Hello Surfzen !
Long time...

Trams usually ride at the outskirts of Paris on the outer arrondissements. I find them very confortable.

I saw the zoo was open once a week during summer but missed it... Was it nice ?

You have had a lot of wonderful recommendations. I'll add one for the Paris municipal museums with free admission to their permanent collections (except for the Catacombs and Archeologic Crypt under Notre Dame). The Carnavalet and the Petit Palais are especially interesting.

More info and downloadable guides in English here:

http://next.paris.fr/english/museums...-museums/p8229

Hi CANADATEACHER,

"...but have never visited the Musée Rodin, the Orangerie or the Marmottan." Definitely do them and also the COMMANDO is excellent.

Have you looked into PARISWALKS? I would suggest the HEMINGWAY WALK - excellent....

Enjoy Paris!

Click on Kerouac's name posted above to find links to some of his wide-ranging photo tours of his home city. He has a great curiosity about the nooks and crannies where Parsiens of many sorts can be found.

Kerouac, Surfzen and ParisWat all on Fodor's now?! Yay!!

Thank you everyone for your responses. I have a wide range of options to consider. I have been away for a few days and am now able to respond to your suggestions. I am tickled to see such a wide range of experiences waiting for me.

joannyc – Thanks for the “bloomin” ideas. I will check those options as the dates get closer.

RT2015 – I share your enthusiasm for travelling alone in Paris (I think). I will let you know how it goes. Canal St. Martin is on my short list. Your other ideas are great too.

Leely2 – Excellent destinations. Thank you for your ideas.

kerouac – I appreciate your sage advice for Paris hostels. I had already considered the St. Christopher’s options and now with your recommendation, may book them. I will check out the other options you mentioned too.

welltraveledbrit – Great link to your blog. I enjoyed that. Thank you. I can see you are well travelled.

kja – Rough Guide and Lonely Planet guides are top notch. I have used them in the past. I love Fodor’s forums because of the personal attributes the responses contain. For the sake of brevity, I did not include all the places I have visited in Paris in my opening post. Taking school groups usually meant we had to visit the “A list” sites – but we always tried to do some alternate activities too.
Swandav2000 – I agree, planning is nearly as much fun as being there (nearly). I do hope to include the Cluny Museum. Sitting in a café is not something I have done too much of. Maybe it’s time to change that.

manouche – Thank you for the link. I looked to see the offerings for this week and can see the value already.

pariswat – As a geography educator it goes against my “grain” to “get lost”. But, it has happened occasionally. I am willing to try again. I would love to connect with you on one of those dates, if it continues to work for you.

thursdaysd – Thanks for your best wishes. I’m enjoying retirement too much. The P.L. Cemetery has been on my list for a while and I hope to go to have some one-sided conversations with Jim Morrison and a few others who are residing there. I’ve not been to Chartres or Nancy before, but I think I am going to stay within Paris this trip.

Traviata – I look forward to the chance to meet up with you. Let’s keep in touch.

irishface – Thank you for your very kind welcome back to this forum. I remember and appreciated your supportive comments on previous threads.

SharonG – An excellent suggestion. I will keep it on my future travel list.

travelchat – There is so much I don’t know about Paris and the guided walks you recommend are excellent for my purposes. I hope I can do at least one. It sounds like you have a great deal of experience with them. We have hired guides in the past for our school groups. Maybe we will meet at a café either by happenstance or prearrangement. That would be lovely. You offer some wonderful suggestions in your post. Thank you.

nytraveler - Thank you. In my many visits to Paris I have never been able to visit the flagship Galeries Lafayette store. This time I will see it. Thanks for the Film Festival idea – it sounds appealing. Is there a website or link that you know of that might help me plan?

Surfzen – Some wonderful suggestions you have offered. Most of my transit experience in Paris is on the Metro. I do hope to try more surface options this time. I’ve never taken a tram in Paris before – I like the idea.

MaineGG – Thank you for the link – I will use it.

Latedaytraveler – Thank you. I will look for the Hemingway Walks.

Southam – You are spot on. Kerouac is such a well-respected source of information about Paris – in this forum and others. He is a resource, par excellance.

tC

I look forward to hearing about what you think of the canal etc teacherCanada. The surrounding area is a little grungy and certainly not like the Champs Elysees, but that is why I loved it. The word authentic is over-used, along with real, but I struggle to find another way to describe it, other than completely unpretentious and genuinely friendly. There is a wonderful cafe nearby which opens for happy hour, or actually 'sexy hour' as they call it. It is called Jane Cafe, the staff are super friendly and they make the best mojitos for €5!

