Bonjour Paris! ~ 5 Paris Trip Tips

Bonjour Paris! 

I "recently" (in August) visited Paris for my 21st Birthday. I'm lucky enough that my mum paid for myself and DJ (my other half) to go for a few days as a joint birthday present- but mainly because it was a big Birthday. 

One of the best weekends of my life. I ~walked~ up to the 2nd level of the Eiffel Tower, visited the Louvre and the Notre Dame, and had a freshly baked Croissant from a Boulangerie (Bakery). Although it was the most fun time, and Paris is so beautiful, there were a few things I wish I'd done differently. I thought I'd note these down on here to give anyone advice who may be going soon, and to remind my forgetful self for next time.

1. The Catacombs:-  You may not have heard of this- I hadn't until I was searching for things to do on Pinterest. It's basically a series of tunnels under the ground that are reinforced with skeletons of people they had to move from an overflowing graveyard years and years ago. It is quite cool if you're into that kind of thing, but be prepared! Everywhere online said hardly anybody knows about it so there is no point prebooking blah blah blah. They're wrong. We queued for 5 hours! It only took about half an hour to walk through!  It reached a point at each hour that we felt like we couldn't leave, so we just waited. It wasted a huge proportion of our day, so unless you want to stand, pretty much unmoving, for 5 hours of your day, please prebook!!  

2. Walking:- I was told by loads of people that it would be better to just walk around Paris as nothing is too far away and the Metro or any other form of public transport can be quite expensive. I would reccommend just paying for the transport. The Metro is quite cheap, and you can get deals for certain things. For example, at the moment, anyone under 25 and in the EU can get unlimited Metro on a Saturday for around 4 euros each. Bargain. Walking hurts, then you're tired and sweaty. 

3. The Eiffel Tower:- This can get extremely busy. If you have time prebook the lift, to save walking up, as it would be easier. You can book it for the same price as if you were to pay there on the official website, as long as you book it far enough in advance. If you don't have the luxury of booking it in advance on the website either pay extra on one of the tour websites, or queue for walking up. It's not too difficult and only takes about 15 minutes. Plus it is a little bit cheaper, and the queue to get the tickets is pretty much always less than 15 minutes long. If I can walk it, so can you. Don't be fooled into thinking it's easy though! It's not.                                                                                                                                                                                    4. Do some shopping:- I literally did no shopping while I was there, except for in a supermarket by our hotel, and I'm a bit upset with myself for it. I think I was worried I would spend too much, but I literally bought myself a powder foundation (which was 8 euros and the wrong colour), and a pyjama set (which is nice but not worth 30 euros) from the supermarket. I passed some lovely shops in champs-élysées on my way from the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe, a lot of which would be way out of my price range, but even if I'd had a look in H&M- they would stock different things to the UK! Obviously, only do this step if you feel like you want to. If you'd rather do the sites, then maybe spend the extra money there. 

5. Learn some French:- This seems obvious, and you'd think people would do this anyway, but it's surprising how many people don't know any French. As it is a big tourist city, a lot of people can speak some bits of English, but most people can't. So if you wanted directions to the nearest Metro station or Mcdonalds, you're going to need to brush up on your French skills so you can ask. Another thing that may help with this is to download google translate or similair into your phone- that way you can simply type what you want to say and google will do the work for you! :)