Any tips on Orleans?
 

We will be taking a day trip from Paris to Orleans in early September. I would appreciate any suggestions for restaurants, sight seeing, etc.

I recall that they have a wonderful, large market. Always a fun thing to check out.

Now that I think a bit longer, I also recall their lovely cathedral. Has heraldic banners/flags flying from the pillars on the inside of the church. Very pretty.

Thanks. We will check to see when the market days are. Anyone else?

Things to do and see: <BR><BR>La Maison de Jeanne d'Arc - reconstruction of the house that Jeanne d'Arc lived in for a breif period in 1429, it has audiovisual dioramas and costumes and other relevant paraphernalia.<BR><BR>Vieux Quartier - old part of the city, around the cathedral. Place du Martroi has a nice staute of Jeanne d'Arc. The rue de Bourgogne has a few remaining medieval houses (and loads of ethnic restaurants)<BR><BR>Nouvelles Halles - covered market (lots of inexpensive and good restaurants around here)<BR><BR>Mus&eacute;e des Beaux-Arts - lots of good 19th-century art here, and a collection of miniature enamelled statuettes.<BR><BR>Parc Floral - just outside the city, a 250-acre park with fabulous gardens.<BR><BR>

I made a day trip there last spring.<BR><BR>I really enjoyed the old Mayor's Office, (Maire in French?) It was filled with antique furniture and beautiful woodworking.<BR><BR>Place du Martroi had a nice statue of Joan of Arc in it.<BR><BR>As others have stated the cathedral was beautiful. It had a memorial chapel dedicated to foreigner soldiers who had died in WWII fighting for France and an interesting stained glass window that was based in WWII. You don't often see such modern images in church stained glass.<BR><BR>I vaguely remember going into their art museum. It had a nice mix of old and new, but nothing really stands out in my mind.

Well...I don't know if you have a particular reason to go to Orleans, but in case you don't have any, I wouldn't advise you to pick Orleans as a day trip from paris. It isn't, IMO, a particulary interesting town...