How You Can Make the Most out of Your Paris Vacation

How You Can Make the Most out of your Paris Vacation I feel as though every little American girl dreams of going to Paris. We marveled at the Eiffel Tower, recognized the romance of the city and imagined what the desserts tasted like. That dream came true for this American girl. I was lucky enough to celebrate my 22nd birthday in the iconic city of Paris. Everyone knows that Paris is a beautiful city, but there are ways to plan your trip to get the most out of your stay. With a little bit of planning, you can hit all the tourist destinations while navigating the city like a local.

Here are some of my favorite experiences—and how you can have similar ones, too.

FINDING A LOCAL BAKERY – BUILDING A CONNECTION

If you want to live like a local in a new place, it is imperative that you make connections with the people around you. A great way to do that is find a business to support and frequent that place as often as you can. Food is a great place to start, and in Paris, who wouldn’t want to routinely eat croissants and pastries? So, my travel companion and I found Maison Landemaine, a bakery that was one minute away from our hotel. We visited the bakery every morning Friday through Monday, and sometimes later in the day when we had a sweet tooth. We often saw the same employees, who were very kind and remembered us after a couple visits. Recognizing a friendly face in a new city instantly makes you more comfortable and feel less like a visitor.

TAKING THE METRO

In my opinion, routinely utilizing public transportation in a new city is one of the biggest steps you can take in order to feel like a local. Taking the Metro in Paris is not only extremely convenient, but you’re literally sitting side by side with locals. Instead of repeatedly paying for bus tickets or Ubers, buying a metro pass for as many days as you’ll be staying saves money when you’re hopping from place to place. For example, I purchased a three day metro pass for 30 euros, while a one time ticket is two euros. With going from museums to restaurants to tourist stops, this was definitely worth it.

*Tip = do not place your metro pass near your phone for long periods of time, this demagnetizes the pass. I learned my lesson with this at least four times and it was quite embarrassing to keep asking for a new pass.

PURCHASING A MUSEUM PASS

There is no doubt that Paris is an art lover’s dream. Because I love art myself and have been studying it for some time, I had to make sure to visit as many museums as possible. When researching tickets for various museums before my trip, I stumbled across the option of purchasing a museum pass. You have the option of purchasing a museum pass for two, four, or six days, and with this pass you are able to get into a vast array of museums and attractions throughout Paris. I decided to purchase a two day pass for 52 euros, and visited about eight spots throughout Paris where the museum tickets ranged in pricing from 10 to 15 euros. So, if you want to see a variety of museums, I urge you to take advantage of this. Plus, the pass allows you to skip lines, which in the tourist capital of the world is very nice.

FINDING A DINNER SPOT

When traveling, we all want to visit restaurants and eateries that not only have great food, but are Instagram worthy. I urge you to hop on to TikTok or Instagram and see what Paris has to offer, and make a reservation for the spots you find. I was in Paris for my birthday, so I wanted to have a nice dinner that night, and I found the restaurant, Bambini on TikTok. The restaurant was beautiful, the food was amazing, (the truffle pasta specifically was to die for) and our dessert came with a sparkler and four employees who sang happy birthday. It was a memorable experience that I will never forget that came about just from scrolling on TikTok.

SAFETY IN PARIS

Because Paris is a tourist destination, some people take advantage of tourists that are not familiar with the area, and pick-pocketing and theft is common. Stay off your phone, bring a bag that can be worn in front of you, and be mindful of your surroundings. Just by utilizing a few of these tips, a trip to Paris suddenly becomes a bit more seamless. Hopefully, my visit makes your future stay one to remember.

