gladfon

Hello Everyone,
My adult daughter and I will be spending 9 days in France (excluding travel days) in May. The first 5 days will be spent in Paris, 2-1/2 days in Loire, and returning to Paris 2 days before our flight home. This will be my 4th trip to Paris and my daughter's first.

Please look at our itinerary and tell me if there's a better way of grouping the sites. I especially want to fit in two consecutive days of museum visits with two-day museum pass. I know I have a lot of sites listed for each day, but we will fit in what we can allowing time for cafe creme, ice cream stops and Luxembourg.

I will also buy a separate passport pass for Versaille so that it will include audioguide and fountains. My daughter is looking forward to seeing the Eiffel Tower so I have already arranged that for Saturday morning (we arrive on a Friday).

Thank you so much Fodorites. I rave about you to my family and friends. Gladys

Christina

??? I think you forgot the itinerary.

gladfon

Sorry, I forgot to list my itinerary!

Friday, Arrive at apt. about 10:30 a.m.
Settle in; shop for groceries; lunch
Walk around neighborhood:
St Andres Des Arts
Bouquinistes Quai St. Augustine
Vedette Pont Neuf
Luxembourg
La Sorbonne area

Saturday
Trocadero
Tour Eiffel (11 a.m.)
Rodin
Invalides

Sunday - Versaille
See Palace first, gardens,
Grand and Petite Trianon, Gardens

Monday
Musee de Louvre
Jacque-Mart Andre Museum
Champs Elysee Walk
Arc D'Triomph
See Place de Concord;Vendome Tuilleries

Tuesday
Marais/Montorgueill
Montmartre
Evening Paris Illuminations

Wednesday-Friday - Loire

Friday evening returning 6 pm

Saturday
Galleries Lafayette
Palais Garnier (tour)
Notre Dame (We'll be at Hotel Minerve.)
Ile de St. Louis
Rue Mouffetard, Harper, Huchette
Pantheon, St. Michel

Sunday - Home

Thanks again. Gladys

djkbooks

My recommendation would be to NOT plan your itinerary based on a two-day museum pass. For one thing, you never know about the weather.

annhig

hi gladys - which museums are your "musts" and which your "maybes"?

which are close-by to where you will be staying [and therefore easy to fit in] and which are further afield? Which are close to each other? [good ones to fit into your two-day window]

which days are you targetting for your museum treck?

HappyTrvlr

I'm confused. It looks like you're using the Museum Pass on Saturday(Invalides,museum and tomb?)and Rodin and Monday, Louvre, Tuilleries( do not miss L'Orangerie)Arc d'Triumphe, not contiguous days.

CarolA

I am with HappyTrvlr. The two day pass is good for two consecutive days. So if you use it on Saturday, you can't wait until Monday to use it again.

To do this you are going to need to swap Sat and Tuesday maybe.

Monday looks pretty bad IMHO. The Lourve is pretty much a "mind numbing" museum. I love it, but it can be overwhelming and to try to do it and everything else on your list is tough. I think the Andre might have to go. Plus the "timing" is just tough. The Lourve is several hours just for the highlights.

Another warning.... Saturday at Parisian Dept stores reminds me of the Friday after Thanksgiving at a US mall... on steriods!!!! I couldn't take it and I like to think of myself as a "good shopper" (Generally I will shop anywhere, anytime. )

AJPeabody

The museum pass is only useful if you are willing and able to do several museums per day for consecutive days. You will be risking MOS (Museum Overload Syndrome) which causes blurred vision, loss of critical artistic evaluative abilities, and blocking of long-term memory for art ("I think we went to that museum but I can't remember what they had.").

Also, you will find that many museums close one day a week, often Sunday, Monday or Tuesday, wasting museum pass opportunities if your pass days cover a closed day. Just saying.

gladfon

Hello again,
My laptop is giving me a lot of trouble posting tonight. This is my third attempt. My priority in museums is the Louvre where we plan to spend only a couple of hours in the Denon Wing. I would also like my daughter to see the Rodin. My favorite is D'Orsay, but it is presently undergoing renovation, and may not be worthwhile visiting at this time.
I know that the museum pass has to be used on consecutive days. I was looking for ideas in how to incorporate museum days into the itinerary I have, or a better one. On thinking it over, I guess I should forget about the museum pass.

My objective in visiting Galleries Lafayette is for Lisa to see the interior which I think is awesome, not shopping.

