An evening in Paris in October

[fivemack]

I get into Gare du Nord at 7pm on Monday; the train to Nancy where the conference is leaves at 8:12am on Tuesday, so I have an evening to spend in Paris. I've booked a room at the station hotel.

Can anyone suggest something more fun of a Monday evening than watching Tropic Thunder soustitré à la Français?

Comments

[hilarityallen.livejournal.com]

You could check opening times and wander up the Eiffel tower and/or Arc de Triomphe at night. Rather pretty when all the lights are on.

[hilarityallen.livejournal.com]

Or find somewhere really nice to eat. I can't really help there, as last time I was in Paris I was on a student budget, and was eating off the 8 Euro standard menu.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

One of the dating sites used to do something like that, "would anyone like to do [dinner in paris] with me?" I wonder if there's something similar but not dating, where you can meet up with another traveller randomly. Or you could just go for a drink in the station bar and chat to people, but I'm not that good at that.

No good suggestions but any tourist attraction open in the evening (gardens?) would be good, or dinner, or finding somewhere beautiful to read your book or code...

[redbird]

You could probably get one of those little tourist boats that go up and down the Seine. When I did this (1999, so things may have changed) I was pleasantly surprised at how minimal the narration was: just brief naming of certain landmarks, in French, English, and then Spanish. (When my mother and I had done something similar on the Thames, the guide seemed incapable of being quiet, so we got endless stupid jokes.)

As you probably know, a number of things are closed Mondays, not just museums, so look them up first. (I had been going to suggest a trip to the Ile St. Louis for ice cream, but Berthillon is ferme le lundi.)

[rezendi.livejournal.com]

You could do a whole lot worse than go wander 'round St.-Germain and the Sorbonne (go to metro St-Michel, which conveniently shares a line with Gare du Nord.) Walking distance from Notre-Dame the Louvre, and the Jardins de Luxembourg - which will probably be closed, but often have awesome photography exhibits hung on their exterior wall. When tired of wandering, pick up a Pariscope for 35 euro cents, stop in at a cafe or brasserie, and check the cinema listings. There'll probably be something more interesting than Tropic Thunder (which I did like) on at one of the rep cinemas around Rue des Ecoles.

Also, the Tour Eiffel is open fairly late, and Montmartre is glorious at night.

[antinomy.livejournal.com]

You should walk the 10 minutes from GdN and go and have dinner at the Bouillon Chartier which is one of Paris's most worthwhile culinary institutions, extraordinarily good value, very good food, and totally single-diner friendly.