I’ve been to Paris many times, in fact I lived there for a year decades ago! It has changed hugely in this time – become a more friendly city, the air is fresher and it feels more alive now.
As we had visited so often over the years, we decided to find places that we weren’t familiar with to explore. You may know some of these, but it’s good to get away from the big, busy tourist places sometimes.
We’d done our research beforehand and had a shortlist of places that we’d never found before. First up was the Arenes de Lutece – our first day in Paris was 1st May, which is a public holiday celebrating workers. There are always demonstrations so our aim was to avoid busy public areas. The Arenes de Lutece is in the east of the city, in the 5th arrondissement in the Latin Quarter. Nearest metro is Place Monge and enter easily through the gates on Rue de Navarre. There’s a park around the Arenes but it’s easy to imagine this area during the Roman era in the 1st Century. The Arena may have been flooded for mock sea battles, or open for gladiator fights. There is some 
seating around part of the arena, where you can relax and watch. Often full of teenagers playing football, on the day we visited there was a Petanque tournament – games taking place all over the arena and closed off to the public to walk through. We loitered long enough to catch a bike tour guide telling his group all about the history of the area and how the Romans lived in Paris (originally called Lutetia).
From here, we walked just a few minutes to the Jardin des Plantes (Botanical Gardens). Again, due to the public holiday – it was full of Parisians walking, jogging, playing with children and just generally enjoying the good weather in a beautiful location. Here you’ll find a menagerie (small zoo), greenhouses, galleries and a museum of natural history. Plenty to keep the family happy for several hours. https://www.jardindesplantesdeparis.fr
A stroll along the riverbank then brought us to the Ile Saint Louis. A small sister island to Ile de la Cite, but a more residential area. Very quiet at the eastern end of the island,
you’ll find cafes and shops towards the Ile de la Cite end of the island. Also here is the world famous Berthillon ice cream shop – you’ll spot it easily by the queues. We found a café opposite that were also selling Berhillon ice creams, and they are delicious. I had butter salted caramel and John had prune and Armagnac. https://berthillon.fr/
There’s a small footbridge that will take you across to the Ile de la Cite for a quick sit down in the square behind Notre Dame, there’s also a delightful square at the far end of Ile Saint Louis where the locals relax away from the tourists!
By now, several kilometres had been walked and dinner awaited!
Our next day was a full working day for the Parisians, but not for us. We headed this time towards the Canals. Being big Maigret fans, we knew many of his murders took place in the murky and quiet areas of Paris, like the canals. Bit disappointed to find, it was lively, clean 
and a definitely walkable area with charming bridges. Not a murder in sight, but I guess that’s a good thing! Maybe we should have gone further towards Villette on the outskirts of the city. We got the metro to Republique, the largest square in the city with the statue of Marianne in the centre (she is the symbol of France’s Republic). A short walk along Rue du Faubourge du Temple takes you to the Canal St Martin before it disappears underground towards the River Seine. We walked along the canal, along with dozens of dog owners enjoying the sunshine. Turning away from the Canal, we found a bus stop outside Gare de l’Est and headed for Sacre-Coeur.
From the quietness of the Canal, we were suddenly in the midst of crowds. Sacre-Coeur is always busy and we decided to walk up to the top. You can take the funiculaire, but it uses up one metro ticket and we weren’t too sure how many we had. Its not a bad walk up, with flat areas every so often with lots of benches to get your breath back. Again a lovely day, so lots of people were on the grass enjoying the 
views. It really is a brilliant view from the top of the hill. At the top we were tempted to use the Little Train to do some sightseeing, but it was full – it takes you from Place Blanche (by the Moulin Rouge) up to Place du Tertre (the artist’s square) and then back down again. Not bad value at 12 euros a head. Instead we found a quiet square where we could eat our lunch and rehydrate in the shade. Place du Tertre used to be full of artists painting, drawing and caricaturing everywhere. However now a cafe takes up most of the outside space in the mdidle of the square, it’s covered so open all year. The artists are still there but it seems so crowded but they still produce beautiful work. There are a couple of ways down from the top of Montmartre – bus or taxi is one way, the funiculaire is another. Walking is the cheapest obviously, but also the most interesting. You can walk down the stairs in front of Sacre-Coeur or other staircases are at the side. We chose to zigzag down the roads. Found a corner with several cafes so stopped for another well-deserved drinks. Found our way down to Place Blanche, which holds some memories for me as it was the area I lived in first when I moved to Paris. Not the best area but I was only there a few weeks. We then got the bus to the Eiffel Tower, taking us around the Place de l’Etoile and the Arc de Triomphe. The 
bus dropped us right outside the Tower. Disappointingly, you now can’t walk under the Tower itself, it has a perspex fence around it. Again, every area of open grass was covered with picnickers and sunbathers, apart from the central grass where no-one is allowed
Our time in Paris was now at an end – we covered a lot of ground and sites in 2 days. It’s definitely possible for first-timers to see all the main sites, and some of the lesser-known ones in a couple of days. If you’d like me to plan a sightseeing itinerary as well as your flights/Eurostar and hotels, just let me know.
I’ve posted about Paris before, no surprise!! Read more here https://diamondtravel.ltd.uk/oleins-travel-blog/top-tips-for-visiting-paris/ and https://diamondtravel.ltd.uk/the-archive/paris-city-of-the-day/