Strolling through Paris

Things you will need:

a scarf, because it´s always windy and smelly under bridges and in little streets.

AND no fear of rats, because sooner or later you will see a few. If you are not a friend of them maybe you wanna shop a little bit in Destruction des animaux nuisibles in Rue des Halles Nr.8, to fight them back.

Now you are in the right mood and equipped for a walk through Paris :D

Get out of the metro Sentier right in the heart of Paris and head over to enjoy a breakfast at beautiful Rue Montorgeuil surrounded by exotic fruits, fresh fish and endless boulangeries and chocolate factories.

Cross over to Les Halles, if you want make a quick shopping stop and continue walking over to Centre Pompidou with its high-tech architecture facade.

Here you can choose to visit the museum, to pay only to go up the escalator to have a nice view over Paris or to just sit in front of the building enjoying all the street artists preforming in front. If you are hungry eat in one of the many bars and restaurants around The Marais. If you only want something to take away say hello at Royal Crepe in the Rue Saint Denis for me and get a tasty Crepé with cheese or chocolate.

Pass by in between Tour Jean Jacques and the Hôtel de ville which is by the way not a hotel but the city hall of Paris. Before you cross over Ponte Notre Dame to head over to Notre Dame spend some time at the Quai and see if you can find a book or some souvenirs from the Antiquariates directly at the Seine.

Now you have all the time to visit Notre Dame and its famous gargoyles and spend the afternoon on the Île de la Cité.

If it should be Friday night visit the "pirate" on Ponte San Louis, the bridge which connects Île Saint-Louis with Île de la Cité. When the sun goes down he comes with his fairy-tale wagon and spreads poetry and wisdom to the people passing by.

Get off at metro Ponte Neuf or stroll down to the Seine from Chatelet and allow yourself a little coffee break at the bar of Cafe Benjamin on the corner of Rue de Rivoli and Rue des Lavandières Sainte-Opportune and get some food for your trip at the boulangerie Paris Baguette a little bit more down the little street. The name is program they have the best baguettes in town here :)

Walk by the Seine passing Ponte Neuf and Ponte des Artes with the Institute de France. People often come here at night to meet up or to do a picnic by the Seine. Keep going west and leave the bank for the Louvre on the right and enter through the east gate. Admire the glass pyramid in front and its beautiful architecture.

Keep walking through the Jardin des Tuileries until the Place de la Concorde. Right in front you can see the Champs Elysées with the Arc de Triumphe. If you like, go on, if not come back to the river Seine to visit beautiful Musée de Orsay directly by the river bank and a little bit down the road Dôme des Invalides and the Grand & Petit Palais. When you come back from the Arc de Triomphe or the museums you continue walking by the Seine passing Palais de Tokyo on your right hand side. The Eifel Tower should pop right into your sight. You made it. If you want you can take a Bateau Mouche back to Ponte Neuf or spend some time at, on or around the Tour Eiffel. :)

If you don´t wanna walk that much and only enjoy the beautiful facades of the museums take the boat at Ponte Neuf and do a trip to the Eiffel Tour and back on the waterway. Like this you save your walking energy for the next days. If you have money to spend you can book it with dinner, too. Other advantage, like this you have the whole day to visit the Louvre or Museu de Orsay.

Start the day with the Opera de Paris. If you need a coffee to wake up visit the Starbucks right next to the Opera and see its beautiful interior. Just behind the Opera on the Boulevard Haussmann you see the Galeries Lafayette a huge shopping complex owned by the famous family Lafayette. Go all the way up the elevators to have a magnificent view over Paris and another coffee.

Continue waking to Boulevard Haussmann which transforms into Boulevard Montmatre until you cross with Rue du Faubourg Montmartre. Here you turn north and follow the street until you find yourself in front of the Moulin Rouge. On the way pass by at the chocolate shop A La Mère de la Famille and buy chocolate for the way. (If you don´t want to walk the 2km to Montmatre from the Galeries Lafayette you can take the metro and get off at Blanche.)

Get lost in the streets of Montmatre pass by the Le mur des je t‘aime in front of the metro Abesses. keep to the right until you reach Sacré Coeur. If your feet let you, go up the hill. If they don´t take the cable car to your left. Keep enjoying the atmosphere of Le Butte and stroll through the artist area and maybe let them paint you if you want. At night visit a show in the Moulin Rouge.
 
If it´s Sunday and you are a fan of flea markets you must see Marche de Puces Clignancourt. Get there in the morning around 10 am, before you do the walking tour. Leave the metro at Porte de Clignancourt and just follow the people.

Take the metro to Bastille and visit nearby Place de Vosges the oldest square in Paris. On Nr. 6 you find the house of famous writer Victor Hugo.

Continue on vivid Rue de la Rockette road to Pére Lachaise the famous cemetery where Jim Morrison, Chopin or Oscar Wilde, among others, are buried. At the grave of Jim Morrison you´ll never be alone! There are always people to get in touch with contemplating or chatting in front. Leave the cemetery in direction Parc de Belleville and try the Créme brûlée at cafe Moncoeur belleville and enjoy the view over the city and the Eiffel Tour from there.

Relax in the park Buttes Chaumont with its artificial lake and a 50 m high cliff. Walk to the Temple de la Sibylle right on top of the cliff or to the grotto decorated with an artificial waterfall and stalactites. If your batteries are charged again leave the park south bound heading towards metro Bellville. Before taking the metro take a break at Aux Folies right next to the metro Belleville and have a beer in that extraordinary ambience.

Get of the metro Saint Germain des Pres and stroll along the Boulevard Saint Germain and feel like Hemingway or Satre when you take your coffee in Les deux Magots or Café de Flore. pass the square St. Michel with its beautiful fountain and see some street performances if you want. If you should be hungry or thirsty dive into Rue Saint André des Artes and get a falafel or pizza or what ever your fast food heart desires. Walk down the Boulevard Saint Michel until you see the Pantheon and La Sorbonne - the university of Paris.

Through the Rue Soufflot you will get to the Jardin du Luxembourg where you can chill out walking through the wide garden area or have a blast renting out a model sailboat on the main basin. Leave the park on the south end and keep walking south until metro Denfert-Rochereau to see the Catacombs of Paris a rather creepy but interesting place. See bones of nearly 6 million people neatly arranged and sorted in the old mines of Paris.

Not a bad idea at all is to go up the ugly building Tour Montparnasse which you find crossing the cemetary de Montparnasse (metro Paris Montparnasse) to take a picture from Paris above. Like that the only ugly building in town will not be in your foto :)