A Week in Paris

Paris must be the city everyone has seen a million times online without having traveled there. My overall impression of the city was glamorous but dirty and overhyped. In fact, Paris was never on my travel bucket list until I came across insanely cheap plane tickets at the start of this month. My initial plan was to stay there for 2 days and 3 nights. However, my friend was offered free hotel accommodation, so we ended up staying the whole week. Paris turned out to be much lovelier than I had expected.

My favorite spots in Paris

The city has endless museums, galleries, cafes, and bakeries. Literally, every street is lined with iconic Haussmannian buildings that never fail to amaze me. I could just point my camera anywhere, and the photos would look like a scene from a French movie. My favorite spots in Paris, however, weren’t the world-famous Louvre museum or the Palace of Versailles. Apart from its glamour, all I could remember was being pushed around and my feet screaming after hours of walking. Here are some of the lesser-known places that I enjoyed:

Passy Cemetery

The French don’t just create impressive architecture for the living—they also showcase their craftsmanship through intricate gravestones for the dead. This cemetery offered me a perfect view of the Eiffel Tower. We went there mainly to visit the grave of Vietnam’s last King. Honestly, I remembered nothing about him except that he cheated on his wife. My friend and I only started reading about him and the abolition of the Vietnamese monarchy as we were standing in front of his grave. Nearby, I noticed the grave of the Princess of Iran. It was such a coincidence because she and the Vietnamese king were both the last monarchs of their countries and now they’re buried next to each other. Passy Cemetery felt like a fascinating stroll through history.

La Defense

This was the first area I stayed in on my first night in Paris. My friend said La Defense was the result of poor zoning because it’s full of skyscrapers but almost no residents (“no life”). Indeed, it was very empty at night. We arrived at 10:30 pm on a Sunday and saw no one on the street. However, I think La Defense has its own charm despite not matching the image of Paris most people have. It’s modern and clean. The morning totally transformed this area, with waves of office workers in formal clothing rushing to work. It also has a large shopping mall with famous brands like Decathlon and Uniqlo. 

Montmartre

My friend and I stayed here for 2 nights. In absolute contrast to La Defense, Montmartre is full of life. The vibes here make you want to celebrate by dancing and singing on the streets. Two sides of the roads are filled with shops and restaurants. Montmartre is also famous for its cobblestone streets and the Sacré-Cœur Basilica. I wish I had visited the Montmartre Cemetery, though, because apparently the architecture there was even more hauntingly beautiful.

Moving around Paris

Paris has similar modes of public transport as in Helsinki: bus, metro, tram, and train. However, since it’s much more crowded (50 million visitors annually) and significantly smaller in size, I feel like the network of public transport is also more extensive and dense. While in Helsinki, the biggest station is the Helsinki Central Railway Station, in Paris, almost every station I visited was either the same size or even more grand. Metros and trains were relatively on time and arrived frequently. I bought the Navigo Weekly Pass for 31€ and could travel an unlimited number of times.

I’m sure everyone has heard about pickpockets and thieves in the metros. I was aware of that and tried to always stay highly alert. Luckily, I didn’t get pickpocketed and didn’t witness it happening to anyone else either.

Paris was also easy to navigate because it’s so walkable. I think walking is the best way to explore a city since it allows you to discover places that metros and buses don’t go through, as well as stop at any store that catches your attention. Paris is so small that my friend and I simply walked from our hotel to the city center. Along the way,  we had to make so many pit stops because we stumbled upon attractions and streets not on our list. The pedestrian lanes weren’t too wide, and at times, I had to avoid running into people coming from the opposite side. Still, you’re guaranteed to reach all destinations just by walking.

French history 

As a traveler, I’m most excited to learn about how the city or country I’m visiting has evolved throughout history and to witness the remnants of past civilizations. In that sense, Paris was the perfect destination for me.

I never got to study French history in school, so my visit to the Palace of Versailles became a valuable history lesson. I learned about the drama surrounding the last kings and queens of France and how they were killed during the French Revolution. It was fun to imagine how the royals once lived there, surrounded by grand chandeliers and gilded walls, but no toilet. 

The most eye-opening experience I had in Paris was visiting the Catacombs. Beneath this beautiful city lies the bones of 6 million people, transferred into an intricate 300km network of tunnels in the 1800s. Skulls and bones everywhere. It was not scary, though, as they’d been dead for such a long time. Learning about the condition Paris was in before the Catacombs and how workers transferred all those bones was definitely worth the 25€.

French culture

Walking along the Seine River is the best way to take in the Parisian lifestyle. Lining the river banks were hundreds of green kiosks that, at first, I thought were selling tourist souvenirs. However, at a closer look, I realized they were displaying secondhand books and magazines. These kiosks are known as the Bouquinistes of Paris. I kinda knew reading was a part of French culture, but it was interesting to see how that culture manifests in real life. Unfortunately, the books were in French, so I didn’t buy anything. 

One thing I didn’t quite like about French culture is that they smoke and vape everywhere. One foot off the plane, I was already hit by the smell of cigarettes. I’m sure they all know smoking is bad, but it’s so ingrained in their way of life, passed down through generations, that it has become the norm for social activity. 

Some other cultural aspects I found amusing were: French are not scared of close physical contact like Finns; they can spend hours at a restaurant for a meal; they do dress up very fashionably.

French cuisine

Paris’s food scene is just as celebrated as its architecture. French cuisine is praised for its delicacy and richness. For my first meal in Paris, I was excited to go to a traditional restaurant (Mamie Colette) to try its onion soup and beef bourguignon. The food was flavorful, but I have to admit I didn’t like it at all. The beef was cooked in red wine, which I just can’t stand. Steak frites were absolutely my favorite, though. I ate it three times during my visit. However, the real highlight was French pastries. I visited at least 2 boulangeries (bakeries) every day, and every croissant and pain au chocolate I had was out of this world. My favorite boulangeries were Bo&Mie and La Maison d'Isabelle.

Customer service

Despite being in one of the most visited cities in the world, the waiters and cashiers in Paris didn’t leave a very good impression on me. They were kinda rude. Many didn't speak English that well (or they just had a very strong accent). In Finland, employees at stores are required to greet all customers. Some are friendly enough to even smile at you. Hence, I’m not sure if French workers are just not required to be polite or if they’re actually rude. They for sure weren’t angry, just rather strangely cold. A good advice I read online was to always greet the employees with “Bonjour!” to show your respect first.