Beatchick

Hi, sandi-travelnut! Michael charges by the day, currently 100 euros which includes as many people as you have in the party so you may split up the cost amongst you.

Trip before last I spent a day with Michael by myself and another day with shrimp56 and another lady (whom I adore but can't remember her Fodor's nom, for the moment). We split up the cost amongst the 3 of us.

Last week I spent 4 days with him and we had a wonderful time together. I'm working on a project and he was instrumental in helping me work out some of the kinks in it, suggesting shortcuts and prettier avenues on the itineraries I've created. I let him know months in advance exactly what I was looking for, sent him the lists, and he came through like a charm. He gets a big huge 2 thumbs up from me!

Susanna, I'm sorry you all had such a bad time with him. I can't imagine what went wrong.

RGTraveler

After hearing all the glowing reports on Michael on this thread and others, I intend on hiring him on my first trip to Paris next May.
However I'm not sure what itinerary I want him to plan. We'll be there a week so there's no need to try to jam everything into a day and I can probably do many of the major sights (ET, Arch, Orsay, Louvre) on my own.
If I hired him for 1 day, any suggestions on what kind of itinerary we should plan?

Beatchick

RGTraveler, it really depends on what your interests are. Michael gets a big kick out of planning itineraries geared to your specific tastes.

Sally, Judy, and I came up with the idea of doing a tour of the Philippe-Auguste wall sites. He planned it all, did a test run, wrote up tons of notes then we all did the walk.

Another time we did a tour of Belleville. He showed me working-class Paris and great views of the Eiffel Tower from Parc de Belleville, showing me beautiful walks through the parks, pointing out things of interests, details on buildings he loves, graffiti (commissioned by the city or otherwise). In Belleville, he loved showing me the juxtaposition of "old and new Paris".

Photos of the Working Class Paris tour:
http://www.pbase.com/beatchick/sunda...h&page=all

Philippe-Auguste Wall Tour:
http://www.pbase.com/beatchick/satur...h&page=all

From the previous trip, he knew I was working on a project. I told him exactly what my needs are and he fulfilled them. This trip we went to the Louvre one night, hung out at Cafe Marly then headed to the lower part of the Louvre so I might revisit the base of the towers. He pointed out details of the stone cutters marks, sort of trademark signs of various stonecutters. That was fun seeing this one's was a heart or that one's signature. Something I missed the first time around.

If you like art, tell him what specific types (Impressionist, Expressionist, modern, medieval) you're interested in or specific artists, he'll gear up a tour for you. Or he could do a Da Vinci Code tour for you. Or something specific to an historic era, i.e. gothic or medieval, Renaissance, pre-Revolution, Revolution, etc.. Or a tour of Arago markers, Wallace fountains, Art Nouveau architecture, just whatever you're interested in finding in Paris! I know he does shopping tours sometimes. The more specific you are, the better he's able to plan it.

Clarin

Susanna: No, you are not alone. We were completely unimpressed with Michael Osman. I agree that it would be pointless to go into detail about his shortcomings. Suffice it to say that, ultimately, we felt very sorry for him.

KateIP

'sorry for him'?? That's a little harsh. Too bad you didn't have a good time, but different strokes for different folks. No need to be insulting...

BeniciaChris

I was actually going to find the Portugal site and I saw the name Michael Osman. My husband & I were in Paris last year and a neighbor told me about Michael-I had to look up in my Christmas card book to see if this was the same Michael. It was. We had a delightful day with him-I would also reccomend him highly-he was fun and accomodating,doing everything we asked. I would use his services again-Chris

lauraallais

We will be spending a day with Michael in May. We are lookng forward to it, based on so many good reviews.

The few who have not have had a good time with Michael have not provided much feedback as to why. Could someone who did not enjoy Michael's service please provide some suggestions as to how it could have been improved. Maybe there is some specific information and/or guidelines that could help me plan ahead for a good day with him? What would you have done differently and why? Or why might someone not enjoy a day with him?

