Here are five unique things I'll do in Paris in 2024
No, not the Eiffel Tower, Musée d'Orsay, Luxembourg Gardens, and so on. A bit more offbeat than that.
This week we shared our annual Bucket Lists for Paris. The idea is, when you live in a world-famous tourist destination like Paris, it’s easy to take things for granted.
We can always do that activity next time. The Eiffel Tower will be open tomorrow, ad infinitum*.
Until the day something bad happens. For me it was Notre Dame. When it burned in 2019 I realized “Oh mince**, I’d always planned to climb that thing and now I can’t”.
And so, the annual Bucket List was born. This year I got our whole team involved and we each chose five things we wanted to finally tick off this year. We shared the full list of 30 here. You can get the gist below.
When I posted it online, there was a funny collection of comments. Many people thought the list was too niche, too hard to do. Someone even said the collection wasn’t interesting. That’s not fair. I think it’s a very interesting collection of activities. I’ve only done 13 of those things and I’d love to do the other 17.
Thing is, a lot of casual Paris fans need these kinds of lists to feature the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, the Seine, or they’ll switch off.
And the diehard Paris fans will yawn the second they see the obvious things repeated.
That leaves me in a perpetual grey space. Not too basic, not too niche. I need to come up with a name for this conundrum. What’s it called, the balance that keeps newbies, diehard Paris fans both interested and entertained? I’ll have to think about it.
Anyway, here’s my personal list. Remember, after nine years in Paris, I’ve done all the classics. Here’s what’s left.
1. Visit the Château de Vincennes (to the east of Paris, a former fortress built in the 1360s, one of the residences of the French Kings 500 years ago. Never been.
2. Dine at Bonnie rooftop restaurant. A newish bar/restaurant in Paris that looks to be about 20 floors above the Marais. I’d go just for the view!
3. Enjoy classical music at the Saint Paul church. I have seen the posters for these shows for years, can’t believe I’ve not done it.
4. Take a French cooking class. These are often among the highest rated things to do in Paris on TripAdvisor, and it sounds like fun.
5. Soar on the Paris Balloon. This one is a bit personal. This is the big balloon that soars above Paris on a string. Every time I’ve tried to go it’s been closed. Maybe this year?
I’ll share pics, videos, and reviews of all these things as I do them this year.
Nine years in Paris
This week, meanwhile, marked the anniversary of my arrival in Paris, nine years ago. The first two years I was a journalist, the next seven I spent running The Earful Tower. To mark the occasion, I shared a blog spot featuring some of my observations on the French language over these nine years, and it went quite viral. Read it here.
Elsewhere: On the podcast, I’m going on strike. I am striking from reading out all your lovely comments, letters, and questions unless they’re submitted via a podcast review.
Why would I do such a thing? Well, there are 950 reviews so far, which is amazing, but once it hits 1,000 I know I can call myself a legitimate certified podcast and I will never ask for another review. It’s a personal milestone thing, I can’t explain it, but you can hopefully help. I bet you could leave one in under a minute…
Meanwhile, a HUGE welcome to the new FREE Patreon members. I think over a hundred joined this week. The idea is you can get some glimpses into the bonus Paris content I share with the paying members, for free. I think the real idea is that it’s a gateway into becoming a fully-fledged member. Check it all out here.
Patreon seems to be improving. They’re also offering a new digital shop. If you want my PDF guide to Paris, for example, it’s here for just $20. That’s the cheapest place to get it on the internet.
For the fully fledged Patreon members, I’m excited to say that I rented a new podcast studio this week. I’m working on some extra podcast episodes just for you guys. Can’t wait to share them.
That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading!
* That was the first time I ever used ad infinitum, I wonder if I got away with it.
** Mince is a French word that means ‘Drats!’ It does not mean mince as in minced meat. This funny little French word will feature on an episode of The Earful Tower podcast soon.
PS: If you see text below this email saying you’re not an Earful Tower member, but you know that you are, please just ignore it. It’s just that Patreon and Substack aren’t connected. If you’re unsure if you’re a Patreon member, you can confirm it if this link opens when you click it (it leads to the PDF guide to Paris for free).
Oliver
I like no 5,16,24,25 on the bucket list, it's varied, interesting, very french, classic and when there's food involved you tend not to forget the experience. So ✅️ from me .