pariswego

Hello:<BR>Our flight will arrive in Paris at 7 a.m. and for a party of 5 we will take a shuttle.<BR>I know that the hotel won't be ready for us by then and we can just leave our luggage and try to acquaint ourselves in this wonderful city. How did you start your day from a transatlantic flight with only 2-3 hr. sleep or none at all?<BR>Any suggestions? I would greatly appreciate it.

kate

If the room isn't ready, we always leave the luggage with the hotel and go to breakfast somewhere. <BR>In Paris, we would go around the corner to the Cafe Deux Magots, good coffee and an omelete. The great thing about French restaurants is they leave you alone, so we would sit and sip our coffee and just watch the people passing by. Not having to walk and think helps me when I have flown and not slept all night<BR>Then we usually walk to the Seine and back to the hotel. By then I must take a nap.<BR>I always want to be awake and out but exhaustion does take over!

xxx

Just walk around the area you're located at. Then have a long, leisurely lunch; by that time the room will be ready.

Gretchen

We leave our luggage and go find a place for a light lunch. Then buy our Carte Orange (if there by Wednesday) and Museum pass--&quot;housekeeping chores&quot;. We were with a couple who had never been to Paris so we went to the multi-media show Paristoric near American Express. If there is much more of the day you could consider hopping on the l'Opentour bus and just riding around. Or go to a big site/sight like Notre Dame or Eiffel Tower and just look. We have an early dinner and go to bed early. Next day we are usually pretty good to go.

Tim C.

I agree with the others here. Leave your luggage at the hotel and just walk and gawk. Paris is so lovely that just window shopping and orienting yourself is wonderful. Familiarize yourselves with the metro and eat a slow , leisurely breakfast or lunch with coffee. I recommend that you take a nap as soon as possible upon arrival. A tip is that only people (in coach at least) who sit near a window seem to get much sleep.

Bree

I'm with Kathy and xxx on this one: just walk around for a bit (it'll feel good, after sitting on an airplane all night) and then have a light meal before heading back to your hotel for a brief nap. Don't try to do anything else, like go to a museum, because you'll be too fuzzy-headed to appreciate it. My favorite place to go for my first meal in Paris is Le Flore en l'Ile, a brasserie on the Ile Saint Louis that faces the back of Notre Dame. If the weather is warm enough, you can sit at a table outside, and looking at that fabulous view will bring home to you the fact that you're really in Paris.

amy

We seem to be in agreement. We always do the luggage drop-off and then do housekeeping chores, too--museum pass, carnets, SCNF pick-up, ATM. We do breakfast right away, do some of our chores while wandering around Ile de St. Louis, and then pick an outdoor cafe for a preemptive strike on lunch. If we haven't made reservations for our first night, we do so--usually picking a restaurant close to the hotel. Then it's nap time!

Bob Brown

Happy landings in Paris. If you are arriving at T1, be prepared to walk around a bit to reach passport control.<BR>Whether T1 or T2, find CDG to be a monstrous airport, one that I quickly fell out of love with. <BR><BR>Once you are off the airplane, you will need a little time to get through passport control. Several flights seem to arrive at 7 AM, therefore you may have to stand in a long line to get through. If you plan to return to thre USA from another airport, make sure you get an entry stamp in your passport.<BR><BR>My travel plan the last two trips called for arrival in Paris and return from Munich. The Germans always look for the entry into Europe stamp. Or at least they have recently.<BR><BR>It will take you a while to get to the hotel via van. At that your of the morning traffic will still be thick and the trip may be delayed by traffic jams.<BR><BR>Even so you should be in your hotel before 11 AM. The staff at the hotels we have used were helpful about getting us into our rooms.<BR><BR>After checking in at the hotel, my next activity would be as suggested.<BR>Find a place to eat something, even though you had something on the flight over.<BR><BR>Research has shown that exposure to sunlight helps reset the body's internal clock. (Melatonin helps, too.)<BR>So walking around is also a capital idea.<BR><BR>My next step after a little refueling is usually to buy a carnet of Metro tickets. That can be done at a Metro station window or from a vending machine in the larger stations. If there are 5 of you, more than one carnet of 10 tickets will be useful.<BR>One trip and you have used all of them.<BR><BR>My next stop is usually one of my &quot;second tier&quot; attractions. Nothing that takes full comprehension or a long time. In my own case, I usually go first to a train station to get my rail tickets to my next destination. Then I go somewhere like the Eiffel Tower or Luxembourg Gardens where I can walk in the open, and admire the views. <BR><BR>Then I have an early evening meal (around 7 PM) and then look around until I feel like I would be better off sleeping.<BR><BR>The next day, I get ready to roll.<BR><BR>You may find that you are not as out of it as envisaged. I know that first trip over I was mentally prepared to be out of it for a while. We flew to Amsterdam and then Z&uuml;rich. From there we took the train to Lauterbrunnen.<BR>We put in a full afternoon by walking to see some of the waterfalls and by shopping for food items. (We had an apartment.) The next day was clear, so we took advantage of it.<BR><BR>I think you will do just fine. Be sure to know which terminal you are in, and from there locate the gate to meet the van. For simplicity, I hope you are arriving at Hall C of Terminal 2.<BR>

Danna

Thanks for this thread. I'm cutting and pasting it for a fabulous 50 trip in a few years. I've never been to Paris, or France, don't speak french, but plan to visit and drink Champagne. I'm a tad bit concerned about that first day in Paris. To the top with many thanks!

Donna

Same here. We taxi to the hotel and check our luggage. More often than not, though, our room is available. Otherwise, they'll tell you what time to return. On early trips, we'd check out the neighborhood, relax at a cafe, find the ATM for some cash, go to the metro station for Carte Orange and Carte Musees et Monuments. On recent trips, though, we can't wait to get to our favorite bistro for our lunch reservation!

Keith

pariswego,<BR><BR>The hotel will lead you to believe that your room will be available in a short time. Don't believe them. Assume that it will be many hours and act accordingly.<BR><BR>To get the most out of the first and second day, may I suggest that you shift your schedule earlier during the week or so before your trip, so that you are able to sleep on the plane and arrive in Paris ready to enjoy the day.<BR><BR> Keith<BR>