Danna

First, a thank-you to everyone who replied to my questions during my months of planning. Second, apologies in advance for my spelling in both English and French. Third, a fashion report will follow in a separate post.<BR><BR>TRIP REPORT:<BR><BR>FLIGHT - ENCORE class on USAir was pretty sweet, will be hard to go back to Coach. Champagne was Piper Heidsick and was better than some I paid big Euros for in Paris.<BR><BR>JET LAG - I controled my drinking this trip (drink til you pass our was a bad strategy last time). Slept 3 1/2 hours, only had 3 drinks, no noticealbe jet lag and I stayed up all day upon landing.<BR><BR>TAXI - Very easy, just follow the Taxi signs in the airport, queue up for about 1 min, get in the Mercedes cab. TRy not to arrive at rush hour as we did, the trip into Paris took over an hour and cost E 50 plus tip. Outbound took less than 1/2 the time, but was still E 45.<BR><BR>Cont...<BR>

danna

EIFFLE TOWER - Loved it! Had been warned that the lines were not worth it, but on Thurs am we did not wait more than 5 min. Rode up with a group of French school children, it was exciting for us all ( "Regardez, Monsuier!")<BR><BR>PICKPOCKETS - I never felt that my personnal space was being violated, and although I had purchased a money belt, I never used it. We kept our passports and extra money and credit cards in our room safe, however.<BR><BR>METRO - So easy, so much fun. It's worth your time to learn to use it. I find it easier than NYC. Just know the name of the termination point of the line you are on, in the direction you want to go, then follow those signs. You can change to another line at any stop shown on the map as a big circle. One word of caution...I was always disoriented when I came out of the stop and it took some serious map consulting to decide which way was which.<BR><BR>POMPIDOU CENTER - Great modern art museum. Do the 5th floor first, all the famous works are there. the 4th floor is more avant garde (weird) stuff...worth seeing, but I was already tired by the time I got to the Calders and Kandinskys.<BR><BR>

danna

HOTEL D'AUBBUSON - This hotel on Rue Dauhpine in the 6th was very nice. It is quite Americanized, but trust me, you will be glad. Practice your french in stores and restaurants, but it is a releif to be able to ask for help in English back at "home base". The staff was very, very helpful, and I'm the kind of hotel guest who normally never uses any of the hotel "services". They loaned me a vase for the flowers I bought, gave us a HUGE fan when my husband was unhappy with the cooling capacity of the air condition, provided weather reports, mailed my postcards, called restaurnats and fitness centers for us, changed US currency, etc. They were FABULOUS.<BR><BR>The room was decent size, bigger than a SoHo hotel room that costs $250, nicely appointed but not terribly luxurious, we had reserved the least expensive room. Caveats: No bidet, hair dryer weak, "american" plug said shaver only and would not accept the safety plug on my curling iron (yes, I tried it anyway). No view to speak of.<BR><BR>The location of this hotel was primo. I block from Rue du Buci, 3 blocks from St. Germain, 1 block from the Seine. Can't beat it. Other hotels I noted in the area as excelently located were: La Villa, Hotel de Buci, Relais Christine.

danna

NOTRE DAME - Bring lots of film.<BR><BR>WEATHER - Mid May: High seventies Thur and Fri, bright sun, I was actually hot and got sunburned and I'm from South Carolina! Light rain Fri night, not enough to even open the umbrella. Cooler Sat, but still didn't even need long sleeves except early am. I was WAY overpacked with my leather jacket. I imagine we got terribly lucky.<BR><BR>TRANSACTING COMMERCE - Both MasterCard and Visa worked fine. Never used the ATM. I ordered $300 worth of Euros from by bank at home. It was very convenient not having to worry about changing money our first 5 minutes off the plane, who cares about wasting a few dollars on the exchange rate...trust me, you'll waste plenty more. Also changed us $ at the hotel and an exchange bureau. You will need a lot more Euro than you think. Even though we tried to use the Carte du Credit everywhere possible, we still spent 500 Euro in 3 1/2 days just on cabs, cafes, pastries, and purchases too small to get out the CC.<BR><BR>SHOPPING - Saint Germain is great for shopping, but you need alot of time and energy to stroll from store to store. Gallerie Lafayette was spectacular with the stained glass dome, and was easier for mass gift-buying. I failed to go to either of the food-related stores that were on my list Fouchon and Dehillerin. I suggest that if there are stores you desperately want to go to, you specifically include them on your itenerary. You will not have "extra time" to "drop by".

