Paris! The city is on most people’s bucket lists, it just feels like something that you have to do. It has glamour, beauty history, and so many exciting things to explore that it has something for everyone. Even for quirky backpackers on a budget, like me, I had a great time with my partner. We spent a total of 3 days making the most of our time there. We still didn’t see and do everything that we wanted to. But that just means we will have to book another trip there in the future, which I won’t complain about!
We did some of the general tourist stuff, like going to the top of the Eiffel Tower; walking along the Champs-Élysées and marveling at the Arce De Triomphe; and wandering around the Louvre to see its famous artistic inhabitants… but what we get interested in is the weird and wonderful stuff. There’s a lot that people don’t notice. Knowing it’s there and a little bit about it makes a place that little bit more special.
Below I’ve gotten together the quirky places we went to. It is by no means exhaustive as we didn’t have time to do everything! We also travel on a budget so a lot of the things on here are cheap or free to do.
A lion eating a foot
We’ll start strong.
In the Jardin des Plantes – the botanical gardens, there is much to see and do; from navigating through the labyrinth to discovering exotic plants, you could spend a pleasant afternoon just meandering around this garden. To spice it up, try to find the bronze statues of two lions standing atop a now dried-up fountain. They can be found just inside the oldest gate of the gardens. When we visited they were almost completely hidden by bushes. What should have been an easy find took us quite a while! There are two lions, one on either side – one is roaring whilst protecting a small cub, and the other is about to feast on a severed human foot. An oddity to behold that a lot of people don’t notice and the uniqueness goes unnoticed.
Also in the gardens is the Natural History Museum, which is always good fun to look around! Find out all the information you want here.
Location: 38 Rue Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 75005, Paris.
59 Rivoli
From the outside it looks wacky, but just wait until you get inside. The building was originally a bank and sat abandoned for years. A group of squatters took up residence in 1999, and transformed it in to an artist’s dream. It quickly became a hubbub for contemporary art! The council bought it in 2006 to keep the art centre (legally) going. As you walk through you are met by a spiral staircase. Make sure to gaze up and be overwhelmed by the amount of art; literally every available space is covered with drawings, paintings, and little sketches, from stickers to erotica.
A dusty little piano sits at the bottom of the stairs and I can’t help but play a note; I can’t play to save my life but the out-of-tune instrument only seemed to add to the overall atmosphere. Everywhere you look there is bright and colourful art. Everyone is excitedly chatting and laughing, carefree and intrigued by this assault on the senses. Make your way up the stairs and visit every floor, there is something different in every room. The artistic mess of everything scattered around feels comfortable and even my non-artistic mind could appreciate what I saw.
Stay for a little impromptu photoshoot on the stairs (like my partner finally managed to convince me to do). It’s free to enter but you can leave a donation to keep the work going. Find out more here.
Location: 59 Rue de Rivoli, 75001, Paris.
Ets Aurouze
Slightly more macabre is this fascinating pest control shop. It dates back to 1872 and specialises in the extermination of rats. I can imagine that has been a big problem in such an old city as Paris. Even this shop can be easy to walk past until you pay attention to the shop window. I can assure you will make you stop and stare… their intricate shop display shows you just how this business does its work, and you can marvel – and be slightly disgusted, if not fascinated – by the different ways these rats are “taken care of”. Looking at the stuffed rats I was half-expecting one to be alive and start running all over the display. But thankfully that did not happen, and I did not suffer a heart attack that day.
Location: 8 Rue des Halles, 75001, Paris. Nearest metro is Châtelet.
Au Vieux Paris D’Arcole
Possibly one of the prettiest restaurants I’ve ever been to, inside and out. We stopped here for tea and coffee. Even though this is technically a restaurant, we were still welcomed and got along great with the waiter. It was quiet in there so we had the small room to ourselves. The outside is adorned with flowers and looks so quaint. Once you step inside you are transported back to old-style Paris, with its deep-set chairs and beautifully carved tables. Try to go upstairs to see the dining room, set up in a lush dark red that looks almost regal. We had a great time drinking our tea and warming up from the cold February. They even had a beautiful ginger cat which curled up on my lap to have a nap, I was over the moon!
Their website is here.
Location: 24 Rue Chanoinesse, 75004, Paris.
