The organ concert following the Sunday morning service at St. Sulpice is terrific, and after it is over, you can climb the winding staircase up to see the organ. There is no sign or anything about it, but as you face the back of the church, there is a small door to the left of the entrance that you line up at.

Programme d'orgue is in the column on the right side is the St-Sulpice website.

I enjoyed climbing up the towers of Notre Dame and seeing and hearing the Grand Boudain (sp? biggest bell) and other bells chime away at their designated times kind of felt like Quasimodo - last time I went was about a decade ago and the stairs near top were small ladders so not for Nervous Nellies!

k_marie and SusanP,
The organ concert is exactly what I was looking for, and I'm sure we'll love it. I visited Paris many years ago, but this will be DH's first trip to France. I remember strolling in Montmartre on a rainy day and I took shelter in a church, no idea which one. There was an organ concert at the time, and I listened mesmerized. I don't know how long I was there for, but by the time it ended the rain had stopped (and my friend mad that I was late for our meeting).

k_marie,
I could find a lot of web sites for St Sulpice, but not the official one, the one with a right hand side column for Programme d'orgue. Cann you post a link please?

PalenQ,
I don't like heights, but I know I'll get up those steps to get close to the gargoyles :)

Here you go--

Saint-Sulpice ? Notre paroisse de Paris, sa grande église, ses paroissiens, ses activités

k_marie,
Thanks - I guess the US-based English google has a hard time finding it...

K_marie, third time trying to post. That is a great link, hoping to attend mass this week. They don't charge for going to mass, do they?

They take a collection, which is strictly voluntary. Usually, at a Catholic Church, members of the congregation give an offering when the baskets are passed during the mass, after the sermon.

We have attended evening concerts at St-Sulpice for which we purchased tickets beforehand. At other churches, we have given a free-will offering at the conclusion of the concert.

Research how to ride the French Rail RER C train from the Rive Gauche Paris Metro Station to Versailles. The RER system utilizes a common ticket with the Metro system.

You will be surprised at how "walkable" Paris is, after you depart the EIffel Tower, walk back to the Ile de Cite on the Seine River walkway, it is scenic.

By the way, it is much faster to get your Eiffel Tower tickets online before you go, if you wait till you are there, the lines at the ticket windows could be lengthy.

Look at the Catacombs Paris tour, it is an unusual look at a fascinating location.

Sacre Coeur is easily reached via Paris Metro, but the stairs from the lower level to the top are a lengthy circular staircase, not a problem if you are used to walking or hiking.

terrylipford,
I love walkable cities, and looking at the map I noticed that a lot of Paris attractions and museums are concentrated in a relatively small area. That's good news, plus the metro network looks great. Walking is fine, climbing stairs less so but we will do it for the views.

For some reason I don't think I want to see the Catacombs, maybe on a future trip but not this one. We will not have enough time to see all the things we really want to see, so even though a lot of people seem to appreciate it, I don't think it's for us.

If you had to pick one for a Sunday, would you visit d'Orsay or Orangerie museum? Or keep all museums for week days? Thanks.

L'Orangerie. Water lilies.

Mass at Notre Dame is also a great experience. We're not Catholic, but we really enjoyed it.

Pros: No lines to enter
Cons: You won't see all of it...the touristy sections are roped off.

ssander

On taking the RER to Versailles:

The "Bad" News: As a newbie, you must pay VERY close attention to the monitors on the platform. There are at least a three "flavors" of the westbound RER C and only one goes to Versailles Chateau Rive Gauche. (The trains used to have secondary numbers -- C5 was the C train to Versailles Rive Gauche -- but I don't see them on the latest version of the RER map that I have.)

The monitors on the platform list the trains and stops:

• They list each train in order of how many minutes till expected arrival.
• They list the stops of each of those trains...however...
• Some trains have lots of stops so you have to watch carefully, because it may take several screens to show them all for a particular train.

The Good News: Versailles Chateau Rive Gauche is the last stop on the appropriate train, so:

• It is easy to spot on the monitor while the stops are displayed.
• Once on the train, you can't miss the stop.

NOTE: It has been over a year since last in Paris, so it is possible this system has been changed, but I doubt it. A good phone app will probably really help with this.

ssander

I would suggest the Musée d'Orsay - it is larger, has many more paintings and is in an historically fascinating building. And oh yeah, it is but a short walk from the Ile de Cite. It is closed on Mondays, so a Sunday visit would be perfect.

Have fun !

Saint-Sulpice Programme d'orgue, for the month of December 2018 until Christmas Day--

Programme d?orgue du mois en cours ? Saint-Sulpice

Just to complicate your life, take the RER to Chatou and have lunch at La Maison Fournaise.

There is a combo ticket for the Orangerie and Orsay museums. Why not do both? The Orangerie is quite small and very near the Orsay. Go there first for the water lilies, then skip the line to enter the Orsay later.

If you happen to get on the wrong RER to Versailles like I did once, just get off at Versailles Chantier. The walk to the chateau is only about 10 minutes longer.

Navigo semaine "all zones" vs. Carnet (10 single ride tickets)

While the carnets may end up being somewhat cheaper than the week pass for people who travel very little with public transport, I would almost always go for the Navigo because:

1. Navigo "all zones" lets you use (almost) any means of transport in the whole Ile-de-France region. Even when you don't really NEED the bus to take you down a boulevard to the next metro station, it can be just nice after a long day of walking around. Or when you just want to roam around and see through which neighborhoods any odd bus will take you.
2. Carnet tickets are not good for transfers between metro and bus or vice versa. Each leg would be one ride off your carnet.
3. Navigo "all zones" includes CDG airport by RER, as well as Versailles or other destinations outside Paris proper. The costs for individual tickets to CDG and/or Versailles plus the costs for the carnet may end up more costly than one Navigo "all zones".
4. You only need to go through the mild hassle to obtain (and pay for) the chip card at the staffed desks at your nearest metro or RER station once. When you return to Paris, you can simply top up your Navigo card again with an "all zones" weekly pass at the machines/kiosks.

P.S. Get either the RATP app to get around the region or use Google maps which has also incorporated the timetables. Both require an online connection, though.. but when you get a French SIM card it should not matter..

@ssanders,
Great info about RER to Versailles. I'll keep it handy, but for now I think we'll skip Versailles this trip. Too much to see/do in Paris...
No hotel booked yet, but I think we'll be close to Notre Dame, so we might be able to get there several times: once for the mass, another time for actually visiting it.

Regarding d'Orsay and Orangerie: we are visiting them both. The question is, if we need to see one on Sunday, which one? Or should I really arrange the schedule in such way that we see all museums (including the Louvre) on week days?
MaineGG, I think one museum/day is enough for us. We have 6 full days in Paris with 4 definite museums (the 3 above + Musée Jacquemart-André), a maybe (Musée de l'Armée) and a day left for any special temporary exhibition while we're there. At least this is the plan now, on paper. It wight change many times before we actually get there...

LOL, StCirq, you see? That's why we don't have time to get to Versailles....we need time to sample good restaurants :)

@k_marie, thanks! I'll keep an eye on that web site for future updates. And I signed up for other museums newsletter and updates, I'm ready.

@Cowboy1968,
For 6 days the Navigo sounds like a good option. Can we also use it to get to the airport on day 7? How easy is it to take public transportation to the airport, vs a taxi? We're leaving on a Sat morning, so traffic will probably not be an issue.

Thanks

If you go the Army Museum, also go to the Maquettes museum at Invalides