Anniversary Trip to Paris
 

Thank you to everyone who has posted Paris trip reports and also answered my questions. There is so much great info available on Paris here. I hate to repeat, but would like to contribute...

DH and I took a 5 night trip to Paris, without kids, in mid-May. The city was quite lovely, with flowers everywhere. The weather was rainy, rainy, rainy. The temperatures were quite pleasant, cool and springlike. A rainy day in Paris is better than any day at home!

Arrival at Charles de Gaulle - we tried to take the RER into Paris. The machines will only take European credit cards or Euro coins (not bills). The line in the office to purchase tickets was at least 60 people long, so we gave up and hired a taxi. Many Americans were frustrated at the machines that day. We thought we were so prepared to have Euros in advance, too.

Departure from Charles de Gaulle - our flight home left Charles de Gaulle at 1:50 pm. We took a taxi from the hotel at 9:30 am. Lots of people here have said recently that it took them 3 to 3 1/2 hours to check in and clear security at CDG. So we left plenty of time. Well, first we discovered that I'd left our passports on the desk at the hotel. So, we spent 1/2 hour returning to the hotel to retrieve them. (Don't you just hate stuff like that! At least we didn't get too far when I checked for our travel documents.) Then, it took 30 minutes to get to the airport. Once we found the ticket counter, our flight wasn't checking in yet. We had to wait about 30 minutes to check in. Check in took about 20 minutes. Security another 30 minutes. Now, we had almost 2 hours until our plane left. I would have rather lingered over breakfast at the hotel, but who knew? I think our through-time at the airport was best-case-scenario, all the way around, so I would still leave extra time. We found a spot with about 12 lounge chairs (reclined), very dirty and grimy, but we lounged for an hour anyway.

Hotels:

Hotel Muguet - 2 nights

This was my second stay at Hotel Muguet (thanks for the recommendation on this board!). I stayed in February for 1 night, as a single. This time, a queen room for 2 people was 125 euros. The entire hotel is non-smoking. There is free wireless internet access in the rooms. Also, a computer station in the lobby (I think the lobby computer was free, but there may have been a small charge to use it.)

The hotel is in a great location, in the 7th arr., several blocks from the Eiffel Tower. Invalides and Napoleon's Tomb were just a couple of blocks away. We had a great view of the Eiffel Tower from our room. At night, on the hour, the lights on the tower twinkle for about 10 minutes. It was magical.

I like this hotel. The people are friendly. The entire place is spotlessly clean. Non-smoking is a big plus for us. The room is pretty nicely decorated, although not fancy. There is a plasma TV. The light switches and dimmers near the bed are very convenient. The breakfast in the sunroom for 9 euros was convenient and enjoyable, though nothing out of the usual. The hotel says it has A/C in the summer, but I think it was turned on already, as the hotel room was a comfortable temperature even on a particularly warm day.

There were 2 drawbacks. First, the room was very small. Just enough room to walk around the bed. With 1 person, it was comfortable. With 2 people, we were continuously bumping into each other. There was a closet and some room for clothes, but not enough to unpack 2 carry-on size suitcases. The second drawback was that the bed was too hard for our tastes. I think this is common in France, though.

Hilton Arc de Triomphe - 3 nights

This was an anniversary trip, so we splurged and used Hilton Honors points for 3 free nights on the Executive floor. King sized bed. The Executive Lounge was open all day. Excellent free breakfast in the Executive Lounge, snacks and drinks of all kinds available all day. I would heartily recommend this treatment, as it gave us a place to relax in the afternoon before dinner with a glass of wine or to stop after dinner for a cappucino. Of course, I imagine it's pricey. (Sorry, didn't check the prices, just the availability with Honors points...) One drawback - lots of smoking going on in the Executive Lounge. We requested a non-smoking room and it seemed we were given one, as the room was smoke-free.

The hotel is a couple of blocks from the Arc de Triomphe. The area was very quiet and would not be my first choice of locations. There seemed to be embassies in the area. But, it wasn't far by metro from anywhere, so it worked fine for us.

The hotel is decorated in an Art Deco style reminiscent of steamship liners of the 30's (?). Highly stylized room. Not quaint and French though. Very luxurious. Everything you could need. Supremely comfortable bed. The room was muggy, with no air circulation. We are Americans, after all, so we called to see if the air could be turned on. Yes, it could.