Five Diverse Resturants

By: Fiona Maliqi Maliqi and Mimoza Zenullahi

For this project, me and Mimoza worked together and we decided to do different nationalities restaurants that were easy to access and within a budget of a student because we ourselves were having a hard time finding good restaurants to eat at. We did different nationalities because we wanted to try different kinds of foods, and we also got to try a couple of foods for the first time and we were very impressed. We wanted those restaurant suggestions to be available for everyone and not just the people that were going to see our project so instead of doing a PowerPoint presentation, we decided to create a website that everyone can access to see our reviews and suggestions and we also are planning to add other restaurants when we have the time to check them out. We did our restaurant research on Google, but we could not afford to try many restaurants and choose the best one so we checked reviews, we checked the location and we chose the most easily accessible restaurants and student budget-friendly.

We also interviewed the owner of the Albanian restaurant, he was very kind and was open to answering any questions we had. He told us when he opened the restaurant, who he opened it with and how’s the work going so far. It was a short interview but we got good answers.

Albanian restaurant -The Supreme Grill

We liked it, the food was pretty good, the service was excellent, and the workers there were nice. We didn’t like the interior but the outside had a great view. It was a little far so that’s the only downside to it. It was medium affordable. We paid around 20 CHF each. We can certainly say that this was not the best Albanian restaurant in Geneva and we look forward to trying all the other ones. We plan on adding them to the website too. We got qebapa (a type of meat that is greatly liked in Kosovo) and trileqe (a type of dessert made with three different kinds of milk, and caramel on top). We saw that the other Albanian restaurant had fli and other types of Albanian food too so we are looking forward to trying that one in the future.

Japanese- Sushi Shop

We loved it, the food was excellent, the service was very good, and the workers had a little bit of a hard time explaining things in English but they were very nice. We liked the interior too, it was like a simple and modern environment. It was very near so we liked that. And we got to try a lot of new foods. It was very affordable considering sushi prices. We both paid 25CHF which we considered cheap for Geneva. As this was the first time for Fiona to eat sushi I can say that she actually likes it a lot and is down to try other dishes too. The cheese Californian roll was her favorite so far. What was the weirdest but a very delicious dish was the avocado and Nutella roll which we did not expect to taste good at all but it surprised us a lot.

Mexican– Tacos Tacos

It had good food, but it wasn’t really authentic Mexican so we plan on trying another restaurant we saw, the menu had a lot of choices though, the place was good-looking but basic. It was very near to Les Berges for the Webster students that live there and it’s like 10 minutes away from Cornavin. It was the most affordable one. We paid around 15 CHF each.

Italian– Molino- it was our least favorite. The food was good but we’ve tried better Italian food. It was a little expensive for our budget so that’s our biggest critique. We both paid around 35 CHF. It was very near Cornavin so that could be a plus. The interior was nice and cozy but very formal at the same time.

Lebanese – Perfums of Beyrouth – GREAT food, we loved the shawarmas, the service was great, the workers explained everything to us, they were very welcoming, the place wasn’t very good looking but still comfortable. It was a walking distance from Cornavin so that was the biggest plus. It was pretty affordable. We paid 20 CHF here as well but that was because we tried more food, if you want just a type of food it is way cheaper. Same as for the Albanian restaurant, we plan on visiting other Lebanese restaurants too
since there are already 2 other restaurants on our list.

Secret Geneva Project

By: Zani Bislimi and Ismael Monomoh Dominguez

When it comes to diversity, having a good time, and having a lot of visitors, Geneva is a well-known city to tourists. In addition to seeking out hidden gems, our group was looking for each pub’s distinctive feature. For each bar, we specifically looked at the cost of a 0.33 cl pint and a captivating feature. We checked out 6 pubs and at the end we are going to rate them from 1 to 10.

L’Alambic

This bar was located next to the Mont Blanc bridge. One special feature about this pub was that on weekends they welcome local artists to perform and it gave really chilly vibes which we recommend to go just for a simple date on a week day. The price of the pint was 6 CHF which was a medium range between all the bars we looked at. Although it was a really nice and welcoming environment, what really stood out was lack of selections when it comes to beers and the terrace was uncomfortable, when it comes to chairs and tables. We rate this place a 7 out of 10.

