Paris in winter.  Yes, it is cold.  Very cold!  A bit gray.  Sometimes misty and rainy.  But still - it’s Paris and less crowded than in peak season.  And, as the saying goes, Paris is always a good idea! With that in mind, I recently packed my warmest coat, gloves, scarf, hat, even my winter-silk long underwear. Then I grabbed a friend and jumped on a flight from Florence to Paris for a long weekend of fun, French style.

With only 3 full days, and a goal to mostly just soak up being in Paris and visit the Christmas markets, my travel companion and I had a short “must-do” list. 

We began each day over a breakfast of croissants or baguettes with jam, along with hot cups of café crème, at one of the cafes near our hotel. Not a bad way to warm up before heading into the brisk air of wintertime Paris.

 A good way to start a visit to Paris is with a boat trip along the Seine on the Batobus.  Not to be confused with the narrated tours and tourist dinners on the Bateau Mouche, the Batobus really is a floating bus with stops near all the major sights in central Paris.  The circuit begins near the Eiffel Tower and stops near the Invalides, Musée d’Orsay, Saint-Germain des Près, the Jardin des Plantes, the Hotel de Ville, Notre Dame, the Louvre, and the Place de la Concorde.   It is a hop-on, hop-off service and an easy way to get around.  Along the route you pass by stunning architecture, famous monuments, houseboats, working boats, and under Paris’s many beautiful bridges.  Doing the full circuit late on a winter afternoon, as the lights slowly come on along the Seine, is a special experience.   And since the temperatures were brutally cold in December, hoping on the warm Batobus allows for views of Paris from the warmth of the boat. 

First stop, the Tuileries Garden.  Created as a private garden by Catherine de’Medici in the 1500’s, today it is an inviting public space.  With its central location, Grade Allée promenade, trees, fountains, benches, and views of the Louvre Palace, it is the place Parisians come to meet friends, stroll, picnic, entertain their children, and paint.  It is also where the huge Ferris wheel, providing views high above the city, is currently located. 

There were no spring flowers or children’s boats in the round basin of the Tuileries on that cold winter morning.  And yet the park was an still an elegant green space filled with sculptures and long views.  It was a lively spot too – the chairs and benches filled with people despite the chill and the sights, sounds, and delicious scents of the large nearby Christmas market. 

 From the Tuileries Garden it is an easy walk to the Musée d’Orsay, the only museum on our must-do this trip. 

The building itself, a train station in 1900’s Beaux-Arts style, is a marvel.  How amazing it must have been to arrive in Paris to that gorgeous station.  Today, it hosts large numbers of visitors and from the upper stories gives one of my favorite Paris views - looking through the giant clocks out towards the Tuileries Garden.

 The galleries display many different art forms -  sculpture, painting, furniture, photographs.  It is a lot to take in, so we concentrated on the ground floor sculptures and the incomparable collection of Impressionist paintings.   I am always most drawn to the Monet’s, but the rest of the collection, including works by Renoir, Manet, Pissarro, Van Gogh, Cassatt, Degas, are equally fascinating.  

Below are a few of my favorite Impressionist works (left to right, Country Dance by Renoir, Degas’s Little Dancer, and Field of Poppies by Monet). Enchanting works!

 A visit to Notre Dame was another must. 

Since the horrific fire it is not possible to enter the church or even approach the front doors. The damage to the roof and spire is heartbreaking.  The area surrounding the cathedral is fenced off but along the fence a series of illustrations tell the story of the reconstruction efforts. 

The fence is low enough to allow a good look at what is still a beautiful cathedral and to pick out the gargoyles that still stand watch. 

 One of the best things to do in Paris is to simply wander the neighborhoods.  More about that next week. For now, I leave you with the the best ways to warm up when you think you’ve gotten frostbite from taking your gloves off to use your camera. A stop into a little cafe for a chocolate chaud, a bowl of onion soup, or a glass of good red wine will do the trick.