Aside from our first evening, we really just had one day in Paris. Only one full day? Yes, we agree that it’s not enough to see too much, but Paris is always a good idea, right? 😉 Of all the cities in the world, Paris is probably the place I’ve known that I wanted to go for the longest. That is, that I didn’t go to. It did not become my new favorite city, but I did enjoy it and I’m glad to have finally seen a little bit of it.
One Day in Paris Itinerary
Even though we had limited time there, we wanted to take advantage of what we could while still enjoying it at a pace which was not too quick. In the end, it did feel kind of quick but we felt okay with how we did things. On our first evening in Paris, we enjoyed a Thanksgiving dinner and visited Montmartre. Read about it here if you’re interested.
For our full one day in Paris, we chose a couple must-dos and planned the rest around that. You can’t go to Paris and not see the Eiffel Tower (well, you could, but it seems wrong) so that was on the list. Kyle had recently worked on a course which covered Sainte-Chapelle and wanted to see it so that was his must-do. With this in mind, I thought about other things we might like to do and added a couple more stops which would still keep us on a path to cover those two things.
Locked In
Our morning started off with us getting ready, reviewing our itinerary, and finding ourselves unable to leave our place. The door would not budge. Not a great way to start the morning on our only full day there. Eventually, we were able to get the door open but it probably delayed us about 30 minutes. Oh well, it’s an old building and these things happen. We were still happy with our place.
Trying out Bike-Sharing: Another Delay
We intended to start off our day on bikes and headed to the closest Velib station (Velib is Paris’s bike sharing program). It was about a half mile from us and in the opposite direction but thought we’d go a little faster once we were on the bikes. Unfortunately, this particular station was not in service. This was not the first time we ran into problems with a bike sharing program – we had a similar issue in Mexico City.
Oh well. We would just make our way on foot.
P.S. have you heard about the scooter sharing program in San Jose?
Bakery Stop
So the morning didn’t go quite as smoothly as we hoped, but our morning snack made up for it. We also ended up really enjoying walking instead so I’d say the bikes not working there was actually a good thing. Anyway, we were feeling a snack and wanted another water so we stopped in at a bakery called Maison de Qualite. Wow. Whoever says the food in Paris is good is right. The maple eclair I had is probably one of my favorite sweets I’ve had abroad. Kyle also really enjoyed his chocolate chip muffin.
Though we didn’t have enough experience here to make such sweeping generalizations, our feeling was that food, especially desserts, were different here. It seems to be more of a perfected art. Though I think most the bakery items we’ve had in Europe, in general, have all been good.
• Location: 300 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine. It doesn’t have much of an online presence.
• Cost: It was nearly $9 for the two desserts and the water bottle. Not the most budget, but it is Paris. And we chose a larger water bottle. Plus we felt these were some quality desserts.
*Fun fact:* Did you know that the eclair originated in France and means “lightning” in French? Some people think this is due to the frosting sparkles appearing like a lightning bolt though no one really knows.
Still thinking about this eclair.
More Food: Kyle’s 10th Country Getting a Gyro
We see falafels and gyros pretty much all around the world, something we didn’t expect before we started traveling more. Because they tend to be on the cheaper side, we often end up getting them. France ended up being the 10th, yes 10th country Kyle had a gyro in (so far the winner for best is the one he had in Vancouver, Canada – which we still need to write about). He said this one was pretty decent.
Anyway, I had already planned for us to stop at a falafel place later which is pretty famous in Paris but Kyle didn’t want to wait so we stopped off at this place for him.
• Location: 199 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, 75011 Paris, France
• Cost: It came out to $6.81 which was at least a little cheaper than the other place for what Kyle wanted.
Wrong Turn: Delay Number 3
We continued on, just enjoying walking the streets of Paris. Here is one little landmark we passed on the way: The fountain of the Petite-Halle, built in 1719.
At some point we made a wrong turn — we went one street over. This definitely added some time (probably at least an hour) to our day as we had to turn around but it was a nice walk along the water anyway. But folks, this is delay #3 and one of the many reasons it’s nice to have more than one day in Paris, and really more than one day anywhere. You run into issues sometimes and it’s nice to have the ability to not worry about it because you know you have more time.
After getting back on path we passed this nice cathedral we decided to check out.
Falafel Time: Mi-Va-Mi
While we had brief stops for breaks, next we were headed to L’As du Fallafel. We knew they closed early on Fridays because of Shabbat but this Friday they closed extra early: just as we were getting there. So if you want to go there on a Friday – be extra early. Or, do what we did and go across the street to Mi-Va-Mi.