Le Phare

This pub is located two streets away from ¨Manor¨. This bar in our opinion wasn’t really that special. 2 things that stood out though were the snacks, which really had a lot diversity and they often do themed months and a discount on a specific themed cocktail. However, when it comes to beers it was weird because they did not have 0.33 cl pints but only 0.25 and 0.50 cl. Which means we obviously took the 0.50 and it cost 9 CHF which is a lot. We rate this place a 5 out of 10 because it was too crowded and not really our style of drinking. We recommend this place for people a little bit older and especially for the LGBTQ community because that bar is known to really support them.

Lucky Brothers

This bar was located just by the bus stop of Coutance, when it comes to our opinion this was the bar, we liked the most. It was really friendly, a lot of diversity, a lot of good food and a good selection of pints especially for Belgian beer lovers. What stood out to us was the sportsy way of managing the pub and the customer service which made us feel comfortable just like at home. We ordered 0.33 cl pint which costed us 5.60 CHF each. We truly recommend this place to people that like watching sports and we rate it a 9 out of 10.

Roi Ubu

This bar is located at the entrance of old town. This bar was easily the worst rated because of its simplicity during the day. When it comes to night life, this bar is always full of people and a lot of energy. The best part was the outside tables and chairs where a lot of people passed and big circles of people staying close to the bar. The price was the worst, for a 0.33 cl it was 8. 50 CHF which really did not make sense. We give this bar a 4 out of 10 because of the price and boring vibes during the day.

Café La Clemence

This bar was located at the center of old town, this was the coziest bar out of the 5. Two interesting things we saw were the terrace which was amazing especially for cold weather because it had outside heaters which made you feel just like home. The other thing was the price of the beer which was really cheap, for a 0.33 cl it was 5.00 CHF and it tasted good. We really liked the place and we suggest to everyone, especially during weekends. By that we give this bar a outstanding 8.9 out of 10.

Bubble Tea

By: Zuzanna Andrzejewska and Ileana Passebecq Ghanty

Five Retro and Vintage Places to Visit in Geneva

By: Jessie Baxter, Lama Hajjar, Dominik Sefaj

Before delving into this article, two key words need to be defined which are vintage and retro. Vintage will defined as anything “of age”, something which is produced 40 years before. In this case, it will be referred to as an appearance, something which is more wooden and has vintage attributes such as antiques.

Retro will be defined as something modern, yet nostalgic. An example of retro would be an American diner which is modern but has nostalgic elements of American culture such as neon lights and red seats.

Black tap, a retro American experience

Black tap is located in the centre of Geneva, at Cr de Rive 6. The retro style of the restaurant is clear to anyone passing by, as its black doors and tables contrasted to the neon colours of the sign immediately strikes anyone with the image of an American themed diner with retro and punk attributes.

Walking into the restaurant you are immediately enthralled by the 2000’s American themed ambience. Its retro and r&b style is reflected in the spray painted artworks surrounding the restaustaurant. The music is a playlist of R&B and 2000’s rap songs, with artists such as Eminem, 2Pac, and Alicia Keys.

The waiters mirror the same laid-back impression of the diner. They welcomed us and when they took our orders, joked around and gave us recommendations on what to take. The menu itself featured American staples such as mac and cheese, fried foods, and various burger options. The options were diverse and suitable for anyone, such as vegan and vegetarian selections and a selectibility on the level of spiciness. The main attraction of this restaurant is milkshakes. The crazy shakes are like nothing I’ve seen before. The milkshake itself is either a basic vanilla, chocolate, or starberry flavor, but its decorated with the most eye appealing mix of colours and sweets. The one I got

was the Cake Shake, which featured a large slice of vanilla cake on top of a funfetti milkshake and a rim of sprinkles.

In terms of taste, the milkshake was hard to finish and was sweetly sickening. My friend ordered the truffle burger, which tasted standard with a hint of notes of truffle. The presentation was poor, as the salad and condiments were falling from the sides. The average burger price was 25CHF, with the shakes being 19CHF. For the price, the food was decent as the portions were large, but the quality and taste was lacking.