Regarding service, all our requests were met within 5 minutes! Excellent service. Towels were delivered pronto. A/C guy appeared seemingly immediately. The concierge in the lobby was very helpful with dinner recommendations and reservations.

This seemed like a business hotel in that it was humming during the week and then felt deserted over the weekend. The Executive Lounge offerings in the afternoon and evening dropped drastically over the weekend also. What, no sandwiches?!?

The only real drawback was internet access. Something like 5 euros for 30 minutes, 8 euros for 1 hour and 22 euros for all day. We had our wireless laptop, so the charge for access seemed excessive. Especially at a business hotel.

DH loved this place. He didn't want to leave.

It rained for me too in February but tell us what you did between coming and going :)

What did we do, you say, cigalechanta?

Arrival day - not much, napped then nice dinner at Le Violon d'Ingres

Day 2 - breakfast at hotel, Army Museum and Napoleon's Tomb, quick crepe for lunch, Musee d'Orsay, dinner at La Meripteau

Day 3 - ugh, stomach not feeling too well. DH walked and walked and went to the Opera House.

Day 4 - breakfast at hotel, Louvre, found La Florimond is closed for lunch on Saturday, had take out 3 cheese sandwich from a small shop and sat in Invalides garden to eat, Rodin Museum, watched a movie in the room, dinner at Cafe Le Petit Pont

Day 5 - breakfast at hotel, walking, relaxing, reading, dinner at Gallopin, Arc de Triomphe

Day 6 - breakfast at hotel, airport

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And, was the Museum Pass worth it?

Yes, it was. We purchased a 4 day pass for 45 euros. If we had paid separately, we would have paid 37.50 euros. But, we bypassed long lines at the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay. So it was definitely worth it. I would have gone to 1 or 2 more sites, without so much relaxing and spending 1 day being sick. We purchased the Museum Pass at the Army Museum/Napoleon's Tomb, where there was no line.

The prices were:

7.5 Army Museum/Napoleon's Tomb
7.5 Musee d'Orsay
8.5 Louvre
6.0 Rodin
8.0 Arc de Triomphe

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What didn't we get to see?

The Orangerie was recently re-opened. DH passed by and there was a long line.
Giverny
Petit Palais
Versaille
Luxembourg Gardens

Restaurants:

OK - I have to say that one of the main reasons I travel is for the food. We are foodies, but not snobby foodies. More in the sense that we like to try all sorts of places which are representative of the area, fancy or dives. A take-out 3-cheese sandwich is just as memorable to me as dinner in a Michelin restaurant (well, almost as memorable).

The prices below are for the food only. Wine, water and coffee are not included. VAT is extra too.

Le Violon d'Ingres - 7th arr.

I like this place. Second time here. The chef's wife speaks English, so you can have some help with the menu. You can make reservations in English on their web site too, which can be helpful. The entire restaurant is non-smoking.

We had the tasting menu for 100 euros:
Chilled soup with pate and croutons
Green bean salad with langostinos
Warm pate with breadcrumbs and carrots
Fish over mushrooms
Pigeon with garlic
3 cheeses
Chocolate cake
Petit fours

Excellent meal. Wonderful atmosphere. Elegant and relaxing. 3 hours. Superb service.

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Gallopin - 2nd arr.

Lovely. Excellent food. Super friendly people, although very little English was spoken, the maitre'd and waiter were extremely welcoming and helpful. We had lots of laughs over the pouring rain. English menu was available. Such a French place. A brassiere - very nice atmosphere. Slightly casual, but not like a bistro. Lots of smoking (oh well). And a dog too.

I had escargot, duck l'orange (really good) and chocolate souffle cake - 35 euros. DH had shrimp and vegetable salad, chateaubriant and chocolate souffle cake - 44 euros. Would not order chateaubriant again, just a steak, although very tender, not anything exotic.

They had several prix fixe menus with varying prices. Such as 19.5 euros, 21 euros, 23 euros, 28 euros. And a 33.5 prix fixe with a small choice of appetizers, dinners, desserts (10 choices) and a glass of wine.

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La Meripteau - 7th arr.

