Lois22

My 2 good friends have asked me to plan a trip to Paris for their 40th anniversary in May 2010.
My plan for myself and 4 friends of "mature age" (60s-early 70s):
Fly to London, stay 2 nights then Eurostar to Paris (Special request of two in party who have not been to London and want to do the channel tunnel)
Train from Gare du Nord to Bayeaux.
Spend 3 nights Churchill Hotel (highly recommended here and other boards): Tapestries day of arrival, Battlebus tour day 2, Mont St Michel day 3.
Train to Paris - 7 - 9 nights in an apartment (actually 2 apartments in same building) near Rue Cler.
Fly home from Paris
Some questions:
1. Am looking at Jurys Inn Islington in London, mainly based on proximity to Eurostar station and reasonable prices. Anyone stayed there? Have better suggestions?
2. Given some mobility issues are we best to do a "hop-on hop-off" for an sampling of London?
3. We have some flexibility on dates by 2 or 3 days. Eurostar more or less crowded/ expensive on weekends? Will Normandy crowds be significantly worse on weekend?
4. Best way to get from Gare du Nord to Bayeaux? (I think I read that you cannot get the train from that station) Given ages and luggage should we take a taxi to another station?
5. Versailles - Easy enough to take the train ourselves or do a tour from Paris? If we go on our own, are there guided tours once we get there or is that necessary?
6. Any other suggestions, dos or don'ts are welcome.

Thanks to everyone for all the help and answers I have found here in the past just by searching. Since some of these questions are a little more specific, I thought I'd post them.

flanneruk

If some of you have mobility issues, proximity to St Pancras is irrelevant, and I'd have second thoughts about Jury's. It's over half a mile walk from Jury's to the station, and the nearest tube (Angel) requires you to change to get to almost anywhere (apart from St Pancras) visitors might want to go.

Jury's is a bit beyond the NE edge of what most people call the centre, adjacent to the shopping bit of a largely residential area that can get quite boisterous at night with Young People out on the razzle. The area's stuffed with nice early 19th century terraced houses, and is very, very pleasant to stroll round (or even into the centre from). But if walking's a problem, I'd stay somewhere more central, close to any tube line. St Pancras is on a direct tube to practically everywhere in London.

The Paris Eurostar gets its traffic from both business and leisure. The balance varies according to the state of the economy and time of year (it gets booked out weeks ahead at the weekend round Valentine's Day, for example), and how that works out is close to impossible to predict. In a recession, with the £ weakish against the €, London-bound Continentals on a jaunt dominate traffic, so it gets busiest at weekends.

To see how things are now, choose a few dates 8-10 weeks away, go to the Eurostar site and play with options (bearing in mind that, by early December, Xmas shopping starts confusing things). It MIGHT be cheapest to buy a cheapo return and throw away the unused half, so explore that too.

It's sometimes claimed yo get lower prices if you tell the Eurostar site you live in Britain. So explore clearing cookies

Palenque

3. We have some flexibility on dates by 2 or 3 days. Eurostar more or less crowded/ expensive on weekends? Will Normandy crowds be significantly worse on weekend?>

yes Fri and weekends are much harder to get cheaper tickets, which are sold airline-style fashion in tiers with so many available in each - so early bird does get the worm there. Yup check www.eurostar.com for prices in Pounds but also always check, if in the U.S. RailEurope.com because they can be cheaper sometimes - seems little rhyme or reason to pricing Chunnel trains in pounds or dollars thru RailEurope so check both.

4. Best way to get from Gare du Nord to Bayeaux? (I think I read that you cannot get the train from that station) Given ages and luggage should we take a taxi to another station?

Yup like flanner says if mobility as issue take the cab. But the transfer is very easy with the new RER E metro from Gare du Nord to Gare Saint-Lazare (but even though all have lifts, etc still a bit of walking in labyrinth-like stations) at Saint Lazare follow signs for Grandes Lignes (mainline trains - suburban or banlieue (sp?) trains go from a different part of the station. Trains go about every hour or so to Caen and some go onto Bayeux - these are not TGV trains and though you may get a small discount online in advance at www.voyages-sncf.com but regular fares are not really that much so you can just buy your ticket at Saint Lazare and then take the next convenient train once you are actually at S Lazare station.

For lots of European trains for novices i always recommend www.ricksteves.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.seat61.com - lots of great info and not just the usual pass prices - you'll find info on the Chunnel trains as well. But really booking early as possible can save tons there - thru Rail Europe you can book up to nine months in advance - not sure on www.eurostar.com or www.eurostar.co.uk - in any case RailEurope or eurostar.com you get an e-ticket you print out yourself.

Lois22

Thanks to both of you for your input. Flanneruk, the information regarding the hotel has given me second thoughts and I am now looking at a hotel (NH Harrington Hall) in an area where I rented an apartment a couple of years ago.
Also, it is true that I am a novice at train travel (although I have loved the few experiences I have had) so all the tips re. trains have been most helpful.

KayF

I agree that Jury's Inn in Islington is not a great choice. We stayed there a few years ago and it's not in a particularly good area. You can walk down to Islington which is full of restaurants and shops but it's not close to any of the typical tourist sights.

If you want to be close to St Pancras, you could look at the Premier Inn (a cheapish chain) at Kings Cross. It's a 5 min walk from Kings Cross station, which is next door to St Pancras. We stayed at this hotel for one night and it's quite new, rooms were fine though a bit dark in the evening (poor lighting).

My parents, who are about 70, recently did a day trip by train to Versailles, by themselves and they managed fine but did say the queueing was terrible. It took ages to actually get inside Versailles and the crowds were pretty bad. We did a half day tour there years ago, got picked up at our Paris hotel, and the tour guide had already bought tickets so that might be a better idea for you. Though you will pay more for a tour. I should add that the tour guide didn't go inside Versailles with us, she mainly drove us there and back and directed us to various areas, like the gardens etc.

Kay