for 
paradisa
Your comprehensive guide to DOING STUFF IN PARIS
Hey guys!! So this is just a quick informational guide about how basic stuff in Paris tends to work, for people who haven't been there before. This is mostly based off of what I noticed when I was living there for a month this summer (as well as what I've learned for my degree, in the case of the clothing section), but if I'm incorrect/mistaken anywhere please correct me! ♥
First up, BUYING FOOD! Because everyone needs to eat!
Your first option is to check a BAKERY (la boulangerie/la pâtisserie). These are pretty much everywhere, and it's pretty likely that you'll find one somewhere on your block, wherever your character is living. These primarily sell bread in its many delicious forms (usually it's about 1-2 euro for a big baguette, sometimes less), but they also have a lot of delicious pastries, sandwiches, soda/juice, and sometimes candy. The best time to go for fresh delicious things is early in the morning, or about 1 pm (when they're just pulling out some new fresh bread). Some bakeries also carry little personal pizzas, which have a thin crust and almost no cheese or toppings -- the point is to showcase the sauce.
Next up, you can try for a GROCERY STORE (une épicerie). These are generally every other block, and they have a wider selection of food, including fresh fruit and vegetables. They also usually carry a lot of snack food and stuff that's easy to prepare (like canned food or boxed pasta). They generally do not sell meat, except in tiny packages of three slices for like ten euros. I did come across one that sold a bunch of different types of fresh meat near the Louvre, but in general they stuck to other stuff.
If you want meat, you're going to have the best luck at a BUTCHER'S SHOP (la boucherie), which is exactly what it describes. I have never been to one, so I can't comment on exactly how getting meat there works, but that's where you'd go if you want good meat to cook with. I am not sure if they sell fish, but I saw at least one fresh seafood store too, so!
There are also BIGGER SUPERMARKETS (un hypermarché) like Americans might be more used to. The Monoprix and Dia are two that I saw (and used frequently). Dia is just a grocery store, whereas Monoprix also has makeup and perfume and some other stuff.
There are also a ton of CHOCOLATE & SWEETS SHOPS (la confisierie) everywhere that sell fancy little candies and stuff. Usually they will let you sample a piece before you buy anything. (Fun fact: There are a few delicious Belgian chocolate stores around called Leonidas. THIS. IS. CHOCOLAAAATEEEE!)
If you happen to be up and about in the morning, there is usually an outdoor market (la marché) set up somewhere (the one near me was set up on Tuesday and Saturday mornings, for example). They sell a HUGE variety of fresh foods, usually meats/fish, cheeses, spices, and fruits/veggies. There's also an outdoor market once a week that sells flowers and birds (NOT TO EAT) :)
And if you are lazy and don't want to cook, you can always EAT OUT! There are thousands upon thousands of restaurants everywhere of every kind! Your average restaurant, no matter what kind, will almost always have the menu out front for you to peruse before you enter. There are a couple different types of menus you will find. The first one is Le menu/la formule which is a fixed price menu -- you pay a certain (usually cheaper) price and get a couple of different courses with your meal. The choices are often more limited, but there are a lot of restaurants where this is the only way to eat! These options are usually posted in front of the restaurant for you to ask for as you walk in.
The second type is the la carte menu, which lists everything that's available at the restaurant. It can be more expensive than the fixed price menu but you'll get more options.
You'll also generally see a wine menu, which lists all the different types of wine they serve (usually a lot, and if you ask the waiter will tell you which wine goes best with what you're ordering), and a tasting menu, where you can get small servings of multiple dishes to try.
Whatever you buy, the tip will be included in the meal price, so there's no need to tip your waiter! Waiters will usually only appear when you first get there to give you a big carafe of water, and when they bring you your food. Generally you have to flag them down to get the bill. There are restaurants for pretty much every type of Earth food imaginable if you look for it, but here's some stuff you'll find at a regular French café:
Appetizers (entrée): Escargot, mushrooms, salmon & goat cheese on toast, calamari, quiche, crevettes (shrimp), eggplant, caviar, different kinds of cheeses ... etc. They will also serve you fresh bread throughout the meal.
Salads (la salade) are usually served with a main course and generally consist of lots of different types of vegetables and very little lettuce. Every restaurant I went to basically had the same vinaigrette type of dressing. THERE IS NO RANCH!
Main courses (plat principal): Most any kind of meat will go here. Common ones are chicken, beef, duck, goose, veal, pork, rabbit, lamb, mutton, salmon, trout, oyster, and frog. These are prepared in a lot of different ways more local to France (for example, foie gras) and some more familiar ways (steak, sandwiches). They may also come with frites (aka french fries).
