1) Learn some French before you go

My French is minimal. Very minimal. It consists of Bonjour, Sava and Merci. Whilst this was enough to get by – most people there do speak a bit of English, it felt wrong to just expect people to know my language. I did pick up a lot more phrases and words in the short amount of time I was there, but I would suggest that you have a quick look through a phrase book before you go, not only to make it easier for yourself, but also out of respect.

2) Use the Metro

The Metro system in Paris is great! I much prefer it to the humid, unfriendly tubes in London. The stations are spacious and air conditioned and, somehow the trains seems bigger than in London (although they probably aren’t). Sometimes, the odd busker will be on the train to lift the atmosphere… Unfortunately, the buskers we saw (or heard) were just carrying a boombox around asking people for money. The metro is also very cheap, for 1.70euros a journey (including changes), you can’t really go wrong. I would, however, recommend getting a book of 10 tickets at the start of your visit, as this works out a lot cheaper – something I found out too late.

3) Order a Caffe Creme

For the first few days, I was ordering just a standard coffee, which, I have to admit, wasn’t great. It was watery and bitter. On the third day, we had a revelation. One waiter repeated our order to us, and instead of saying ‘Coffee’ he said ‘Caffe Creme’. It was creamy and flavoursome (in a not bitter way) and just generally an amazing cup of coffee!

4) Don’t Over Order on Food

You know when you’re really hungry and you think just one meal at dinner won’t suffice so you order a whole array of side dishes too, just in case? Well, there’s no need for this in Paris – the portions are HUGE! And I mean literally massive. One night I ordered roast chicken with dauphinoise potatoes and beans. Back in England, this would have consisted of a tiny piece of chicken (either breast or thigh), a cube of potatoes and about 3 beans (it’s all about presentation, y’know!). When my meal arrived, however, I couldn’t see the person sitting opposite me for the mountain of food in between us. One massive chicken thigh and leg covered half the plate, whilst the portion of dauphinoise potatoes could have been a meal in themselves, and, no lie, there was a whole farm of beans on my plate. It wasn’t just this restaurant, for the duration of our trip mountains and mountains of food were served up for us.

5) The Green Man Means Nothing

The traffic system in Paris reminded me of New York on a smaller scale. Parisian’s are horn happy and it seems to be every man for himself on the roads. Don’t be fooled by the green man, however. Most of the time it’s safe to cross when he shows (I usually waited for a group of people who looked like they knew what they were doing to cross). But, if you’re crossing on a corner, the cars waiting to turn into the road you’re on have no qualms about going straight across the pedestrian crossing if needs be.