Got it. In addition to the places I mentioned above, the Cluny, Chartres, the Palais Garnier, Sacre Coeur (and the views from near there), the Atelier Brancusi and National Museum of Modern Art at the Centre Pompidou, and St. Denis are among my personal favorites in Paris. I haven't been to Giverny in October, but if you like dahlias, you might add that to your list.

Enjoy!

This is another cemetery just outside of Paris and is an easy reach.

http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memor...y#.Ve-VDf1RHIV

This is wonderful. Thank you. The options available to me are fantastic.

I have listened to thoughts from this forum, read reviews and chatted personally with fellow travellers. I will be staying at the St. Christopher's Canal Hostel on Canal Saint Martin in the 19th district. I am really looking forward to the eclectic neighbourhood in which I will start my discoveries every day.

tC

I went to Paris solo in December 2013 and loved it.

An account of my trip is here http://redsuitcasetravel.blogspot.com.au/

The beauty of solo travel is that you just have to please yourself. You are pushed out of comfort zone and I found that I spoke to strangers (fellow travellers or locals) more than if I travelled with companion/s.

I second the Paris Greeter. I have fab couple of hours exploring St Germaine and Latin Quartier.

I got the Paris Navigo card for transport and a 7 days museum pass.

I advise not to let the act that you ae stop you from doing anything. Go for that special meal, drink at that famous café or see a show.

teacherCanada I will do a trip report between now and when you go and will make sure to include some tips for the area you're staying (so close to where I was).

Is the Rodin put back together yet? When I visited in May, they were doing heavy remodeling. The sculpture garden was of course in perfect viewing condition, but they had only a small portion of the pieces from the museum available for viewing. If that's the case, just bear in mind that you will need a return visit some day to see everything once it's back in place.

I am also going solo to Paris, from October 15 - 22, so a GTG would be fantastic.

Another recommendation for Paris Greeters. On a previous visit, I signed up and there was no response until about two weeks out, and then wonderful plans were made and it was one of the highlights of my trip.

Another thought: the Michelin Green Guide for Paris, while of course not comprehensive, has a fairly wide list of tourist sites. It's my go-to Paris guidebook.

>> I will be staying at the St. Christopher's Canal Hostel on Canal Saint Martin in the 19th district. I am really looking forward to the eclectic neighbourhood in which I will start my discoveries every day.<<

Good choice (which is to say, I like that part of Paris). One way, you have the whole of Parc de la Villette, the Cité des Sciences and the Cité de la Musique. The other way, you have the Canal St Martin to walk down, all the way to Bastille, or take the boat trip. If you've time and haven't already seen it, you might like to track down the 1930s movie Hotel du Nord and its "Atmosphère!" scene to see what some of the local businesses are trading on.

Belleville is nice for exploration too. Buttes Chaumont is a gem.

teacherCanada:

You may want to consider visiting Musée Picasso, which reopened last year after a long (and I mean LONG) period of renovations (and controversies). I know it will be one of my key destinations if I get to Paris next spring.

If you get to Chartres, you obviously will go to the cathedral, but make sure you visit the international stained glass museum that's just a few blocks away. As a matter of fact, there's a stained glass shop right next to the cathedral that sells many beautiful items.

While in Paris, you may also want to attend a classical concert in one of the major churches. I especially recommend La Sainte-Chapelle because of the divine stained glass. You'll see posters for these various concerts posted all over the city.

Hi TEACHERCANADA,

"I will look for the Hemingway Walks." Have you seen the flick MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, a spoof on Paris in the 20s with Hemingway, Picasso, Fitzgerald figures etc.? It's really colorful and you will enjoy identifying different venues in the film.

The walk includes the enclave where James Joyce wrote ULYSSES and the street where GEORGE ORWELL lived in poverty at the beginning of his career.

Here is my trip report as a solo traveler in Paris a few years back. It was so easy to fill my time there. Enjoy....

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...and-beyond.cfm

Teacher Canada
Paris will be upon us before we know it. Weather here in Chicago has turned to Fall and I can smell the crepes acookin'.

I plan on taking the Paris Walks Hemingway Tour on Friday, October 23 and the Marais Tour on the 24th if all goes according to my plan. Feel free to jump on board if you are so inclined. Check out the web site for time and meeting place.

www.paris-walks.com