amy

Glad you had a great time, Donna. Two questions: 1) What happened with the fitness center? Where did your husband end up going? and 2)What restaurants did you choose?

danna

PIERRE GAGNAIRE - Dined there our first night, they open at 7:30 and we were the only people there for some time. We had the tasting menu. The food was as delicious and experimental as I had read. I was unsure I would be able to eat everything and had to turn down the cheese course (Oh, how I wish I had it now) They must have brought us 6 or 7 desserts each plus the petit four. I had a E 40 1/2 bottle (my husband barely drinks at all) and the bill was E 420... a record for us and we though we had eaten extravagantly in the past!<BR><BR>AU BASCOU - Looks like a hole in the wall from the outside, I was a bit concerned when the cabbie dropped us there. Everything was very good in this Basque restaurant. we saw only one other table of tourists. I had a 14 Euro 1/2 bottle, we ordered 4 courses and dinner was 100 Euro. <BR><BR>GUY SAVOY - I had chosen this as my number one choice, spent hours dreaming over their web site, made my reservation on FEBRUARY 6th for my May trip. I looked fantastic in my elegant black silk sheath dress and sheer, beaded evening wrap at Gagnaire and was looking forward to reprising the outfit at GS and ordering expensive Champagne or celebrate our 13th anniversary WHEN... we got back to the room to dress for dinner and discovered a note from the concierge saying the restaurnt called, I had forgotten to re-confirm the day before and our reservations were CANCELLED!!! No amount of pleading (both me and the concierge) would convince them to let us dine. I was crushed, and I present this as a cautionary tale to all of you. They are serious about that re-confirm thing.<BR><BR>ALCAZAR - pretty much sucked.<BR><BR><BR>

Julie

Good report. Sorry about the Guy Savoy thing and thanks for relating the story so the rest of us will be forewarned. After reading the post that was so incredibly negative here a couple of days ago and having people go nuts on both sides re: such posts, it's nice to see someone tell both the good and the bad. Your Alcazar sucks "recommendation" is pithy and to the point. Will get people's attention. Nice job.

danna

FISH - a Boissonerie - Very nice lunch there, fantastic glass of white wine from Languedoc, I think. <BR><BR>BAMBOUCHE - also a very nice lunch, although I would pass on the oyster ice cream if I had it to do over.<BR><BR>PASTRIES - Pierre Carton on Rue de BUci was excellent as was a place a few doors down, not sure of the name. Another patisserie/boulangerie on Rue de Buci was called Paul, I think it's a chain and appeared to be the ATlanta Bread Company of Paris. Substandard.<BR><BR>CAFE DE FLORE - had a light lunch there, not a bad Salade Nicoise and ham and cheese baguette. Love the lemon and orange presse. Had a Creme de Menth with Perrier at another cafe because the Parisiennes next to us were drinking it, very good and unusual.<BR><BR>FITNESS CENTER - Husband went to both Club Gymnase on Rue de Rennes (30 E) and Club Quarier Latin (14 E) on Rue Pontoise. He was impressed with neither, but they at least had stationary bikes. You should see the looks you get walking down the street in Paris in loud colored bike shorts and a too tight T-shirt (he forgot his and had to borrow mine...I'm a size 2 and he's got a 48 inch chest!)

Lisa

Danna,<BR><BR>This is great! We want more! I love the restaurant reviews. <BR><BR>Lisa

danna

SEINE CRUISE - We followed the recommendation I received on this board and used the Vendettes du Pont Nuef tour boat. I had given up on doing a tour as recommended, ie start at dusk and finish at dark because of the timing of my dinner reservations. However, after getting rejected by Guy Savoy and getting the hell out of Alcazar, we arrived at EXACTLY the right time for the boat. The Eiffle Tower was just turning gold, there was a bit of a sunset, the lights were beautiful in the dark upon our return. PERFECT. Try to arrive early for the start every 30 minutes so you get a seat near the front of the boat on top. The narration is difficult to hear from the back. BRING FILM and a SWEATER.<BR><BR>Amy and Julie - thanks for being interested. Anyone else with questions, I will be happy to respond, I am still too excited to do any work today. Now on to the fashion report...<BR>

Gerry

Danna, did you happen to see the Le Regent Hotel on Rue Dauphine? Curious about what you think of it and the location.

