I read a lot of posts on the board and I wanted to contribute my recent trip that was planned in no small part with advice and suggestions I read here. Neither my wife and I speak French or have been to France before.

Day 1 - Flew from Houston to Paris. Nice flight although we actually met out only rude French person in the entire trip. Rude may be a bit strong but I had booked the flight with a window seat, and she was camped there before we arrived. Despite some pretty obvious (I think) nonverbal cues that that was our seat, she remained intentionally or unintentionally oblivious. Our fault for not being assertive, her for failing to understand or failing to care.

Used the RER to get from CDG to our hotel. All in all we found the systems (RER and the Metro) pretty easy once you got a little confidence. Although I was barking at my wife for failing to retrieve her ticket at CDG and forcing us to buy another. Got a little scare too when I tried to use my Visa to buy a carnet, and it would not recognize. I never had any success buying that way.

We stayed at the Hotel L'Esperance in the Gobliens (sp?, sorry but my guide book is not handy) area of the Latin Quarter. Nice hotel, good price and exactly what I expected (ie not super roomy).

From there I figured that we had to hit the 'big' site, the Eiffel Tower. We were both feeling the jet lag so I thought the tower would get us going. So, of course, we walked to the second platform and took the elevator to the third. It was a great way to start the trip off but it did eat up a lot of the day. If I was being super efficient, I would have hit the Rodin Museum and maybe Les Invalides first and then the Tower because it was open much later, but I think we both needed the boost. Never did get to see the Rodin though.

For dinner, we wandered to Rue Cler and ate at the Cafe du Marche. It was okay but the highlight were the pastries we grabbed at some little shop on the street. My favorite part of eating on the trip was dropping into little shops and getting things for later.

That was about all we could handle for day one.

Day 2
Taking the advice of quite a few posters, we recruited Michael Osman for a day of guided touring. Easily one of the best decisions that we made. I ended up seeing quite a bit more of the city that I had ever planned in that there were areas that I would not have gone to, for lack of familiarity and lack of a specific site that I had on the list that we were able to breeze by and at the very least sample. Also his commentary and knowledge was very good.

I had not planned on seeing the Pantheon but we blew by there, and having a informed guide made me glad that we had. I can see why some would advise skipping it, but it was not very time consuming and interesting.

From there we took the bus to the Musee D'Orsay. Michael's perspective and knowledge really helped us navigate, and I think, appreciate the museum and its works. Loved the D'Orsay. I wouldn't consider myself an art nut and my wife much less so, but we both enjoyed his tour and the information given.

From here, we went to the Ill de la Cite. He took us to Sainte Chapelle (when we rested for about 1/2 hr) and Notre Dame. On the way he talked about the buildings we passed and everything that came to mind. I'm not sure how his voice doesn't go out. We had ice cream and ventured into the Marias.

From there we wandered around some districts and parks till be showed us to a nice Italian pace. Very good and tiring day.

Very nice of you to recap your trip. I found a lot of useful advice, although I've been to Paris several times, for months at a time. I was living there as an au pair, so wasn't forced to do efficient sightseeing. But in a couple of weeks, I'm coming there again with my husband, and we only have three days in Paris. He has never been to Europe, so we have to be careful not to squander time on things such as shopping. How did you contact the guide, Michael Osman?
Thanks for the great detail. The woman on the plane sounds awful. She must have been engaging in "plane etiquette," similar to road rage, wherein she wanted the window seat, so just took it, and didn't care about what kind of person she seemed to be by doing so.

Hi Duggan,

Glad you enjoyed your trip. Paris is one of my favorite destinations. I admire you - walking up to the second level of the Eiffel Tower while jet lagged! Glad you enjoyed your day with Michael.

Can you tell a bit more about your hotel. What price range; what street.

Thanks,

adrienne

People like the woman on the plane make me see red! I would have called a French-speaking attendant and asked her to "explain" to the woman that she was in the wrong seat!