I had been looking forward to L’As du Fallafel (some people claim it’s the best falafel in the world) but I was very happy with Mi-Van-Mi. It’s one of the (maybe the best) best falafels I’ve had. If only we had more time there we would have tried both.
Anyway, we ordered a falafel and fries and since Kyle was already hungry again he had some as well. It was very filling. And very good. It took us quite a while to finish.
• Location: 23 Rue des Rosiers, 75004 Paris, France
• Cost: $10.75 for the falafel and fries
Continuing our Walk: Old Paris
Next, we passed through Rue Francois Miron, one of the oldest streets in Paris. There was a big ‘renovation’ of the city (Haussmann’s renovation) in the mid-1800s in which many buildings were demolished but these are among those in this area which were spared.
Look at this building: too cute! One of the rare Medieval houses in the city.
Notre-Dame & Park
Soon we reached Notre Dame, or Notre-Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris). The cathedral is renowned as a great example of French Gothic architecture, known for its gargoyles and chimeras. Construction began back in 1163.
Fun fact: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo was actually written partly to increase awareness about the cathedral. Read more interesting details on the novel here.
Paris is a city with so much to see and it is one of the top attractions. Guess Hugo was successful with his goal!
Square Jean XXIII is the park right outside. We had a nice time just walking around in the area and admiring the building.
Shakespeare and Company
Shakespeare and Company may be the most famous bookstore in the world. It was also our next stop.
Everyone from Jack Kerouac to F. Scott Fitzgerald to Hemingway used to hang out here. Some of them wrote or slept at the store. Just from our experience traveling in general and finding places visited by writers – wow, writers got around! It wasn’t just writers, though, even Sinatra liked this place. All in all Shakespeare and Co. has some history.
Interestingly, the person who founded Shakespeare and Company was actually an American – George Whitman. Today, Whitman’s daughter, Sylvia Beach Whitman runs the store. It currently operates as a bookstore and a free reading library. Aspiring writers and artists are still welcome in exchange for helping out with the store.
Here’s a quote from this article (you can also learn more about the history of the store on the website) from Whitman’s daughter that kind of shows special aspects of the store one might not realize at first:
“And it’s true—I had some really bad ideas in my 20s! Sometimes he would grab me and say, ‘You’ve moved the Russian section! This is crazy!’ He’d drag me over and say, ‘Do you not understand why I had the Russian section here?’ And I’d be like, ‘Well, no. I moved it over there. It’s fine.’ He’d be like, ‘No! The Russian section has to be here because this nook is so romantic. And then you have gaps between the shelves so you can see and fall in love with a customer on the other side while you’re reading Dostoyevsky.’ And I was like, ‘Oh god, you’ve really planned out every corner.’ ”
Just no pics inside! We saw others get scolded for taking photos and they have cameras which they can watch you and then come up to you and throw you out if they see it. So we didn’t take any pics. It seemed a bit crowded and their overzealousness with rules kind of took away from the alleged “bohemian” aspect, though. I have to say it’s not really so much about the store but more about just seeing all the books and thinking about the history of it and wondering what aspiring writers are drawing inspiration there now.
There is also a cafe next door we might have liked to visit if we’d had more time there. One of my coworkers said they used to work from there.
Sainte-Chapelle
This was Kyle’s must and the only activity we chose in Paris which cost money (unless you count the bikes – but they were necessary for transportation). It cost us 15 euro / $17 each. Certainly on the expensive side but it was something he/we thought we would like to do at some point, so why not now.
Because of our mishaps, we were running a little behind schedule and only barely arrived in time. They actually were not allowing people in as late as advertised (we were there more than 30 min before closing) so we didn’t realize it would be quite the issue it almost was. This was actually the third time such a thing happened to us in Paris – so in the future, I’d plan on arriving everywhere a bit early in Paris since they like to shut down everything a little earlier than they say. Also, note that hours vary by season for both Sainte-Chapelle and some other popular destinations. Either way, we did make it.
We both were desperate for a bathroom, though so after we got our tickets I asked the person selling them where the bathroom was and they directed me. It was a ways off and completely shut off, ugh! My other main complaint in Paris, of course – the lack of restrooms and even those that exist being closed. Oh well, I would have to hold it more. Only by the time I got back they almost wouldn’t let me in. Grr.
