julie_Colorado

I would also skip Rome. Something to consider - which we have done in other cities - if you are returning to the same hotel in Paris, and you want to take a side trip to a place like Venice, have the hotel hold your large luggage and take a small bag for your trip to Venice. I am one of the world's lightest packers... so while this might work for me - you might hate the idea!

bt, we have gone to Paris twice... each time for 1 week. And while we had intentions to do side trips both times, we cancelled the side trips once we arrived. We were having such a wonderful time in Paris no one wanted to leave.

Mimar

Next time you get frequent flyer tickets, try for open jaws. I've done it several times. (Though admittedly not for first class. Business class though.)

If yor husband is such a bad flyer, why did your original plan have you flying all over the place? Maybe investigate overnight trains.

overplanner

Julie & Ira, you make me smile because I just got back from a late lunch with my husband and I said the same thing to him. I suggested maybe we just stay the entire time in Paris with side trips around that area of France and save our trip to Italy for another day. I picked Paris because it has always been my dream to go there and I guess I never thought about spending all of our time there (mainly because there are so many other places we want to see). I realize now that many of the places we want to see are in Italy, and I'd rather save it for a trip when we have more time. I'm so glad I posted because our entire focus has changed!! We are now realizing - thanks to all of the feedback - that we were totally nuts for trying to see it all in one week. We are just eager to see it all but agree with all of you that we will be much better off and enjoy our trip so much more if we save some time to relax and soak up our surroundings. We are going to slow the pace!

kgh8m - I know you are right, just needed to hear it. It is better to do one city right than a ton of places poorly.

Any thoughts on a few days in Nice or somewhere in France we can take the train to without too much travel time? OR do you think we should stay in Paris the entire time? If so, what side/day trips do you recommend.

julie_Colorado

One of my favorite places in the world is the south of France... We stay in the small village of Tourettes sur Loop. But there are many lovely old towns in the area around Nice. You can take a high speed train from Paris... but I'm not sure how long it takes to get there.

zoecat

I am so glad you changed your plans. Spend the entire week in Paris. There are some small villages within an hour of Paris that you could visit by train as a day trip. However, there is so much to see in Paris, you will probably spend the entire time in the city.