume. I think in general Germans are always lively and in good spirits, but also incredibly nice. We met many Germans just because they were trying to get us to sing along with them. We couldn't sing any of the German songs, but we did sing along with the Proclaimers and Blink 182. 

Tomorrow we will try to go to the carneval parade. Hopefully I will have some pictures from that, but in the meantime, here are more pictures of other signs I've seen around Frankfurt that I found amusing.

Cigarette vending machine.

Dinosaur... rawr!

This lady killer was the trashcan in the restroom.

The paper towels (from the Paper Jack) has advertisements on it.

A building I can only assume is full of Chinese Stuff.

Yeah... Germans do not go there for the wings either.

Graffiti in front of St. Bartholomew's Cathedral.

Top reason to love France: vacation!

This week, for les vacances, I am travelling in Southern France with my family: sister! (Prinda), mom, dad, and 2 cousins (Nong and Ying).  Our itinerary includes the French Riviera (Nice, Monte Carlo/Monaco, Cannes, and a few other small towns), Provence (Aix-en-Provence, Nimes, Avignon), and Carcassonne.  It is quite refreshing to get away from the busy (and currently quite chilly) city of Paris into the sweet Southern France living.  However, I am about a week behind in posts, and I do not have pictures uploaded yet... soon to come!

However, last weekend, to get into the right mindset for this week's vacation, le french boyfriend and I took a mini-vacation to Chablis in the northern part of the Burgundy region of France.  

Grand Cru vineyards at Chablis

The wines here include Chablis, Petit Chablis, Chablis Premier Cru, and Chablis Grand Cru... which are, in fact, different classifications of Chablis.

Drinking Chablis and eating gougères

Chablis, the town, is quite small and quaint.  We decided to camp at the local site which is about a 5-minute walk from town center.  It contains spacious campsites surrounded by creeks and lined with flowers; by far the nicest campsite I've ever been.

That evening the town had a wine festival and night market.  Apparently, in Chablis, this means that the city gives you wine for free... as oppose to other festivals I have been to which is just means to get you to buy expensive food and drinks!  I guess that is the advantage of being a rich wine town.  They were pouring Chablis, and pairing it with their local pastry, gougères, a puff pastry with hints of cheese mixed into the dough.

Along with the festival was a small French band covering American rock music such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers (whom the French call "Les Red Hots").  All in all, a great night.

The next day, we wanted to rent bicycles and take a tour through the vineyards... but it rained.  I guess if you get lucky with a free festival one day, you are unlucky with weather the next day.

Instead, we went to a wine cave to taste wine and visited the nearby city of Tonnerre.  One of the biggest attractions to Tonnerre is La Fosse Dionne, a large bluish green water source, providing the town with water at a rate of 200 liters/sec.  The "fountain" is surrounded by an old, lightly-deteriorating covered colonnade, which is then surrounded by colorful townhouses above, which is then surrounded by tree-covered hills above that.  Just layers upon layers of beauty!  The water is quite clear and very deep with all sorts of plants growing in it.  It is apparently extremely dangerous to dive in, that after several deaths, is now illegal to do so.  It was so cool that I had to see it three times.

Rome part II: Et tu, gatto?

Continuing from my previous post of my top 10 favorite sights in Rome, here are numbers 6 - 10.

1. Roman Forum/Palantine Hill and the Colosseum
2. The Vatican/St Peter’s Basilica/Sistine Chapel
3. Piazza Navona/St Agnes Church
4. Pantheon
5. Trevi Fountain
6. Baths of Pompey/Largo Argentina/Cat sanctuary
7. Trastevere 
8. Campo dei Fiori
9. Piazza della Repubblica
10. Jewish Quarter

6.  Theater of Pompey/Largo Argentina/Cat sanctuary

Re-enacting the death of Caesar at the exit to the Theater and Baths of Pompey in Largo Argentina

Stray cats roaming Rome's ruins at Largo Argentina

This area is right in the center of Rome, and easily overlooked.  In fact we walked by this area many times before realizing it is significant ruins as oppose to all the other nonsignificant ruins scattered about Rome.  It contains ruins of temples from as old as third century B.C. as well as ruins from Theater and Baths of Pompey, where Caesar was assassinated (et tu Bruté?)  Part of the area has also been turned into a cat sanctuary, and you can see many gattos napping on the ruins.  You aren't actually able to walk amongst the ruins, but it is a fun side stop if you are near the area.

