Just returned from two weeks in Paris and the Cote d%26#39;Armor last week this time, and apologize for the time it has taken me to post this.
Because of Irish Rover, phread, la photographe, and at least a dozen other smart, patient, helpful contributors to this forum, I knew where to go and what to do in a thousand situations that would have baffled me otherwise. Really, I can%26#39;t thank you enough: you were often the difference between doing things pleasantly and efficiently, or wasting an hour or a day in bafflement or frustration.
Folks can look up the extended answers to everything I list below by looking up my past posts and people%26#39;s responses, but here are some summaries of the most important and useful things I learned from the TA experts and lay people:
*The most important aspects of French courtesy and some useful phrases. I%26#39;m no world traveler -- this is my third time in France in 20 years -- but as usual I found the French people I dealt with VERY polite.
Believe me, this isn%26#39;t because my French is anything special. I can barely get beyond ordering a meal or asking for directions. It%26#39;s because people taught me, and and I observed, some basic rules of common courtesy, and some basic phrases that appear to be both important and useful in every day interaction with the French.
For example, it%26#39;s essential to say %26quot;Bonjour Madame/Monsieur%26quot; and %26quot;Au revoir, Madame, Monsieur%26quot; whenever entering/leaving a shop or restaurant -- and folks who work in museums, etc. appear to appreciate it as well. And there%26#39;s no such thing as overusing %26quot;s%26#39;il vous plait%26quot; (please), %26quot;merci%26quot; (thank you), and %26quot;Je suis vraiment desolee, mais je parle un petit peu de Francais. Parlez vous Anglais, s%26#39;il vous plait?%26quot; (I am very sorry, but I speak very littlel French. Please, do you speak English?).
As an American, I also quickly became aware of how loudly I speak compared to the French, whose conversations you cannot overhear on the street or in restaurants, etc. People never guessed that my wife and I are American, let alone New Yorkers, and our hunch is that they were thrown off by how quietly we were speaking.
* How to get from CDG airport to Paris (I was staying in 3e) quickly and economically: RER to Gare du Nord, then a taxi to hotel, for around 20E total rather than the 60E a cab would have cost.
I CANNOT OVEREMPHASIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF BUYING AN %26quot;ALLER-RETOUR%26quot; TICKET FOR THE RER and stuffing your return somewhere safe where you won%26#39;t lose it while you%26#39;re traipsing around France. When we headed back to CDG for our return flight to the US, the lines in front of the machines at Gare du Nord for tix were all 20 people deep. What a pleasure it was to bypass that line!!! I do think that whether or not you want to pursue the RER option depends entirely on your capacity to haul your own luggage up and down at least two flights of stairs. If you can%26#39;t or won%26#39;t (and yes, it%26#39;s heavy and unpleasant), this is not the option for you. Otherwise, it was affordable, quick, and a cool welcome-to-Paris experience. Besides, thanks to a TA expert, I knew to buy our museum passes at the info booth in Gare du Nord.
*What kind of ticket option to pursue re: the metro and other forms of public transport: I chose carnets (strips of 10 tix) over all of those zone cards or the cart d%26#39;orange (which didn%26#39;t work out with the days I was there). Since the area of Paris that tourists -- at least, this tourist -- generally visit is relatively small, with little more than a half hour walk between most destinations, and my wife and I love to walk, we only used 13 metro tix in 6 days. Besides, this is how we got to see and know the city.
*Whether to buy a museum pass: Yes, it%26#39;s worth it to skip the lines at the Musee d%26#39;Orsay and the Louvre alone, and it will encourage you to try museums you might otherwise have skipped, but a) wait until you%26#39;re in Paris to buy it, and b) be warned that the permanent collection at the Pompidou is closed until January. Nice one-floor exhibit on film, though, that%26#39;s included in the pass.
*Where and when to shop for Arche shoes (the shop at 11 rue de Madeleine, with its exceptionally courteous and helpful saleswomen), and Petit Bateau cotton clothing (the place across from Bon Marche, whose sales staff featured a young woman with blonde hair who spoke exceptional English the Friday I visited). As for when to shop: any week day, but skip Saturday unless you are brave of heart, enjoy crowded stores and long lines, and speak very good French.
*What kind of shoes to wear while hiking in Brittany along the Cote d%26#39; Rose: my standard good walking shoes: no need for boots.
There are a zillion other small things that mattered, but I think I%26#39;ve covered some of the ones I saw people posting about most here. Again, a thousand thanks for all that you do. If I had a euro for every time I said, %26quot;Well, Trip Advisor said,%26quot; I could go back to Paris tomorrow.
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A joy to read. Thanks for the great TR !!
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Thank you for the tips also. We are going to Paris in July. I was wondering about currency. Should I buy traveler%26#39;s checks in Euro%26#39;s or just use the ATM machines?
Fellow New Yorker
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Thanks for this post Austen. We will be in Paris for a week in September and although this is my fourth visit to Paris and have read many books and guides, I feel that I have only got to know the real details of the city through the experts and other postings on this forum.
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I%26#39;m glad I read your post re rountrip ticket on RER from CDG to Gare du Nord. I assume I will be able to use the return 3 weeks later when I come back to Paris. Long lines had not ocurred to me.
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Thanks to everyonen who has read my post. Here are answers to two of the questions posters asked:
1) ATM machines are plentiful: there%26#39;s no fee on the French side, but check with your bank to see if they%26#39;ll charge for the withdrawal.
2) RE: the RER ticket. I don%26#39;t know whether there%26#39;s an expiration, but somehow I doubt it since mine was good 16 days later.
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