Paris Trip Details Travelling in Paris

• Paris is extremely well connected by Metro. Almost every place has at least two nearby Metro stations to choose from. A week pass would be the best bet for a clueless tourist. Some lines could become very crowded during peak hours. But given that most museums don't open until 10am, avoiding the crowd shouldn't be too much of a problem.
• It helps to know a bit of French. Almost everyone speaks English. You just have to start off in French. The worse you speak, quicker the listener switches to English. One thing the French cannot tolerate more than conversing in English is to see their language getting murdered...and it doesn't take a genius to muck up French pronunciation. I was personally hoping to improve my French there. Mostly I could only manage one-way conversations in French. Most kept responding in English - an indication of my proficiency (or the lack of it) in the language.

Don't miss

• The usual suspects: Louvre, Orsay, Versailles, Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower.
• Notre Dame - don't miss the chance to walk up the towers. If you are a Victor Hugo fan, apart from the view, you also have Quasimodo's bell to motivate you. Note that there are no lifts. It is a good 10 minute climb up a circular staircase.
• Pantheon - apart from some brilliant frescos and sculptures, the interior also houses the massive pendulum (fact that it is a copy shouldn't matter to the eye) that Focault used to prove the rotation of the earth. It is also the final resting place for the nation's rich and famous - the bignames include Mr. and Mrs. Curie, Victor Hugo, Louis Braille, Alexander Dumas and Sadi Carnot.
• Among the churches, don't miss the Basilica de Sacre Coeur, St. Eustache and St. Chappelle.
• Marmottan museum - houses the largest Monet collection.
• Petit Palais - The building and its contents are quite impressive.

Try not to miss

• Pompidou centre. The building and view from the top floor is definitely worth a visit even if you can't tell between Jackson Pollock and the doodle in a Thermodynamics class notes. On the ohter hand, if you can understand modern art (or God forbid, even like it!), this is a must see.
• Natural History Museum - The main hall is amazing and so is the butterfly collection.
• Cluny Museum - The tapestreies, especially the Lady and the Unicorn series, are quite impressive. Please take a good guide book with you. There isn't enough explanations (even if you are a Francophone) for you to enjoy the trip otherwise.
• Guimet - has a very impressive Asian art collection. But if you had seen its counterparts in Asia or even San Francisco, this is skippable.
• Picasso museum - has his largest collection, but none of his masterpieces. If cubism turns you on, this is a must see; if it irritates you skip it; if you don't care, it belongs in this category.

OK to miss

• Gustave Moreau museum - most of his good pieces are in other museums.
• Science city - unless watching an IMAX in a hemishperical screen means something to you. The screen is no more impressive than the ones in San Jose or Toronto.
• Musee Jacquemart-Andre - marketed as the equivalent of NY's Fricks and LA's Getty. But does not have too many pieces that you can remember, especially if you had just visited Louvre and/or Orsay.

Food (note that this is a Vegetarian point of view):

• You have hardly any "Plats Principal" choices. (Note that Entree means main dish only in French-ignorant countries). But you can practically survive on the desserts and the pastries. Do not miss any chance to hop into any Boulongerie.

Stay

• We stayed at the youth hostel in Montmartre. Not a bad place. Good clean room, but has bad showers. Top floors have great view. But there is no lift.

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