Little tips for your stay

Late opening every first Friday of the month : the museum closes at 9pm45. About Mona Lisa : don't go to the Louvre just to see The Joconde Painting. This museum offers so much to see like major French Paintings, Italian Sculptures, Antiquities or Middle Eastern Art. Take your time to plan your visit between 3 wings and 4 floors ! I can help you to do that 😉

Grab some “easy to eat” foods, a bottle of rosé that can be opened easily and plastic cups at a grocery store and go to the river banks (around Pont des Invalides, Pont Neuf or Pont Marie) to enjoy sunny day or hot night surrounded by locals (mostly youngs). From 1pm to 1am… and if you forget your tire-bouchon (corkscrew), just ask around to a 30-something group (at their 20’, youngs only drink beer).

Avoid buses, always caught on traffic jam even during weekend, except at night when they are super efficient, but rare… RER (Regional Express Network) are mandatory for airports, Versailles Palace and DisneyLand, but avoid it during evening and night except if other tourists are nearby. Subway network (Metro) is quick and you can find anywhere a station nearby. Use Citymapper App to be guided.

Tap water is drinkable everywhere in France. So enjoy french free water at my place or anywhere in France as long as it is fresh (some places put only hot water in the toilets so you need to pay to get one fresh). In Paris, look for public drinkable fountains to refill your bottle.

Free water service is mandatory at any restaurant in France, from McDonald's to 5stars restaurant. So, do as any local : at the end of the order, ask for tap water in a jar : "une carafe d'eau". Waiters will offer you expensive mineral water or even wine, so stick to it with a smile.

Don't hesitate to say hello to your building neighbors or to a seller in a shop or a restaurant 1. when meeting : - during daytime : Bonjour - during evening and night : Bonsoir 2. when leaving : - during morning : Bonne journée - during afternoon : Bonne après-midi - during evening : Bonne soirée

Musée d'Orsay is open until 9pm45 on Thursday. Evacuation begins at 9.20pm. Less people, more time in the city and nice sunset light from the Impressionists' floor.

Anvers, Barbes-Rochechouart and Château-Rouge subway stations on line 2 & 4 are the closest but surroundings are full of crappy stores and fake cigarettes sellers. Better use line 12 (from my place, take line 3 at Parmentier and change at St Lazare). Each station (Abbesses, Lamarck-Caulincourt & Jules Joffrin) are blessed with nice surroundings and quiet little streets.

In French, the floor of a building which is level with the ground is called Rez-de-chaussée (« ray the show say » in phonetics, and RDC in elevators). It’s the equivalent of Ground floor in British English. The first floor - le 1er étage - is the floor above the RDC. Then there are 2ème étage, 3ème étage and so on … that means my apartment is on the first floor 😉

All these churches are free of charges and open generally until 7pm : - Saint Eustache : as an alternative of Notre Dame : huge volume inside - Saint Sulpice : elegant 18th century church - Saint Severin : old middle age (13th) neighbourhood church with a nice twisted column - Saint Etienne du Mont : Renaissance style (16th) church - Saint Roch : baroque church, dedicated to artists; lot of funeral monuments - Saint Germain des Près : recently regained its 19th colorfull decoration - Sacré Coeur : massive and neo-byzantine 19th style

For the museums, there is the Paris Museum Pass (PMP - www.parismuseumpass.fr/t-en) which I think is very convenient and cheap for 4 days (66€). You can see le Louvre (Antiquities to 1848), Musée d'Orsay (1848 to 1914) and Pompidou (1914 to today) + specialised museum : Picasso, Rodin, Hotel de la Marine (newly opened !! closing at 21h30 friday), Orangerie (for Monet) + famous monuments : Arc de Triomphe (closing at 22h30), Sainte Chapelle, Tomb of Napoleon at Invalides. Just look at the website, there are plenty of choice, even Chateau de Versailles in the suburbs.

These 2 museums are free of charge : - Musée Carnavalet : museum for Paris' history; very big and dense ! - Musée Cognacq Jay : small but lovely Hotel Particulier, specialised in 18th stuffs Don't hesitate to take a look for 30' or 1h max and kindly asking to the welcome desk what to see. Petit Palais is aslo free and quite charming outside, but Louvre beats him in every category so no need to spend time inside.

Take the stairs and just go to the 2nd floor. It's fun and cheap. 3rd floor is expensive and too high. If you want to see Paris from above, enter freely the Centre Pompidou (before it closes for renovation) and use the main outdoor Escalator to see the view on 6th floor.

All come from Paris tourist office website : booking.parisinfo.com Price Infos 12 € Visit Opera Garnier interiors 15 € Walking tours - try Parisian Gossip, it's fun ! 15 € Day Cruises on the Seine 16 € Tour Montparnasse - highest point in Paris ... and a great way not to see this horrible tower on your picture ;-) 25 € Early evening Cruises with a drink 30 € Guided bike tours 87 € Crazy Horse - cheaper, but more kinky than Moulin Rouge ...

Buy a Navigo Easy Pass for 2 euros at any agent desk of a subway station and go to the violet machine "Rechargement Navigo" to fill in it with solo tickets or a one-day pass. ======== Olympic games Warning : daily pass costs 16 euros for olympics time - 07/15 > 09/08