concher

We tried to get Michael Osman but he didn't answer our requests. He is very popular. On this forum we got the name of Anthony Atkielski (www.atkielski.com) who does a walking and public transportation personal tours in Paris. He was great for us.

tdk320n

ttt

avalon

Mimi ( Cigale), Your post hit a note. Scott told us a story about Michael. He led a family around Paris for a day and at the end the father was paying him when the little boy piped up! "Michael's a tour guide, I thought he was our friend!"

We've done over 20 trips to Paris for as long as 3 weeks and we always find something new to do with Michael or see in a differnet light

NeoPatrick

It's always interesting when someone registers here to advertise or tout some business. But I think it's even more interesting when they do so to badmouth someone or some business.

My favorite part of the billxyz post was thanking two posters for their "honesty" in posting negatives. Was that meant to imply what it sounded like -- that anyone who gave positive reviews WASN'T being honest? Can we say "someone seems to have an axe to grind"?

cigalechanta

yes, Patrick, We CAN and will say that

billxyz

To all the Silencers and quick-to-Defenders: 1st, you have to sign up to post (in case you didn't notice). Next, "hmmm" to you "Maitaton." Tout some business?? Badmouth? I travel regularly to Paris, had my family with me for the 1st time and wanted to treat us all to a private tour. We use private guides in other cities and wanted a professional guide, not a "friend." Before you start calling people liars and pouncing, EVERYONE is entitled to their opinion. Is this how this forum works? I see I shouldve said "courage" rather than "honesty"! He seems to be a very sweet man and we wish him all the best. But again, he wasn't our cup of tea and apparently isn't everyone's. But who will dare say it now?

ps if anyone can recommend a professional private guide in Paris who's available within the next 10 days and doesn't cost an arm/leg, I'd greatly appreciate other recommendations. Thanks.

daveesl

"Some folks like pork chops,
Some folks like ham hocks,
Some folks like vegetable soup.
But Roland the Roadie likes Gertrude the Groupie,
and Gertrude the Groupie likes groups"

From the famous poet, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show.

teacherCanada

billxyz - I don't think anyone intends to limit your access to free speech or disallow your opinions of Michael. No guide can be all things to all people. You appear to be a well-travelled person, but since you have joined only recently and this is your first post, some on this board may turn to other well-travelled posters who have a solid and credible reputation. Your comment to maitaitom to "Give us all a break" denigrates his opinion in an attempt to promote yours. No one will dispute your right to an opinion. Some posters (like maitaitom (please note correct spelling)) have contributed to Fodor's for years relating their travel experiences, sharing hints and fostering goodwill on this board.

I hope you will continue to share your travel adventures so that we can all benefit from your experiences.

tC

NeoPatrick

"Before you start calling people liars and pouncing, EVERYONE is entitled to their opinion."

Yes, exactly. Which is why I pointed out that YOU seemed to be calling people with good opinions -- liars -- and thanking those with bad opinons for their honesty. Substituting the word "courage" would not make it much different. As teacherCanada is suggesting, it seems that YOU were trying to discount anyone else's different opinion from yours as being invalid -- much more so than the other way around.

Yes, of course we know you have to sign up to post. I think that was the point several were making. The only travel experience you've ever had worth signing up to talk about was to bad mouth this guide? Some people actually sign up to talk about positive things. I'd love to see you do some positive posts as well.

cigalechanta

billxyz, here's a list of a few guides with prices.
Michel is a buy because he doesn't charge per person.

http://www.infohub.com/tour_guides/paris_488.html

teacherCanada

billxyz - another guide I am aware of, but haven't used is Philippe Legendre. His website is
http://www.lesateliersdecuisine.com - or you can contact him at [email protected].

Philippe is an accomplished chef as well as a licensed guide in Paris. I met him a few weeks ago and he seems to be genuinely nice.

I am unsure of his daily rate.

tC

cw

Here's a list of guides from the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau:

http://en.parisinfo.com/paris-sights...-interpreters/

Since this isn't your first Paris visit and you've already seen the major sights, you'll probably want to customize the tour to match your interests.

cw

Meant to add that I hope you come back to report on your trip and what tour guide you used.

francebound

On our last visit to Paris Scott Emerson showed our family around and we all felt we had a good tour experience and value for the money. I realize the irony in saying this here, but just to confirm our experience with the other posters above, at no time was there any suggestion to us of our posting glowing reports anywhere.

billxyz

Thanks to all for links and suggestions. I'm now following up on some leads of my own. Francebound, an earlier poster stated, "he pleaded with us to stay with him & not leave us alone": At no time did Michael do that with us but does not mean it didn't happen? Neopatrick, if you reread the thread I was the one accused of lying ("I don't believe a word you said"). I note that in one of your own postings one can construe that you "bad mouth" a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco when you describe it as "very overpriced and disappointing, despite so many raves." Your personal experience with that restaurant was your own, tho I doubt if the owners appreciated it. My apologies to anyone who was offended but perhaps my original post should have simply said, "We were very disappointed, despite so many raves."

