Just got back from our trip to London and Paris late last night, still very tired. We were in London and Paris March 23, 2003 to April 3, 2003.<BR><BR>I wanted those who are getting ready to travel and who might be anxious to know that we had a BLAST and were treated very kindly by people in both cities.<BR><BR>As some of you might recall, I was worried about anti-Americanism in Paris, but the people were warm and lovely and very helpful, especially if you at least make the attempt to speak a little French.<BR><BR>I know some of you are bored by trip reports, so please just skip this if you are not interested. I am hoping some of my hotel and sightseeing reports will be helpful to others. This will be long and I will break it up into many posts.<BR><BR>So - London first:<BR><BR>First off, thanks to all the Fodorites who recommended Ray Skinner for transfer service from LHR to our hotel (londontransfers.com). He was waiting for us just as he said he would, and we were delayed by almost two hours, but he still had a smile on his face. His price was only 39 pounds for both of us and he is funny and charming! I made sure to tell him that he has quite a following here and he got a chuckle out of that and said to tell you all &quot;thank you!&quot; He said Fodorites are his favorite clients because they are always so ready to experience London with an upbeat attitude. <BR>

cont.<BR><BR>We flew American Airlines - AMAZING legroom - wow, we were not cramped in the least bit, and I am 5'9&quot; so this was very important. Nice flight, good veggie meal, good movies and good service.<BR><BR>Phone card � be careful!! We bought one and were told to use a certain number on the back of the card to access the cheap rates from our hotel, only to find out that the access number we were told to use had a hefty surcharge we had to pay when we checked out (I was fuming and the hotel called the card company on my behalf, but no luck getting the charges waived). So, if you get a phone card with many different access numbers BE SURE you call the �help� number on the card and ask a representative which number to use, don�t just take the advice of the clerk who sells it to you from the store where you buy it. I now wish I had taken Rex�s advice to just buy a cell phone while there. We ended up paying much more. L<BR><BR>Hotel London: Thistle Bloomsbury Park on Southampton Row. Nice 3-star property. Rooms in the back are tiny, so be sure to ask for a room in the front (we did and were moved to a lovely room facing the street). It was noisy being right on the street, but we brought a portable sound machine to help block out some of the street noise and we were just fine. The staff was very helpful. Water pressure in the shower was great and there was plenty of hot water. There is a self-service launderette right behind the hotel, which came in very handy. It was a great way to meet some &quot;locals&quot; too. Some of my best conversations happened while I was doing our laundry one morning. LOL!<BR>

cont.<BR><BR>Bloomsbury area - SUPER location! Right by British Museum, Covent Garden, Soho, theatre district... could not have picked a better location. Right between two tube stops and on a major bus line. We visited South Kensington and Hyde Park areas, and while they are great areas, we much preferred being in Bloomsbury because we felt it was more locally flavored - meaning it felt more authentically like a neighborhood that we might live in.<BR><BR>While we were there in Bloomsbury, I also popped in to some other hotels to check them out. I saw the Montague, very nice tucked away on a quiet street on the corner of the British Museum. I also saw the Morgan hotel that so many Fodorites love and it was very cute. I also checked out the Thistle Bloomsbury Hotel (a 4-star property, in the same Thistle family as the hotel we stayed in), a lovely hotel, and the Waverly House, also lovely. I would stay at any of those hotels.<BR><BR>Day trip: We went to the Cotswolds on a bus tour. It was wonderful to see some of the gorgeous countryside and we had a great time. I would highly recommend it. It was with Evans and Evans (they use Grayline I think).<BR><BR>Sightseeing: We went to the &quot;Ceremony of the Keys,&quot; and while I guess it's cool to say that we saw it, I was a bit let down. We could not see well, they let too many people in. Also, there was major construction going on at the Tower of London, and somehow seeing the key ceremony while standing under scaffolding with big green and white construction signs was not quite what I envisioned. Still, like I said, at least we saw it. ;-) We also did the British Museum � we could have spent days there, it was simply stunning, and we went to the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, National Gallery... as many of the �must see� sights that we could fit in, but we also made sure to just sit and people watch too.<BR><BR>We took the &quot;hop on hop off&quot; bus on our first day, which was a great way to get to know the city.<BR>

