Its our first trip to Paris. Leaving May15th froum Houston and arriving back on May23rd. Will be staying at the Hotel d'Orsay in the Museum district.Will have 7 days to plan.
Will want to do the obvious: Lourve, Orsay Museum,Eiffel tower, Siene river cuise. Wife is not the museum type so we would spend maybe 2 hours at most at any one time in a museum- so no all day museums plans. She likes to shop (make that she lives to shop) so we need to factor shopping in everyday. We would hit the department stores but would also like to work in local markets for clothes, and some discount designer shops. Food we like to eat big breakfasts so need ideas about that. We are not french food buffs- quite the contrary- so we would be looking for some lunch and dinner places where we can get simple foods(please no organ meats, no snails, we don't do salads- basic foods- I know I know - look we are what we are - so please no condescending remarks about this requirement).
However we do love french pastry, bread,cheese, crepes- that sort of thing so please we are looking for help in this regard. Also we are not wine drinkers- Coke/ice tea/beer/water is good for us.

Ok for you Paris experts oput there send me a day by day plan working all that in.

Have you looked at guide books to see what they suggest? the Michelin Green Guide is an obvious choice, as is Fodor's. For browsing, consider doing the <i>passages</i>.

Yes I am looking thru guidebooks but its the people on this forum who have the best advice and can suggest partuclar restaurants to meet our quirky needs- a number of people on this forum will be able to lay out a plan for me.

first thoughts...
doubtful you will get &quot;iced tea&quot;, pretty much a foreign concept unless you can get all the parts to make it at the table (good luck getting sufficient ice)...

Most any cafe will serve &quot;poulet roti&quot; and &quot;frites&quot; (roast chicken, crispy fries)... do you like seafood? Lots of options for that (&quot;fruits de mer&quot. You would enjoy the steak/fries/salad dinner at Relais de l'Entrecote on rue St Benoit, 6th (that's all they serve!)
http://www.paris-eating.com/656.htm

Also, you can always eat &quot;ethnic&quot; in Paris, lots of good Italian and Asian places.

Here is a free food glossary - learn the terms for things you *don't* want to eat:
www.intimatefrance.com/glossary.html

Your wife might need a good shopping guide:
http://www.timeout.com/paris/shopping/?section=shop

You haven't listed that much to do for a 7-day trip... have you made a more definite list from guide books or anything..?

Could you give the approximate location of your hotel ? 'Museum district&quot; is not a known place

http://www.paris-hotel-orsay.com/fr/

93 rue de Lille, 75007
Metro: Musee d'Orsay

practically next door to Musee d'Orsay..

The hotel is Hotel d'Orsay I imagine is near that Museum, it's got to be.

My only comment is that I don't know what kind of clothes you are expecting to buy in &quot;local markets&quot;, but these are just cheap things that are made in other countries like India, most likely. If you wnat some real cheap scarves and things, fine, but I am wondering if you're expecting handmade, special French clothes or something in those markets.

You don't have to worry about food, I think you have some unusual ideas about what is served in typical French bistros or cafes. Sure, some may have a dish on the menu of organ meats, but that is hardly the only thing they serve. In any case, you can always find Italian and pizza places around that area (especially around St Michel metro and the areas which really a lot of tourists). I imagine beef and chicken and potatoes might pass your food test, and those can be had in most cafes.

I don't eat a big breakfast, so I don't have any special ideas other than you can always order a lot of something if you just want to eat a lot.

I think you are worrying about this too much and think you need a special list of restaurants to go to because you think 90 pct of them only serve snails and organ meat and nothing else, and that is completely wrong. You won't need to plan much of anything, you'll find places to eat all over just walking around.

As to Big Breakfasts. Eggs, bacon, toast, &quot;french&quot; toast, that sort of thing? Then you should maybe do a search on here for the American Diner in Paris. Otherwise, you can eat a big breakfast of cheeses, meats, croissants, rolls, cereals, yogurt etc at your hotel ... probably.
Ice Tea, well....in Paris and in the countryside I noted and bought a Lipton Peach Iced Tea. Seems to be selling well too. On the train, the salesman gave me a couple of cubes of ice and a glass. What? Do I speak french with an accent? &quot;sack-gray bluuu&quot;

Thanks for the advice so far- I understand the ice thing- oh well!
Chicken , steak, pork, etc yes thats our cup of tea. Wife will be looking for discount designer shops- I know they are there just don't know where.
Believe me - in 7 days we will see and do plenty- the shopping alone will consume 3-4 days! Looking for someone to put together a day by day plan understanding which days are best to do the museums, what days are the shops closed, open late, etc. Mix museums and shopping, etc. Not everyone out there will want to lay this out- but I am looking for that certain Paris expert who would like to lay a plan out like that for us to consider.

You might like the restauarant Relais de l'Entrecote on rue St. Benoit. They serve steak and frites. They have a fixed menu that includes salad, steak with sauce, frites. The steak is delicious. I have eaten there on 3 visits, at least once, and the food is consistently good. It is around the corner from Cafe Flore.

I was in Paris last month with a brother in law whose tastes are very similar. We found a little street next to Saint-Severin Church that was his &quot;cup of tea&quot;, so to speak. This is Left Bank near Notre Dame and Petit Pont.

The area was full of restaurants with open spits in the window. Roasting chickens, duck, meats, etc. He was in heaven. Also walk up the nearby Rue de la Harpe. Several crepe places there, as well as a variety of cafes.

We love this brasserie next to Luxembourg Gardens, lots of skewered meat dishes. Corner of St. Michel/Place Edmond Rostand (fountain in center). I think the name is Brasserie Luxembourg---its awning wraps around the corner.

For shopping advice, go get Suzy Gershman's &quot;Born to Shop Paris&quot; guidebook. She breaks down her book by area and by product, and also includes some decent advice on restaurants. She really does a good job showing the clothing shopping suggestions.

Get a map and locate the major things you want to see and do while in Paris--I put little sticker dots about the size of an English pea right next to places on the map, using red for major museums and attractions, blue for food/restaurants, green for shopping/browsing areas, and yellow dots for 2nd tier sights and museums. Remember to factor in closing days, then make a list of things that group together. For instance, We'll go to L'Orangerie one morning, have lunch at Angelina's, go to the Louvre for a couple of hours, then go to Catherine's for perfume. All those things are very close together, then we'll plan a couple more days the same way.

There's no way you can see and do everything so prioritize a couple of key things each day, and build around those if you still have time and energy. By doing my map sticker trick, we can sometimes see that we are very close to a spot we'd like to visit without going far out of the way. Most of all, relax and enjoy the wonderful ambience of Paris!