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Hey fellas in couple months I am going to be in Paris for a week. Anything recommended that I should check out? Does not have to be Wargaming related. But, if there is a cool gaming store I should check out please let me know!

If you are interested in video games, I highly recommend visiting this esport bar:
http://meltdown-paris.com/

If you are interested in geek stuff in general (and surely you are, if you post on a wargaming forum), you really really should also try this bar, event if just to check out the awesome decoration:
http://www.dernierbar.com/
They also have many board games.

If you like pink, you should go there.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Princess-Cr%C3%AApe/207119269321018
Because it is literally the pinkest restaurant in Paris, if not the pinkest restaurant ever.

Only mentioned specific stuff that you would likely not already know about, I do not think you need anyone to tell you about the Eiffel tower, Notre-Dame or the catacombs.

The Catacombs! Skulls for the skull god!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Paris

I cannot recommend Notre-Dame highly enough. It's an amazing building. Go inside, and walk around the outside too. I ended up visiting a lot of chapels, churches, and cathedrals in Europe and Notre-Dame by far was the best one of those I visited.

Personally if I were to go to France again, I'd make a trip out to the Normandy Beaches, but a week might not be enough time for that and other things

Paris is one of my favourite cities that I've visited. There is an awful lot to see and do, but a stroll up the Champs Elysee is well worth it, and I believe overlord thraka mentioned the catacombs. Also, and rather obviously, the Eiffel Tower. If you buy your ticket online and a few weeks before you go, it's actually good value.

There are numerous little side streets, markets and cafes scattered around the place, and by all means go and see the Moulin Rouge. But do so at night, it's quite the sight. And if you have around €800 (for a truly 'memorable' night) to spend inside then you'll love it.

You might want to consider a trip down the Siene (sp?) too.

There is a ton of things to do in Paris, but a trip to the Normandy beaches may be a bit too far.

Enjoy!

 sarpedons-right-hand wrote:
You might want to consider a trip down the Siene (sp?) too.

Seine.

800€? For one night? Seriously? I mean, even the very best seats at the opera are like 200€!

Shakespeare and Company. Also +1 for the Catacombs

http://shakespeareandcompany.com/

I dunno man Paris Ky really doesn't have much to do. I guess you could check out the WalMart, that's what the locals do for entertainment. Its that or drink at one of the couple crappy bars in town.

Oh wait, you meant real Paris.

 Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:

 sarpedons-right-hand wrote:
You might want to consider a trip down the Siene (sp?) too.

Seine.

800€? For one night? Seriously? I mean, even the very best seats at the opera are like 200€!

Good point, my mistake. It was €800 for 4 of us. Sorry for any confusion guys!

Notre Dame? Really? I thought the Sacre Coeur was much more beautiful. Best to visit just before sunset and stay until it's dark so you can both enjoy the view and overlook the City of Lights when it's, y'know, lit.
But I never went inside the Notre Dame. The line was too long and I was with my pregnant girlfriend who couldn't both wait in line that long and walk around.
There is also a huuuuuge comic book store near the Dame, though. In fact, there are several roads/neighbourhoods that specialise in books and stuff.

Also worth doing doing is a boat trip on the Seine. Best just before sunset (again), for taking zeee bjootifool sunset pictjores, and if you're lucky you'll float by the Eiffel Tower just as it's lit up.
I'm told the Bastille is also quite the sight.
Obviously, visit the Louvre if you're into art. Pro tip: If you want to go to the Louvre, go to another, less busy museum first and buy a Paris Museum card. It's prolly a little more expensive than a Louvre ticket, but you get to bypass the line for tickets. IIRC, the card also lets you into the Sun King's palace and gardens at Versailles just outside Paris. Well worth a visit, but it does suffer from the same problem as all the other major landmarks of Paris (except, for some reason, the Sacre Coeur): Mile-long lines of people waiting to get in.

Also pro tip (but this one works in every big city): Buy a metro ticket for the week. You can travel all around Paris for the entire week for pittance.

Finally: Paris is indeed a lovely city. Which is more than I can say for the Parisiens. Arrogant bunch of sourpusses, especially the waiters. (at least the ones I met while I was there). I much prefer Rome, myself. Just as pretty, but the people are much friendlier.

Bran Dawri wrote:
Finally: Paris is indeed a lovely city. Which is more than I can say for the Parisiens. Arrogant bunch of sourpusses, especially the waiters. (at least the ones I met while I was there).

I heard this is very true in touristic areas, and sometime just going a few blocks away can make a huge difference.
Also, from what I heard from foreign people coming here, learning a few words in French and using them when engaging a conversation can make people react much better. I have no idea why, I would not mind talking in English with tourists, but it happens to work like that.

That may be true We only had a few days so pretty much went for the tourist hotspots.
In any case, I do speak a little French, but while trying to speak the local language tends to make people a little friendlier everywhere else, in Paris they just seemed offended that I would mangle their beautiful language, or something. Or maybe I just rub French people the wrong way (and vice versa).

Yeah, when I go to Paris, I see a lot of things that make me want to improve my 40k armies.

Napoleon's Tomb is a great place to visit. Las Invaledes has an huge collection of medieval armor, and some of the display pieces include engravings that would make Ultramarines blush.

Musee de Cluny is totally worth checking out as well. It's a medieval museum that is basically a large collection of things from the grimdark past. The building itself is inscribed with all manner of astrological charts representing what people knew back then.

A great place to eat is Le Procope. It's been around since the 1700s and there's a ton of history associated with the place. It's in walking distance of a Paris GW store, which is also worth stopping by (they have a nice SW army that's worth checking out).

Bran Dawri wrote:
We only had a few days so pretty much went for the tourist hotspots.

Again, it is apparently just a matter of going a few blocks away .

Bran Dawri wrote:
In any case, I do speak a little French, but while trying to speak the local language tends to make people a little friendlier everywhere else, in Paris they just seemed offended that I would mangle their beautiful language, or something.

I do not know, but this is what my foreign labmates that do not speak fluent French told me. On the other hand, they are not tourists so maybe it is also a touristic place versus everyday place thing.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 techsoldaten wrote:
Las Invaledes

Les invalides?

 dameanone wrote:
Hey fellas in couple months I am going to be in Paris for a week. Anything recommended that I should check out? Does not have to be Wargaming related. But, if there is a cool gaming store I should check out please let me know!

Spend one day in Versailles.

 Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
I do not know, but this is what my foreign labmates that do not speak fluent French told me. On the other hand, they are not tourists so maybe it is also a touristic place versus everyday place thing.

Possibly. It may also be negative confirmation bias on my part. I have had to work with and for Frenchmen and in out of France in the past, and they are horrible employers. That sort of tarred the French with a bad brush for me. I try to give everyone individually the benefit of the doubt, but so far the French I have had to deal with have just thrown it back in my face to the point where I'm actually becoming a little racist towards them. Not something I'm proud of.

Quai de l'Orsay art museum is well worth a visit.

Montmartre, a bit touristy but it gives a great view of Paris.

I think you can have a lot of fun by walking around the centre of Paris on the north of the river. It's a relatively small area.

A modern guide book like Time Out would be a good investment.

No desire to go to Paris again
Also no Tuk Tuk taxi's

Hop on the Eurostar and go to a proper country.

Don't drink the tap water.

 Byte wrote:
Don't drink the tap water.

Yep! It tastes like bleach!

The "Dernier Bar avant la fin du Monde" is a great place!

I recommend a walk between Notre-Dame, the Pantheon, the Cluny Museum and the St Michel fountain. Within this perimeter are the best places in Paris IMO.