I was recommended by friends from Lausanne to try out this restaurant, with an overall positive feedback from their experience. From my friends experience, the ambience and food was satisfactory, with plenty of good opportunities for instagram pictures of the food and the location itself. For Webster students, this restaurant is a great place for anyone to eat, as its vibrance and overall ambience is perfect for discussions over tall, cake milkshakes and American themed food. For anyone who enjoys the 2000’s American culture and wants a step back in time, this is the perfect place for you.

Le Chat Noir, a retro bar

Chat Noir is a bar located in Carouge, Rue vautier 13. From the outside, it looks like any standard bar within Geneva. However, this bar has a unique element to it, as it features an underground club in which live music and indie bands perform.

The bar itself displays retro elements, for example, the red and black constrasts gives off an old-style, vintage apperance. The dim lighting and emerging ventilation makes the bar relaxing; a place to kick back and enjoy a drink with friends.

The drinks itself are inexpensive, with a wide selections of classics to specials created by the bartenders at Chat Noir. The bar also has its own menu, featuring burger and salad options at an average price. Although the selection is thin, the food itself was of high quality and in large portions. The menu itself has a vintage feel to it as the meals are displayed on a black board with chalk, giving it an old feeling.

Another key aspect of this location was the diversity of the menu. In a section labeled “food of the world”, a variety of meals from across the globe is listed in this selection, for example, sashimi to samoussas. Overall, the prices were decent for the

amount of food served, yet the quality and seasoning within this selection was poor.

After finishing your drink, you are invited to the underground area of the club. The area is elevated with various lights and blasting music. The style is mainly a mix of hip hop, funk and other related genres often played by amateur musiciens. We each paid 20CHF at the door, and during the night that we went, the music and players were lackluster with the overall crowd being less lively than expected. Overall the experience was dull, as although we enjoyed the ambience of the jazz music and flashing coloured lights, it quickly became mundane.

I had a discussion with a member of one of the bands who was getting ready to perform within the club. He told me that the area was a great place for novel bands to get recognition and find a starting ground within the live performance scene. Him and his band performed there previously and admitted that the club feels dull and spiritless, yet this depends on the day you go, who performs, and your overall preference in music genre.

Overall, being inexpensive, this bar is suitable for university students to grab a quick drink with friends. The club offered at Chat Noir is recommended for anyone who enjoys jazz, and supports indie bands. However, considering the distance, the Chat Noir may deter people from taking the long bus ride there, and would rather prefer a closer bar within central Geneva.

Boreal cafe: A vintage hideaway

This cafe is located in Rue du Stand 60, 1204 Genève, which right in the center of geneva. It is right next to the tram, number 4 and 14, and will takes you right to the cafe which is beneficial as you dont have to walk for a long distance.

The first thing you notice about the cafe is how colorful it is, as the tables and chairs outside are all in various different colors. The vibrant display and the olfactory burst of roasted coffee beans invites any lucky pedestrian to be invited into the coffee shop. Upon entering, the coffee shop expresses its vintage feeling through the many different couches and wooden tables mixed with the brown and copper colours of the cafe. The decoration and detail to color

makes the place feel calming; a quiet location in which you can study and have a isolated moment of peace from the outside world.

In terms of the coffee itself, Boreal cafe offers high quality coffees made from various different beans, such as brazilian and arabic. I ordered a cappuccino, which personally was the finest I’ve ever had. The coffee was 6CHF and was served in a relatively quick manner. The overall excellent service and tasty coffee made for a memorable experience.

Boreal cafe also offers food choices such as cakes, muffins, and cookies. These are all made the morning of, and created within the café itself. The selection offers gluten-free choices and vegan options.

