Many, many thanks to those of you who posted trip reports and information, and also kindly responded to a number of the questions I posed in getting ready for my trip to Paris. Part of the reason for the trip was to spend time with my niece, who is studying at the Sorbonne for the semester. It was wonderful to see her and also a key benefit for me since except for part of one day, I had my own personal, French speaking tour guide! My last trip tp Paris was about 20 years ago and I’m sure I’ll return again so didn’t feel terribly compelled to cram in all the sights. I arrived on Wednesday, May 2 and returned home on Tuesday, May 8, and the weather during my stay was cooler than I had expected (since it was very warm the previous week) but comfortable for all the walking we did (and I wished I had brought a pedometer with me!). There was some on and off rain showers, but nothing heavy enough for an umbrella.

Surprises:

- there are a tremendous number of motorcycles in the city….and it seems that it’s legal to ride them on the sidewalk as long as you’re on the way to a parking space.
- You can definitely tell the tourists as they’re the ones who are wearing sneakers. I was one of them since I would have been crippled if I wore flats like the vast majority of women I saw.
- It would be very difficult to travel around the city on public transportation if you are handicapped or need assistance. There’s very long distances that need to be traveled many times when changing metro lines and lots, and lots of steps. I would get very excited whenever I saw an escalator or, in rare circumstances, an elevator.
- I’m not really a sweets person but seemed to develop an addiction in Paris and had at least 2/day. I love the macaroon in Paris! So different from the ones we have in the US and I even brought some back home and they were nicely packaged individually at Monoprix.
- I really loved taking the bus and next trip would try and find a bus route/schedule to help!

Miscellaneous

- My prep time was pretty short (a couple months) and in addition to reading a number of books, I also printed lots of information from this and other sites. It was really helpful to me to organize a lot of the information on a chart that divided attractions, shops, restaurants, etc. by arrondissements. Another Fodor’s person had a similar chart and I just switched it from excel to word and refined so it was easier for me to use.
- I’m a shopper and made a lot of notes about little unique things to buy, including the cheap Eiffel towers on keychains (snap off the keychain and use a ribbon to make a cute Christmas ornament), intralgis (the pain reliever – jury is out as to if it’s really better than US products for me), and basil thyme dish detergent from Monoprix.

Apartment process

- This was the first time I’ve rented a vacation apartment and was inspired by the many comments on this site….and it was well worth the challenge and aggravation (at times). I researched more apartments than I can count (50 something different sites), but ended up being very pleased with my selection. For someone who is very used to the convenience of booking hotels on line, it was very strange to wire funds to some unknown person!

Day 1 – Wednesday

Arrived at CDG after weather delays in Newark. I used points to upgrade to first class so can’t complain about the flight! The immigration/customs part was painless and very quick and luggage also came out very quickly. I used my cell phone at that point to call the Apartment owner and we made arrangements to meet there. Once I got into the main part of the airport, I called the shuttle (www.airport-connection.com). Since the plane was delayed, I missed the original departure time, but they arrived in 15 minutes or so.
The shuttle was fine except that the driver had a hard time finding the street where the apartment (www.vrbo.com/4036) was located, and ended up leaving me at the far end (part of the street is blocked off to car traffic). In my daze, I went into the wrong building (#2 instead of #24) and then was upset to find that the building was being renovated and the elevator was out of order. After I dragged my very heavy suitcase up two flights of stairs (cursing to myself all the way), I realized I was in the wrong building (or had been taken advantage of) and went back to the street. Fortunately, after a quick walk, I found the correct apartment…and my niece waiting for me!
Pascal’s partner, Christian, was in the apartment and he explained everything to my niece in French. The one thing we neglected to ask about concerned the keys and it was difficult to get them to work in the door each time.
The apartment is exactly as described. Kind of small, but fully equipped kitchen, with microwave, refrigerator, coffee machine, oven top, washer/dryer combo, tv, vcr, telephone with answering machine, hairdryer and dsl connection. My niece used the washer/dryer and it took about 2 hours and was very noisy, but cleaned her clothes. She really appreciated having a dryer since I guess they’re not common in Paris. There were limited English speaking channels on the tv (CNN, Skynews, and MTV, I think).
The bedroom was fine and there is a closet. There was a separate room for the toilet and this room is VERY SMALL, and a separate room for the bathtub/shower combo and sink. I’m not sure if that is common or not. The other unusual part of the apartment layout is that you go into both rooms from the bedroom, so that might be a bit weird if two couples are renting.
The first night, I left the bedroom window open for fresh air and it was very noisy in the morning. But, when the windows are closed, it’s really very quiet. The AC unit is in the living room and worked very well. There is an elevator in the building, but you do have to go up about 10 steps to get to it, and then another 5-6 steps to get to the floor. There isn’t an alarm clock but I used by cell phone alarm for the day we were leaving.
The first day is a bit of a blur but I do recall walking all over the Marais, including down to Hotel d’Ville. The immediate area around the apartment has a tremendous number of stores that are only for wholesalers. But, there’s also an ATM, monoprix, grocery store, pharmacy, and a number of restaurants within very easy walk. One of the exits to the Arts de Metiers metro stop is right across the street practically, and the entrance is just a block or so down the street, making this a very convenient location.
We did stop at Ed’s (the cheapest grocery store according to my niece) to pick up some supplies for the apartment, and also visited my first Monoprix and La Vaissellerie. In my excitement of discovering Monoprix early on the walk, I purchased a number of small jars of mustards, sauces and a few other things….and then had to carry them all over. Little did we realize that a branch was just 2 blocks from the apartment!
La Vaissellerie was a great store. It’s primarily white china, but they have a number of interesting things that would be great souvenirs and everything seemed reasonably priced. This store also has branches throughout the city, including one that’s just up the street from Printemps. They have a great selection of the small spoons that are used with coffee (and were around 2 euros each).
Dinner was at LaPierre de Marais, 52 rue de Bretagne, where I had my first Berthillon ice cream and we went back on our last night for coffee and one more taste of Berthillon ice cream

