A return visit that finally got me inside a rebuilt Notre-Dame, plus a Montmartre food tour and an afternoon at Orsay that left me wanting to make art.
“Allow yourself to just be. The experience itself is what you'll remember.”
Paris was where it all began. I’d been before, so this visit wasn’t about checking off sights. I
spent most of my time wandering: the covered passages, the Left Bank, and a long loop around the
Eiffel Tower instead of a ride up it. And this time, at last, I made it inside Notre-Dame.
It’s a 5 out of 5 for me. Paris has everything I look for: good public transit, art and culture
everywhere, walkable streets, really good food, and it’s fairly affordable for a big city. You could
live here for ten years and still not see it all, so every visit just adds to the last.
Highlights
Montmartre food tour: mussels, the best bite of the tour (sausage with mashed potatoes at Le Saint-Jean), and a finish at Le Chocolat Alain Ducasse
Finally going inside Notre-Dame to see the post-fire restoration. In 2017 a security incident kept me outside
Musée d'Orsay, which sparked a real urge to explore my own art
Lunch outside at Les Ambassades: the chicken cutlet daily special, while watching diplomats come and go
Walking the covered passages, a casual way to see the city and a lot of art
Stumbled onto the soft launch of Swiss Butter on Faubourg Montmartre: great food, very friendly staff, and they comped the whole meal
Eiffel Tower photo circuit on foot: Passerelle Debilly, Trocadéro, Avenue de Camoëns, Pont de Bir-Hakeim, Rue de l'Université
Sacré-Cœur in the morning, and a walk through Père-Lachaise in the afternoon on a recommendation
Stuffy inner-courtyard room with no AC; window open meant waking to the smell of breakfast cooking
Some low-level anxiety about room security because of the key-at-reception system
Next time
Check for AC and a real elevator before booking an older Paris hotel, especially in September
Keep edible souvenirs together in one bag so nothing gets left behind
Day by day
Wed, Sep 9
Arrival & the covered passages
Day one of 28.
The RER B from CDG took me straight to the hotel, and just like that, the trip had started. I was excited, and a little daunted, because I knew how fast four weeks would fly. The excitement was the freedom: I could do anything I wanted. The comfort was the plan. I'd built an itinerary for each day with options to choose from, so I wouldn't wear myself out making decisions.
The hard part at the start of a trip like this is the pressure to make every moment memorable. I had to remind myself to let that go.
Jet lag was manageable, so I pushed through with a first stroll through the covered passages. That night, wandering down Faubourg Montmartre, I stumbled into the soft launch of a restaurant called Swiss Butter. The staff couldn't have been friendlier, the steak in butter sauce and the skillet chocolate dessert were really good, and at the end they comped the whole meal. It was the happiest accident of my stay, and I was in bed by 9.
Planned: Land CDG 11:30 · Passage des Panoramas · Opéra Garnier · Bouillon Chartier dinner
First afternoon: a pistachio pastry at a sidewalk table near the Grands BoulevardsSteak in butter sauce with fries and salad on Faubourg Montmartre, at the Swiss Butter soft launch (comped)Chocolate dessert in a skillet to finish, and the meal was on the house
Thu, Sep 10
Notre-Dame, at last
Finally inside.
I set out early and let the covered passages lead me south from the hotel: Passage Verdeau, its lamps still lit, then Galerie Vivienne's mosaic floors under the glass. It's a relaxed way to see Paris, with art everywhere, even on the shop shutters. A flat white on the sidewalk before the street woke up, then the Palais-Royal garden, with its clipped lime trees and the fountain through the first autumn leaves.
From there I walked the Louvre's grounds without going in. With only a few days, I didn't want to give it half of one. I crossed the Seine on the Pont des Arts and followed the bank to Notre-Dame.
In 2017, Notre-Dame was closed for a security incident, and all I could do was look at it from outside. Two years later, it burned. So walking in this morning to see it restored, I got chills.
I've toured a lot of churches in Europe, but this was the first of this trip, and the scale of it is awe-inspiring. The stained glass caught my eye most. There's something about standing in a building that old, with so much history and emotion in its walls. You can't help thinking about the years of work that went into it, and all the people who've stood where you're standing. And then there's the other side of it: the resources poured into the ornate woodwork, the paintings, the gold and the silver. It's a lot to unpack.