Went to the TKTS booth to get tickets for &quot;My Fair Lady&quot; and got 6th row seats for only 20 pounds each! The Drury Lane theatre is amazing, so old and grand. The theatre district is so lively and fun at night, it is great to eat dinner there before your show. The performance was perfect, just lovely to see that particular musical while actually in London! On a quirky side note, they served ice cream in the theatre during intermission - I cannot imagine that happening in Los Angeles (the ushers yell at me if I bring water in! LOL!). That was a bit of a treat. ;-)<BR><BR>We went on an official �London Walk� and it was just amazing! We went on the one that goes through the old Kensington neighborhoods and we learned so many neat facts and saw so many charming little areas we would have otherwise never ever discovered. It was only 5 pounds per person and was WELL worth it. There were brochures for them in our hotel lobby, but you can also find them on www.london.walks.com We would have gone on some others had we more time in London. I would definitely recommend that people do at least one of the walks, I think they are the best things going in London!<BR><BR>You just meet your guide at the designated tube stop, no reservations required! Wear comfy shoes, especially if you do the particular �walk� that we did, our guide said out of all the walks, it is the one where you really do walk the most.<BR><BR>We tubed and took the bus everywhere, both were very easy to figure out and navigate. We also took some taxi rides in the black cabs, very reasonably set fares and great if you are tired or need to get somewhere fast.<BR><BR>We had a terrific time in Harrods � wow!! That is an amazing place! We shopped for some souvenirs and then had a snack in their caf� and food area. We had a lovely French cheese and fruit tray with some white wine. It was a great way to cap off our last night in London and get us ready for our next week in Paris!<BR>

So, on to Paris:<BR><BR>We took the Eurostar from London. It was very nice and fast, and it was a nice experience to go through the countryside. You can use USD, Euros or Pounds on the train, so don�t worry if you have not gotten any Euros yet or if you have some leftover Pounds you need to spend, you can use it to buy food on the train or at the station. There was also plenty of room for our suitcases on the train (two hefty medium size cases and two meaty carry-ons).<BR><BR>We had a VERY rocky start in Paris. I hurt my back getting our luggage off and could hardly walk. We were told that there was a major demonstration in St. Germain where our hotel was and that we would be better off to take the metro. This was impossible with our luggage, so we grabbed a cab anyway. Traffic was pure gridlock and our cab driver spoke no English, so we attempted our poor French as best we could. All I knew was when he kept saying �tres, tres tres mal� (very very very bad) that we were in trouble. LOL! Sure enough, he could not get us to our hotel. So he got us as close as he could and off we went, hobbling with all our luggage right through a huge war protest. My mom thought this was the ultimate insult � schlepping our luggage through crowds with banners saying �Americans go home� �America is murder.� Yikes � she was ticked, hot, sweaty, and grouchy! I, on the other hand was fascinated by it. What an interesting time in history, and here we were right in the middle of this thing� cool!<BR><BR>FINALLY we got to our hotel. Hotel Saint Paul on 43 Monsieur le Prince in 6eme. It was SO SO cute! We met Spootnick, the hotel cat (or hotel owner as some of the staff called him!). We got help with our luggage up to our lovely twin room on the 3rd floor (room 34, the best and biggest of the rooms). It did face the street, which though tiny, did have some restaurants and car activity, but again, we had our trusty sound machine. The hotel has double glazed windows, but the weather was sublimely spring-like so we had them open at night � this could be a problem in the summer if you are a light sleeper, but less so in the winter if you keep the windows closed. The hotel is very clean, the bathroom sparkling and great water pressure. The hotel had a hair dryer, mini bar and safe in the room. Very convenient items to have in the room.<BR><BR>The location is superb!! We walked to Notre Dame and Saint Chapelle, the Pantheon and the Contrescarpe area of the 5eme, Pont Neuf, the Louvre� really, we could walk anywhere from our hotel. I would totally recommend this area and this hotel to anyone.