Shakespeare and Company
A legendary bookstore in Paris that I couldn’t wait to visit. Being a book-lover this was a real delight to discover and learn the history behind it. It’s a bookstore on the ground floor and a library on the first floor, along with a piano that anyone is free to play. We just so happened to come across it as a guy was playing a medley of songs. It was a great excuse to sit down and listen for a while. The history of this bookstore is so interesting and inspiring that you can check out the details of it here. The history of this place could be a book in itself. It’s full of defiance, art, and a few famous people along the way, like Ernest Hemingway.
Location: Rue de la Bûcherie, 75005, Paris.
Salvador Dalí sundial
This one is super easy to walk past but it is an interesting one, and we had fun finding it! We must have looked a strange sight as we stumbled along the pavement staring up at random buildings. But we found it – the sundial designed and installed by Salvador Dalí himself. It’s a surreal piece, as you would expect it to be. It sits on the building facing sideways instead of facing upwards like most sundials you would expect to see.
Location: Rue Saint-Jacques, 75005, Paris.
Musée de Cluny
A museum about the Middle Ages in Paris which also features the largest surviving Roman bath in France. The site dates back to 1330 when it was originally the Hotel de Cluny. When we visited the museum it was undergoing some maintenance so we couldn’t visit everywhere. But we did get to look at the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries from 1511; six large beautiful tapestries that are so detailed and unique. Descend into the Roman bath which you can wander around and you get a small sense of the grandeur of the building. Tickets were only €4 too which was great.
There are more details about these and the rooms I couldn’t visit here.
Location: 28 Rue de Sommerard, 75005, Paris.
The Great Canadian Pub
Now, being English, I’m used to seeing Irish pubs abroad, but never in my life have I seen a Canadian-themed pub… And neither had my Canadian partner, who almost died with excitement when we stumbled across this gem. It even has poutine, but I’m saving my first experience of eating that for when I visit Canada. Apart from that it’s a cool sports bar that serves beer and pub food, not a bad place for a pit-stop.
Location: 25 Quai des Grands Augustins, 75006, Paris.
The Defender of Time
Sounds like a riddle, but it’s a large metal clock that sits upon a wall in a regular neighbourhood of Paris, surrounded by apartments and quite tucked out of the way. The metallic clock depicts a man in battle with a dragon, crab, and rooster, man vs nature, defending against the elements. It was created by Jacques Monestier in 1970 and ironically it has now stopped working, but it is still a spectacle to see, and you can imagine the intense scene it portrays.
Location: 8 Rue Bernard de Clairvaux, 75003, Paris.
House of Nicholas Flamel
My mind instantly goes back to Harry Potter when I think of Nicholas Flamel, the alchemist and discoverer of the Philosopher’s Stone. This house is now the oldest stone house in Paris, built in 1407 by the man himself, and it is where Flamel reportedly did his experiments. The house sits down a small side street and is beautiful to look at, with the carvings in the stone, wooden door, and window frames. For me, this brings my interest in history and my love for literature alive and I was slightly disappointed that it’s not a museum; instead, it’s a Michelin star restaurant, a bit too expensive for us and we were not dressed for it!
Location: 51 Rue de Montmorency, 75003, Paris.
Flame of Liberty
This is a full-sized replica of the very one Liberty is holding in New York, and it doesn’t seem as big as you think!
This was donated to the city in 1986 and was given to commemorate 100 years of publishing for the International Herald Tribute paper, and also because France did some restorative work on the actual Statue of Liberty. The flame sits atop the tunnel in which Princess Diana of Wales died in 1997, and so has become a place to mourn and pay tribute to her; placed delicately around the base you can find flowers and a commemorative plaque to remember her by. It’s a beautiful and somewhat sombre visit. As we visited it was the golden hour of the day as the sun was setting, and standing there looking at the golden flame coming alive in the last of the day’s light, with the Eiffel Tower standing proudly behind it, leaves an impression on you.
Location: 7 Place de l’Alma, 75008, Paris.
Statue of Liberty
New York isn’t the only country who has one! You wouldn’t expect to see this here, that’s for sure. France gifted America the Statue of Liberty in 1886, and America repaid the favour by gifting a replica that is one-quarter the size to celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of the French Revolution. It sits on an island on the river Seine and you can walk right up to it.
Location: Pont de Grenelle, 75015, Paris.