Anyway, we got in. There is a gift shop and small museum in the area where you first walk in and then you can proceed to the inside of the chapel. It was very beautiful. There was a laminated paper they provided which had more information to learn about the chapel. Another Gothic style building, Sainte-Chapelle was the residence of the Kings of France through the 14th century. While it was restored (due to damage) in the 19th century, some of the stained glass dates to the 13th century.
The panes in the glass depict scenes from Old and New Testaments.
We stayed there until they kicked everyone out. Because we were in the last group to enter this wasn’t terribly long, though but we still had enough time to look around at a somewhat relaxed pace.
Sunset
We hadn’t gotten as far as we originally hoped by the time the sun began to set. Shorter days are one of the disadvantages to traveling in late fall but it’s okay! We still thought it was a nice time to visit.
The sunset on the Seine was pretty but soon we decided we were ready to speed up our journey to our next destination: the Eiffel Tower. We could see it, but knew it was farther than it appeared.
Velib (Bike Sharing Finally Working Out) + Bathroom Quest
We located a Velib station and alas, it worked this time. You have to be careful not to choose a bike with a flat tire or broken light or anything. There is a screen where you select a bike and then you wait for the green light and take it. You can learn more about how it works on the Velib website.
After hopping on our bikes we followed the river, stopping at stations occasionally to change them out. It costs extra when you don’t change out the bikes after 30 minutes which did happen to us because Kyle refused to change his bike out when I said we needed to (and then later because there weren’t open stations we came across in that time frame). Just for anyone who wants to know – we also used Velib the whole way back and ended up spending a total of $8.82 between the two of us. If you could get the app on your phone (I think they have one which can tell you where the next station is, how many bikes or open spaces there are etc.), that would be useful, but since Kyle’s phone was stolen in Barcelona and mine doesn’t support most apps, it was not possible for us.
Now, time to find a bathroom!!! All day there were none which we could access. Still, we found none so we looked for a less public place to pee which is not easy in Paris. It is easier for men, though. Finally, we decided on this elevated gated park near an open field, not too far past the Louvre. There were people walking there, but not too many. Kyle was able to discretely go off to the side while I chose this area inside this sort of blocked off construction area, timing it to avoid others walking by. Finally, relief. We didn’t want to pee outside but Paris made it necessary.
We peed here.
Now we could finish proceeding to our next destination: The Eiffel Tower. Overall it was actually quite a long bike ride but was pleasant.
The Eiffel Tower
And we arrived. It took us another ten or fifteen minutes to find a good station to park the bikes but then we headed right for it. We weren’t going to go up inside (maybe another time) so after examining it up close, we proceeded to walk down the park in front of it.
Most of the lawn was closed off. Pretty unfortunate but the grass probably would have been wet anyway. I felt all that taped off area took away from the aesthetic appeal, though.
Along the way, close to the Eiffel Tower, there were men trying to sell little trinkets and bottles of wine. They were actually very cheap but we simply felt unsure about it and are hesitant to buy anything when someone approaches us. So we continued on past the area where they were doing this and enjoyed the view from a little farther.
Eventually, the light show began. The lights sparkle and it’s a bit more magical. I’d recommend it.
The Louvre
The world’s largest art museum. It was also the most visited art museum in the world in 2017 (when we went). Even though it’s open later on Friday nights, there was only something like an hour left that it would be open. We were pretty tired and did not feel we had the time to do the museum justice so we skipped entering. Originally we had planned to go inside, but we had also planned to arrive earlier. We may try to make it more of a priority on a return visit (if we make it back). Learn more about admission, hours, etc. here. Many people (like young people – which we no longer are, and art teachers) can get in for free.
Biking the Seine
When we listened to the Extra Pack of Peanuts podcast on Paris, one of the things they mentioned they enjoyed was riding bikes along the Seine at night. I wanted to try it too. We already sort of did this on the way to the Eiffel Tower, but we also had a long way back.
Some areas had holiday decorations which was nice since we didn’t get a chance to visit the only Christmas market open at the time. We were hoping this area would have a bathroom but it was only open to those taking a cruise.
We also just took some breaks in general.
Crepe Time
When we were dropping off our bikes we saw some crepe stands and debated getting one. Crepes are a good thing to get in Paris and we were feeling a night snack so we decided yes. We chose this one — Le Kiosque (there was another one next to it) due to it accepting cards.
There were a variety of options on the menu but we went with a simple Nutella crepe. Yum. It came out to about $4.
We had a few mishaps at the beginning, but overalll it was a good one day in Paris!
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