OPINION: ‘Don’t let anyone ever tell you snails aren’t lovely’ - the Irish take on Paris

Little over two weeks ago, a friend and I traveled over to Paris to visit a friend of ours who lives there. It was our first time to visit Paris, and now that the holiday blues have passed, I’ve decided to paint you all a little picture of the City of Light that might make deciding your next holiday destination that little bit easier - that is, if you can forgive the handball incident of 2009.

We timed our arrival well, because we landed into Paris on Saturday, June 21 — the summer solstice, and the day of Fete de la Musique. It would be a disservice to describe it as a music festival, because it’s much more than that - it's a celebration of music.

As we moved through the city that night, we found music flowing from every bar; every street packed with street artists, and everyone singing, dancing and celebrating. Every genre you could think of was playing — reggae in one street, jazz in another, electronic in the next. At one stage, I had EDM in one ear and 2000s pop in the other, but it never clashed.

Unfortunately, we didn’t hear any Irish trad, but we made up for it by singing Amhráin na bhFiann as we walked back to the Metro that night. I’m sure if we’d walked further we would have found it playing somewhere, because there were plenty of Irish pubs to be found! That same night, I discovered a taste for Riesling wine, and it's safe to say that, after waking up at 6am that morning, traveling all day and celebrating all night, I was as shook as a hand at mass the following morning.

France is renowned for its fine dining and culinary delights, and I wouldn’t say I’m particularly adventurous when it comes to trying new foods, but I threw myself into the French cuisine wholeheartedly. That meant a five-day diet of croissants, croque monsieurs, macarons, and snails.

Don’t pretend you didn't know where I was going when I started talking about French food. Snails, or ‘escargot’, to call them by their proper title, are amazing — and don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise. Yes, you’re reading that correctly. The same woman who can’t stomach eating more than five bites of lettuce is recommending that you eat snails.

A trip to Paris would be wasted without going to see the World’s Biggest Electricity Pylon — sorry, I meant the Eiffel Tower (its architect Stephen Sauvestre just rolled in his grave). No, in all seriousness, it’s an absolute marvel, especially if you time your visit well; go see it at midnight and watch as it lights up and flashes for a full five minutes like we did. Another marvel was the Notre Dame Cathedral, which remains under reconstruction after the fire that almost ravaged her in 2020, but still stands tall and proud in all her Gothic glory.

I’ve been obsessed with the film Moulin Rouge since I was 14, so I couldn’t not visit the famous red windmill. We didn’t get to see a show — apparently, Nicole Kidman had a scheduling conflict — but Paris is only over the road, so there’s always next time. We took a cute little street train through Montmarte, all the way up to the Sacré-Cœur Basilica, the highest point in Paris. We looked out over the city, melting ice creams in one hand and warm water bottles in the other.

And the museums? The Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, and Musée de l’Orangerie? They’re spectacular — from the outside.

We made the big mistake of thinking you could easily queue or buy your tickets on the day — only to arrive at the Musée de l’Orangerie and find that the queue was the length of the road. The Musée d’Orsay was no better, and when we decided to try for the Louvre, we discovered that it was closed.

So, if you’re visiting France this summer, don’t do what we did; book your tickets well in advance, and remember that the Louvre is closed on a Monday. Even the Mona Lisa needs a day to get her eyebrows done.