Secret apartment of Gustave Eiffel
I say secret, but it’s easy to spot once you get to the top of the Eiffel Tower, as it has a window with informational plaques and mannequins poised inside. But it was built “secretly” at the time as a private apartment. To be fair, if I was the mastermind designer of an iconic landmark that was also named after me, I would think I earned a unique place to chill, too. It looks quaint and cosy and seems like a splendid place to relax with a book for the day. If only we were allowed access to it! It is tucked away on the third floor of the Eiffel Tower so you do have to purchase a full ticket to see it, but this not-so-secret bonus adds to the experience of the tower.
Location: Third floor of the Eiffel Tower.
Harry’s New York Bar
A legendary bar in Paris that dates back to 1911 when it was a bistro. It was originally called “The New York Bar” and when the Scottish barman Harry MacElhone bought it in 1923 he added his name. It was quite the prestigious bar back then and many famous people have had a drink there over years, including Ernest Hemingway. The bar is even featured in the James Bond 1960 short story A View to Kill – how cool! So we had to have a drink there, obviously. We ordered the Sidecar cocktail and the French 75, probably their most well-known cocktail, and let me tell you, just that one drink packed a punch! It’s a great bar with cosy booths and tables, and decorated with University flags from around the world. We had fun finding the ones we knew from America and the UK.
Location: 5 Rue Daunou, 75002, Paris.
Charcuterie stained glass
Found in the beautiful Eglise Saint Eustache, with its high ceiling and golden interior you really would have no idea that there was a piece of stained glass dedicated to pork here. It would make you wonder if you just stumbled across it, a picture of a little pig with the words “Corporation Charcuterie” scrawled around it. But there’s a history to it dating back to the Middle Ages – The Corporation des Charcutiers is the professional body for pork butchers and is separate from the butcher guild, and over the years they did a lot of extra good deeds like community projects and helping with the church. So, this stained glass is to honour them.
I’ll let you find exactly where it is in the church (although the picture above is a good clue), but don’t forget to have a good look around the church itself too, and appreciate the amazing architecture.
Location: 2 Impasse Saint-Eustache, 75001, Paris.
Pont de Bir-Hakeim
A bridge that crosses the Seine, construction was finished in 1905 which replaced an earlier bridge. The architect was Jean-Camille Formigé who also designed quite a few other places in Paris. It’s an iconic-looking bridge with its many steel pillars that you to walk or cycle under, with the metro rumbling along above you. I completely forgot about this bridge until we happened to walk underneath it and I suddenly grabbed my partner’s arm, excitedly whispering “Oh my god, Inception”. The bridge also features in the film National Treasure: Book of Secrets and my guilty pleasure show Shadowhunters on Netflix. From here you also get a pretty good view of the Eiffel Tower which makes some great pictures.
Location: Just west of the Eiffel Tower. The nearest Metro station is Bir-Hakeim or Passy.
“I Love You” wall
What a beautiful piece of art. The wall consists of the phrase “I love you” in 311 languages, and was created by Frédéric Baron and Claire Kito. To stand before it and see all that adoration I felt an overwhelming compassion, and it was a moment of peace in our busy day to stand there and reflect, hand-in-hand with my partner. It seemed to lift the spirit of everyone there who saw it, and I walked away with a lighter heart.
Location: Square Jehan Rictus, Place des Abesses, 75018, Paris.
Sacré Coeur Basilica
Standing atop the highest point in the city, this church is a magnificent sight with incredible views. It’s a bit of a mission to get to the top of Montmartre, especially if you choose to walk as I did, but it’s worth it! It was consecrated in 1919 and its history is tied into religion, war, politics, and society. It’s free to access the basilica and you can climb the 300 steps to the dome. It’s also one of the best places to see the sunset as you sit on the stone steps and rest after that hectic day of exploring, taking in the view of Paris spread out before you. A great end to the day, if you ask me.
Discover more here.
Location: 35 Rue de Chevalier de la Barre, 75018, Paris.
That’s all we could fit in but I’m still pretty impressed at what we managed to see! There are many more cheap and free things to explore which we didn’t have time to do. Even though we did it on a budget we still spent €50 each per day- we knew Paris would be expensive. Seeing the tourist stuff was great fun, but being able to talk about the lesser-known things is even better.
There’s something way more adventurous than wandering down side streets and back and forth along the same road ten times trying to find something no one else is looking for. It would be great to experience the other side of Paris and live glamorously for the weekend, but that looks like it might have to wait! We have only just scratched the surface of the magic of Paris.