Day 2 – Thursday

My initial plan was to go to the l ‘Orangerie, Musee D’Orsay, and the Louvre. My niece’s comment was that it might be a bit too much museum time and we played it by ear. I didn’t buy a museum pass, but only ever waited 5-10 minutes. Really enjoyed the Orangerie, and LOVED the D’Orsay. Wonderful collection of artwork, including several rooms of pastel paintings that I hadn’t seen previously. They have a very nice café on the top floor and it also has an outside terrace with a wonderful view of the city and the seine.
I haven’t traveled to Europe in quite a while and was disappointed in many of my fellow tourists who carried backpacks (and swung them around without a care in the world as to who they were hitting) and the people with digital cameras who marched from painting to painting taking pictures….without really looking at the painting. I’d be very impressed if they could remember the name/artist…….and personally would prefer to purchase a book of the exhibit or postcards!
After leaving the D’Orsay, we went to my niece’s apartment to pick up her computer and a few other things and then to Cremerie Restaurant Polidor (41, rue Monsieur-Le-Prince, 75006) for dinner. Very nice restaurant and reasonably priced (sorry…don’t remember the total cost).

Day 3 – Friday

This was the one day that I was on my own for a good period of time. I ventured out onto the metro by myself and had no problem. The system really is very similar to the DC metro. First stop was Bon Marche, where I wandered around a bit, and found the store to be sort of a combination of Bloomingdales, Saks and Nieman Marcus. Interesting fashions, but I preferred the stores in the Marais. Their food halls were quite good and I did buy some fleur de sel there. I got a kick out of the samples in the food halls – Snyders pretzels with honey mustard!
Then, on to Notre Dame, which was truly amazing. The initial line was intimidating but moved very quickly. Once inside, it was easy to wander through at your own pace. Again, somewhat surprised by the behavior of my fellow tourists but moved past that. Afterwards, I did walk over to the Deportation Memorial, but it was closed, and then did a little shopping in the stores that are across from the church.
Met my niece for lunch and then we went to La Conciergere. Very interesting prison museum, that was a sharp contrast to Versailles (where we went the next day). It’s not a polished museum in the least (the dummys used to represent Marie Antoinette and her guards were funny) but very well maintained and tells an important story.

Next was on to the market at Rue de Mouffetard and some wandering around the stores in the area. The fruits and vegetables looked amazing but we had quite a bit more ground to cover before going back to the apartment, so didn’t buy anything. Had coffee and a wonderful dessert at mouff’tartes, around 50 rue Mouffetard (across from the ATM).
We then found our way to Printemps and enjoyed wandering around the store until it closed. It has an amazing variety of merchandise, and I particularly loved the home section. Also was surprised to find a very small crafts area, where they sold yarn, some kits, and some cross stitch floss. Of course, this was the one trip where I didn’t run out of floss with my sewing! The only purchase was some cute candles shaped like macaroons!

Day 4 – Saturday

Caught the metro to RER and then on to Versaille! The only somewhat challenging part was in purchasing the Versaille passport. I had read about this in one of the travel books and wanted the passport since we were planning on spending a significant time there and wanted to see the gardens and Domaine de Marie Antoinette, in addition to the chateau.
The book indicated you could purchase the passport at the metro stations. At Arts et Metier, they indicated it was no longer for sale. We decided to wait then until the RER station where it was, of course, still being sold. The only difference between the travel book description and the actual pass was that it did not provide free access to the tram, but you had to pay 4.5 euros instead of 6 euros.
Before actually going to the chateau, we walked into the town to have lunch and went into some of the shops. This was a nice, quiet change of pace from Paris and we found a nice discount bookstore (well, nice for my niece because everything was in French).
Versaille is, of course, amazing, and we were there on the weekend so did see some of the fountain spectacle. Personally, I could have done without the music and just enjoyed the beauty of the fountains transposed against the amazing gardens. In order to see as much as possible, the tram was a necessary evil (imho). Next time, I would be more prepared (ie with a backpack) and rent a bike. The chateau was impressive and Hall of Mirrors had just reopened, although there was still more work to be done before the official opening in June. We finished our visit just as the Mesdames Apartments were closing,
After a quick stop at Monoprix to pick up fixings for dinner, we got back to the train station as a train was getting ready to leave, but they do seem to run very frequently.