Thank you very much,
Laura

Judi

We spent a delightful day with Michael at the beginning of this month and plan to meet with him again on our next visit to Paris.

The good reviews far outweigh the negative ones and Laura, you will most likely have a good day with him. You can choose whatever itinerary you want.

geeper

Can't speak for Michael except for his great customer service in getting back to us, but had a great day with Scott. My wife and I told him to take us around, no planned itinerary, and he did just that. We went all kinds of places we probably would not have thought to go on our own, had lunch at a Mediterranean place in the Marais, visitied Jim Morrison's grave, talked a lot about art (my wife's interest) and history (mine). Best day we had in Paris.

I don't know if I would use them for seeing the "typical" sites of Paris like the Eiffel Tower as it can be done alone and get a lot of info just from the plaques etc., but Scott mentioned some areas at Notre Dame that we didn't even know about, so I guess it's up to you.

Enjoy

susanna

Clarin: Thanks for the confirmation, from your comment I see that we had the same person!

I do not intend to do a bashing of Michael, he is a very nice sincere person and I am happy to hear so many people enjoyed their day with him.

Let me just say that our day was neither "fun" nor "energetic" and we are a fun family that laughs A LOT! I don't believe that we had an itinerary that day, which was part of the problem. We ended up in Montemart and wanted to get a drink and bite to eat. He dropped us off at one of those awful cafes right on the square, a place I probably ate at the first time in Paris, that I would never return to.

Maybe he didn't like us, it's possible.

Clarin

Susanna - don't sell yourself short, he probably liked you! I know he liked us because when I cut the tour short he pleaded with us to stay with him & not leave him alone.

Like you, we didn't find the experience fun or energizing. We plodded along at a snails pace while all of Paris skipped by. Michael wouldn't take the subway (which we always use) because there's too much walking involved - his words, not mine - so we waited forever to ride buses over & over again.

We didn't have an itinerary either. Many reviewers state that this is fine. I told Michael that we are interested in EVERYTHING (no touristy places): architecture, small museums, off-the-beaten-path shops, etc. Unfortunately, he was hard-pressed to come up with any ideas & was constantly saying that he felt terribly guilty that he wasn't doing anything. That was certainly true, but I responded, cheerfully, that we were having a lovely time. Alas, after 5 hours of reassuring him that he was doing a fine job, I decided to cut our losses & call it a day, after paying him in full, of course. It was at this point that he became positively frantic, pleading with us not to go, and telling us how great it would be to go out to dinner & then "hang out" afterwards.

I hope this addresses laurallais' questions about Michael. He is certainly not an unkind or insincere person. I think it's a shame that whenever someone writes an unflattering post about their experience with him, they are skewered. Obviously he has an enormous fan club, and I couldn't be happier for him. (By the way, cigalechanta, Michael mentioned you while we were with him (April '06). I believe he'd recently spent some time with you.) I think it's helpful, however, if people who have a less than stellar experience with him are permitted to share their views.

lauraallais

Clarin and Susanna -
I really thank you both for sharing your "less than stellar" experiences. I sincerly hope no one skewers you for your honest feedback. Well-stated criticism is absolutely as important as positive feedback, if not more so.

We still plan to hire Michael, but I will definitely use your feedback to help me form my input to Michael, as well as my own expectations.

Thanks again,
Laura

susanna

Clarin: OMG....that is exactly the same kind of day we had, thank you so much for putting it into words, your second and third paragraphs say it all. Out visit was March 07 so not the same time as yours.

I'm just glad to know it wasn't just us.

lauraallais: Yes, it is good to read both sides and form your own conclusions without flaming the poster, thank you. I hope that you have the wonderful day that others here talk about.

maitaitom

Below is a recounting of our day with Michael (perhaps the most fun day I have spent in Paris on any of our many trips)in December 2006. Needless to say, Tracy and I think he is terrific.

