60 Free Things To Do In Paris-03
Part three of a very long list of free things to do in Paris. Buy your ticket, hop a plane….
41.Walk along the Seine. Yeah, it really is romantic. Really. There are lots of bridges and canals to explore too. And it’s beautiful by night, with the Eiffel Tower in the background, lighting up the sky. The Pont Neuf bridge is also not to be missed.
42. Sweet solitude in the middle of the city..at Place Dauphine, a tiny square off of Pont Neuf, which is calm, quiet, and quintessentially French.
43. Learn about living on a barge..hey, it’s not as romantic as it looks, afterall! Plenty of expats live on barges along the Seine, and walking along the river and admiring them got me an invite for lunch and a short ride, too.
44. Watch the rollerblade parade, every Friday night. Some of the outfits get pretty crazy. Go to www.pari-roller.com for more info.
45. If you like clubbing, or- if you don’t, but like me, you dance in your kitchen while no one is else is home- try to time your visit for the Paris Techno-Parade, a six hour long dance-a -thon in the streets of Paris. I missed it, having just left before it took place this year, but I would’ve done it had I been there. It’s all for a good cause, usually has a theme of world hunger or something like that. The music is all techno and electronic music, and half a million people gather to dance for 6 hours. Wow. Sorry I missed it. go to www.technoparade.com for more info.
46. Like rockclimbing? Well, there’s no actual rockclimbing involved, but you can scale a big wall if you want to. It’s at Au Vix Camper on the Rue des Ecoles. They give you the stuff to climb except shoes (those tevas or hiking boots you’re wearing around Paris will be handy after all!)..oh, and you have to have someone spot you who isn’t one of the staff. I found a guy from Germany there who was also traveling alone, and we spotted each other. I loved this! And of course..it’s free!
47. If you are outdoorsy, you need to go to the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont. This is a bit out of your way, in the 20th e., but so worth it. It’s got everything..a bridge, mountains, a grotto, a temple..and what is really cool is that it was all designed by Baron Haussman and Napoleon the Third from an old trash heap and a bunch of no longer used quarries. A good lesson for today’s world on how recycling really does make sense.
48. The Paris History Museum is free, and it’s amazing. You could spend a whole day there and not see everything. It’s got alot on urban planning and the creation of Paris itself , and you’ll know more about Paris than most Parisians after a day here.
49. Become a Picasso groupie. There’s a very nice museum devoted to him here, which is worth looking at..when it’s free, of course, which is on the first Sunday of the month. But there are also 6 studios of Picasso’s in Paris, as well as the houses of all of his friends, lovers, and groupies to find.
50. Visit the Foundation le Courbusier in the 16th e., and walk around the neighborhood, which has many building he designed. Incredible. There are alot of Art Noveau buildings here, too.
51. Walk to La Defense. This area has some of the most strange, refined, modern architecture I’ve ever seen.
52.Take the metro to a Parisian secret-the Parc Andre Citroen. Small, pretty, and quiet, this park is for families and lovers, and shows you just how good Parisians are at designing and making use of public spaces. Very pretty.
53. Get literary, literally. Numerous bookshops sell English language books, have book readings, and events, the latter of which are free. My favorite was the famous Shakespeare and Co, which has a book reading every Monday night. I got to hear 7 poets read their work, which was amazing. They also have a group that meets once a week to read from their own work to one another, with a focus on creative writing. Walk -ins welcome.
54. Poetry..it’s everywhere in Paris. I went to a free Poetry reading which I heard about from a writer. Poetry readings-and art performances-are free, and they are all over town, usually on a weekend(but not always). When you stop be Shakespeare and Co, ask around for what’s happening in the City. The Sorbonne is also a good place to check.
55. Loved the Hunchback of Notre Dame? So did I. Visit Maison Victor Hugo, and learn a bit more about the writer’s life. The permanent collections are all free..the temporary ones aren’t. But the permanent collections are wonderful, so who cares?
56. Balzac, a French institution. You can visit Balzac’s house free, too. It’s a very good museum, and you won’t walk away disappointed.
57. The Museum of the Modern Life is free- and so cool if you love George Sand. Plus, it’s got lots on other artists and writers of her time too. But you will love the George Sand exhibit-it will make you want to run back to Shakespeare and Co and buy some of her books!
58. Walk thru the center of Paris, without the traffic..on the Promenade plantee, along stretch of grass and parks running thru the city from Bastille to Vicenne Wood. Bring your walking shoes, because it’s almost 3 miles long.
59. hey, the Bastille’s pretty cool too-and makes an especially pretty sight by night. It’s history is sad, though..and you can learn all about it right in front of the Bastille itself.
60. A crazy place to go and take a look around-which I guarantee you won’t forget, and is world famous, is the taxidermy shop, Desrolles, which is in the 7th e. on Rue du Bac. Seriously, if you like strange things, this is not to be missed.
This list was originally supposed to be about 100 free things to do in Paris, but quite frankly, I’m bored writing it by now and besides, it’s pretty clear that it’s possible to go to Paris and do plenty for free. I could continue..almost every museum has a free day…ride a bike for free around town…and so on.
A lack of money when traveling has very little to do with how good of a time you have. It’s all relative.
gigi
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illuminate.gigi
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