Desserts: Crépes, tiramisu, mousse, pastries, gelato, etc.
Fancier restaurants will serve something small between each course of a meal (however many there may be) to cleanse the palate.
And now, HOW TO GET AROUND PLACES! Aka the PUBLIC TRANSIT section!
To get around from place to place within your neighborhood, most Parisians walk. Very few have cars, and if they do it's almost always a SmartCar.
However, if you have to go further than a mile or two, or just don't feel like walking, there are lots of options available to you!
The first one is RENTING A BIKE. Every couple of blocks, there are these gray racks of gray metal bikes which can be 'checked out' for the day, or just for a few hours, with a credit card of some kind. As long as you return it to one of the matching racks, it'll 'check out' and charge you for however much time you spent using it.
The next one is TAKING THE BUS. If you aren't planning on using it much, you can just pay per ride (about 1.60 euro per ride). You can also buy a set on ten tickets, or an unlimited pass for a day, a week, or a month. All of these things can be found at a 'Tabac' store, which sells cigarettes, train/subway tickets, and stamps. To get around you have to find the bus which goes in the right direction, and you may have to switch buses to get to the place that you want. It sounds complicated, but there are pretty clear maps available at every bus stations. It is considered extremely rude not to give up your seat to old people and pregnant ladies!!! No, seriously, I saw a guy get punched in the face by another guy for not giving his seat up for an old woman.
Next up is the SUBWAY! It can be difficult to navigate if you're not sure where you're going, but most people giving directions will know the subway stop closest to where you want to go if it's a major monument/well-known place. Every subway station has a big map posted so you can see where you're going and where all the other routes go if you need to switch "lines". There are also these really terrifying automatic doors that let you into the subway from the waiting area. If you don't go through them before they close you can get seriously injured, sob. You can also get individual tickets or lengthy unlimited passes for the subway … or you can get one that works for both bus AND subway (which is what I had)!
More expensive is the TAXI, which will take you directly wherever you need to go, but are pretty unreliable in terms of whether or not they'll actually show up when you call them. It is better to try and flag one down instead, but you actually don't see them around that often.
Available pretty much anywhere in the city is a comprehensive map of all the bus lines and subway lines :) (especially in tourist areas!) Also, as a small note: There is graffiti almost EVERYWHERE, except on major monuments. It'll be pretty noticeable no matter which method you take to travel around.
And now for the most complicated part of this guide, HOW TO BUY CLOTHES/SHOES IN PARIS! There are a ton of different ways and places to get these things at a lot of different cost levels, so here goes nothing!
CHEAPEST: Outdoor markets. Yes, the outdoor markets mentioned above in the food section sometimes also sell clothes! They are usually very plain and boring, but you can easily get a shirt for 5 euro or a pair of shoes for 8-10 euro. There is pretty much no style involved with these, it's just really really cheap stuff. They usually have a variety of stuff (blouses, t-shirts, pants, skirts, dresses, etc), but they're almost all very plain in style and color.
CHEAPER: Tourist shops! These usually exist around big monuments and are mostly aimed at visiting Americans rather than actual French people. These are usually pretty small, but offer a variety of more "stylish" but really cheaply made girl's clothing. You can get a lot of stuff here for cheap (around 15-20 euro) but they are pretty low quality and generally not sewn that well either. They also have shoes for around 20-35 euro.
CHEAP: The Avenue de Champs-Élysées, located near the L'arc de Triomphe, is populated with mostly American/British/Canadian stores such as Abercrombie & Fitch (which, incidentally, is located behind a golden gate guarded by cute boys at all times … what), the Disney Store, Gap, Nike, Zara, Sephora, Promod, etc. These are all pretty decently priced, especially with sales, and contain the exact same stuff you'd find in their counterparts anywhere else.
MODERATE: Many neighborhoods contain a local clothes shop, which has much more simple clothing than the last two options. However, they are of much higher quality and will last a long time. These go for around 50-80 euro per piece of clothing.
EXPENSIVE: There are many lesser-known/cheaper designer shops which offer a variety of different styles and options (some a little more ridiculous than others). There's also 7 For Mankind if you're looking for higher quality jeans. Most of this stuff ranges from 100-200 euro (sometimes more, for shoes).
RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE: Now we're getting into luxury goods, which can and will be really, really pricey. This is where a lot of the higher fashion shops, like Chanel, Dior, Nina Ricci, etc. But in actuality, these shops do NOT sell anything that is on the runway, even if they are in the window displays. Most of the things they sell are actually plainer, and in much bigger sizes, for their real customers (usually … mostly old ladies). These things can go up to ~1000-2000 euro. The shops are set up very nicely, though, and are very pretty to look at even if you don't buy anything. If you look like a hobo or like you can't afford what they are selling, they may ignore you or even refuse outright to help you if you ask. There are also some department stores in this category, like Le Bon Marché and Galeries Lafayette.