"We woke up with a dilemma. Looking out the window as daylight finally arrived, it looked like it was going to be another spectacularly sunny day. On the other hand, we had Michael Osman arriving in a little less than an hour to take us on a tour of the Louvre. I could see Karl Malden as I thought, “What do you do? What do you do?”

As mentioned, Tracy and I had won a half-day tour with Michael on SlowTravel thanks to them liking my story about our Italian trip in 2005 (finally there was a reason why I put the wrong gas in the car). I really had no idea what to expect of Michael, since I had not read a lot about him before, other than he was an artist and was from Philadelphia. Was he fun? Was he stodgy? Was he interesting? Only time would tell.

I was in the bookstore (foreshadowing for later that morning) next to the hotel when he arrived and met Tracy. As soon as I met Michael, I knew that stodgy was out while fun and interesting were definitely in.

He was wearing a black hat, had a satchel under one arm and, as we were to find out, he had a lot more than a satchel full of information and tidbits about Paris. If you could picture in your mind the person you would want to give you a tour, this guy was it.

I sheepishly inquired whether he could change from a Louvre Tour to an outside walking tour. He replied that he had his Louvre game face on, but that he loved walking in Paris, so he replied, “Let’s see what happens.” I love spontaneity.

We walked through the Place de Concorde to the metro, where we rode to the Bastille area, passing by the Louvre. “Are you sure you don’t want to go?” Michael said. I hesitated, but said, “Yes.”

When we got off the metro, Michael showed us where we could go on a boat ride that would take us through locks. I hadn’t known that this little trip existed, and it sounded interesting for a future Paris trip (when it’s a little warmer).

On that morning, he first gave us a little Bastille history and as we walked through the Marais, he gave us information about Caron de Beaumarchais and his influence on the American Revolutionary War.

Then it was on to the Place des Vosges and more fun facts.

We walked through a courtyard to a bookstore in an old residence near the Place des Vosges where I suffered the second attack in two days, this time by a crazed Frenchman carrying a wadded up newspaper. As I was about to go through the door, the man (possibly retaliating for my pummeling of a blind man only 26 hours earlier on the other side of town), starting shouting in a crazed, and I might say, drunken barrage.

He then took his wadded up newspaper and beat me about the head and shoulders as I attempted to go in. I had learned yesterday that my now superhuman powers could nearly cause a blind guy to be hurled feet (perhaps yards) backward, so instead of retaliating from this merciless pummeling, I sought refuge in the Paris travel book section. I told them there was no bruising, but I believe I saw the remnants of newsprint on my new overcoat. It was at this point both Tracy AND Michael gave me the look.

Michael had taken us to the store because there are some very good books about Paris, although not all of them are in English.

After showing us a piece of the old Paris wall from the 11th and 12th centuries, Michael took us through the Jewish quarter of the Marais and showed us where an assassin killed six people at the Goldenberg restaurant on rue de Rosiers in August of 1982. He gave us a very interesting overview of the Marais and how it has changed through the years.

We then ducked into the Musée Carnavalet – Historie de Paris. Michael gave us a greatest hits tour, which took us to the paintings about the French Revolution, which included many going to their inglorious ends.

There’s nothing like some pictures of people getting their heads chopped off by a guillotine to give a person an appetite. After visiting Saint Paul’s church, the three of us had lunch outside at a little place just over the Seine on Ilé Saint-Louis. I had my first-ever Croques Monsieur, and it was trés delicious.

As we had crossed the bridge to the restaurant, the Pantheon loomed in the distance, through what Michael called “an impressionistic haze (I’ve got to use that the next time people come to our home near Los Angeles and complain about the smog).” It was also interesting how the sun never rose very high during the day at this time of year, which makes for some difficult picture taking at times.

After lunch, it was decision time again. It was still gorgeous, and Michael asked what we wanted to do. For some reason, I had never gone to the Pantheon on any previous visits, so I said, “Let’s head up there.”

