The Secret Places Around the City of Paris

I went to Paris three years ago and I will tell you upfront the smell of pub crawls and piss lining the streets never wavered from my nose anytime I walked around the city. It was my first time in France and so far reminded me of the streets of Dublin that I had longed to parade again.

Sure places like La Musée de la Louvre (The Louvre Museum), Le Tower Eiffel (The Eiffel Tower spelled backwards in French), La Sacré-Coeur (The Sacred Heart, a church at the highest point in all of Paris), La Musée d’Orsay (The Impressionist Museum behind the Louvre which used to be the train station known as La Gare d’Orsay), and let’s not forget the infamous royal palace known as Versailles with its Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon (small and medium size lodgings for the king/emperor’s mistresses).

People who visit Paris forget that there are some places just outside the city and some that are the city’s little secrets hardly no one ever has heard of and would not want to pursue to search. Here are a couple that I think in certain areas of Paris or France in general that might be worth a second look the first time you arrive at your destination.

La Maison de Claude Monet (Giverny, France)

Claude Monet was the grandfather of impressionist work. Such painters like Van Gogh, Degas, Renoir, Cezanne, and the American female impressionist Cassatt all stem from the man who started the craze in light capturing paintings back in the 1800s. Though Monet died during the onset of the Second World War, his paintings are nothing compared to those who came after him.

His house located in Giverny in the Northwestern portions of France. It is one hour by train from Paris to Giverny and it is ten minutes by bus from the train station. But the whole ride is worth it. You arrive at a small sidewalk and metal bridge which enclose the River Epte that curls its way behind the pink house from which you can see from the street. Its blue shutters and gingham window trim were enough to make me stare with wonder as I was going to step back in time where ten children shuffled their way around the house and followed Monet to the gardens for his beautiful flower paintings. I got three of the prints in a gift shop which used to be his studio for about twenty euros which wasn't bad. I hope to hang them with pride somewhere in my own place one day.

If you go to Monet’s house in the springtime or near the beginning of summer, it is worth the trouble because the flowers are in bloom and over the years a lot of cross-breeding has led to a lot of pretty different colors. There are burgundy roses that look like tiny shavings of wine transformed into petals. Black pansies bloom near the path towards the house and from a distance look like little black fish in all the greenery of their leaves. Giant peony blooms droop from their stems like massive skirts of French dresses. If you head towards the River Epte which runs through the property, there is a small pond with water lillies which Monet painted later in his lifetime and half of his panorama lies in the MOMA in New York. A little remodeled Japanese bridge with purple Wisteria blooms litter the scenery surrounded by willows and bamboo forests along the water’s edge. If you are lucky enough, there is a boat that is docked by some bamboo leaves that Monet’s three step-daughters would use to fish during the summertime. (Monet’s two sons caught up to sixty frogs one summer for enough frogs legs to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner).

You could also explore the little town of Giverny, which has a neat pizzeria on the edge of the road that leads from the church Monet is buried behind. The mushroom pizza and a glass of Chianti are highly recommended before you leave town since the whole Monet and Giverny visit takes a whole day.

La Cimetière du Père Lachaise (Paris, France)

The cemetery of Father Lachaise was named after a man who was the King’s confessor for the Catholic Church. Many famous people have died here and are buried among the vast tombstones and mausoleums that span from several years of French history. One of the graves when I went to visit had a metal gate erected around the small tokens of flowers laid around its plague. The grave belonged to the singer Jim Morrison. If you don’t know who he is I would say you need to play The Doors. He was their lead singer and died at the mythical age of 27. Some of their famous songs that were written by Jim Morrison include “Break On Through,” “Riders On The Storm,” and “Love Her Madly.” Some of the band’s music went onto being used in Forrest Gump when Tom Hank’s character was parading around with the military in ‘Nam, as he says.

Stiv Bators from The Dead Boys was sprinkled on top of Morrison’s grave when he died so parts of him are scattered in the cemetery. However, people who still knew The Doors and their music make the pilgrimage to the Father Lachaise cemetery and leave playing the band’s songs in his honor.