WHY WOULD YOU EVEN BUY THIS: This category pretty much boils down to three stores: Colette, Hérmes, and Louis Vuitton. Colette is the store that's considered the most trendy of all time ever. It basically collects stuff from all kinds of different designers, and puts them all together in one store. A lot of the designer clothing sold in Colette is the actual garments from the runway, which means they come in smaller sizes only. There are also CDs, books, keychains, etc in Colette! And down in the basement is a water bar, where you can order any kind of water. (I'm not making this up guys it really exists sljsdf) Hérmes is mostly focused on leather, horseback, and travel stuff, and is EXTREMELY high class and expensive. It looks pretty simple on the outside, but the inside of the store is pretty weird, and located inside a 1930's indoor swimming pool. Louis Vuitton is HUGE with many floors, easily recognizable, and sells a lot of different stuff like clothes and shoes, though most of their profit comes from bags. No matter what you are wearing, they will be polite to you at LV, but they're more likely to really help you out if you look rich or Asian (a HUGE majority of their profit comes from Asians and it's literally required for people who work there to be nicer to them …). All of the above have products for 2000+ euro (though some things are cheaper than that, especially at Colette).
As a note about style and fashion: Most Parisians DO NOT walk around wearing weird or unusual clothing, despite popular belief! They keep it simple and modest, and more often than not you'll see someone walking around in skinny jeans/pants, a long sleeved shirt/sweater, a pea coat and a scarf. Dark colors are usually the most common. Showing off a lot of leg or cleavage is frowned upon. Simple but classy is the way to go.
Some other extra notes:
Most smaller stores do not accept credit cards. You must use cash. Bigger department stores, supermarkets, and most restaurants will take cards. Restaurants generally do not like it when you try to split the bill and some places will outright not allow it.
Refills on coffee at cafés are not free, and coffee comes in a really tiny cup. :(
Pretty much every major monument is patrolled by military. They are pretty obvious, because they are the guys with the giant guns wandering around looking bored.
Here and here are two a good, comprehensive lists of monuments and places of interest in Paris.
Hey guys!! So this is just a quick informational guide about how basic stuff in Paris tends to work, for people who haven't been there before. This is mostly based off of what I noticed when I was living there for a month this summer (as well as what I've learned for my degree, in the case of the clothing section), but if I'm incorrect/mistaken anywhere please correct me! ♥
First up, BUYING FOOD! Because everyone needs to eat!
Your first option is to check a BAKERY (la boulangerie/la pâtisserie). These are pretty much everywhere, and it's pretty likely that you'll find one somewhere on your block, wherever your character is living. These primarily sell bread in its many delicious forms (usually it's about 1-2 euro for a big baguette, sometimes less), but they also have a lot of delicious pastries, sandwiches, soda/juice, and sometimes candy. The best time to go for fresh delicious things is early in the morning, or about 1 pm (when they're just pulling out some new fresh bread). Some bakeries also carry little personal pizzas, which have a thin crust and almost no cheese or toppings -- the point is to showcase the sauce.
Next up, you can try for a GROCERY STORE (une épicerie). These are generally every other block, and they have a wider selection of food, including fresh fruit and vegetables. They also usually carry a lot of snack food and stuff that's easy to prepare (like canned food or boxed pasta). They generally do not sell meat, except in tiny packages of three slices for like ten euros. I did come across one that sold a bunch of different types of fresh meat near the Louvre, but in general they stuck to other stuff.
If you want meat, you're going to have the best luck at a BUTCHER'S SHOP (la boucherie), which is exactly what it describes. I have never been to one, so I can't comment on exactly how getting meat there works, but that's where you'd go if you want good meat to cook with. I am not sure if they sell fish, but I saw at least one fresh seafood store too, so!
There are also BIGGER SUPERMARKETS (un hypermarché) like Americans might be more used to. The Monoprix and Dia are two that I saw (and used frequently). Dia is just a grocery store, whereas Monoprix also has makeup and perfume and some other stuff.
There are also a ton of CHOCOLATE & SWEETS SHOPS (la confisierie) everywhere that sell fancy little candies and stuff. Usually they will let you sample a piece before you buy anything. (Fun fact: There are a few delicious Belgian chocolate stores around called Leonidas. THIS. IS. CHOCOLAAAATEEEE!)
