I will be doing the reverse journey in July and did quite a bit of research on ways to get from Florence to Paris. I originally thought about taking the night train but decided that the price for the train was going to be more than the cost of a flight and hotel for the night put togther (and I have to admit the idea of sharing one bathroom with several sleeper compartments was less than appealing to me). I finally decided on a flight with Easyjet that cost less than $100 even with some extra baggage weight. The flight goes back and forth between Paris Orly airport and Pisa. I decided to take the train from Florence to Pisa (about 1 hour), spend the night in Pisa and see the tower, cathedral, etc., then get on the plane to Paris early the next morning. I get to Paris at about the same time I would have on the train, save about $200 and get an opportunity to see something of an Italian city I've never visited. Take a look at the Easyjet scedules. You may be able to just get a shuttle from CDG to Orly and fly directly to Pisa, start your Italian vacation there for a night, then take the train to Florence the next morning refreshed.

Betsy

Hi tk,

OK, you are locked into your plane tickets and you are locked into your train tickets.

You are in the catering game.

Laduree 21 r Bonaparte for Macarons and chocolates.
Pierre Herme 72 r Bonaparte for almond croissants.

They are very near San Sulpice, Eglise St Germaine des Pres and the Luxembourg gardens.

The food hall of the Bon Marche isn't far away.

Christian Constant is at 37 r Assas and Jean-Paul Hevin (SARL) is at 3 r Vavin, also near the Jardins Luxembourg.

You can look up others at
http://www.pagesjaunes.fr/trouverles...nnels/index.do

I wouldn't suggest the catacombs and the Louvre for such a short visit, but that is up to you.

I do suggest the Musee d'Orsay, the Orangerie, Montmartre and Sacre Coeur.
http://www.musee-orangerie.fr/

Enjoy your visit.

>>Louvre and the d'Orsay have so much more than painted art. My daughter's favorite section of the Louvre is the Egyptian Antiquities<,

Yep - I agree. I just abbreviated my suggestion to make a point. We spent a day in the Louvre, and never saw a painting. Loved the Bonapart appartments and the Egyptian & Greek stuff. Went to the Orsay to see the interior of the train station, a few impressionists that I like, and the Art Nouveau stuff. Did the Picasso museum in less than 10 mins. Spent about a week in the 16th admiring the building architecture.

Stu Dudley

I would definitely get a hotel room for that first day in Paris, and I would think about renting it for 2 nights- the night before your arrival and the night of your arrival. That way you'll have immediate access to the room when you get into Paris (I'm assuming you'll have an early morning arrival) and then have it all day until you leave for your train.

I know I've seen a couple of posts before about inexpensive hotels near the Gare du Nord, if you do a search I'm sure they'll come up.

As for Paris itself, as others have said it comes down to personal preference. Is there a particular type or period of art you're interested in?

The Louvre website has pretty detailed information about the arrangement and location of the collections and even individual pieces. I would study the website. You could sign up for a tour if you're unsure, or figure out a plan of attack beforehand if you want to DIY. When I was in Paris last April, I stuck with the "Northern School" painters and those galleries alone were huge. I spent about 4 hours in that section alone, but I am slower at museums than the average.

If you like post-Impressionist painters, then the Musee l'Orangerie is a wonderful gallery, small and intimate. The Tuillerie Gardens are right there, and the Place Concorde.

I'm a huge fan of the Pompidou Centre. The modern collection is outstanding, the building unique, and the outside escalators give you a beautiful view over the city. The Stravinski Fountain is around the corner and you're set to begin wondering the Marais.

I went to the Catacombs several years ago and really enjoyed them. But I probably wouldn't make them a priority with only 3 days. They will take a good 2.5-3 hour chunk of time, with time travelling on the metro included. They aren't that near other major sites, so it's not that easy to efficiently group the Catacombs with something else.

If you are at all remotely interested in the theater, I'd really recommend going to see an opera or ballet at the Palais Garnier (Paris Opera). The theater is gorgeous and the ceiling was painted by Chagall. You can often get cheap seat ballet tickets for under 20 euros a pop.

>>>I went to the Catacombs several years ago and really enjoyed them<<<

I should re-phrase that. I enjoyed them in a Grande Guignol kind of way. There are an unimaginable number of bones, in some areas the piles of bones stretch back as far as your eye can see. I didn't expect to be bothered by it but I guess I'm made of weaker stuff than I'd thought. I did get a little freaked out after a while and it's a bit claustrophobic and uncomfortable down there.

So was kind of fun and definitely freakish and I'm glad I went because it was such a novelty, but that was during a two week stay in Paris so we had time on our side. With only three days I'd spend my time in Paris above ground.

Ok, my mom is here with me and she's reading the posts with me. We are both not really "artsy" people - I think we are more into the building architecture and food related things - such as markets and shops. So - maybe we skip the Louvre all together and concentrate on Notre Dame, Sacre Coure, Eiffel Tower and the food shops/markets. I've heard Rue Cler is a nice place to visit. Comments?

Oh - and thank you so much for your suggestions/comments - we are really appreciating them! It's made us rethink a few things - just wish we would have posted this before we booked those darn train tickets!

