What can i do in paris?

Question

I'm 19 years old and going to Paris from June 22-27 with my mom, i don't know really what I should do. so some suggestions would be nice....

i already know i am going to go to like 2 museums and shop and maybe to the DisneyLand in Paris and drink some since I think the drink age is 16 or 18

Answer 1

The drinking age in France is 16 for beer and wine and 18 for distilled alcoholic beverages.

Paris is the #1 tourist destination in the world because of its huge number of attractions ranging from famous monuments like the Eiffel tower and the Arc de Triomphe to borgeous churches like Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur to world renowkned Museums. Among those museums are the Louvre, the Musee D'Orsay, the Musee de Quai Branly, the Cluny Museim of the Middle Ages, the Rodin Museum, and the Centre Pompidou.

Please don't waste your time with Disneyland. It would be a shame to travel to Paris and go to something you could see in Orlando.

If you'd like to spend a day outside of the city itself then visit Versailles, the palace of the French kings that it so impressive that in its heyday, just about every monarch of Europe tried to copy it for his own palace.

There's also a lot to Paris that is beyond the tourist sights. Its the ambience and the attitude of Paris which need to be lived and felt.

You should spend some time just strolling around the city to appreciate its architecture and to get a feel for its medieval layout, the Belle Epoch improvements of Baron Hausman, and the modernizations seen in places like the Les Halles Forum and the new Opera in the Place Bastille.

You should take a little time to just sit in a cafe in the Latin Quarter or St. Germaine and people watch.

Enjoy some of the nightlife of Paris. Not the tourist ripoffs like the Moulin Rogue or the Lido but the vast number of fantastic music venues, from the jazz joints to discos.

Eat! And be a bit courageous. Go to places that don't cater to tourists and don't have English menus. Just point to things on the menu or, better still, walk into a cafe at lunchtime and ask for the daily special which you'll almost always see displayed on a chalk board. don't worry if you don't know what it is! Try it! The worst that will happen is that you'll have a hilarious story to tell about how you got served a calve's head with cream sauce or something else too weird for you to eat.

Don't listen to the half wits who tell you Parisians are terrible people or adivse staying in a tight little tourist cocoon..

Strike up conversations with strangers, be open minded, put your map in your back pocket and just wander around, get lost, experiment, learn, take the time to really look at things.

You are going to one of the most fabulous, fashionable, historic, cultured, places on Earth. Its the city where Hemingway, James Joyce, F. Scott Fitzgerald,  Alice B. Toklas, Picasso, Jean Paul Sartre, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Voltaire, the Marquis de Sade, and even Jim Morrison hung out.

Enjoy it.

EDIT: For some unusual things to do try these:

1) Have dinner with an icon of the Hippie era.

Jim Haynes is one of the founders of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and founder of the London Traverse Theatre Company. He started Suck, the sexual freedom newspaper, in Amsterdam in 1969 and taught Media Studies and Sexual Politics at the University of Paris 8.

He throws a dinner party every Sunday night. The crowd will include college professors, artists, the occasional rock star of famous actor. Give him a phone call or send him an email and you'll be invited. Details are on his website at: http://www.jim-haynes.com/index.htm

2) Go Rollerskating

Every Friday night except when there is rain, the City of Paris and the Paris Rollerskating Association organize a skate thru the streets of Paris from about 10 PM till 1 AM. Participants simply gather at the Place D'Italie and then skate a route selected by the orgainizers. it changes every Friday night but they do try to include at least a few well know tourist sights along the way

3) Become a member of the least exclusive club in the world

The Café Metropole Club meets every Thursday after noon. membership is very exclusive...you have to show up. details can be found here: http://www.metropoleparis.com/aclub.html the people who show up are a coolection of expatriates and tourists. A good place to meet some nice people and get some good advice about current events.

4) Go to the big plaza in front of the Centre Pompidou and on most sunny afternoons you'll find all sorts of street entertainers .

Among these will almost always be some guys doing big involved audience participation comedy bits. When they call for volunteers (and they always do) STAND UP.

The fact that you probably don't speak French will be NO problem. They deal with non-French speakers all the time. These guys tend to be very good and very funny. You'll have a great time. Really...trust me on this one.

Answer 2

Definitely go out at night and just walk around...Paris is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, especially at night...also, do't be afraid to step into some places the locals chill...you can meet some amazing people and have some of the coolest experiences if you veer off the beaten path in Paris...have fun and don't forget to go exploring!

Answer 3

Check out Rolland Garros Tennis Stadium.

Answer 4

go on the iffel tower, louvre museum, palace of versailles, and to the different clubs it's really nice!

Answer 5

You can jet-ski and snorkel.