If you happen to be up and about in the morning, there is usually an outdoor market (la marché) set up somewhere (the one near me was set up on Tuesday and Saturday mornings, for example). They sell a HUGE variety of fresh foods, usually meats/fish, cheeses, spices, and fruits/veggies. There's also an outdoor market once a week that sells flowers and birds (NOT TO EAT) :)
And if you are lazy and don't want to cook, you can always EAT OUT! There are thousands upon thousands of restaurants everywhere of every kind! Your average restaurant, no matter what kind, will almost always have the menu out front for you to peruse before you enter. There are a couple different types of menus you will find. The first one is Le menu/la formule which is a fixed price menu -- you pay a certain (usually cheaper) price and get a couple of different courses with your meal. The choices are often more limited, but there are a lot of restaurants where this is the only way to eat! These options are usually posted in front of the restaurant for you to ask for as you walk in.
The second type is the la carte menu, which lists everything that's available at the restaurant. It can be more expensive than the fixed price menu but you'll get more options.
You'll also generally see a wine menu, which lists all the different types of wine they serve (usually a lot, and if you ask the waiter will tell you which wine goes best with what you're ordering), and a tasting menu, where you can get small servings of multiple dishes to try.
Whatever you buy, the tip will be included in the meal price, so there's no need to tip your waiter! Waiters will usually only appear when you first get there to give you a big carafe of water, and when they bring you your food. Generally you have to flag them down to get the bill. There are restaurants for pretty much every type of Earth food imaginable if you look for it, but here's some stuff you'll find at a regular French café:
Appetizers (entrée): Escargot, mushrooms, salmon & goat cheese on toast, calamari, quiche, crevettes (shrimp), eggplant, caviar, different kinds of cheeses ... etc. They will also serve you fresh bread throughout the meal.
Salads (la salade) are usually served with a main course and generally consist of lots of different types of vegetables and very little lettuce. Every restaurant I went to basically had the same vinaigrette type of dressing. THERE IS NO RANCH!
Main courses (plat principal): Most any kind of meat will go here. Common ones are chicken, beef, duck, goose, veal, pork, rabbit, lamb, mutton, salmon, trout, oyster, and frog. These are prepared in a lot of different ways more local to France (for example, foie gras) and some more familiar ways (steak, sandwiches). They may also come with frites (aka french fries).
Desserts: Crépes, tiramisu, mousse, pastries, gelato, etc.
Fancier restaurants will serve something small between each course of a meal (however many there may be) to cleanse the palate.
And now, HOW TO GET AROUND PLACES! Aka the PUBLIC TRANSIT section!
To get around from place to place within your neighborhood, most Parisians walk. Very few have cars, and if they do it's almost always a SmartCar.
However, if you have to go further than a mile or two, or just don't feel like walking, there are lots of options available to you!
The first one is RENTING A BIKE. Every couple of blocks, there are these gray racks of gray metal bikes which can be 'checked out' for the day, or just for a few hours, with a credit card of some kind. As long as you return it to one of the matching racks, it'll 'check out' and charge you for however much time you spent using it.
The next one is TAKING THE BUS. If you aren't planning on using it much, you can just pay per ride (about 1.60 euro per ride). You can also buy a set on ten tickets, or an unlimited pass for a day, a week, or a month. All of these things can be found at a 'Tabac' store, which sells cigarettes, train/subway tickets, and stamps. To get around you have to find the bus which goes in the right direction, and you may have to switch buses to get to the place that you want. It sounds complicated, but there are pretty clear maps available at every bus stations. It is considered extremely rude not to give up your seat to old people and pregnant ladies!!! No, seriously, I saw a guy get punched in the face by another guy for not giving his seat up for an old woman.
Next up is the SUBWAY! It can be difficult to navigate if you're not sure where you're going, but most people giving directions will know the subway stop closest to where you want to go if it's a major monument/well-known place. Every subway station has a big map posted so you can see where you're going and where all the other routes go if you need to switch "lines". There are also these really terrifying automatic doors that let you into the subway from the waiting area. If you don't go through them before they close you can get seriously injured, sob. You can also get individual tickets or lengthy unlimited passes for the subway … or you can get one that works for both bus AND subway (which is what I had)!
More expensive is the TAXI, which will take you directly wherever you need to go, but are pretty unreliable in terms of whether or not they'll actually show up when you call them. It is better to try and flag one down instead, but you actually don't see them around that often.
Available pretty much anywhere in the city is a comprehensive map of all the bus lines and subway lines :) (especially in tourist areas!) Also, as a small note: There is graffiti almost EVERYWHERE, except on major monuments. It'll be pretty noticeable no matter which method you take to travel around.