danna

Gerry - Sorry, I didn't specifically notice Le Regent although I must have walked past a number of times. I will say, that I think the location is ideal. Rue Dauphine is only 2-3 blocks long, so either you are closer to the Seine or Rue de Buci, either way, fantastic. I would definately stay in the 6th again. If you are familiar with SoHo in NYC, it is a bit like that. Great for walking around, small streets, etc. Just a few blocks from the famous Cafe Duex Magot and Cafe de Flores. Also, I got the impression that similarly to New Yorkers in SoHo, there were many French people vacationing or day tripping to visit that area.

amy

Danna and Gerry: I am a Hotel le Regent groupie. Took my two daughters there for their first trip to Paris. The concierge Patricia had warned me upon booking that the rooms were awfully small--she told me that they would be smaller than I could imagine. Loved that comment.<BR><BR>I booked anyway. The rooms were teeny-tiny--and they were decorated so cleverly we didn't care. We used up a roll of film trying to capture both rooms at all angles.<BR><BR>Anyway, I have liked the location and the hotel staff enough, Gerry, to have stayed there three times. This summer we're going to try the Marais District for something different; otherwise, we'd be banging on their doors again.<BR><BR>Was dying to hear about the gym experience,Danna, because of the book "Paris to the Moon." The part where the author (a native gym-obsessed New Yorker)tries to join a Paris gym had me in stitches. The membership representative couldn't imagine why anyone would expect to go to the gym every day (I think they expected you would visit once a week, perhaps twice if you were truly "sportif.")<BR><BR>We had a gym near us in Nice this past spring. We would walk past it in the evening, and through the big windows,it looked rather similar to US ones. The aerobic workout looked a bit dated--rather like a Richard Simons video. The exercise clothes looked sorted of 80's.<BR><BR>However, it was the joggers on the Promendade d'Anglaise that had us in hysterics. Massive groups of men jogging in unbelievably fashionable jogging wear at a snail's pace ten abreast in conversation. <BR><BR>You could tell the foreigners--they would run in ones or twos wearing very inexpensive, non-fashionable clothes (except, of course, for the sneakers).<BR><BR>Danna, your restaurant reviews are to die for!

Gail

Thanks for the cruise and restaurant suggestions. Going again in September. Can't wait.

Jeff W

Danna,<BR><BR>I too am intersted in your fashion report and dinner reservations. I have reservations at several top flight restuarants and anticipated wearing a sports jacket tie and slacks instead of a suit. I read your previous post that at Pierre Gagnierre half the men were wearing suits without ties--are those sports jackets??? Also what was the a la carte menu like there.

xxx

Two comments:<BR>I love the fact that you liked the hotel, despite the fact that the air conditioning didn't work, the decor wasn't luxurious, the hair dryer was weak, and there was no way to plug anything in. Sounds like you "go with the flow".<BR>Isn't it interesting that the restaurant cancelled your reservation, but took the time to call your hotel and tell them it was cancelled. Since they were calling, wouldn't it have been logical if they were calling to confirm, not to just tell you it was cancelled?

danna

Jeff W: yes, I believe some of them were sport jackets. There was an a la carte menu but I did not spent much time studying it. My menu did not have prices (have not seen that in years in the States and consider it insulting...and I'm not the feminist type by any means). My husband commented that there were $75 appetizers, so unless he was exaggerating in the extreme, I beleive the $175ish tasting menu is your better "bargain". <BR><BR>xxx: yes, I guess I am somewhat forgiving of mild inconvenience in exchange for other important qualities. I think that may explain the fact that this was a 13th anniversary trip. <BR><BR>I was trying to condense the Guy Savoy story. Actually there were two notes . The first saying "confirm or we cancell" the second several hours later saying "cancelled". You would kind-of think the concierge could have just lied for me and called back to confirm, but I suppose the didn't want to get in dutch with Guy. <BR><BR>Julie: could you possibly top the thread you were referring to?

jeff w

Thanks Danna<BR><BR>I obviously agree with you about the no prices on the ladies menu--I have heard that a few restaurants do that in New York City but not often.

elaine

Hi Danna<BR>glad you enjoyed your trip.<BR>Re the bathroom plug:<BR>it is difficult to find a French hotel bathroom that has an outlet for you to plug in a hair dryer or other appliance. I had the same problem in Italy. It may be a matter of hotel law or safety code. The bathroom outlets for shavers are low voltage, heat-making appliances aren't supposed to be plugged in. When a hotel doesn't supply a hair dryer, I have been known to move furniture around in the hotel bedroom trying to get to a wall outlet, and if there's not to be a built-in hair dryer I now bring my own extension cord.