Sacre Coeur is a monument to repression and the arrogance of the Church. It is not a part of one of Paris' finest moments.

Besides, it's so far away from the city center, where there are better things to see which are more concentrated together.

You might consider picking up the Paris Museum Pass, the cheapest is 2-days for 32 Euro. You will be overpaying because you probably can't get to all the sites in one day. But I think that will let you skip lines at some venues like the Orangerie. Maybe the Orsay as well. Louvre also has entrances without as long a queue as the main one, where people line up to buy the tickets.

If you had to go with one museum, Orsay may be a good choice because of the beautiful interior and also the balcony overlooking the Seine (you can see the Louvre and the Tuileries on the other side of the river).

There are good Italian restaurants too.

And really, to take advantage of the Museum pass, consider an overnight stay.

If you decide to do this, definitely go by train. Leaving from the center of London and arriving in the center of Paris saves all that shlepping out to the airport and standing in lines. The 2 guys might be seduced by the idea of the Chunnel.

But buy your tickets early to save a lot of money. However, if money is no concern, pick a sunny day and buy at the last minute. Your reluctant fellow travelers will enjoy Paris in the sunshine more.

Thanks for all the great suggestions....the water taxi trip sounds like a good idea, also Orsay (big fan of impressionists) and lunch!

thereyet

Notre Dame is a monument of repression and the overwhelming power of a corrupt church, too. What kind of reasoning is that? Does the fact that one is 800 years older than the other make a difference?

Any time in Paris is better than no time IMHO!

Hub and I stayed at Hotel Ceramic (very close to Arch de Triomphe and convenient to metro if you do decide to go to Versaille).

Top places: Eiffel Tower (can be combined with Champs de Mar and Arch de Triomple and a walk along Champs Elysees if you have the energy)

St. Chappelle (combine with Notre Dame) and walk back to hotel through back streets

Montparnasse or Monmartre (your call).

Sacre Coeur was built to expiate for the sins of the Commune.

What offensive tripe.

The real problem with Sacre Couer is that it is so mediocre aesthetically -- for whatever reason they built it. And St Denis is so close!

Personally, I have always liked the contrast of Sacré Coeur with all of the other church styles of Paris. And one thing that was nice when I was a little boy is that at least it looked clean when all of the other monuments were black with soot. (Does anybody else remember what the monuments looked like before about 1975?)

Actually it's what they look like inside which is often more interesting that what they look like on the outside.

I happened by this church in Rome, just walking by it on the Via del Corso. It's not one of the most prominent ones mentioned in the guide books but it has a stunning Baroque interior:

http://www.romecity.it/Ssambrogioecarlo.htm

sacre couer is even worse inside!

Love the water taxi idea for relaxed look at the sights.

I have now a short list of places, will probably start the day at the Orsay. Move to the Batobus. Then on to the other iconic sights of the Arch de Triomph...Champs Ellyse...Eifle Tower.

Lunch after the boat ride and maybe dinner at the end.

Love how this thread worked out. Thanks everyone for your contributions. :)

Forgive me if I misspelled everything, I practically failed 8th Grade French.

thereyet

Well it semed this was not going to happen since the online booking for Eurostar cost nearly 800 GBP for the three of us...but the hotel found train tickets available through a tour agency that were unused for 297 GBP for the three of us.

SOLD! :)

thereyet

Result! You'll have a blast (and your son is right about the French - they really are *like that*)

I remember checking out the train options a couple of years ago.

For some reason, the tickets were cheaper when ordered from the French site than the English site. It seemed to be more than the exchange rate differences between the Euro and Pound to the dollar.

As others have pointed out, it saves a lot of time and hassle, not to mention money, not to have to go through airports.

The ground transfer in London is especially pricey.

So what I did was fly into LHR but then boarded a LCC (BMI) to Paris right there and then came back after a week in Paris and stayed in London before flying back to the US out of LHR.

The airfare was no more (and possibly less) than the train fare and I saved time because I didn't bother going to the city. Only tricky thing was that BMI had lower luggage allowances than Virgin, which is what I used to fly SFO-LHR.

Language won't be a problem. People working in the tourist areas would respond in English to your questions in French, anyway. Maybe even before you get a chance to ask; they can spot us before we open our mouths.

If you only walked or took the excellent buses between some of the places mentioned above, and made certain to visit a bakery and somewhere fun for lunch like a cafe in the Marais (easy walk from Notre Dame), you'd have a great day. If you're taking the batobus, maybe get off at that end and just stand under the Eiffel Tower and look up. I'd make the whole thing as unhurried as possible and leave them wanting to return for more.

The balcony at Musee d'Orsay is up behind the big clock, and that alone could do it for views.

"Well, to be diplomatic...my son has pre-conceived notions of the French, based solely on one stop over at CDG".

I am glad I did not base my impressions of Americans on JFk airport last time I was there.... :-)

CDG by the way looks nice these days.

The new parts of Terminal 2 have shops and even free PS3 kiosks all over. Nice natural light.

You can see the main attractions in one day and at least get a "feel" of the Parisian lifestyle. Having been to Paris, this is what I would do. I would start at Notre-Dame, then walk to the Louvre. I wouldn't go into the Louvre - there is too much to see and you have very little time. Then, I would continue my way to Champs Elysees, and finally complete the trip with a closer look of the Eiffel Tower.

Here is my <B>One-day do-it-yourself bus tour of Paris</b> that might help with your planning: http://tinyurl.com/5zdysu

My apologies for not updating it lately - some of the RATP links have moved.