Afterward I crossed to Île Saint-Louis, then wandered back north through the Marais, spotting Space Invaders on the corners, for a late lunch near the hotel. An evening walk through the 3rd closed out the day.
Early-morning walk: a tagged shutter on a sandwich shop"Obey the machine or be killed": a painted shutter below a mercerie signA Space Invader mosaic on the corner of Rue PapillonThe entrance to Passage Verdeau, "leading to the Grands Boulevards"Down the length of a covered passage, lamps still litCheckerboard floor and glass roof in Passage VerdeauA coffee bar lit up gold before the street woke upMorning flat white on the sidewalkThe Palais Brongniart, the old Paris stock exchangeGalerie Vivienne's mosaic floor and glass vaultRows of clipped lime trees in the Palais-Royal gardenThe Palais-Royal fountain through the first autumn leavesThe Palais-Royal garden and fountain in morning sunThe Palais-Royal colonnadeBuren's striped columns in the Palais-Royal courtyardRue de Rivoli's arcades in low morning lightThe Louvre pyramid against the sun. I walked the grounds instead of going inSculpture over a Louvre gatewayThe Louvre's riverside wing and the Pont du Carrousel archesThe Pont des Arts toward the Institut de FranceThe Seine from the Pont des Arts, toward the Île de la CitéNotre-Dame's west front, about to go inNotre-Dame's west front under a mackerel skyThe Portal of the Last JudgmentInside the restored nave at last. The last time I came, it was closedThe restored nave and the north rose windowThe choir in the rebuilt cathedral, clean stone and goldPoint Zéro, the marker all French road distances are measured fromNotre-Dame's new spire from the garden behind the cathedralPrize-ribbon butcher's window on Île Saint-LouisA Space Invader on a side street near the Centre PompidouAnother Space Invader on a corner in the MaraisPorte Saint-Denis at the end of the streetLunch back near the hotel: a croque with roasted potatoes and a Lorina lemonadeLong evening shadows in the 3rd arrondissement
Fri, Sep 11
Les Ambassades, Orsay & the Eiffel circuit
Where am I? How do they see me? How many steps?
Breakfast on the Left Bank, then lunch outside at Les Ambassades: the chicken cutlet special, perfectly cooked, while diplomats came and went.
Then the Musée d'Orsay, which did something I didn't see coming. I've always had a passive itch to be better at art, and seeing other people's beautiful work stirs it up. Even in the masterpieces, there's an imperfection I find appealing. I'm my own worst critic, and my inner voice demands perfection, so part of me fantasizes about the freedom to make art that people enjoy without it having to be perfect. Whether I'd ever allow myself that freedom is the real question.
Late in the afternoon, instead of going up the Eiffel Tower, I walked a photo circuit around it that Gemini had put together. It started on the cobbled end of Rue de l'Université and took me over the Passerelle Debilly, up to the Trocadéro, along Avenue de Camoëns, across the Pont de Bir-Hakeim, and finally right under the iron. I already have an Eiffel shot framed at home from my last trip, and I think a few of these beat it.
My mind never really stops on walks like that, and it jumps around. One minute I'd simply appreciate where I was, and how fortunate I am to take a trip like this at all. The next I'd be wondering what it's like to be a foreigner here. How do people see me? Do they hear an accent? What first impression do I give? Do I look approachable? Then I'd check my step count and my heart rate. And then I'd just take in the beauty around me, and enjoy the other people taking it in too. I ended the day with dinner in the 7th.
