DH and I will soon be in Paris! This will be my umteenth visit, and his second. He is extremely interested in government, politics and finance, and I would like to arrange a tour in Paris oriented to these things. I wonder about visiting the assembly, senate, supreme court, stock exchange, etc.

Can you recommend a tour or guide? Do you have any advice for me?

Thanks!

You can email my long-time friend and very experienced tourguide Véronique Gain at [email protected] and ask. It's an interesting question, and knowing Véronique, she would be interested in something different like this. I have no idea what her experience in this area would be, but she's a brilliant tour guide and knows more about Paris than anyone I know.ee

Thank you!

There are guided tours of the Bourse

http://www.roughguides.com/travel/eu...he-bourse.aspx


and the National Assembly

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguid...ourbon_paris-i

The Centre des Monuments Nationaux runs guided tours of some of the places you're interested in. In French only, I think, though if you go to their website and look for "Visites conferences" you can read more in English.

Lots of the tours are listed weekly in Paris-Scope, and you just show up for them at a designated address or Metro stop.

For some tours (the Senat, Banque de France), you have to provide passport information ahead of time for security.

Many, many thanks. I will do more homework.

So far, I have asked 4 tour guides. 2 have not responded. 2 have said no.

Does anyone else have a tour guide you suggest I try?

Thanks.

Have you tried Michael Osman at [email protected] ?

Yes, Judy, I have.

Try here:

http://www.parisiendunjour.fr/

They will do custom tours, based on what your interests are; we are going on one in a couple of weeks. They will email you a proposed walk, you can yay or nay it. Do it now, they need lead time.

Try David Downie in Paris. He gives tours -- they are called Paris, Paris Tours -- and he is also the author of a political thriller about Paris called Paris, City of Night. He is extremely knowledgeable about French politics and European issues (he is also associate with the American Academy in Rome). He's a very good historian of Paris and its present day political and economic affairs.

[email protected]

If you look up his customized tour blog, you will see an emphasis on food/wine tours (he is also a gourmand with many books to his credit) and picturesque Paris (his wife is a photographer). But if he has the time, and will be in Paris in your time frame, he certainly has the knowledge to customize a tour for you of French government, finance and politics.

And do you have this list?

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

Thanks for the information. I am continuing with my inquiries and will report on my progress.