7.  Trastevere

Ladies on the streets of Trastevere.

Trastevere is the charming and "local" district across the river from the main part of Rome (literally means "across the Tevere," the Italian word for Tiber).  In fact, the Romans we met live in this area.  You can find small cobblestone streets filled with Romans gossipping outside, laundry and/or Italian flags hanging out of the windows of apartments, and nuns eating ice cream.

Trastevere has a less "touristy" feel than the right side of the bank, but of course there are still crappy tourist restaurants around.  If you go away from the main square (Santa Maria), you can find really great trattorias.  Our waiter even gave us free drinks from his home town in southern Italy, although that might've been because we had charming a Roman girl with us.

8.  Campo dei Fiori

This piazza is worth a visit either in the afternoon where you can buy spices, flowers, vegetables, drinks, etc., or in the night time where it is full of tourists and locals (usually looking for tourists to hang out with).  It is quite lively at either time, but I would avoid eating in the restaurants here.  Prices are expensive and food is mediocre.  They wouldn't even give us tap water!

9.  Piazza della Repubblica

This piazza is in the far north-east area of Rome.  Unlike the other piazzas in Rome, this is a roundabout for cars.  In the center of the traffic circle is the Fontain of Naiads (water nymphs), designed by Rutelli in 1901 with nymphs on different animals to represent the different bodies of water -- horse for ocean, swan for lakes, monster for rivers, and dragon for underground water.  

On one side of the roundabout is the Basilica of St. Mary (Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri).  It looks like a dilapidated building from the outside, but the inside is well maintained, beautiful, and almost luxurious, common to the Italian renaissance style (definitely not what you expect from looking at the facade).  There is also a tribute to Galileo inside.

10.  Jewish Quarter

Just south of Campo dei Fiori is known as the Jewish Quarter.  The best part about this area is the food!  We stopped at Nonna Betta (Via del Portico d'Ottavia, 16), which was delicious, Kosher, and vegetarian friendly.  It was mentioned in a NYTimes article and by Anthony Bourdain for its artichokes (delicious!).

Since I am talking about food, I wanted to mention another restaurant in Rome that I enjoyed: Antica Birreria Peroni (Via S. Marcello 19).  It is a very fun atmosphere with many people eating and drinking together.  This is where Peroni was originally brewed by monks!  Their specialty is the Kilometer, a delicious grilled sausage served with veggie sides.  And they make a spectacle if you order it: everyone cheers for you!  So only get this if you like being embarrassed... or if you want to embarrass someone!

Rome part I: We don't mind standing here telling people your tour sucks

Before our trip, whenever I told a French person that I was going to Rome, their response was always along the lines of: "Roma! You will love it!  It is like Paris... lots to see.  But it's all old stuff unlike here where it is all new stuff."  (I had to remind them that my country was discovered a couple of centuries after the Louvre started construction.)  The other thing is, as prideful as the French are about their wine, cheese, coffee, and food, they are willing to admit that Italian wine, cheese, coffee, and food are just as good (and the really really humble French will even admit they are better).

Despite these high expectations of Rome, it still became one of my favorite cities.  I am not sure if it was because of the beautiful scenery, the delicious food, or just the sparkling conversations with my awesome travel mates.  There is so much to see and do, but I have truncated it down to my top ten favorite sights in Rome (and discuss the first 5 in this post):

1. Roman Forum/Palantine Hill and the Colosseum
2. The Vatican/St Peter’s Basilica/Sistine Chapel
3. Piazza Navona/St Agnes Church
4. Pantheon
5. Trevi Fountain
6. Baths of Pompey/Largo Argentina/Cat sanctuary
7. Trastevere 
8. Campo dei Fiori
9. Piazza della Repubblica
10. Jewish Quarter

1.  Roman Forum/Palantine Hill and the Colosseum (one ticket gives you access to all)

Marisa, Priya, and I overlooking the Roman Forum and Colosseum.

These usually top the lists of most people who visit Rome, and I have to admit, it is pretty great.  The Roman Forum used to be the center of Roman life: politics, markets, court proceedings, etc.  Now it's a collection of the ruins from these old buildings.  We went there in the evening: less crowded and less hot (double bonus!)  The only thing that would've made wandering around the ruins a better experience for us was if we had a tour guide.  The Forum is not very well labelled and contains very sparse information.  So we decided we would hire one for the Colosseum the next day...