And now for the most complicated part of this guide, HOW TO BUY CLOTHES/SHOES IN PARIS! There are a ton of different ways and places to get these things at a lot of different cost levels, so here goes nothing!
CHEAPEST: Outdoor markets. Yes, the outdoor markets mentioned above in the food section sometimes also sell clothes! They are usually very plain and boring, but you can easily get a shirt for 5 euro or a pair of shoes for 8-10 euro. There is pretty much no style involved with these, it's just really really cheap stuff. They usually have a variety of stuff (blouses, t-shirts, pants, skirts, dresses, etc), but they're almost all very plain in style and color.
CHEAPER: Tourist shops! These usually exist around big monuments and are mostly aimed at visiting Americans rather than actual French people. These are usually pretty small, but offer a variety of more "stylish" but really cheaply made girl's clothing. You can get a lot of stuff here for cheap (around 15-20 euro) but they are pretty low quality and generally not sewn that well either. They also have shoes for around 20-35 euro.
CHEAP: The Avenue de Champs-Élysées, located near the L'arc de Triomphe, is populated with mostly American/British/Canadian stores such as Abercrombie & Fitch (which, incidentally, is located behind a golden gate guarded by cute boys at all times … what), the Disney Store, Gap, Nike, Zara, Sephora, Promod, etc. These are all pretty decently priced, especially with sales, and contain the exact same stuff you'd find in their counterparts anywhere else.
MODERATE: Many neighborhoods contain a local clothes shop, which has much more simple clothing than the last two options. However, they are of much higher quality and will last a long time. These go for around 50-80 euro per piece of clothing.
EXPENSIVE: There are many lesser-known/cheaper designer shops which offer a variety of different styles and options (some a little more ridiculous than others). There's also 7 For Mankind if you're looking for higher quality jeans. Most of this stuff ranges from 100-200 euro (sometimes more, for shoes).
RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE: Now we're getting into luxury goods, which can and will be really, really pricey. This is where a lot of the higher fashion shops, like Chanel, Dior, Nina Ricci, etc. But in actuality, these shops do NOT sell anything that is on the runway, even if they are in the window displays. Most of the things they sell are actually plainer, and in much bigger sizes, for their real customers (usually … mostly old ladies). These things can go up to ~1000-2000 euro. The shops are set up very nicely, though, and are very pretty to look at even if you don't buy anything. If you look like a hobo or like you can't afford what they are selling, they may ignore you or even refuse outright to help you if you ask. There are also some department stores in this category, like Le Bon Marché and Galeries Lafayette.
WHY WOULD YOU EVEN BUY THIS: This category pretty much boils down to three stores: Colette, Hérmes, and Louis Vuitton. Colette is the store that's considered the most trendy of all time ever. It basically collects stuff from all kinds of different designers, and puts them all together in one store. A lot of the designer clothing sold in Colette is the actual garments from the runway, which means they come in smaller sizes only. There are also CDs, books, keychains, etc in Colette! And down in the basement is a water bar, where you can order any kind of water. (I'm not making this up guys it really exists sljsdf) Hérmes is mostly focused on leather, horseback, and travel stuff, and is EXTREMELY high class and expensive. It looks pretty simple on the outside, but the inside of the store is pretty weird, and located inside a 1930's indoor swimming pool. Louis Vuitton is HUGE with many floors, easily recognizable, and sells a lot of different stuff like clothes and shoes, though most of their profit comes from bags. No matter what you are wearing, they will be polite to you at LV, but they're more likely to really help you out if you look rich or Asian (a HUGE majority of their profit comes from Asians and it's literally required for people who work there to be nicer to them …). All of the above have products for 2000+ euro (though some things are cheaper than that, especially at Colette).
As a note about style and fashion: Most Parisians DO NOT walk around wearing weird or unusual clothing, despite popular belief! They keep it simple and modest, and more often than not you'll see someone walking around in skinny jeans/pants, a long sleeved shirt/sweater, a pea coat and a scarf. Dark colors are usually the most common. Showing off a lot of leg or cleavage is frowned upon. Simple but classy is the way to go.
Some other extra notes:
Most smaller stores do not accept credit cards. You must use cash. Bigger department stores, supermarkets, and most restaurants will take cards. Restaurants generally do not like it when you try to split the bill and some places will outright not allow it.
Refills on coffee at cafés are not free, and coffee comes in a really tiny cup. :(
Pretty much every major monument is patrolled by military. They are pretty obvious, because they are the guys with the giant guns wandering around looking bored.
Here and here are two a good, comprehensive lists of monuments and places of interest in Paris.