cont.<BR><BR>While there I also popped into some other hotels: Hotel le Senateur: cute but nothing special. It’s in a good location near our hotel, off a busy street though. Hotel Clos Medicis, on the same street as our hotel, closer to larger busy street, but lovely lovely hotel with great rooms. All three of these hotels are right near Jardin Luxembourg, which is just gorgeous. Also checked out the Hotel Relais St. Germain, on a super great boutique shopping street, very charming hotel and rooms. I would stay there if I could afford it.<BR><BR>In the 7eme, we saw the Hotel Duquesne Eiffel because some friends were staying there. It’s a very charming hotel in a lovely area, right off Rue Cler. My friends had a superior category room with an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower. It is on a busy street, but they said with the windows closed they had no problems, and the hotel has a/c for the summer.<BR><BR>Also checked out one of the hotels in the Marais area that Rick Steves recommends, the Hotel des Chevaliers… ick! The bathroom had blackened caulking around the tub and the mattress looked saggy. The street it was on was okay I guess, but I would not stay there. I only saw one room though, so I can only comment on the hotel from that brief experience.<BR><BR>Sightseeing: Notre Dame, Saint Chappelle – both scored big wows! The stained glass and architecture of both are just stunning. The Eiffel Tower is not a let down. We went late in the day and saw it and took the elevator up top, then we walked up to the Trocadero area and had dinner and came strolling back toward the Tower at dark. It was pure magic! We took a river cruise at dusk, which was so much fun. We followed Rick Steve’s advice and took the smaller Vedettes de pont Neuf cruise. We took a bottle of wine and sat up top – heaven! To be honest, we used a lot of Rick Steve’s advice while in Paris and London and found his ideas and itineraries to be very helpful. We took his “historic Paris walk” and his “Rue Cler walk” and found them to be just right. If you stay in the 5th or 6th arrondissement, the historic Paris walk is very convenient. As in London, there is also an official “Paris Walks.” We did not end up taking one of the walks in Paris, but I wish we had. If they are anything like the ones in London, they must be super.<BR>

continued to end:<BR><BR>Food: We did a lot of people watching and enjoyed caf&eacute; au lait and croissants and crepes every day. (oh the creperies, especially several in the Contrescarpe area, are heaven, just heaven. We popped by one of the many that had a place to order crepes “to go” from a sidewalk window, then just strolled the little streets while munching a crepe… mmmmm!) and we drank wine and had delicious salads and desserts every day. The food in Paris is just so wonderful. Some of you might recall I was worried about finding enough vegetarian entries. I had not trouble and the waiters at every caf&eacute; and brasserie were very accommodating (although I did get a look a few times, like “well, you can take away the salmon if you insist, but you will be ruining the meal” LOL!). Caf&eacute; du Marche in 7eme is still closed for remodel, which was a bit of a bummer – but we found plenty of great places to eat. <BR><BR>The metro system in Paris is SO simple to figure out and so is the bus system. We had no problems at all. The metro is as easy as people here say, look for the line in the direction you want to go, and voila, easy peasy!<BR><BR>Hotel to airport – our hotel ordered a shuttle for us, only 24 euros for both of us. Lucky thing for us that we got transportation, as the metro went on strike the night before we left, so lots of people who did not arrange for airport transportation were quite frantic.<BR><BR>Flight home was on American Airlines again – wonderful. Charles de Gaulle airport has very good security and screening. I have also never encountered more helpful and smiling airport workers in any airport, ever. From the porters to our gate attendant, to the screeners and the cute customs officer who kindly honored our request to stamp our passports, we were treated very well and told to come back to visit!<BR><BR>We will definitely be back to both Paris and London!<BR><BR>Thanks to all you Fodorites who so patiently and kindly helped me plan this trip for me and my mom – it was a trip of a lifetime and would not have been half as nice had we not had the people here to help me plan it.<BR>

continued to end:<BR><BR>Food: We did a lot of people watching and enjoyed caf� au lait and croissants and crepes every day. (oh the creperies, especially several in the Contrescarpe area, are heaven, just heaven. We popped by one of the many that had a place to order crepes �to go� from a sidewalk window, then just strolled the little streets while munching a crepe� mmmmm!) and we drank wine and had delicious salads and desserts every day. The food in Paris is just so wonderful. Some of you might recall I was worried about finding enough vegetarian entries. I had not trouble and the waiters at every caf� and brasserie were very accommodating (although I did get a look a few times, like �well, you can take away the salmon if you insist, but you will be ruining the meal� LOL!). Caf� du Marche in 7eme is still closed for remodel, which was a bit of a bummer � but we found plenty of great places to eat. <BR><BR>The metro system in Paris is SO simple to figure out and so is the bus system. We had no problems at all. The metro is as easy as people here say, look for the line in the direction you want to go, and voila, easy peasy!<BR><BR>Hotel to airport � our hotel ordered a shuttle for us, only 24 euros for both of us. Lucky thing for us that we got transportation, as the metro went on strike the night before we left, so lots of people who did not arrange for airport transportation were quite frantic.<BR><BR>Flight home was on American Airlines again � wonderful. Charles de Gaulle airport has very good security and screening. I have also never encountered more helpful and smiling airport workers in any airport, ever. From the porters to our gate attendant, to the screeners and the cute customs officer who kindly honored our request to stamp our passports, we were treated very well and told to come back to visit!<BR><BR>We will definitely be back to both Paris and London!<BR><BR>Thanks to all you Fodorites who so patiently and kindly helped me plan this trip for me and my mom � it was a trip of a lifetime and would not have been half as nice had we not had the people here to help me plan it.<BR>

