Back from Paris!!!
 

Hi Everyone,

This is a very big Thank you for helping me plan our fantastic trip to Paris!!!

I think my husband was a little worried when I announced 6 months ago that I was planning a trip to Paris for us, our 2 teenage daughters and most of the advice was coming from Fodor's Travel website. He didn't quite understand that everyone here is very helpful, had wonderful suggestions and tons of very good information. Now his tune has changed...we stayed in a Paris Perfect rental apartment, which everyone here told me was a good company to deal with, they are!!! The apartment was located in a great area. We did not have a clue where to stay, without knowing what we were doing we booked this apartment, once we were settled in the apartment we walked around the neighborhood. We were delighted, the apartment is in the 7th on the corner of Rue Cler and Rue Grenelle. It just doesn't get any better than that. We had a lovely view of the Eiffel Tower and could walk there in ten minutes. Isn't that the best??? We hope to go back to Paris soon and now my DH says he will only stay in a Paris Perfect apartment. We had decided early on that we would have a private car pick us up at the airport mostly because we had an overnight flight and knew we would be tired. Again we received good information here, we booked an online car serivce called Airport-Line Car services ( if you google it you can find their website)I highly recommend this company. They were there waiting for us even though our flight was a little late getting in and the driver spoke enough English to understand us. He was driving a van style car which was great as there is the four of us as well as our luggage. There was plenty of room. We used this company for our return to CDG and I can assure you that we will use them again too!

We were in Paris for a week and loved every minute of it. The Parisians are lovely and pleasant. I did not run into one rude person. We always tried to greet everyone in French and to communicate in French, once they saw we were trying they always responded to us in English. Both of our daughters have a great understandng of the French language so that helped. We went to all the usual tourist attractions. I think our favorite spot is the Eiffel tower, we would walk over from our apartment almost everyday just to walk around...this is a very special place.

I don't have much in the way of a trip report. I wanted to Thank everyone who helped make this a very special trip. I won't travel without you......You are the best...Ptm

What a sweet post. Glad to hear you had a great time. Were there any favourite restaurants you'd like to mention? Or anything special, really. I love to hear about people's recent personal experiences.

Sounds nice! I too would like to hear more details. We just got back a few weeks ago, and had a really good lunch right at that intersection where you stayed.

Glad you had a wonderful time. Happy Travels!

Ain't it just grand?

Don't love Paris - glad you enjoyed yourself.

Sorry - that should be <<don't you just love Paris>>

Don't want to turn this into I hate Rome thread.....

Yep, sounds like Mrs. PTM got the bug.
And its such a nice bug to have.
So? Next time get a Paris "fix" and then travel outside into the Country.
Maybe? Huh? Huh?

Hi Everyone, I don't really have much in the way of a travel report. As far as restaurants go, most mornings we ate in our apartment. My DH would go downstairs to the market, buy fresh fruit, some pastries,a little bit of cheese,coffee and bring it back to the apartment. While he was downstairs, us girls had time to shower,wash hair etc. You can imagine with two teenage daughters the time required to get ready. My DH would return with goodies in hand, we'd have our breakfast then we would be off to explore Paris. We would eat lunch in a cafe sometime around 3:00pm. I didn't even take note of the cafe names. We would stop whenever a place looked great and we liked the menu. I like how the French post their menus outside the restaurant. It made life very easy for us, if we all liked the menu that was the place we would eat. Dinner was usually later in the evening either at a local cafe or on the way home we would stop at the markets grab some cheese, baquette and some ham. We felt very French eating this way. Not sure if that is how the French eat but we felt French. Maybe to many movies but who cares. We had a great time.

SuzieCll, I agree. We plan to return to Paris get "our fix" then off to explore other parts of France. I would like to see Italy sometime to! Heck, I love to travel, I'd like to see all of Europe so who knows when or where the next trip will be...take care Ptm

The Paris Bug really gets a grip on you!! Since my first visit in 1999, my DH and I have returned 6 times and I visited in April with my 24 year old daughter. I've got the bug so bad that even if I'm headed to Italy, I get truly excited at CDG transfers -- now, that's pretty bad!

Hi ptm,

Were the markets open late in the day for you to buy dinner supplies?

Also, do you have a link to your apartment? It sounds wonderful. In fact, your whole trip sounds wonderful!

:-)

ptm, do you remember what you paid the car service for transport to/from airport?

(Glad your trip was so excellent! You will always remember it, and so will your daughters!)

Paula

sorry ..maybe I missed it.. what was the company you signed up with??? for the apt?? thank you.. sounds like a great time...

Hi Again, Yes, the markets were opened until around 8:00 pm. If we had plans to stay out later we would eat in a cafe. Some nights we would eat at home then walk over to the Eiffel tower, I think the Eiffel tower is our favaorite attraction or maybe walking through a Paris neighborhood to get to the Eiffel tower was what we enjoyed??? Who knows??? We loved being in Paris.

TexasAggie, to answer your question. We rented our apartment from www.parisperfect.com. I highly recommend them! If you are thinking of travling to Paris and are looking for an apartment to stay in, this is the place to go. Wait unitl you see their website. They have great pictures of all their apartments and are very informative as far as describing the apartment. Some people think their prices are a little high, but I am of the theory that you get what you pay for. The apartment we stayed in was worth the price.

sarge56 I believe we paid about 75 Euros one way. I am not sure if they charged for our daughters or not. Their website says something about 10 Euros for each extra person. For some reason I don't think my husband had to pay this extra fee. I do know that he tipped the driver very well because he was so impressed with car and the service we received...at that point we were so tired I think he would of paid anything just to get us to our apartment. As you can probably tell we didn't sleep at all on the flight over so everyone was very tired. We didn't think the price to bad, as that is what we pay at home (converting the money) to get to our airport.

cobox, we hired a car service to take us from CDG to our apartment in the 7th. The name is Online Car Services and if googled you can find their website. The apartment we stayed in was a one bedroom located on the corner of Rue Grenelle and Rue Cler. We rented from parisperfect.com. Great people to deal with. The company is owend by a couple, he is French and she is an American.

Well, I do have the travel bug. On to planning future trips. Take care Ptm

Welcome back, ptm.
Paris is a gift, it stays with you long after leaving!

<<I didn't even take note of the cafe names. We would stop whenever a place looked great and we liked the menu. I like how the French post their menus outside the restaurant. It made life very easy for us, if we all liked the menu that was the place we would eat. Dinner was usually later in the evening either at a local cafe or on the way home we would stop at the markets grab some cheese, baquette and some ham. We felt very French eating this way. Not sure if that is how the French eat.>>

Yes, that is indeed how the majority of the French do it. Bravo!

My DH (dope husband) and I will probably not go back to Paris. Too much $$$$.

I was not aware of the possibility to rent an apartment! What a great idea! My mother and I will be going soon (we are of French descent...and still speak French at home).Thank you for adding the link. The places look beautiful, clean and decently priced. I myself was in Paris 2 years ago and stayed in a hotel near Roissy airport. What a hole.