Pere Lachaise and Montparnasse cemeteries are absolutely fascinating places to wander round. They're packed with incredibly ornate tombs, statues, monuments and beautiful tributes to the dead. It is fun trying to track down the famous graves especially as they are amongst the least ostentatious and rarely stand out from the crowd. Napoleon's tomb at Les Invalides it’s as huge as the man's ambition. The sparkling Eiffel Tower at ten minutes past each hour at night, surely one of the great city sights of the world. The Church of St. Roch, beauty and grandeur at the same time Can't remember the names of the restaurants - we were just glad to sit down now & then after walking miles exploring different areas of the city. I must say that even the simplest meals like beef burgers, omelettes and pasta had flavours like you'd never get in similar establishments in the UK. .... At Pere Lachaise by the grave of a famous Iranian poet we got talking to an Iranian gentleman who used to run a fish & chip shop in Bristol UK where we once lived. This amused us all. Hope we didn't disturb the poet with our laughter and chat. Our B&B Paris host family (French people) was really friendly. The teenage son invited us into his bedroom to watch his pet snake being fed with dead baby mice. I declined the offer but my husband accepted and said it was an incredible thing to watch......bleah ! Some of the English translations even in very high profile locations are quirky to say the least.

Lots of fabulous places to visit

Great public transport

When we planned to go to Paris we had intentions of visiting all the great Art Galleries but as the weather was so good we ended up exploring Paris by foot. We especially liked the wide open spaces beside the Seine and the bridges with all the statues. The sense of history was so evident in the buildings. Paris is a city of monuments, but it is always about the people who live there. Savoring life of the locals in the the 14th district, great shops,restaurants around Didot...Walking Montmartre, Montparnasse, Rodin Museum, visiting the Russian Orthodox Church - Alexandr Nevesky Church (very hard to find). La Criee, 54 Montparnasse Blvd - exquisite seafood, wait staff great. We purposely chose cozy looking cafes at random away from the tourist attractions. Food was plentiful, well prepared and we were never hurried along. Leisurely lunch with a nice wine - this is the legend of Paris - and we were not disappointed. Le Criee was a standout with the fresh oysters from Normandy. Trying to find the Russian Orthodox Church, we're walking down the street trying to locate this out-of-the-way church. We approach an older woman and in our halting French try and get directions. She looked at my wife (whose Russian) and I think 'just knew' she was Russian and started speaking in Russian. This woman walked with us to the Church and ended up being our personal guide once there! 1. Paris is for lovers and this was our 15th wedding anniversary - need I say more! 2. It is a city that has respected its architectural traditions. With the exception of the very tall Tour Montparnasse Tower near Galeries Lafayette, Paris has maintained it scale in architecture - it's an inviting human scale of 4-10 story buildings was great! 3. We used pubic transport. We are not French speaking but the automated machines were all user friendly, signage was good at bus/tram stops and ALL carriages were clean and in great repair. Everything ran on time!