<BR>Wow, littletraveler, you managed to make me homesick for both London AND Paris! <BR>You did so much! that is great, we always leave planning the next trip because it is impossible to do everything, but you really did a lot!<BR>My friends stay in the St Paul every year when they go to Paris and always say they love it. They go to Paris all the time, and one of their favorite things is to just get up in the morning and walk. They will spend entire days, just walking all over the city.<BR>You also made me want a crepe<BR>How lovely that everything worked out well, I was hoping it would

Nice report - we're leaving Monday for London &amp; Paris (umpteen time for both). I'm glad you enjoyed your ride into London. I've recommended Ray Skinner many times on this forum and it's nice you got to meet him .. he is a character indeed!! We will see him in a few days. (all his drivers are nice too). It sure sounded like you had a great time (too bad about the scaffolding at the Tower tho .. but I guess you can't win them all).

Now you've done it!!! Got my mouth watering for crepes... and I don't return to Paris until September..... <BR>Thanks for the report.. so glad you enjoyed both cities. <BR>

Very nice report! Nice to see someone who's so positive. I was especially interested in your comments about the staff at CDG--doesn't sound like the place I'm used to!

littleraveler, you made me &quot;homesick&quot; for Paris, as well! I'm tasting the crepes from the window in Monmartre...chocolate and banana-YUM!<BR><BR>Paris is the perfect city to walk! Going back in October and, though I was already anxious, you've made me more so!<BR><BR>Very glad you had a wonderful trip!

Great report <BR><BR>BUT, I really need an answer to this (tried on another thread but no one offered a suggestion)<BR><BR>Throughout the thread there are about fifty &quot;&amp; # 65533&quot; (without the spaces). it makes several parts of the report unintelligible.<BR><BR>This is happening on several threads and I thought I was the only one seeing this. But on another thread two others jumped in saying they also are seeing this gibberish.<BR><BR>Is it a windows machine shortcut where you are entering some sort of symbol, but those of us on Macs are seeing &amp; # 65533 instead? This is happening a lot lately but this thread has more than any others I have seen. HELP!

janis,<BR>I only see the question marks on this thread and some others. I don't use a Mac though

Janis - How strange... I will say that I first did this trip report on Microsoft Word and then cut and pasted it into the posts here on Fodors. Could that be the problem? Maybe several of the characters that Word recognizes are recognized on this system?<BR><BR>For example, I see a lot of square box-like things where I orignally had either &quot; (quote marks) or - (hypens), but I am not seeing the 65533 thing you are talking about. What a drag! I don't want my trip report to be hard to read.<BR><BR>I will email the editors and ask them, I will report back here if I get an answer, okay Janis??<BR><BR>Glad so many of you are crepe lovers too! I am addicted now, too bad I can't get one for lunch now.

What a fabulous, fabulous report. I too am longing for a crepe and it's not something I would normally think about.<BR><BR>How did your Mother like the trip? Did you go to any museums in Paris?

Fabulous report, a great service to the board!<BR><BR>Just one clarification: Ray Skinner's wonderful London Transfers is found at London-Transfers.com. Without the hyphen, it's another outfit entirely.

<BR>I must go find some crepes tomorrow after reading this! Chocolate!<BR>Thank you littletraveler.

Oh thank you Anon for clarifying the website for Mr. skinner, yes, be sure everyone that if you want to use his service to get that website correct.<BR><BR>mclaurie - My mom had a great time, thanks for asking! I was a bit worried, we did a lot of walking in London so I knew she'd need to slow down in Paris, which was just fine really, since we just soaked up the scenes more. I am an &quot;on the go&quot; type of traveler and like to stay out sightseeing and strolling, eating, etc. until as late as possible. She wanted to be in the hotel by 7 or 8PM. I just had to remind myself that she is older and so I needed to adjust to that. We went to the Louvre and the Orsay while in Paris - both amazing!! The Orsay was simply the best for Impressionist paintings. The Louvre is stunning in its own right, an amazing showcase for a museum. Had we more time, we would have also went to the Rodin and some other smaller museums... oh well, next time.<BR><BR>I forgot to tell you all, if you are a cat lover - Spootnick adopted us at the Hotel Saint Paul in Paris! He rode the elevator up with us two nights in a row and slept with us. It was the most adorable thing and added a warm, homey touch. If you are not 'into' cats, I'm sure he would just politely ignore you.