Somewhere I read there was a group of locals from Paris who share their neighborhoods with tourists... tip only. paris something or others...sorry.

Any help there?

http://www.parisiendunjour.fr/index.php?lang=en

you could also check out www.meetingthefrench.com

It has some interesting tours for a nominal cost of bakeries, chocolate shops, etc. and also has a section for going to dinner at a French home. That part doesn't seem to work right now, but I don't think it's expensive.

www.discoverwalks.com

Have not used them personally.

http://www.cityfreetour.com/home/

Have not used them.

I second the recommendation of http://www.parisiendunjour.fr/index.php?lang=en . It's part of the Global Greeters network. You sign up with your date and time preferences, language, and kind of things that interest you.

I had a greeter back in January. He was a teacher and talked to me a lot about history and architecture and libraries and the educational system, but on the sign-up form they ask what kinds of things you're interested in, so you could request a greeter who's into fashion, or cuisine, or gardens.

At some point during the walk, we stopped for coffee, which I paid for (it was late afternoon; had it been earlier I would have bought lunch for both of us). I actually don't think I gave my greeter a tip (planned to, but at the end when we were parting, it just seemed awkward to pull out my wallet and he didn't seem to expect it. I did, however, make a donation on the website afterwards, to support the program.