A painted shutter on the Left Bank before breakfastCafé crème, orange juice and a pain au chocolat on the Left BankThe daily special at Les Ambassades: chicken cutlet, mushroom sauce, mash and a glass of whiteSacré-Cœur on the skyline from the Orsay side of the SeineVan Gogh's 1887 self-portrait at OrsayVan Gogh's 1887 self-portrait at the Musée d'OrsayStarry Night Over the Rhône, up closeStarry Night Over the Rhône. The room that got me thinking about making artOrsay's great station clockThe old station hall from the sculpture floorLooking down the nave of Orsay from the upper levelThe whole length of Orsay's barrel vaultA bird's-eye poster of Paris for the 1900 ExpositionOrsay's old train-station nave from the upper gallerySculpture under the lamps in Orsay's hallBronze figures in the central aisle at OrsayLes Invalides across its lawn, on the way to the towerPhoto circuit, stop 1: the tower at the end of Rue de l'UniversitéRue de l'Université, a second framePhoto circuit, stop 1: Rue de l'Université, the tower between Haussmann façadesThe tower over the Seine and a passing boatLove locks on the Passerelle DebillyLove locks on the Passerelle DebillyThe tower framed by plane trees across the riverPlane-tree frame, widerLeaves and branches framing the towerThe tower from the Right Bank quayThe tower over the Seine, framed by treesA tour boat on the Seine below the towerSame view, a moment laterFramed by plane trees across the SeineApproaching the Pont d'IénaThe tower over the Pont d'IénaThe tower and the Pont d'Iéna through the treesThe tower from the Trocadéro gardensThe crowd on the Trocadéro esplanadeThe classic view from the Trocadéro, over the graffiti-covered wallTrocadéro view, with Tour Montparnasse on the leftThe wide view from the Trocadéro esplanadeThe tower between Haussmann buildings in the 16thA 16th-arrondissement street view of the towerThe tower above the trees by the riverA bateau-mouche below the tower from Pont de Bir-HakeimUnder the Bir-Hakeim viaduct: a vintage convertible and a photo shoot, with the tower behindNearly underneath the towerLooking up into the tower from the gardensThe tower's ironwork from directly belowLooking straight up through the ironworkDinner and red wine in the 7th after the tower circuit
Sat, Sep 12
Sacré-Cœur, Montmartre food tour & Père-Lachaise
It's a small world.
My last full day was the best one. It started inside Sacré-Cœur, and then came the Eating Europe food tour through Montmartre, a great way into French culture and the neighborhood. There were mussels, then sausage with mashed potatoes at Le Saint-Jean (the best bite of the tour), and a finish at Le Chocolat Alain Ducasse. I bought far more chocolate than I could eat or share, and then somehow lost the chocolate spread I was most excited about.
Most of the group were Americans, and one of them had been on my flight over. There had been a medical emergency on board, and she was one of the nurses who responded, along with the passenger in the middle seat next to me.
In the afternoon, on a recommendation, I walked through Père-Lachaise.
Packing that night, I wasn't sad to be leaving. In a city this size, you always leave something for next time. Mostly I felt hopeful about Florence: excited to see family, really excited about the cooking class, and a little anxious about how much was on the agenda. Italy was going to be a sprint, and my next real downtime probably wouldn't come until Venice.
Planned: Montmartre / Sacré-Cœur · Galeries Lafayette rooftop · early dinner and pack
Climbing the stairs up to MontmartreParis from the hill below Sacré-CœurSacré-Cœur at the top of the stepsThe terrace in front of Sacré-CœurMorning view over Paris from the Montmartre stepsSacré-Cœur against a hard-blue skyThe city laid out below the basilicaThe apse and its windows inside Sacré-CœurThe apse mosaic inside Sacré-CœurThe apse mosaic of Christ in MajestySacré-Cœur's bell tower and domes from the sideThe Moulin de la Galette windmillLe Sancerre's flower-covered awning in MontmartreLa Maison Rose, the pink restaurant in MontmartreThe view and the crowds from the Sacré-Cœur stepsSacré-Cœur above the carousel at the foot of the hillPère-Lachaise: tombs along a tree-lined laneA family chapel at Père-LachaiseA weathered tomb door at Père-LachaiseA columned monument at Père-LachaiseFlowers and notes at Jim Morrison's graveJim Morrison's grave behind its barrierA cobbled lane through Père-Lachaise in late light
Where my feet took me
Ate hereVisitedPhoto spot
1. Ate here · Wed, Sep 9
Swiss Butter
Wandered into the soft launch. They comped the whole meal.
Arrival: Overnight AA 3090 / AA 754 PDX→PHL→CDG, then the RER B train into the city
Hotel Havane Opéra · Grands Boulevards, 9th arr. · 4 nights · 3/5 Fine for a solo traveler and I'd stay again, but not somewhere I'd share a room. Dated, no AC, and a one-person elevator up to the 4th floor. You had to leave your key at reception and nobody checked ID when you asked for it back.
Playbook from this leg
Do differently In older European hotels, check for AC, the elevator size and key policy before booking
Worked Skip the Eiffel summit and walk a photo circuit around it instead
Worked Jet lag heading east: push through the days, but go to bed by 9
Worked Take the RER B from CDG into central Paris
Worked On a short Paris stay, walk the Louvre grounds and covered passages instead of going in