Other famous people who are entombed in the cemetery include the creator of Inspector Gadget, the father of the French subway system, Irish alcoholic and syphilis sufferer Oscar Wilde, and Chopin whose heart is entombed in Warsaw upon his will saying that his body will be buried in France but his heart will be buried in his motherland. It sounds very homesick n'est pas?

The cemetery also takes a day to do because you have to ride the metro. The cemetery is very large and grand land it would take a few hours to traverse the rolling hills within the graveyard. The stop near the cemetery has a great pub where you can get some Belgian beer for about seven to ten euros which is more than four bucks in American money. Some of the best Belgian beers to get at the pub near the cemetery include Leffe (a bubblegum-like flavoring beer), Hoegaarden (liquid beer disguised as lemonade), and the infamous Stella Artois.

La Galerie de Paléontologie et d'Anatomie Comparée (Paris, France)

Located near the indigenous museum, the paleontology and comparative anatomy gallery in Paris contains oddities that go beyond your wildest imagination. From the lower jaw of a Sperm Whale to two reconstructed skeletons of human babies, the museum is a prime tribute to the fascination of medicine and the Victorian obsession with death. The second floor of the gallery contains fossils and other ancient bones that would make an antiquarian’s heart explode with desire. I have numerous pictures of the gallery inside, and it was interesting to see some of the anatomical models from the Victorian period and all the oddities that they enjoyed.

The Paris Zoo is not that far from the gallery and is just a ten minute walk across the grounds. I was unable to get into the greenhouse which is in the middle of the two. But the Zoo in Paris also has a family of red pandas that were absolutely adorable. They also had a bear-cat that was lounging in the sunshine that day plus some other creatures that I have never seen before in my life which include a snow leopard and a jaguar. Both were fascinating big cats.

Les Invalids (Paris, France)

Louis The Sun King built a military hospital where soldiers and workers on his famous Versailles palace could recover from illness or injury. The hospital is now the military museum which has weapons from wars leading up to the First World War and a stuffed horse which belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte. From the decorative and ornate designs of halberds and armor to the German Blitzkrieg attack, it has the most materials from the French and World Wars that shaped the nation as a whole. Of course the first tank from World War I is scary enough downstairs when you stand in front of it.

One of the treasured secrets of the former hospital is the tomb of Napoleon. It was such a fascinating place and all the other ornate graves were even more beautiful than the red granite coffin of the former Emperor of Paris. Napoleon's apartments in the Louvre are also something less traveled by American tourists and the pieces range in early Medieval to Rococo so it's not all Rococo like Versailles.

La Musée du Quai Branly (Paris, France)

I didn’t see many American tourists in this museum but it houses many indigenous artifacts from places such as the Middle East, China, Korea, Japan, North America, Australia, and the Polynesian Islands. But this is just some of the few that I mention because there is a lot more from Africa. The artifacts are something as simple as traditional wedding attire to something as long as a boat. Being next to the anatomy gallery and Paris Zoo which makes this destination a two birds with one stone knockout.

Île aux Cygnes (Paris, France)

This was a great place to go to. Known as the island of swans, it holds a small replica statue of Lady Liberty that was constructed by Gustave Eiffel who also did the Eiffel Tower. There is a great place to eat not too far from the island and it is in a large mall that contains the studios of Pathé (a French film company). You may know some of the companies work such as Suffragette (partnered works), Florence Foster Jenkins (partnered works), Selma (partnered works), The Iron Lady (partnered works), and La belle et la bête with Lea Seydoux as Belle.

There is a small grocery store at the top of the mall that has some pretty good sandwiches and drinks. The restaurants looked just as good had they not have been so pricy. But we had other appointments to go to so a quick bite was worth the experience.

La Maison de Victor Hugo (Paris, France)

I was unable to venture into this part of Duval Street in Paris but I did enjoy a seven cheese and chicken sandwich with mint tea nearby. I was able to see his tomb in the Parthenon, which also didn't have that many American tourists. Victor Hugo was the write of the infamous stories like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Les Mis, and one story which may have inspired the character of DC Comic's Joker, The Man Who Laughs.

Whatever you choose to do in Paris, these little treasures are worth the little adventures in-between the famous landmarks where most of the tourists would do to snap pictures with their selfie sticks all day.

Hope to see you soon! I look forward to telling you of another adventure!