dolciani - I'm not sure what you're talking about in the Palace of Justice. No one asks where you're going so there's no reason to worry about telling or not telling that you're going to Ste-Chappelle. If anyone is confused about where the chapel is it's perfectly ok to ask the guard.

The chapel is located inside the palace, that's why there's a security line with xray equipment (like at the airport). What were you waiting in line for for 1.5 hours? The prison? I've never waited in line for Ste-Chappelle, only for the security line into the palace. You go thru security and walk up to the ticket window, get your ticket and then enter the chapel. There's no secret here - just follow the crowd.

BTW - when you get to the ticket window ask if there are any tours that day. One time I fell upon a grad student who did a fabulous tour of the chapel. Hasn't happened since though.

I'm w/ adrienne. I am confused about your description of your visit to Ste Chapelle. Yes you do walk through a sort of court-yard to get to Ste Chapelle. After security, there can sometimes be a short line at the chapel itself but nothing like 90 minutes.

No, we waited outside to go through the security line. We asked several times (of several different guards) if we had to wait in this line to go to St. Chappelle and each time they answered "yes". Once we were thru the security there was no line and we walked thru the courtyard and into the chapel. But everyone in our line was waiting to go thru security so we could enter St. Chapelle. There were other people going into the Palace of Justice w/ only a line of about 5 people at a time but the guard told us we were not allowed to enter that line to go to St. Chapelle - so we waited w/ 200 other people to go thru the EXACT security line as the Palace of Justice people did. We joked that it was the "great French lie" that they make Americans wait for..
We didn't wait in line for the concierge (prison) at sll w/ our museum pass - we were escorted thru a side door.

Interesting to read of these covered passages. Can only find them mentioned in one guide book and can't find on map. Can i count on tripping over them or can someone give me a close landmark for example to passage des Panorama? A

Ashjen,
http://www.parisinconnu.com/passages/index.htm

About the back door Eiffel tower tour. After the tour and paying 20E do you by pass the lines to climb the tower and do you have to pay seperately to get up to the top. Allyson

bookmarking for Paris trip.

Bookmarking for October trip. Thanks all.

bookmarking

Only 2 more months!---bookmark

hello everyone!

after a LOT of fine-tuning, i THINK this is the itinerary that we're going with ... we leave on monday night!

the weather forecast looks sunny and relatively warm for the week that we're in paris ...

thought i'd share this final itinerary in case anyone else is planning their trip. as always, i welcome any feedback/comments ...

here we go:

tuesday
- arrive CDG at 9:30 am - get to apartment, get acquainted with the neighbourhood, go grocery shopping (marche maubert and st. michel monoprix), pick up navigo decouverte

wednesday
- eiffel tower (aiming to get there at 9 am)
- wander down rue cler
- les invalides (not sure if we'll go in)
- rodin museum
- bon marche (specifically le grand epicerie)
- wander in st. germain

thursday
- saint chapelle (opens at 9:30 am)
- musee de l'orangerie
- hang out in tuileries
- wander down rue st. honore
- fat bike tour - night tour (7 pm)

friday
- notre dame (opens at 10 am)
- arc de triomphe
- wander down champs elysees (not sure how long this will last since we're doing the bike tour the night before)
- lafayette/printemps (tickets to lafayette fashion show at 3 pm - only 30 mins)
- louvre (open until 10 pm on fridays)

saturday
- musee d'orsay (opens at 9:30 am)
- more wandering in st. germain
- musee cluny
- luxembourg gardens
- saint chapelle concert (7 pm)

sunday
- versailles (catch the 7:49 am RER from st. michel)
- wander in le marais (if we're home in mid/late afternoon)

monday (this day is pretty loose right now)
- sacre coeur (not 100% convinced of this one)
- wander in le marais
- possibly re-visit louvre if interested

tuesday
- catch 9:16 am TGV from gare de lyon to avignon

it will be interesting to see how closely we actually follow this itinerary ... i'll be posting my trip report when we get home!

thanks to everyone for all of their help in planning this trip!

Have a great trip - but I do think there are a few things that could use some tweaking. For instance, Ste Chapelle opens at 9:30, Notre Dame opens at 10 AM - and they are about a five minute walk from each other. Why do them on different days?

Also - Notre Dame to the Arc and down the Champs Elysees covers a lot of the same route as the previous day between Ste Chapelle and the Tuilleries.

Just seems things could be better organized

hi janisj,

thanks for the comments.

we're staying right on ile de la cite so we thought we'd take advantage of the location and break up ND and SC ...

after ND, we're planning to take the metro straight to the arc ... this way, we won't be 'duplicating' any of the area around the louvre/tuileries.

bookmarking

bookmarking - thanks!

Just a thought: if you are near Invalides, and have your museum pass, it would be a shame not to go in and see Napoleon's tomb. It is truly something to see. You can spend just a few minutes.

bookmarking

bookmarking.... thanks

Hope you read this before you leave!! You don't need to go to St Chapelle twice. The concert is held right in the chapel in the part you will want to see.

And for what it's worth, when you are visiting places that are likely to have huge queues go later in the day. After about 3pm the queues drop right off and you can walk right in. It has worked for us at numerous places - St Chapelle, Versaille, Accademia (in Florence) etc. Check the closing times and work out how much time you need to allow. Have fun!!

Michelin green guide has a suggested walking tour along the quays of the Seine (between Pont Neuf and Pont Sully) which I would add in at some point if you can especially from your location

Have a wonderful trip!