2 days in Paris
 

Off to Paris next w/e with friend and our 17 year old daughters. We are staying in a hotel on Rue de Bourgogne 7 me. Arriving in Paris 13.00 Sat 01/29 leaving Mon 01/31 at 17.00 and would welcome any advise on reasonably priced bistro within walking distance, the girls want to practice their french so no worries on that front. Also can anyone suggest/advise which days are best to tackle our main "want to see" sights.
louvre, E Tower, Notre Dame,d'Orsay and La Samaraine Dept store (for the view and a coffee).
I'd welcome any advise.

..I think you will be at your hotel about 4pm...I would visit the Eiffel tower and have a dinner near your hotel. Try the orsay on the Friday (if you have a museum pass a real plus as the lines can be long..actually just look at the line, if long duck into the gift shop and i think you can buy a museum ;pass there (I am not 100 percent sure as I did this at another museum)..I would then spend the afternoon walking down St Germain to Notre Dame and Ille St louis and have my dinner there. Sunday the Louvre (but can be crowded..Dept store Monday am (I jus find I cant face a dept store when I am tired..in addition you wont be able to linger which might be helpful with your daughters.In addition if you buy something you wont have to worry about leaving things in your room..enjoy!

wow, that's not much time to do all that -- mainly the museums. I guess I'd do a museum Saturday and one Sunday. I don't hink it matters that much which, they are both crowded on weekends, but I don't think it will be terrible. I've been there in peak tourist period and still enjoyed it. You can't buy a museum card at the Orsay bookstore--at least not the last couple times I was there. I don't know if that was permanent or they just ran out of them, but they had a sign saying so. Maybe the bookstore just never was in the business of selling entry passes. If you go when they open, there are no or little lines, even in peak season.

I'd save Monday for shopping. Stores won't be as crowded on the weekends and I think it's relaxing to do that without time constraints on your last day (I mean no worries about having to get to a museum etc).

I might skip Samaritaine in your time frame. It is definitely not worth going for the coffee and I don't particularly care for the store so much. It seems like a lot of trouble to do that just for a view if you've been to the Eiffel Tower anyway (and I don't know how clear it would be in winter). I'm not big on spending time on views, however, just in and of themself. You can see a view from the top of Galeries Lafayette store, anyway (and I think Printemps) if you are shopping there.

..whoops I misread..you are arriving on SAT!!!yikes..I misread it as Thursday..Are you arriving by plane..if so you will have almost no Sat left..would recommend the Eiffel tower and might be fun to do a bateau mouche..that will give you a chance to see many of the sights..at night with the lights can be very lovely..again Monday just a dept store and that leaves sunday..I would see either the Louvre or the orsay and then Notre dame and a walk around Ille St Louis, the Latin quarter..St Germaine..Isnt there anyway you can find another day for your Paris visit?

If you go west, through the Esplanade des Invalides, there are any number of bistros on rue St-Dominique. Among them are Fontaine de Mars, Fables de Fontaine, Café Constant and L'Auvergne Gourmand. Also in that general area is Les Ormes, L'Ami Jean, and Clos des Gourmets. There's also a place on one of the corners of Place du Palais Bourbon, just at the top of rue de Bourgogne, but I can't recall the name.

I always go to Samarataine my first day and go up to the rooftop. They are open until 7:30 on saturday and closed on sunday. I love the location of the store and the rooftop observation deck is nicely situated overlooking the Seine and has a 360 diorama type thing that describes all the buildings you are viewing. On sunday the marais is very lively in the afternoon, with all the boutiques and the place des vosges with musicians under the arcades. There is also a large street market over near there in the Bastille area at Blvd. Richard Lenoir. It is a great food market with lots of other stuff. As for museums, you can do them any of the days you are there. We always go for quick trips. We are headed over in a month for 4 nights. I must say your trip will be very quick. Hope you are leaving from NY or Boston with a direct flight.

For a while, the terrace/overlook at Samaritaine was closed... is it now open again? (has anyone been up there <b>recently</b>?) Is there a fee to access it?

thanks for all the helpful advise.Esp on where to eat and what we can realistically hope to achieve without trying to pack too much in.As our plane lands 12.00 I'm hoping we should be checked in our hotel by 3pm. Yes I think we might do Notre Dame and area Sat pm, the Louvre Sun and boat ride if possible. Mon D'Orsay and if any time left, a late and long lunch B4 heading for airport. As we are from the UK flying from Nottingham, Paris is only an hours flight and with really cheap no frills flights in EU at present getting there has never been cheaper. Its work, soccer,kids and commitments that stop most of us from doing this sort of thing every weekend.
Thanks again, I've learned more from Fodors then all the travel guides and only wish I had hit this site along time ago.