Travel Photography, Writing and Photoblog from Matt Feldman

With so many amazing sights and sounds and smells, it's hard to even come up with a list, let alone narrow it down. But the one condition of using this information is that you are required to tell me about your trip, including photos. In no particular order, here are some of my favourites.

Hotels

There are lots of good hotels listed here. I've stayed at a few 2-star ones in the 5th and 6th Arrondisement (my favourite neighborhoods), and one 3-star (Hotel Minerve) and they were all wonderful. It won't be the Hotel Costes, but it's far above any hostel and at a price mere mortals can afford.

Transportation

For details on getting to and from Charles de Gaulle (Roissy) airport, see my To and From the Airport guide.

For the Paris Metro, get a Carte Orange, Zone 1-2, giving you unlimited rides for a week for about €20. It's way better than buying 10-pack "Carnets" and will probably pay for itself in two days. You can buy them Sunday through Monday for travel through the following Sunday night. Ask for a "plan du poche" (pocket map) when you buy your Carte from the ticket agent at any Metro station.

Subway systems around the world tend to the bland side of urban architecture. Form has clearly taken a backseat to function: You go down, get where you're going and get out. And while Paris largely hues to this ethos, there are some standout stations that are themselves worth a visit. If you find yourself on any of these lines, take a few minutes out of your trip to enjoy some unique scenery: Cite, Louvre, Arts et Metiers, and a few others.

Museums

There are all the standard-issue museums, then a few off the beaten path.

For The Louvre, which is massive, it's best to just pick a particular collection and go for it, rather than wander aimlessly. The Egypt section is great, along with other must-sees like the French Renaissance paintings of Jacques-Louis David and Reubens' Medici Cycle. It's also best to enter through the Metro rather than wait in the line at the pyramid.

With the world's finest collection of modern art, the Centre Pompidou cannot be passed by. It's closed Tuesdays but open 11am until 9pm otherwise, and Thursdays until 11pm. Don't wait in the queue inside -- use the red automated ticket machines just inside the doors. The art stores across from the main entrance often have unique posters by favourites like Miro and other items you won't find in poster shops here. The museum's store is also a great place for unique pieces.

The European Photography collection is always changing and always inspirational, usually housing three distinct exhibits. It's at Metro St. Paul, just east of Notre Dame on the right bank.

Under the umbrella of UCAD (Decorative Arts) is the amazing Museum of Fashion and Textile and on the floor above, the excellent Musuem of Advertising. The signage isn't great and the museums can be easy to miss -- they're actually in the Louvre complex, just outside the gates with the pyramid and to the left (west), about a hundred meters. If you reach the end of the block (with Hotel Regina on the right) you've gone too far by half.

Queue early for the obligatory Notre Dame visit. The famous photos of gargoyles overlooking the city were taken from atop the iconic gothic church. The tour under the church (opposite end of the plaza from the church's entrance) is okay.

Food

Around the Les Halles area is the Louchebem, a 1920's throwback meat-and-potatoes kinda place. Tiled walls. Vintage butcher shop decor. Great meat. Enough said.

One thing you cannot miss is the Rue Mouffetard market. Each morning, the street opens up with flowers, fruit, meats, cheese and breads and everything else to fill the stomach and the soul. There's nothing like it anywhere else in the city. It's south of the Pantheon, so if you're in the area, walk one block "behind" the pantheon, turn right and continue a few hundred meters. From the Metro, take the 7 line to Place Monge and walk one block towards the Comfort Inn Mouffetard. That's the top of the street market -- turn left, walk downhill and eat well. The market ends when you reach the plaza with the church and the L'Occitane store. At night, there are also great places to eat in this area, with nice restaurants on Rue du Pot de Fer - especially at the southwest corner of it and Rue Tournefort. Good crepes and "sandwiches Grec" (real Gyros, nothing like the shaved-slab nonsense we find in North America) abound.

A great traditional French restaurant in the area is one of the oldest (1845) bistros in Paris, Le Polidor. Find it in the 6th arrondisement at 41 Rue Monsieur-le-Prince, just northwest of the Luxembourg Gardens. It's not fancy but it's the real deal and has the awards to prove it. And Kerouac ate there. Also, to get to it, you pass restaurants with never-in-America names like "Japatori" and "Japorama." You may have to wait a bit to get a table at Le Polidor (no reservations taken) but it's worth every second.

For finding other unique and enjoyable places to eat, I've had excellent luck using Sandra Gustafson's Cheap Eats in Paris.

Shopping

The grand deparment stores of Galleries Lafayette and Printemps are sights to behold, even if you're only looking. But if you want to shop for high end fashion without needing to auction a kidney, there are "stock" shops at Metro Alesia. These little boutique places have huge names in couture at end-of-season prices. It's like outlet mall shopping, only nice. Take the Metro's 7 line south to Alesia and walk west along Rue Alesia.

Other

If you're interested in the architecture of iconic 1920's and 30's modernists like Le Corbusier and Van der Rohe, you must take a walking tour around the Boulogne-Billancourt neighborhood in the southwest corner of Paris. It's incredible. Get a neighborhood map at the Mairie's office near the metro. This neighborhood is also home to Rolland Garros stadium - the French Open.

A segway tour is a fun option for a first-timer. It's €75 for 4h.

On my To-Do List

My next trip to Paris will include a visit to the world's biggest food market in Rungis, about a half hour outside the city. The city's food market used to be at Les Halles, but 35 years ago, in a single night it moved outside Paris.

And at the polar opposite end of the spectrum, I hear the tour of the city's sewer system is actually amazing.