What do you think of the itinerary, and how can I improve on it. Thanks again. Gladys

Leely2

I always buy the museum pass for bunch of days and then end up under-using it. But I think your itinerary otherwise looks pretty good. The only problem I see is the Louvre/Jacquemart Andre day. That would be too much for me and I'm a big museum lover. Maybe if you get up really early and go to Jacquemart Andre first, hitting the Louvre after a long, relaxing lunch? The other crazy idea would be to go to the Louvre on Friday evening after you arrive from the Loire, when the museum is open late. That could be risky, though, if you're the types that like to linger.

Your Versailles day looks somewhat light to me, so perhaps there's room for smooshing something in there late. Are you morning people or sleep-late people? Tuesday also looks light, but I'd probably cram in Carnavalet or something.

Have a great trip and don't worry too much about your itinerary. How wonderful to share Paris with your daughter.

gladfon

Hi Leely2,
We are morning people and like to get an early start. Your idea of doing the Jacquemart Andre early in the day is a good one. We're planning on doing lunch there. I've read that their dining room is very pretty.

I haven't added anything to the Versaille day because I don't know how tired we'll be after all that walking there. If we're up to it, we can walk around the town which is lovely. It has a wonderful market.

On the Marais day we will spend time walking in the Jewish quarter and eating falafels. I grew up in downtown Manhattan in a Jewish neighborhood and miss falafels, knishes, etc.,since living in Florida. We want to see the Pompidour from outside, and the Place de Vosge. I would like to visit BHV for a little while.

I know we probably won't do everything. I usually plan my itinerary, and once there eliminate what is not doable or when I'm having fun and don't want to move on just for the sake of the schedule.

Thanks again, Gladys

annhig

hi Gladfon,

IMHO you have to balance the risk that you will not get your money's worth out of the museum pass against the convenience of not having to queue. we found the queuing to be a significant deterrent to visiting the musee d'orsay and only just put up with the shorter queues in the Louvre. if you are planning on visiting more museums, it might be worth paying extra to cover a longer part of your trip, just to be able to dip in and out when you want.

avalon

Even with the museum pass, you may have to wait at the Jacquemart Andre. We had advance purchase tickets and it still took almost an hour to get into the special exhibit. They only let so many thru at once and if a tour group shows up they let them in first. Second time this has happened to us there

avalon

Or enter the Louvre thru the Carousel de Louvre, there is never a line and tickets can be bought from a machine. You can also get tickets for the d" Orsay at FNAC stores. I can only take so much museum time a day and a pass would never be useful to me

MargrietVanderBanck

Make it a point to visit at least one of the Jewish bakeries in the Marais—I believe there are several on the rue des Rosiers. We bought wonderful poppy seed roll and strudels, and I'm sure there were all manner of knishes.

StCirq

I can't tell how you're planning to use the two-day pass, as you've got museums spread out on more than two days, but FWIW, the pass does not cover the Jaquemart-André. It does cover Versailles.

kayd

Maybe you should consider the 4-day pass -- you have museum/monument sites on three consecutive days as it is. You might find another site (Picasso, Carnavalet?) that you'd enjoy a quick look at on your fourth (Marais) day.

amyb

I'd go for the 4-day pass. That way you don't need to feel compelled to jam the pass-sites into 2 days and you may be tempted to go to other places you might not ordinarily. As you posted it, your itinerary for Sat/Sun/Mon has quite a few sites accepting the pass, and bear in mind the Pantheon (which is on your list at the end of the week) is covered by the pass as well, so if you're in the area for that, stop into the Cluny too to see the Unicorn tapestries. Swapping your Tuesday in Paris with the last Saturday in Paris might be wise, and add St. Chapelle while you're at Notre Dame...just a thought.

christabir

Since the Musee D'Orsay is closed, add the Marmottan and l'Orangerie. They were both great and pass is not valid.

Don't plan too much. The weather can force changes and you need time to experience Paris just hanging out at a cafe or park. You'll both be back to see the stuff you may miss.

gladfon

Hi all,
I'm having trouble posting again. After I had individual responses to your suggestions, I lost them.

The 4-day pass seems like a good idea. I'll see how many DD wants to see. I love them all, but we can't spend most of our time in museums. We'll have to cut back.


FYI D'Orsay is not closed; it is undergoing renovation. I'm just not clear on how many exhibits are open.

I can't switch Sat. & Tues. because I've heard the Jewish quarter is dead on Saturday. Also the Palais Garnier only has English tours on Wed., Sat., and Sun.

Thank you so much for your ideas and hints. It has helped put things in perspective. Gladys