Let's Travel: Paris, France

Hello again, after very long time.

I know I promised to post this such a long time ago but life got really busy and I was a bit lazy I must admit :P
In September 2013, my dear husband arranged a short Paris trip for my upcoming birthday. Right after we returned, one of my friends wanted to learn more about our trip and I noticed that my e-mail to him is so long and detailed, it's almost a blog post itself, so I wanted to share it here with my Turkish speaking followers. This post is the English version of the original post for those of my followers who cannot understand Turkish.  
I hope you enjoy the tips below and can make good use of them during your own Paris trip ;)

We arranged this trip on our own, namely we did not use a tour company. In fact, we never use tour companies ever since we find them a bit limiting. My husband is a genius when it comes to trip planning (and on everything else :P ), so he asks me to give the dates I am available and what I would like to see in our destination then takes care of everything on his own thanks to him. Yes, I am very lucky (thanks God) :)

My hubby downloaded Trip Advisor's Paris app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tripadvisor.android.apps.cityguide.paris&hl=en) which is very useful, we strongly recommend. It works offline and has GPS access, so it helped us a lot. I also took Fodors Paris guidebook with me, but to be honest, it was not as useful as my husband's app. The only useful parts of the book were a full size map of Paris and Versailles section, but you can find these elsewhere too. If you plan to go to Paris, I would recommend going a two lovers. Since you will have to walk a lot and visit museums, going with kids might be a bit too difficult especially if they are young. 
If you will arrive at Orly airport you can use OrlyBus (7.20 Euro/person) to Denfert-Rochereau metro station. It is located in central Paris and right next to the famous Catacombes. The other option is to use RER trains to go Montparnesse but it takes longer and it's more expensive.

If you find a hotel near Nation station your life will be much easier since almost all important metro lines that go to the main attractions intersect there which makes transportation easier.

It would be cheaper if you purchase your metro tickets in sets of 10.

If you are planning to go to Versailles you can take a direct SNFC train from Paris, the road takes approximately 45 minutes. Palace is within 5 minutes walking distance from the train station in Versailles. You must spare one whole day to Versailles and arrive very early, like around 9 - 9:30 am. We arrived there at 11 am and had to stand on the ticket and entrance line for 2 hours! It is extremely crowded. It's even better if you purchase your ticket in advance (online) and print it out before arrival, then at least you won't have to wait on the ticket line. The palace is exquisite, the level of luxury and taste makes one dizzy and short of breath :) Exploring the palace using an audio guide would take approximately 4 hours based on your speed of course. I would recommend gardens and trianons if you have time and energy left.

Friday is a good day to visit Louvre (closes late then), even if you arrive late you won't have to hurry since the museum closes at 10:30 pm. I would recommend you to pick up a plan from the ticket booth or information desk and mark everything you would like to visit, then approach the visit as a "scavenger hunt" :) Otherwise, if you try to see everything in the museum, it would take many days. Of course, you MUST see Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Diana, Hermaphrodite, but all of the galleries are sooooooo beautiful.

When you are done with Louvre right before sunset time, walk towards the small arch and through the Jardin des Tuileries (a beautiful garden) until you reach the obelisk, then cross the street and continue straight to arrive Champs-Elysees. After a lovely 15-20 minutes walk, you will arrive at Arch de Triomphe. But, do not hurry, enjoy Champs-Elysees. You must stop by the famous Laduree to pick up some of their delicious macaroons, the line is always so long but it definitely worth the wait. ;)

You can go everywhere using metro, but I would rather recommend exploring Paris on foot.
Because Paris is such a beautiful city, I feel like every metro trip is like missing a charming moment/place above ground, outside.

You must also visit Musee D'orsay, but half a day will be enough for it. If you arrive by noon, you will be able to finish exploring by 6pm.

When you visit Patheon you can also stop by Sorbonne which is nearby.
Notre Dame Cathedral (the home of Victor Hugo's Quasimodo :) ) is another attraction you should visit, it is a wonderful Gothic cathedral. You can even check their website before visiting to learn their service hours so that you can witness a real religious service in the cathedral.

During the weekend, walk by Seine river and browse through the street vintage booksellers, they are beautiful. 
There are street markets everywhere that open only in the weekends and they worth a visit for the fresh cheese, ratatouille, fresh fruit and vegetables and the nice ambiance. We visited the one in Edgar-Quinet on a Saturday morning and it was really beautiful. It is also very close to the Montparnasse Galeries Lafayette if you would like to check it out.

You should definitely make a river tour from Port d'Alma using Bateaux Mouches boats around the sunset, it is sooooo romantic.

I would recommend you to visit Eiffel around the sunset at the beginning of an hour (6:00pm, 7:00 pm, etc), because there is a glitter show on the tower at every hour for only 5 minutes and the tower looks glamorous with those glitters on ;)

If you can find tickets and you like the type of show, it might be nice to include Moulin Rouge to one of your evening plans.

As the dress code, you should wear loafers (no sneakers/tennis shoes please, Parisiens get mad :) ), for women different scarves and leather or seasonal light jackets will be more than enough.

I have lots and lots of more tips and recommendations but if I continue this post will never end. The best if you ask and I answer :)

I hope you have so much fun.

