Dos and Don'ts while visiting Paris

Earlier this afternoon I was talking with my friend Jess about her upcoming trip to Paris. While we were talking about her trip I was reminded of my trip to Paris for Easter in 1995, and a few of the aspects of the trip that I would repeat and a few others that I wouldn't. Then tonight it seemed like the appropriate next step would be to create lists of some of these things so that our entire readership is able to take advantage of my experiences and integrate the information in their own Paris travel plans.

So I guess I might as well start with the positive stuff, the Dos

-Do go to the Eiffel Tower and do pay for the elevator ride to the top. I learned the hard way that while it is cheaper to take the stairs you don't get to the top that way.

-Do eat a baguette or two. When I was there they were a pretty cheap and tasty way of sustaining oneself while touring.

-Do watch local TV, it tends to be a little more daring than what you find in North America. This is particularly important if you are a twelve year-old boy when you are making the trip.

-Do visit the Moulin Rouge area, particularly if you haven't already been to a red light/sex district. I know that it is something that I haven't forgotten (though this may have something to do with me being a twelve year-old boy at the time).

-Do go to McDonald's and get a beer, if only so that you can tell me how the experience is (I wasn't able to partake when I was last there and have since been wondering how the beer is in a fast food restaurant).

-Do go to the Notre Dame bell tower.

-Do know how to ask where the bathroom is before you arrive.

-Do plan your trips to be bathroom in advance as you might encounter pay toilet situations or places with pesky attendants (which are best avoided).

-Do get on a train to the correct airport/transportation terminal when it comes time for you to leave.

That's about enough positivity, now I should move on to the don'ts.

-Don't stay in a hotel in Chinatown, it is definitely out of the way.

-Don't order the footlong hot dogs they sell in the Eiffel tower (they lube them up with something and then ram them in a baguette).

-Don't pay to go on the sewer tour, instead walk in the exit as the people from the previous tour are leaving (though don't do this knowingly or it takes the fun out of the experience).

-Don't go to the Palace of Versailles on Spring fountain cleaning day. Choose one of the 364 days of the year when the fountains are not shooting black gunk out of their spouts.

-Don't give your extra fast food restaurant food to homeless kids unless you want them to follow you around.

-Don't be a complete cheapskate all of the time.

I guess that is all I have for the moment, though I am sure that more will come to me at some point in the not too distant future. If I am appropriately motivated I may even get around to posting them here.

Happy Easter

As some of you might know, today is Easter, one of the most important days in the Christian year (at least that is what they keep telling me).

My big plans for the day revolve around having a classmate over to work on a management assignment that is due on Friday. Amazingly, I have been able to grasp this and make myself feel as though I have ‘proper’ Easter plans.

This is my third non-english Easter. My first non-english Easter occurred in Paris in 1995. My uncle and I were staying in a hotel in China town. Once we both realized that we were to lazy and not catholic enough to make it to Easter mass at Our Mother Cathedral we basically just hung around the hotel (or at least that is my recollection).

Then in 2005 I was visiting a friend in Berlin over Easter. We did all kinds of things as we only had a few days in Berlin, though none of them had anything to do with Easter. It is likely that I ate a donar with only meat and onions (as that is just about all I ate in Berlin).

Now, I am Montreal in 2007, once again doing non-Eastery things. Presumably this year is just a warm up for next year, my fourth Easter in a non-english environment.