We stopped by a church on the way (I cannot remember the name), and Michael said it was unlike the others. “You’ll see,” he said.

It wasn’t because of the church interior; it was the people that were a little, uh, off. I guess they don’t get a lot of visitors, because they were much more religious, and as we exited the church one guy was giving me “the look” of a different kind, the blank kind. It was a little weird, but well worth the experience to witness the Stepford Parishioner.

We walked up to the Pantheon, and when we got inside there were white nylon things hanging down from the ceiling, and they were filled with white Styrofoam. It looked like something out of Woody Allen’s “Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex.” Indeed, without too much imagination, they looked like sperm. “I never had anything like this in sixth-grade Sex-Ed,” I said.

I have no idea why we had never visited the Pantheon, but I liked it (even with the sperm hanging down). The only down side was that the crypts were closed that day, which was sad because, like that kid in the movie, “I like seeing dead people.”

As we walked out, and impressionistic haze shrouded the Eiffel Tower. Love that damn phrase.

Next stop was the nearby church of Saint Etienne-du-Mont, and we weren’t going to let a little thing like a funeral get in the way of tourism. Fortunately Michael knew the back entrance to the church where a few pieces of St. Genevieve, the patron saint, of Paris still reside, and where we would not disturb the people at the funeral.

Michael wanted to show us a back room where there are some spectacular pieces of stained glass that can be viewed. It was cool to be able to actually stand within an arm’s length of these pieces, because you could actually see the story that was depicted within each frame.

We bid au revoir to Genevieve and headed for the rue de Mouffetard and its shops, restaurants, patisseries, cafes and open markets. It has a great Parisian flavor to it (there was an organ grinder in front of one store and some kids were shooting a low budget movie on one of the side streets).

The markets are a little different from your farmers’ market at home. The fowl they sell still have the feathers (to show its freshness) while behind one of the counters there hung a freshly killed rabbit (I didn’t stick around long enough to watch them split hares).

In our quest to visit all ethnicities, our next stop was the Paris Mosque. It was nearing dusk, so we didn’t have a lot of time, but we ducked inside and there is a tearoom, a restaurant (that was very colorful and looked charming) along with a spa. We didn’t get back on this trip, but have marked it down for our next Paris experience.

We scurried through the Jardine des Plants and found Michael’s favorite carrousel in Paris, the one next to the Musée National d’ Historie Nuturelle. It had dinosaurs and other exotic creatures instead of horses. As a fan of Godzilla (only the one with Raymond Burr, please), it was fun. We also got a fun picture of a dragon in the park (not a real one, of course. It looked like it was made out of recycled cans).

Speaking of draggin’, we were all pretty tired by now from our Michael Marathon, so he decided for us to catch a bus back to the Place de Concorde, where we had virtually started our day.

We got on the #24 bus, but as we made a right turn over the Seine, Michael said, “This is strange. The bus is headed in the wrong direction.” Within a few minutes the opera lay ahead, Michael told us that we had just passed near Harry’s Bar (trip report foreshadowing again) and we were headed toward Printemps.

It just so happens that earlier in the day Michael had said the roof of Printemps gives you an amazing view out over Paris at night. As the bus headed toward the Printemps stop, Michael said, “You guys want to go see the view?”

Well, we never met a view we didn’t like, so up the 12,000 escalators we rode to the top of Printemps. Out on the roof, the view was mind-boggling. We got there just after 6 p.m., and the Eiffel Tower was doing its light show incroyable with what looked like a million sparkling colors dancing like a freaked-out 80s’ disco. Wow!

Behind us was Sacré-Coeur, basking in its lights on its façade. Other monuments (the Madeleine in its blue lights was astounding) and churches throughout Paris were lit, and words cannot describe how beautiful and exhilarating the experience was for us.

We told Michael that we had probably worn him out enough for the day, so we all walked back together to the metro station where we were to say good-bye. Sadly, our guide then had to be witness to another Maitaitom wardrobe malfunction.