Day 5 –Sunday

This was the first Sunday of the month so many museums were open for free (note that the Montmarte Museum is a private museum and was not free). First stop was Carnavalet, the Paris City Museum. This is normally free and is worth visiting. The collection is spread out over two connected mansions and it is very confusing to follow the maps provided (in the museum itself), especially when they close off sections. So we ended up climbing a few more staircases than necessary, which was probably good preparation for Sacre-coeur! We had lunch at a café in the area and then on to Montmarte. On the way to the metro, we walked along a street with artists displaying their wares, and I picked up a cute handpainted scarf.
The steps up are impressive and practically the first thing you see. However, you do have to get past an array of people selling different things and trying to tie thread bracelets onto your wrist.
After some time in Sacre-coeur, we wandered our way down the hill, stopping at Drole D’Endroit Pour Une Rencontre (46 Rue Caulaincourt) for iced tea and coffee and an amazing dessert. This was the best dessert I had on the trip --- cheesecake with caramel sauce and a scoop of home made caramel ice cream.
Newly energized, we continued down the hill into the cemetery and wondered around for about an hour, before returning to the metro (with some shopping in between).

As we knew, many restaurants really are closed on Sunday and more perhaps on this Sunday due to the election. We did end up having dinner at a café by the apartment (only unmemorable meal of the trip). The café was packed and noisy but drew silent as it became close to 8 pm when election results were unannounced. The patrons were not pleased with the results and the volume in the café increased significantly. We were just finishing our meal and my niece was a bit concerned about rioting in our area (especially when we saw a large group of police walking down the street). We made our way home without a problem, but police were everywhere (including in the very small street of our apartment). We watched the speeches on TV and did see that there was some rioting, but closer to the Bastille.


Day 6 – Monday

This was my shopping day (although I did toy briefly with going to the Louvre instead). First stop was Galleries Lafayette and it is also an impressive store. The dome is beautiful. We spent some time in their food halls for me to purchase some more souvenirs for home and also checked out their Paris souvenirs department (definitely one of the largest I’ve seen in a department store). It’s right by their version of a food court and we stopped for coffee/tea in the cafeteria.
Lunch had been a little earlier and was sandwiches from Pauls…eaten in a park in the area. We were never able to find the Vom Fass section where you can bottle vinegars and liquers (I was mostly interested in seeing the bottles for sale), despite asking at several information desks,

Next stop was a seine boat cruise with Vendettes du Pont-Neuf. I found a coupon for a 2 euro discount on line and the cruise was nice, although the guides were pretty unenthusiastic (we understood that it must be difficult to get excited about repeating the same pitch 7-8 times/day). Especially interesting to see the large number of homeless people who have pitched tents along the seine! Then…off to Ile de la Cite to see the Deportation Memorial (which was open this time). It’s very nicely done and worth visiting. Next stop was some shopping on Ile St Louis and then dinner at La Brasserie de l'Ile St. Louis (the description of their service as no nonsense is entirely accurate).

While I loved window shopping in the Marais, the place where I actually bought things was here. Make sure to check out Pylones for very cute and quirky gift items. Also, beautiful Venetian art glass beads, masks and necklaces at Il Campiello. We stopped at the Cacao et Chocolat store to pick up some more presents for family and friends at home.

The Berthillon shop was closed (what a disappointment) although we were really too full from dinner so walked back to the apartment, stopping to have one last “fix” of Berthillon ice cream at LaPierre de Marais.

Day 7 – Tuesday

The shuttle from Airport Connection arrived right on time and I was off, very sad to leave my niece. I ended up being at the airport quite early but security, etc. was very painless, and it was a smooth trip home…and back to reality!

Great trip report NS. I enjoyed relivinng places I have visited and learning of a few new things to do on the next trip. Well written and very informative. Thank you.

NSO7950,
May I ask where your niece stayed? Since I have a daughter going to the Sorbonne in Oct. I wonder where her apartment is, and how did she find it.
Thanks.

Her apartment is in te 14th arr. and is an easy bus ride to most of her classes. Her program started in January with a 2 week hotel stay and during that time, she met 3 girls to share an apartment with and this was the first apartment they looked at. I believe the school provided them with leads. Their rent is 400 euros/month total so very reasonable, but it is a 6 floor walk up!

Nice report - thanks for sharing