Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report Paris Notes

Hi all,
First, let me thank all Fodorites who have posted information about Paris, Mont-St-Michel, and Normandy throughout the recent past. As I planned our trip (currently underway), I took copious notes which have proven invaluable as we've been traveling. For those who are now in the planning stages of their own adventure, I want to repay the kindness of those who went before me with some of my own notes. I will start with Paris for now - here goes!

May 19: Arrival in Paris at CDG around 1:30 pm, where we were met by Shuttle-Inter (thanks, Joan, for the recommendation) and promptly taken to the Renaissance Place Vendome Hotel, just north of the Tuileries. We used Marriott Points for our 4 night stay. The location was ideal for getting around - Tuileries Metro stop a couple blocks away, and a nice casual Italian pizza/pasta restaurant called Gambino only a few blocks north. The room at the Renaissance was small by US standards, but perfectly suitable. Bath amenties included Bulgari lotions, bath gel and shampoo.

We purchased our 4-day museum pass from the concierge, and immediately set out to see the Arc du Triomphe (museum open late) before dinner. From there, we walked to the Eiffel Tower - it's a lot further than we thought!! But we made it. Plans were to go up to the top, but the line was incredibly long, so we decided to come back another time. We bought tickets for the Metro to head back to the hotel and get some sleep.

May 20: Breakfast in the hotel is good, including made-to-order omelettes, fresh fruit, meat, cheeses, and of course, croissants. We decided to head out to Versailles today, as the weather is nice. From our hotel, the RER C was just a 10-minute walk through the Tuileries garden to the Musee D'Orsay station. Tickets were 2,80 euro one-way, and it was easy to catch the train to the end of the line (Versailles-Rive Gauche). Upon arrival at Versailles about 30 minutes later, the entry line was again monstrously long, but with our museum passes, we bypassed it altogether. We immediately see the value in the pass - not just for covering admission prices but skipping queues. My husband declared it a great deal at this point. While crowded inside Versailles, we still enjoyed it and even walked all the way out to Petit Trianon and Grand Trianon. We noticed others renting golf carts and taking the shuttle, but we are walkers so we bypassed those options.

Back at the hotel by late afternoon, we rest up a bit and then decide to go to the Louvre since it stays open late on Thursdays until 10 pm. We figure the crowds will have died down by then. But no! Poor Mona Lisa has a crowd 10 deep surrounding her, and other major works also are surrounded. C'est la vie! We stayed until 9:30 pm, and popped back up to see Mona Lisa before leaving, and found fewer people, so we could linger and appreciate.

May 21: After breakfast, we purchased a 2-day Paris Visitor Metro pass and headed out to see Sacre' Couer, Montmartre, and the cemetery. We are early enough to Sacre' Couer that we're able to climb the 300 steps to the top without any crowd at all to enjoy views of Paris. By the time we descended, considerably more people had arrived, so we were glad to be early birds today. The Montmartre area was brimming with artists (and tourists) and seemed very full of life - it was pleasant to stroll and just people-watch. We found a quaint little shop selling macaroons - LA was the name, I think - and enjoyed those treats while there. At the cemetery, we sought out the graves of Berlioz, Nujinsky, and Degas. My husband observed that everything could "use a good powerwash," but I think this aged patina is part of the character.

The afternoon was spent back down at Sainte Chapelle and Notre Dame. Today is a bank holiday (setting up 4 days of major crowds), so the lines at both are long. We waited for Sainte Chapelle - incredible stained glass windows - but balked for the wait at Notre Dame. Instead, we went up to the Picasso Museum and the Pompidou. Perhaps you are fans of Picasso - we have seen other museums dedicated to his work - but found this one a bit disappointing. Several majors works we wanted to see were "not there," so we didn't spend much time. At the Pompidou (again we bypassed the long line with our museum pass), we rented the audioguide, which was a good investment to help direct us around the various floors. There is a Calder/Kandinsky exhibit going on, so more crowded than usual, I guess. Although the spirit was willing to see this special exhibit, the feet were tired, so we headed back to the hotel and out to Gambino for pizza and pasta. For a casual and relatively inexpensive meal, we would go there again (11 euro for a pizza). I think the address is 6 Rue Comboust (not exactly sure...).

May 22: We headed to Notre Dame first thing to be at the head of the line into the church (free admission), which worked. But upon exiting, we wanted to use our museum pass for the Towers only to learn that it couldn't be use to jump the queue, and the line was at least an hour long (and not moving!). So, we said farewell to Notre Dame for this trip and instead, we head to the Musee' D-Orsay. The pass allowed us to bypass this line, so we were in within minutes. The audioguide was a great investment here as well, and helped us navigate the many exhibits throughout the museum.

After this, we headed up to Galeries Lafayette to explore the food hall and discovered an outlet for Amorino gelato (thanks to another Fodor's post about this incredible treat!) and had no wait to get our choices. The rest of the store was over-run with people, so we didn't shop, although I would have liked to. Instead, we headed to the Champs Elysees to find Laduree macaroons. Success, but guess what? Another line! This one was about 30 minutes, but I waited. It was worth it! Amazing flavors to choose from! (A side note about macaroons - our hotel recommended a place called Pierre Herme, at 4 Rue Cambon, that had incredible macaroons as well, and it was only a few blocks from the hotel).

We'd hoped to finish the day at the Paris Catacombs (also recommended in a previous post), but upon arrival at 3:00 pm, found another incredibly long line that wasn't going anywhere. We stood anyway, but their security people came out and told us that we would not get in before their deadline so we should leave. Sigh - it is our last day, so we'll have to save this for another time.

We end our day waiting for the lights on the Eiffel Tower to come on at 10pm (after sunset). There are a lot of others doing the same thing, with a street musician pounding on drums amid the trinket hawkers and tourists. Still, we found the perfect spot for viewing, and were not disappointed as the crowd oohed and ahhed as the twinkly lights came on for about 5-10 minutes.

On May 23, we headed out to Normandy. I have good notes to post about this, so will save them for a post the next time I have Internet connectivity in the next day or two. For now, I hope this post about Paris is helpful to anyone who is reading it! CleoB