As we were leaving the Forum, we heard a couple of people rave about their tour guide, David.  After talking to him, he told us to go in front of the Colosseum the next day and look for one of his "girls" (minions?): Tatya, Anka, Cristina, Dopey, or Doc.  When we arrived, there were HUNDREDS of people in front of the Colosseum trying to recruit people for their tour.  Unsuccessful at finding one in David's harem, we decided to take another tour (16€ since we already had a ticket).  Big mistake: the person lied to us about the size of the group, our tour guide would start speaking before the group caught up to her, and often times we couldn't even find her at all.  But it didn't matter because Marisa became a much better tour guide just by reading things posted on the wall.  Unlike the Forum, the Colosseum is very well labelled.  The rage of Priya (partially fueled by her Indian instincts to negotiate), brought us back to the tour "manager" to demand for our money back.  "We don't mind standing here telling people your tour sucks" asserted Priya's rage.  It totally worked: they refunded 60% of our cost.

I suppose the moral of the story is: don't trust last minute tour groups.  Also don't piss off little Indian girls.  Also, the Colosseum was still awesome despite bad tour guides, hordes of people, and not being as loud as an SEC football game.  Definitely worth the trip.

2.  The Vatican/St Peter’s Basilica/Sistine Chapel

Sistine Chapel in Vatican Museum

Inside St. Peter's Basilica

The Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Museum are definitely beautiful.  But is it worth the long wait in the hot sun for an hour (luckily we brought our sun umbrellas!)?  Maybe.  To avoid the lines, either take a tour (expensive and probably not worth it) or go later in the day.  By the time we left around 1pm, there was barely a line at all.

St. Peter's Basilica will not disappoint.  Very beautiful and extravagant... a lot of the work in the basilica was done by Bernini and Michelangelo.  See this church last or else all other Basilicas around Rome will seem so plain in comparison.  It also houses Michelangelo's statue Pieta.  No bare knees or bare shoulders allowed here!  But pictures of naked women are okay.

3.  Piazza Navona/St Agnes Church

Piazza Navona: Fontana del Moro (near), Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi
(far, with obelisk), and Sant'Agnese in Agone (building)

My absolute favorite thing to do in Rome was walking around until you found a nice piazza to rest your aching feet.  Piazza Navona was definitely my favorite... oval shaped and filled with 3 fountains and a couple of churches, including Sant'Agnese in Agone.  Legend has it that Agnes, a virgin, was to be publicly humiliated (for refusing to give up her faith or refusing to marry a man) by being placed naked in the square.  But through prayer, her hair grew long and her shame was covered.  The inside of the church is magnificent, but no pictures are allowed.

The fountain immediately in front of Sant'Agnese is the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (fountain of the four rivers), designed by Bernini to represent the Danube, the Nile, the Ganges, and the Plate.

4.  Pantheon

A sign of peace?

The Pantheon is interesting because it is the only Pagan temple still standing... mostly because it was converted to a church in the 600s.  Inside the church, the only source of light comes from a circular hole in the top of the dome.  The tombs of the 1st king of Italy, the 2nd king of Italy, and Raphael are housed here.  The inscription on Raphael's tomb translates to: "Here lies Raphael, by whom Nature feared to be outdone while he lived, and when he died, feared that she herself would die."

Priya and Rissy in front of the Pantheon

Light coming in from the Pantheon hole

5.  Trevi Fountain

This was especially nice for me because we were walking the windy roads of Italy, when all of a sudden, boom, here is the largest fountain in Rome in the middle of these cobblestoned alleys.  It is also relatively young (constructed in the 1700's).  It is quite a sight to behold!  But it is ALWAYS crowded.

For places parts 6 - 10, or a couple of places to eat in Rome, go to my next post.

Fact: there were women gladiators in Rome

Buongiorno!  Marisa, Priya, and I just got back from our trip to Rome... and we are exhausted!  So much walking around, but also so much sitting and drinking wine.  We were there for about 4.5 days, which is about the right amount of time to hit all of the major attractions but still have enough time to sit and eat/drink at outdoor cafes.  Hopefully I will post about it later, but right now, here is the highlight of our trip... a gladiator fight in the Colosseum.