NeoPatrick

Yes, thank you for your correction. That WOULD have been better than thanking anyone who posted negative posts for being "honest" which seemed to say others weren't being honest. I think the other issue was that you didn't say one thing about the way your tour with Michael Osman went or what he did during the tour that you didn't like. Such specifics would have gone a lot further than simply refuting other people's praises of him. In fact you really didn't post anything to indicate you DID an actual tour with him at all. (Except to say he begged you to post positive comments about him).

Your comments about his taking people to "familiar" sites -- well, of course. For some people those are the very places they want a tour guide for -- to add greater insight and depth to their experience of those places. Did he take you to places OTHER than the places you discussed in advance you wanted to see? My impression is that there is much preplanning with him for what kind of experience you are seeking. If you told us that his tour did not meet those expectations and why, then your post would have had a lot more weight than simply "refuting" other peoples' praises of him.

susanna

I am not going to get into this debate about Michael, but I do want to confirm that billxyz is NOT crazy, he was also not our cup of tea!
I'm glad to see some other recs for tour guides so that others searching can make their own decisions.

MomDDTravel

I never had the joy of having Michael do a tour. When we went in O7 we were delayed by over 24 hours and had to cancel our tour with Scott. Michael was great in assisting us via email.

He was 100 percent booked when we went last Christmas - but let me share how kind he was in assisting me in getting health care for my then 11 year old daughter. I had never meet him in person but had emailed with him and was on facebook with him. I was extremely impressed with his wanting to be sure my dd got the health care and followed up with me.

Nothing to do with touring but he is a fine person... I would not hesitate to hire him and hope to return to Paris with my Mom and have the chance to do just that.

seafox

So here's my 2 cents. Every tour guide or tour company in Paris has a set of "standard tours" in their back pocket. These are usually best for first or second time visitors and as such ask for a "Paris Overview" or a "Louvre Tour" and that is what you will get. Where the track deviates is with custom tours. In this case both the guide and the traveller have reponsibility. The traveller needs to provide the guide with focused interest and the guide needs to provide the focused tour. I looked back at one of the postsfrom 2007 and a poster said they wanted to see "EVERYTHING". Come on, that's like going to a bookstore and saying "I want to read all the books in the store, help me start." So, with Michael/Scott discuss the standard tours and know that you will learn more than just the norm, or ask for a focused tour, but give him direction. Ask for a fashion tour, ask for a food tour ... just ask. Don't leave them trying to figure out your interests along the way.... that's not fair to either party. Here's and example; two years ago I asked Michael to put togeher a day where we could get a feel for Paris as Marie Antoinette saw it. The Paris before Hausmann. I gave him some links to some things I had read about and he constructed a great day for us. He provided the eye of "just imagine", linking things we had seen to places that were now fullly "Hausmanned" - it was great.....don't be afraid to get specific when you ask!

gpbos

It is interesting to read the various reviews and comments about Michael above. My own personal experience along with my traveling companion's was that Michael did a great job in exceeding our expectations as a tour guide over the four days we booked time with him. Our primary interest was to have Michael provide us guided tours in the Louvre (two days) and the Musee D'Orsay (one day). We discussed with him what our interests were and how we liked to tour museums and he adjusted his approach to align with our expectations. Having been on several guided tours through Travcoa and Crystal Cruises, we found Michael as good as, if not better, than many of the fine guides that we have used through these companies.

We also had Michael take us to Versailles for a full day tour of the main palace, the grounds, the Petit Trianon and Marie-Antoinette's 'Hamlet.' As noted by others above he will run you into the ground and try to take you to as many places as possible if you let him. We told him upfront that we do not like to rush through any place but wanted to spend time discussing the socio, political and historical context behind important works of art, or, the monument, church, or palace that we visited. He is very knowledgeable and will eagerly take time to go into a lot of depth (he's had a lot of art history classes which is particularly a plus when in the various art museums) if you want to have a dialog which we did.

We had a lot of fun with Michael over the four days we spent with him (we booked him during the period Dec 21 through Dec 26). We thought his daily rate was a bargain. Note that we paid for his lunch each day with us, bought him a two-day museum pass, as well as bought him a round-trip train ticket for Versailles. Even considering our total out-of-pocket expenses we thought Michael's cost was very reasonable. All in all, we would add our recommendation for him as a tour guide for Paris.