Fun location with outside dining overlooking Invalides. Friendly staff who spoke English and made jokes. The absolute best dessert of the entire trip was their 'partially cooked' chocolate cake, which was a chocolate souffle with a soft center and caramel ice cream.

We found the food to be decent, but not great. I had risotto with saffron and seafood, bream (fish) with eggplant mousse, rice and chorizo [this was a strange dish and I didn't care for it]. DH had risotto too and then cod with bacon and vegetables. He thought his was ok.

Overall, a fun place with pretty good food and a killer dessert. I think it was about 30 euros per person.

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Cafe Le Petit Pont - overlooks Notre Dame

Not at all what I was expecting. The Zagat rating was 25. Very misleading. To me, it was more like a 20. Big difference.

We thought we'd try it since it has live jazz. But we were early and never heard the jazz. We sat outside which was nice. But they were trying to hustle passers-by in for dinner, which was good-natured but not too elegant. We had a reservation but when we arrived we were shown the only available table which was next to the busy street and he told us it was not such a good table and maybe we'd want to eat inside.

DH had goat cheese with bacon for an appetizer. He liked this. Then lamb, which was pretty good. I had onion soup, which was totally ordinary. Then beef bourignone, which was nice and tender, but nothing too special.

We skipped dessert and left feeling that the place was perhaps a little slick, as charges for a soda and juice we did not order appeared on our bill. This was the only overcharge we had on the trip.

Anyway, the food was fine, it was just that we were expecting great food. And the atmosphere was kinda sidewalk when we were expecting an elegant jazz and supper place.

The petite and the Grand Palais both had huge lines so I missed those also.

Sorry to hear you missed the Petit (and Grand) Palais too. It must be quite a building, with all that glass. Well, it gives us one more reason to go back.

Random thoughts:

French people are nice! Very, very nice.

You hear so much about the French people not liking Americans or being standoff-ish. We found most people to be very friendly. (The French are a little reserved and have some social conventions that we are not used to, such as greeting everyone as you walk in, so I guess you could misinterpret these qualities.)

One thing I noticed is that France seems to be geared for service. People doing their jobs seem to want to be helpful (well, most people), which I noticed over and over again.

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Can I go to Paris if I don't speak French?

Yes, yes, go. We speak very little French. Whenever I tried anything complicated, no one could understand anything I said. We all just laughed and I asked them how to pronounce things. Of course, I am pretty good on the food words, so that was a bit easier. Every place either had an English menu or they spoke English or you could make out what it said (like when ordering crepes).

You really have to learn the basic phrases, so you can exchange social pleasantries, etc.

We did wimp out a bit and choose hotels where they could speak English, so we could ask for recommendations, directions, etc.

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Pickpockets

I am not a worried traveler, so I don't usually think about pickpockets. But, my father-in-law was pickpocketed in a metro station last fall, so I tried to be aware. While we were there, we met 2 older gentlemen who had been pickpocketed in the metro. This is apparently quite an industry in Paris. Unfortunate. DH did get one of those neck pouches and used it occasionally. We generally left everything in the hotel safe except for 1 credit card and some cash.

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Buying presents for children

We have found the museum gift shops to have great little gifts for kids. At the Army Musuem/Napoleon's Tomb, they had little statues of Napoleon, his horse, cannons, etc.

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Well, that's every thought I have on Paris. Hope I haven't bored you!

I like the Hilton Arc de Triomphe, too. We picked it up for around $230/night in January with breakfasts (and it is a nice breakfast buffet.) That is about at good as it gets, since it is generally much more expensive than that (making it a good place to use HH points, for those who have them.) It's true that the immediate area is pretty quiet.

Thank so much for your UN-boring report:) I'm glad to hear you liked Gallopin, it's on my list for next visit. Rain here heavily for over a week, wish I could have been in your rainy days in Paris, thank you travilgirl2.
Have you photos?

Yes, rain in Paris is not as bad as rain at home, is it? Also, it was very windy.

Sorry, we didn't take photos. We also didn't take a Seine cruise - we ran out of time.

Does anyone have suggestions for romantic things to do in Paris - for our next visit? Climbing the Arc d' Triomphe at night and watching the Eiffel Tower lights sparkle each hour was magical.