I would recommend this cafe for any students who indulge in coffee, as Boreal’s cafe serves coffee which is smooth, bitter, and leaves one with a pleasant lingering aftertaste. This place is also a favorable for anyone who is seeks gluten free choices. Overall, I would describe this place as a vintage starbucks, as it has very similar elements to the popular coffee shop. However, this place feels more comfy and at home due to the numerous couches, colours, and dim copper lighting.

We interviewed the barista and asked which drinks he preferred, and he stated that the brazilian bean matcha latte was a personal, and customer favorite. Overall, the coffees within the shop are all bitter and rich, and will leave you wanting more.

Patisserie Sofia: Vintage Sweetness

Patisseria Sofia is located at the heart of geneva, Bd Georges-Favon 6, 1204 Genève. The entrance of the patisserie can be described as bubbly and warm, as the entrance is flooded in pink and light colours. Various cakes and pastries are displayed next to the window; an eye-eating image in which anyone passing by will stop and awe at the tasty looking desserts.

Upon entering the patisserie, the retro aspects are noticeable at first glance. The chairs seem like they come out of a 1950’s movie, as they burst with vibrant colours and pink tones. The lighting, specifically the chandeliers, offer a welcoming ambience of warmth and also provide a vintage ambience. Overall, the simplistic yet perky decorations and marble tables make the location unique.

We ordered a carac cake, a swiss dessert featuring a chocolate tarte with green icing and a button chocolate piece. The patisserie was close to perfection as it had extraordinary quality, taste, and a high attention to detail. However, the prices are a bit overpriced, as the small cake was 5CHF.

I would not advise university students, specifically those who are on a budget to come here. However, the luxurious experience which is provided by the decorations, quick service, and overall mood of the atmosphere is definitely worth a visit. We asked another customer for their preferences on which paterssiers were the best, which was the chocolate cakes and large macaroons.

Bongo Joe Records: A vintage music lovers dream

Bongo Joe is a record store located at the place de l’île, 1, Association, 1204 Genève. The place is located on the outskirts of central geneva, and is hidden from the sights of the pedestrians. This place is therefore a hidden vintage gem of Geneva.

The front of the store is plain, but when entering, you are transported into a different world. It feels like a time machine as the music, decorations, and albums surrounding the store make it feel as if you are within the 20th century. The place is surrounded by vintage vinyl records, and incorperates a nature environment as plants protrude the area from the ceiling and walls. There is also a vinyl player to listen to the music with the

workers helping you pick out new options. Overall, the service provided was excellent.

We interviewed the customers in bongo joe and mostly the feedback was positive. People sitting on the couches informed us that the vinyls within the store have some rare gems and is perfect for anyone who is into vintage and retro styles.

Wooden hut: a vintage restaurant

The location can be found at Bd Georges-Favon 19, 1204 Genève. It’s located near the Patisserie Sofia. The place intrigued us as the decorative pieces displayed outside the window gave off a vintage appearance, but it also make it look out of the ordinary as there was various animals in various shapes around the store.

Wooden hut offers authentic Thai food. We went together and the service was fast as the food and drinks came quickly, and it wasn’t too expensive for Geneva. We ordered the fried fish, which was 10CHF for three fish.

The restaurant itself attempts to connect to the original roots of Thai culture. We sat on cushions on the floor and awed at the architecture of the traditional Thai house; a temple like structure with wooden pillars

supporting the building. This itself gave a vintage feeling, but was mostly due to the original Thai culture that the owners were attempting to portray.

We talked with another customer sitting near us. She had ordered the rice rolls with pork, and gave a very positive reaction towards to her food. She stated that this restaurant was one of the only truly authentic Thai restaurants within Geneva, and its food reflectsyears of experience within Thai cuisine from its chefs. When asked about the vintage aspect of the restaurant, she stated that the vintage appearance is derived from the wooden attributes and dim lighting, which gives the restaurant an authentic Thai vibrance.

Overall, these five locations should be placed on the buket list of any vintage and retro admirer, and are all of walking distance from each other. Most are student friendly, and are all pleasant places to enjoy your time with friends.