I just re-read my post and I see I mentioned Gare du Nord- sorry about that, it's completely wrong, I don't know what I was thinking.

I think the Richard Lenoir market is open on Thursdays, and that's not too far from the Bercy train station.

Are your train tickets nonrefundable?

The Gare du Nord is close to the Bercy train station. Bercy does not feel like Paris to me.

Repeat Apres_Londee - are they refundable????

My thought. If you loose the train money, what is 2 good night's sleep in a comfortable hotel and more time "being there" worth to you & your mom???

Stu Dudley

The tickets are semi-refundable - we lose 50% or $500.

Ouch. $500 is rough. But on the other hand, it's less than $200 per person. Tough call and of course it depends on your own budget and financial circumstances, etc.

I keep wanting to urge you to stay in Paris for the full week, and then plan on Florence for a week as another trip with your mom. If it's cost alone that makes you say that this your mom's only opportunity to go to Europe, then please know there are fairly inexpensive apartments to be found in both cities, and you can save so much money by having breakfast and the occasional dinner at home.

If you are at all leaning towards doing Paris only, then I would say eat the cost of the train tickets because you can make it up in savings if you get an apartment and stay put.

If both Paris and Florence are still on the agenda, then if it were me I would probably take the hit on the tickets and fly instead. Air France flies directly from CDG to Florence, I would go with them over Ryan Air or Easyjet for the flight over because you'll save a lot of time and aggravation (Ryan Air and Easyjet fly from Beauvais and Orly into Pisa).

On the way back to Paris, Ryan Air or Easyjet might be okay. You could take an afternoon train to Pisa, fly to Paris, and then get a taxi directly to your hotel.

Hi tk,

>just wish we would have posted this before we booked those darn train tickets!<

OK, you learned something. Apply it in the future.

Your problem now is:

Eat the $500, and have a less stressful trip OR plan for the stress.

The worst that will happen is that you will be able to talk about what a rookie mistake you made for several years.

With proper embellishment, you can dine out on the story for weeks.

Enjoy your adventure.

Just wanted to put in a plug for not over-planning your Paris itinerary. If you don't love museums, don't feel that you need to spend time in the Louvre just because it's a famous Paris sight.

To me, just wandering around, having amazing meals, popping into cafes for a coffee, glass of wine, or my favorite hot-weather French drink, a citron presse', gives me much more of the "vibe" of life in Paris. Sights are all around you- the entire city is so beautiful. Take some time to go with the flow and just soak it all in.

If you are into food, the markets are wonderful just to wander and view, even if you can't cook with the ingredients. I like the one near the Bastille. Here is a good video clip http://www.geobeats.com/videoclips/f...astille-market

For my money, it isn't worth standing in line to go up the Eiffel Tower. It is more beautiful to just see it from the ground and from various locales around Paris. It is usually much faster to just go up the Arc de Triomph (and I think it is on the museum pass, too) where you can get a fabulous view of the city.

If you really like seeing things from on high, and are in good shape, walking up the many twisty stairs of Notre Dame and seeing the city with gargoyles all around you is extremely cool. We got there extremely early in the morning and were near the front of the line so that the wait and crowd going up wasn't bad.

But overall, my vote is to worry less about hitting a bunch of sights for each day and take more time to just savour the overall experience with a few sights or restaurants planned for each day to give you a direction for your wandering.

I've been wanting to reply back to this posting and just never got around to it. My trip last May to Europe was an incredible trip. I didn't end up killing my mom... quite the contrary -- she kept me going! We did end up flying into Paris -- and after we got ripped off by the taxi cab driver in Paris (long story and lesson learned...), we got to our hotel room where we had pre-booked to stay there from 9 am until 6 pm for the price of one night.

The hotel is directly beside of Bercy train station, so it is convenient to getting to the train station for the two of us that had no idea where we were going. But we were able to make our way around, find lunch and enjoy our first day on vacation -- even taking a quick nap after we had a shower.

The train ride was a blast -- and we did actually get some sleep. We had a tour booked immediately the next morning and stowed our luggage at the train station.

We spent the entire day on the tour and made it back to the Florence hotel late that evening. The rest of the time in Florence was wonderful -- cooking classes, tours, sightseeing, etc. The train trip back was great as well --- except the train had some engine troubles and we ended up getting in 4 hours late. Luckily we didn't have too much planned our first day in Paris -- but we did miss out on some sightseeing time.

Our first day in Paris wasn't the best -- we watched a man get robbed and made the mistake of going to the Eiffel Tower the first day -- way too many people and the crowds were a bit overwhelming. But after that -- it was fine. The best day for us in Paris was our last day when we went to Normandy. What a trip that was.

The flight home was relaxing (we flow Open Skies) and overall it was the trip of a lifetime.

We are still talking about how much fun it was. Those two train rides were a special memory by themselves! We were completely exhausted when we got home -- but when we were there -- we had so much energy we never felt tired. I don't think it hit us until we got to Newark.

Thanks again for all of the advice you guys gave us. It truly helped me plan this trip.

Hi tknechtges, I'm glad to hear everything worked out and that you had such a good trip! That's great you were able to book a hotel room for the day like that.