I eyed the Esperance when I was staying at the Cardinal across the street, and it certainly looked cute. I stayed at the Cardinal for more $$ because it had A/C and Paris had a hot spell, It was kind of cold, but funny. We noticed the night clerk giving a Spanish couple glasses of ice to take up to their rooms, so we asked for some, too. But he was "almost out," so just a few cubes. Every night we asked for some and he grudgingly gave us a few cubes. We called him the "Ice Nazi." The morning clerk was just totally flyaway, but nice. You also had to book breakfast the night before, something I can understand. No reason to lay in a big supply if people are going elsewhere for breakfast.

Thanks for the report and another one who likes Michael. I have suggested him to so many, and not one has been disappointed. And no, I have never met him so I am not having anything personal here except ALL my friends loved him and one couple said he was great with children.

Thanks for the feedback. I have more days coming. I never realized how long it takes to write something.

To the questions asked so far:
I'll get the email for Michael tomorrow at work, but I think if you do a search with his name, you can pull it up. I sent him emails and had no problem. He met us at the hotel.

The hotel was on Rue Cardinal on the southern part of the Latin Quarter. Per Michael, the market area about a block away is pretty good and there were some good eateries nearby and a McDonalds (ashamed to admit got alot of our business.) It was 84E a night which would have great when the exchange rates were better. No A/C but nice rooms, nice staff. It is between two Metro stops that are all of 5 minutes walking.

LVSue, you aren't joking on the ice. Being from Texas and the heat, everything to me tastes better colder. Those two or three cubes we would get were like gold. Plus the CocaCola Light needed the extra cold to make it palatable.

I can't say enough about Michael. Worth every penny.

Day 3 -
I guess you could call this our light and darkness day. We started off by walking to the Catacombs. I think we walked around the intersection for about 10 minutes before we figured out where it was at. I remembered too late something about renting or getting a flashlight which would have been helpful. Couldn't help but feel a little claustrophobic in the tunnels but once we go the actual catacombs, it was okay. Pretty cool, and weird. Saw lots of femurs and skulls, but I never found out where the rest remained.

From there we headed to Versailles. Definitely worth doing and probably because we arrived around 2/3 there was not much in the way of a crowd. We did one guided tour and used the Rick Steve's tour for the rest. As it got later we wandered around the gardens and by the time we made our way to the Trianons, we were literally the only ones in site, which is a bit spooky. With no one around we were wandering in some areas that I think we were not supposed to. We didn't make it back to the Grand Canal in time to take a spin on a boat, which would have been memorable. By the time we left, the place was close to deserted, but it make for some nice photos.

Day 4-
Normandy
Took the train into Bayeux with little fanfare. We did initially plop down in first class by accident, but we were very nicely informed that we were mistaken. Once we hit second class we just grabbed two seats that I think were reserved, but we were in luck and no one came.

We wandered through the city which looked really nice and cosy and then we went and saw the tapestry. I remembered it from high school history so it was neat to see something you had studied.

From there we took a tour of some of the landing sites through a company that I heard about on these forums, Battlebus. The guide was great and his enthusiasm made for a great tour. It is a great quality in a guide to be a good storyteller as it really makes the area come to life. We only did the afternoon tour but I think it was enough to get a good picture. I won't lie and say that I understand what it was like but it was interesting to see what they saw geographically.

Upon returning to town, I wanted to squeeze in Sacre Coeur because I had found out that they were open late in the evening. I was a little nervous being out in the dark (which really took a while to get used to because it was light outside until 10-10:30), but we happened to arrive in the Montmatre area during the Festival of Music. Once we saw the crowds and the families, all my worries evaporated. It was really cool to mingle with the crowd and get caught up in the energy. After wandering around and seeing the church (couldn't get used to people just milling around during a service), we headed back. I watched some of the rest of the celebrations on TV and we could hear the Quarter rocking till the wee hours.