What To Do on Your Seventh Trip to Paris

On my fourth trip to Paris (back in college), I kind of hit a rut. I had seen all the main sites, I had visited all the famous museums. I had gone back to my favorite spots multiple times (though Sacre Couer never grows old). I had even taken the metro all the way out to La Défense and had an icecream cone under the towering monstrosity of an arch. I was - I hate to admit it - bored of Paris.

But then something wonderful happened: I dug another layer down and started rediscovering the city I thought I had so thoroughly "done." (I am indebted to my Irish aunts and the Rue Oberkampf for helping me over the hump back in January 2007.) Thus I can happily report that my seventh trip to Paris a few weeks ago was my best ever.

Of course the glorious spring weather didn't hurt. But since I'm a sucker for novelty, much of my pleasure was derived from seeing new sides of the same city. To wit:

Canal St. Martin: The Latin Quarter and the Marais still have charm, but they lack a certain real-life-ness, if you know what I mean. The neighborhood around Canal St. Martin, by contrast, has a more legitimate bohemian vibe. Wandering aimlessly, we stumbled across entertaining concept stores, pop-up shops, and a random sample sale. Shopkeepers, far from haughtiness, struck up conversations with us; one directed us to an excellent no-name boulangerie for my much-craved pain au chocolat.

Most romantically, the neighborhood is centered around a wide, tree-lined canal that reminded me of the best of Holland. The canal is punctuated by the arches of iron footbridges that probably seemed sad and industrial before the neighborhood's recent revitalization, but now look charmingly retro in the spring sunlight. By day and by night, young people lounge along the wide banks of the canal, and families with children stop to watch the locks operate. I love canal locks - bridges swing out, doors swing close, water swirls all frothy and excited, and like magic boats rise. Free entertainment for the young at heart.

Jardin des Plantes and the Mosque de Paris: I'm not sure why, other than perhaps for location, the Jardin des Tuileries and the Jardin du Luxembourg are so much higher on most tourist lists than the Jardin des Plantes. For the curious or childlike at least, the latter has much greater entertainment value. It's like a botanical amusement park: a blooming rose garden over here, a carefully manicured Alpine garden over there. One must pay a bit to check out the little zoo, but the deer and wallaby enclosures at least are accessible for free.

We didn't check out the natural history museum or the greenhouses (they looked promising, but coming from the bounty that is the Smithsonian Institute in DC, the idea of paying for such experiences was, well, foreign). But that didn't stop us from strolling along the tree-lined paths and stopping to smell the roses.

The Mosque de Paris, which has a cafe open to the public, is also conveniently located right across the street. Families squeeze around little tables in the Mosque's shady courtyard for mint tea and North African sweets - not comparable to what we saw in Morocco, but a pleasant change of pace in Paris.

Gallery Hopping in the St.-Germain-des-Prés: Tired of museums, I took advantage of a gallery block party in St.-Germain-des-Prés to bring my art appreciation back down to earth. We amused ourselves for several hours (again for free), popping in and out of galleries along Rue Mazarine and Rue de Seine. Some of the art was so bad it was funny, some was quirky and whimsical, much of it was just ok - but all of it was different, and only short attention spans were required.

Plus when gallery hopping, art appreciation can be interspersed with other forms of entertainment. We stopped by a Persian importer's store and a university exhibit on sustainable housing in the favelas of South America; we windowshopped and people watched; we treated ourselves to super-rich ice cream. By the time we strolled north to the banks of the Seine, all my senses were sated.

The organ loft of St. Sulpice: Full disclosure: I took organ lessons for two years during high school. But nerd that I may be, please trust me when I tell you organs are cool. It's like playing the whole wind and brass section of an orchestra all at the same time. And they're retro, and completely unfashionable, which like I said makes them cool.

The organ loft of St. Sulpice is open to visitors every Sunday after the main mass. Only in a city like Paris would St. Suplice be on the D-list as a place to visit in its own right. But since I was there on a Sunday morning, my ability to gawk was severely limited.

Instead, after entering, we veered right and waited in a short line in front of a plain wooden door. As visitors left, new visitors were admitted one by one. After about 15 minutes of waiting, we were let in and up a long spiral staircase (the organ loft is not handicap accessible). There, with other organ aficionados from around the world, we walked around and peered over the church's famous organ - we're talking five keyboards (plus the pedals), and so many stops the organist needed two assistants with color-coded diagrams to tell them what to pull or push when.

After much waiting and awkward cramming around the organ, we were treated to our own mini-concert - with all the stops pulled out. Even my non-organist friend was impressed.

The Museum of Hunting and Nature: Not for the vegetarians among us. But crazy sweet fun for the rest of us. Like the Teylers Museum in Harlem, the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature is a flash back to the mid-1800s. Half of the museum is a nod to what seemed important back in the day: ivory-inlaid rifles, tapestries, taxidermied animals ranging from foxes curled up on chairs to polar bears rearing up on their hind legs (attack!). The other half celebrates what we love about animals and nature today: like a display that plays sweet bird songs depending on which hand-labeled button you push; zen videos of water, clouds, and earth; a "taxidermied" stuffed animal under a bell jar.

As my friend Sarah pointed out, this might be the most thoughtfully curated non-art museum ever. Curious about the mounted animal heads on the wall? (Like I said, not for the vegetarians among us.) Hand-written index cards in a box by the window catalog their genus and provenance. Want to take a break in that pretty armchair with the embroidered cushions? A delicately placed thistle suggests that these chairs are not for sitting.

And there are little magical touches - a small room dedicated to unicorns, and a ceiling decorated with owl feathers (trust me, it's cool). This is the only stop on my list that cost us any money, and it was well worth it.

Other ideas: Perhaps you've already experienced some of my "new" finds. Perhaps you have more than just a couple days for your next trip to Paris. Some of my other under-rated Parisian favorites include the Père Lachaise Cemetery (gothic drama and natural beauty rolled into one) and the Institut du Monde Arabe (the kinetic facade is a geometrical, mechanical delight - plus it's right next to the Jardin des Plantes). Next time I go, I'll take the free tour of Victor Hugo's house on the Place des Vosges. Like I've said before, I'm a big fan of Sacre Couer. And I guess, if all else fails, you can always take the metro to the end of the line and check out La Défense.