Paris seyahati planlayanlara tavsiyeler

Eylul ayinda esimle ufak bir Paris kacamagi yaptik. Arkadasim seyahatle ilgili bilgi almak istemisti, baktim ona yazdigim upuzun mail neredeyse bir blog postu olmus ben de sizlerle paylasayim istedim. Bir tasla iki kus ;)

Biz seyahati kendimiz ayarladik. Esasen hicbir yere turla gitmiyoruz kisitlayici oldugu icin. Esim tatil planlari konusunda sahane, bana sadece uygun oldugum tarihleri ve gidecegimiz yerde minimum nereleri gormek istedigimi soruyor gerisini kendi hallediyor sagolsun. Sansliyim yani (masallah) :)

Esimin telefonunda TripAdvisor in Paris app i vardi (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tripadvisor.android.apps.cityguide.paris&hl=en) ki cok kullanisli, tavsiye ederiz. Hem offline, hem de GPS i var cok isimize yaradi. Bende de Fodors'un Paris guidebook u vardi ama ne yalan soyleyeyim, esimin app i kadar ise yaramadi. Kitabin bir tek tam boy haritasi bir de Versailles kismi kullanisliydi ki onlari zaten baska yerden de bulursunuz.

Paris e gidecekseniz kesinlikle iki asik olarak gidin derim ben. Cok yuruyeceginiz ve muze gezeceginiz icin cocuklarla cok zor olur.

Orly ye inecekseniz OrlyBus (7.20 Euro/kisi) i kullanarak Denfert-Rochereau metro istasyonuna gidin. Burasi Paris merkez, meshur Catacombes in da hemen yanibasi. Diger secenek RER trenlerini kullanarak Montparnesse ye gitmek ama hem daha uzun suruyor hem de daha pahali.

Nation istasyonu civarinda bir otel bulursaniz rahat edersiniz, cunku onemli yerlere giden neredeyse butun metro hatlari orada kesisiyor, ulasim kolay olur.

Metro biletlerini 10ar 10ar alin, daha ucuza geliyor.

Versailles a gidecekseniz SNFC treniyle direkt Paris ten gidebilirsiniz, 45 dk kadar suruyor. Orada tren istasyonundan saraya 5 dk yurume mesafesi. Tum gunu oraya ayirin ve cok erken gidin, sabah 9-9:30 da orada olacak sekilde. Biz sabah 11 de orada olduk ve 2 saat ayakta bilet ve giris sirasi bekledik. Inanilmaz kalabalik. Bileti onceden alip bastirirsaniz daha iyi, en azindan bilet sirasi beklemezsiniz. Saray sahane, luks ve zevklilik seviyesi insanin basini donduruyor :) Audio guide la yaklasik 4 saat surer gezmek hiziniza gore. Bahceleri ve trianon lari da vaktiniz ve enerjiniz kalirsa tavsiye ederim.

Louvre icin Cuma guzel bir gun (gec kapanis), gec bile gitseniz muze gece 10:30 a kadar acik oldugu icin aceleye gerek yok. Bir plan alip gormek istediginiz herseyi isaretleyip define avi seklinde yaklasin derim ben :) Yoksa hepsini gormeye calismak gunler alir. Tabii Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Diana, Hermaphrodite en basta gorulmesi gerekenler, ama tum galeriler cooook guzel.

Louvre dan aksam ustune dogru cikip, oradan dumduz kucuk arch i gecerek, Jardin des Tuileries (cok guzel bir bahce) icinden dumduz yuruyerek obelisk (dikilitas) in oldugu yere varip, karsiya gecip dumduz devam ettiginizde Champs-Elysees desiniz. Cok seveceginiz yaklasik 15-20 dklik bir yuruyus sonunda Arch de Triomphe a varacaksiniz. Ama uzun uzun keyfini cikarin Champs-Elysees nin derim ben, mutlaka meshur Laduree ye ugrayip makaron alin, sira cok uzun oluyor ama kesinlikle deger. ;)

Her yere metroyla gidebilirsiniz aslinda, ama bence dinlene dinlene yuruyun. Cunku Paris oyle guzel bir sehir ki, her metro seyahati yukaridaki bir guzelligi kacirmak gibi.

D'orsay da muhakkak ziyaret edilmesi gereken muzelerden, ona yarim gun yeter, oglen varsaniz aksam 6ya kadar bitirmis olursunuz.

Patheon a gittiginizde yakinda Sorbonne a da ugrayabilirsiniz, baya yakin.
Notre Dame katedrali (Victor Hugo nun Quasimodo sunun evi :) ) muhakkak ziyaret edilmesi gerekenlerden, mukemmel bir gotik katedral. Hatta websitesinden servis saatlerini ogrenirseniz, gercek servise de sahitlik etmis olursunuz.

Haftasonu Seine kenarinda yuruyup, sokak sahaflarini gezin, sahaneler.
Yine haftasonu sokak pazarlari aciliyor ve taze peynir, ratatouille, sebze-meyve ve guzel ambiyans icin ziyaret etmeye deger. Biz Edgar-Quinet dekine Cumartesi sabahi gitmistik, cok guzeldi. Hem de Montparnasse Galeries Lafayette de baya yakin bakmak isterseniz.

Bir gun gun batimi zamani, Port d'Alma dan Bateaux Mouches firmasiyla nehir turu yapin muhakkak, coook romantik.

Eiffel i hava kararirken saat basinda ziyaret etmenizi tavsiye ederim, her saat basi 5 dakika glitter-gosterisi var, daha guzel gorunuyor.

Bilet bulabilirseniz ve severseniz Moulin Rouge u da bir aksam planiniza dahil etmek guzel olabilir.

Kiyafet olarak, loafer tipi ayakkabilar (spor ayakkabi olmasin, kiziyorlar :) ), bayanlar icin fularlar ve deri veya sonbaharlik bir ceket yeter de artar.

Daha da bir suru tavsiye var ama devam edersem bu post bitmez. En iyisi siz sorun ben cevaplayayim :)

Umarim cok eglenirsiniz.

For English-speaking followers: I will post this in English very soon ;)