Meto and museum passes; eating at the Eiffel Tower
 

We are wondering if we should get a metro and museum pass ahead of time or wait until we get there. Also, is eating at the Eiffel Tower worth it? How do you arrange it?

Terri - <BR> <BR>Wait until you get there. There is no need to get them ahead of time. Both are readily available at the airport. Metro passes can be purchased at all main Metro stations and the Museum pass is available at all museums it's good for. I think you can even get this at the main Metro stops too. <BR> <BR>Can't comment on the Eiffel Tower. <BR> <BR>:-)

Hi Terri <BR>I agree, buy the museum pass in one of the smaller museums that are convenient for you, so that you already have it when you want to go to the Orsay or the Louvre which usually have long entrance lines for ticket buyers. <BR>If you mean the Jules Verne restaurant in the Eiffel Tower, they are usually fully-booked months in advance. <BR>However, it is a setting and experience and food to remember, as long as the high price is within your budget and you don't mind dining with primarily fellow-travelers. "Worth it" is an individual call.

I agree that "worth it" is a matter of opinion. I ate at the other restaurant in the Eiffel tower--Altitude 95, I believe it is called. Personally, I don't know that I recommend it. The food that we had at this restaurant was not one of our favorite meals, and given the late time of sunset, and the fact that we weren't lucky enough to get a table with a view, we would have been just as pleased to go up the Eiffel Tower late at night (without the long, long, long liine) and had dinner elsewhere that night. That is one benefit that the Jules V. restaurant has I believe is their own lift...(you might want to do a scan on the name, my recollection is that there were some negative posts on here saying that it was overrated/low value for the expense.

Terri, <BR> <BR>We had dinner at the Altitude 95 in March and enjoyed it. We had a nice table overlooking the city and the food was pretty good (not outstanding) although the service was less than terrific. It was memorable nonetheless and something we would probably do again. <BR>

Jules Vernes does have its own elevator. It also has a star from Michelin. Even if you don't get a window seat, the inner dining area is elevated, so everyone gets a nice seat.

Haven't eaten at Altitude 95 but have been to Jules Verne once - a splurge for our honeymoon. I called a few months in advance to make the reservation. We had a window seat. The food was very good - we ordered the menu de gustastion because we were intimidated by the menu. The sommelier (sp?) suggested an $800 bottle of wine which we declined - asked for a lesser (much, much less) recommendation, and he obliged. Was it incredibly expensive? Yes. Was it worth it? For us, it was. We still talk about that night. We had a great time on our night out on the town in Paris. Would we do it again? Probably not.

It is very easy and convenient to pick up the museum and metro passes in Paris. There are many options to choose from, so it is wiser to wait until you get there. I tried in early April to get a reservation at the Jules Verne for late May and was told that they are fully booked until September of 2000...We opted for a dinner cruise on the Seine. We told them in advance that it was for an anniversary celebration and had a wonderful table. I would recommend it for a special evening. It was a bit expensive, about $100 per person, but the meal was excellent and included a bottle of champagne and a bottle of wine, great service and a view of the city from the Seine that was absolutely spectacular!

When we were in Paris for a week in Ot. '98, we purchased a week's Metro Pass--I believe it is called a Carte Orange. It is what the residents would buy--not the Tourist Pass. We needed a small picture to go withthe pass. We bought it at the Rue Cambronne Station. It's cost was less than $20 for the week and that was quite ecconomical. There is also a 10 ticket pack, but we felt that with the Week's pass--which we only used for 6 days, we got a better value. No one ever checked our pass, but there is a high fine if you ride without tickets. We bought our museum tickets at one of the Museums. We bought individually as we did not plan to go to all as it would probably have been too overwhelming and too rushed. On some evenings, some Museums are open late--but as it often happens in Paris, there can be sudden "work slowdowns" or strikes and you could be out-of-luck, as the museums will close. Usually this is announced in advance, but it does cause problems.

Just returned from France. We used the 10-ticket deal on the metros (called carnet). Would have used the week pass, but it starts ONLY on Monday and runs thru Sunday, which didn't help us. The museum pass was worth its weight in gold in getting in places without waiting in lines. Especially (in our case) at the Orsay. We bought ours at a metro station. Very simple. <BR>