Michael’s tour went above and beyond the call of duty, so I thought it would be nice to give him a substantial tip. Unfortunately I had worn my tighter black jeans on this day. Located inside my right front pocket were our two passports and my wallet, containing the aforementioned tip. I had also buttoned down my coat too far…again.

As I moved away from Michael and Tracy in a surreptitious attempt to get out my wallet, I started to go into my “wild and crazy guy” routine. I think Michael was about to call the Paris paramedics when Tracy said, “Oh no, it’s just my stupid husband trying to get his wallet out of his pocket.” Well, so much for the surprise tip, eh?

We bid farewell to Michael (and told him we’d take that Louvre Tour the next time we visited), and as we headed back to the hotel, we both marveled at how fun the day had been. If anyone wants an up close and personal guide to Paris, Michael gets our highest recommendation. He is very informative but above all, he is just a joy to spend the day with and learn about Paris."

lauraallais

Almost seems like two different people - one who takes the metro and enjoys walking vs. one who doesn't. Strange. Well, I guess everyone has their off days. I just hope he doesn't have one while we're with him!

nukesafe

I must post yet another glowing testimony for Michael. We used him for a day in October, and he was simply marvelous.

My wife is a glass artist, and, since Michael is an artist, we had asked him to concentrate our tour on things that might be of interest to her. Unfortunately, Paris is not big on glass art, but he made up for that by leading us into some fascinating place we would have never found for ourselves.

He also was wonderful for accommodating my being unable to do stairs very well by unobtrusively arranging for me to use special elevators at various places. Using buses, rather than the Metro, was another great thing he did, to both help with the stair business, and to allow us to see more wonderful things in the city one would never be aware of if one used the Metro.

Michael is not one of those "wild and crazy guys". He is a quiet and rather shy fellow who tries his best to share his love of Paris with his clients. He is not a clown who will amuse one with songs, dances and witty sayings - he is a conscientious and effective guide.

Just what we wanted. We recommend him unreservedly.

billxyz

Just came across this thread and see that we weren't crazy thinking this guy can't be everyone's cup of tea, to say the least, so thank you Susana and Clarin. Your honesty is refreshing and much appreciated. He's a pleader all right, and pleaded with us to post good things about him to continue his cash flow. The problem is, as he's very amiable anything said that's not good about him incites his "fans" and flamers to come on; so the sheer numbers who come to his rescue drown out any dissenters, who are out there but afraid to get pounced on. Mait aiton ("perhaps the most fun day I have spent in Paris on any of our many trips"): Give us all a break. The sites you name this guy astounded you with are some of the most touristic spots in Paris! Place de la Concorde? Place des Vosges, Jardin de Luxemburg? One asks oneself, so where did you go before on your many trips?? Don't answer. My advice to everyone: Shop around. You get what you pay for.

maitaitom

"The sites you name this guy astounded you with are some of the most touristic spots in Paris! Place de la Concorde? Place des Vosges, Jardin de Luxemburg? One asks oneself, so where did you go before on your many trips?? Don't answer. My advice to everyone: Shop around. You get what you pay for."

"Mait aiton"

Hmm, I think that attempt at a name might be me."

Gee Bill, we had an amazing day because he gave us some local insight into these places (and more) that we had visited before. He gave us some historical perspective and some insight to pieces of art that we might have overlooked. I am not a "fan" of Michael, but we had a great day walking around with him, so I will just leave it at that.

By the way, never once did he ask me to write any glowing report or "plead with us to post good things" so he could continue his tours. Sorry you had a bad day and didn't like his tour (to each his own), but the attitude of your post and some of your snarky comments ("one asks oneself, so where did you go before on your many trips") says a hell of a lot more about you than it does him.

cigalechanta

I don't believe a word you said. billxyz. He doesn't need anyone to put in a good word for him, he has enough business. You feel you are with a friend with him, not someone showing you around for the money.

cigalechanta

P.S. I noticed you just joined fodors!