First time in Paris (December 3-7) (best, life, cost, place)

[southkakkatlantan]

Help.

I'm going to Paris for work but will have a little bit of time to myself to enjoy a few things, but not a whole lot. I need to get a short list of things to do/experience so I can feel like I actually accomplished something while I was there.

Here is my availability outside of work, and a few things I was considering:

Wed-After 5 pm (What to do?)
Thurs-After 5 pm (Shop somewhere...any recommendations on a thrift store I can buy a dress or blouse from?)
Fri-After 11 am (Eiffel tower, See the Thinker at Musee Rodin, go to a show at the Crazy Horse)
Sat-All day (Go someplace I can take pictures of and see really cool street art/graffiti. Need 2 other things to do on this day)
Sun-Only the morning (til 11 am) (What to do? Will probably just walk around and have breakfast.)

Of course I plan to eat a bunch...I'm just gonna load up on croissants and crepes but need all the food recommendations I can get)

Gosh, I really need some recommendations here. Someone help me out.

[SuomiReader]

Crepe is not particularly Parisian, and not particularly good in Paris. Croissants are very good, on the other hand. You should buy them in some boulangeries (bakeries). There are these everywhere in Paris. Buy the croissants that look the most crispy to you, and if they have two sorts, buy the one with butter (croissant au beurre).

For some good French patisserie, I would recommend a visit to the patisserie (pastry store) of Christian Constant, 37 Rue Assas. When they have fraisiers (strawberry cake) available in store, it's simply delicious, but unfortunately they don't make fraisiers very often. They are more into chocolate cakes in general, if that's your thing. If they have a fraisier the day you go, I would definitely recommend it.

The macarons at Ladurée are also very famous, and their reputation is not usurped. You can buy them at the Ladurée store on Rue Royale, or on the Champs-Elysées. They also have a store inside the Printemps department store. Make sure to try the macaron à la rose (rose macaron), it's delicious!

For something un-French but excellent, you have to try a Chinese tea house. Paris has the best Chinese tea houses in Europe, where you'll be able to taste the rarest Chinese teas which will change your view of tea. For green tea, try Tcha, 6 Rue du Pont de Lodi. These Taiwanese ladies actually go to the plantations in China themselves to select the best teas there. For black tea (real Chinese black tea, not what we Westerners call black tea, which is in fact Chinese red tea), try the Maison des Trois Thés, 1 Rue Saint-Médard. Over there they have what's probably the largest Chinese black tea selection outside of China, with some very old and rare Pu-erh teas that have aged for many years. It's the opposite of green tea which must be consumed within 6 months of production.

Other than that, a simple bread in a good boulangerie (bakery) can be a real delight. Bread in Paris these days can be either very bad or very good, and if you're not a bread connoisseur, you may not recognize a good bread when you buy it. Avoid the cliché baguette at all cost. It tastes awful, and becomes stale very fast. In general, choose breads that look more plum and less long than a baguette, and choose those that have a brown crust, not those that have a pale, soft crust. I can recommend one good bread that will not disappoint: go to a bakery called "Aux Désirs de Manon", 129 Rue Saint-Antoine, at Saint-Paul metro station, and buy a bread there called "bûche de Saint-Paul". If you go there in the end of the afternoon, those breads are usually just out of the oven, warm and crusty, and simply delicious. You'll eat this bread just as if it was some treat.

If you like fish, and if you can spend some money, the best fish restaurant in Paris at the moment is Restaurant Antoine, 10 avenue de New York. It should change your view of fish.

[irman]

Originally Posted by southkakkatlantan

Someone help me out.

This *someone* probably is one of your local coworkers.
You are going *there* to do some work, so I assume you will meet a few locals .
I'd be surprised if there will be no one who would take the time to *show you around* ...

First one to make friends with - your contact person.
Do you speak some French ? If yes, even better !

There is a place called *Centre George Pompidou* (Some huge library ...)
Behind that building is a *Piazza*.
Each time I was in Paris for work, there were always some street performers there.
THe Centre alone is worth a visit.

[SuomiReader]

Since I'm at it, another delicious and unique thing that you should definitely try when you're in Paris is what the French call ris de veau, and the English call sweetbread. If I describe what it actually is, you may find it disgusting. Ris de veau is the thymus gland of a young calf. May not sound appetizing, but it's actually the most delicious meat you will ever taste in your life. When it's in your plate, you can't really tell it's a thymus gland anyway. The texture is soft, the taste is the most refined you can imagine, with hints of almonds and butter.

Some good restaurants in Paris that prepare ris de veau are, according to culinary critics (I'm yet to try them):
Le Dauphin, 131 avenue Parmentier
Claude Colliot restaurant, 40 rue des Blancs-Manteaux
Le Comptoir du Relais, 5-7 carrefour de l'Odéon

That's how ris de veau look in the plate (the mushrooms on the green asparagus in that picture are "morilles", a very good and very expensive mushroom that grows in the Spring):



Personally I prefer the ris de veau with a sauce, such as this (this is a sauce with morilles mushrooms in the picture):

[Jesse44]

Take advantage of the cheese. I've never even been to France but when I'm in Germany, which isn't even know for cheese, I go buckwild at all the options. It's so much better than what is commonly available here in Canada.

[rzzzz]

I am a fan of the catacombs.

There is so much street art in Paris it might be worth taking one of those street art tours, even if it sounds corny.

[Greysholic]

Originally Posted by rzzzz

I am a fan of the catacombs.

There is so much street art in Paris it might be worth taking one of those street art tours, even if it sounds corny.

Catacombs is really cool, but you'd have to wait in line for one to two hours to get in it, and it closes at 4 pm, so you'd have to be there before 2 pm if you really want to see it.

[rzzzz]

I doubt there will be a line in December. There wasn't in October.

[Greysholic]

^Yeah probably. I went there in July.

[SuomiReader]

Catacombs is a very touristy thing. This is not a Parisian experience, this is a world tourism experience. Now the author of the thread should ask himself/herself whether he/she wants to experience Paris, or the international tourism circuit.

If he/she wants to experience Paris, something like the Christmas Market on Place Saint-Sulpice is infinitely better than the Catacombs or other sterile tourist sites.