Paris Trip Report
 

First of all, thanks to all for the helpful info I received prior to our families 6 night Paris trip. I am a newbie to Fodor's & the research I did on this website proved invaluable!
My husband & I took our 18 yr. old son and 15 yr. old daughter to Paris for Spring Break. We have been wanting to do this for awhile and everything fell into place for a vacation our family will forever remember.
We flew Northwest Airlines from Detroit to CDG, arriving in Paris at 11:10am. We found an ATM machine by all the boutique shops in the airport & waited on the Departure level at Gate 16 for Parishuttle to take us to our rented apartment. After a 15 min. wait they arrived and we were at our apartment by 1pm. I found our apartment on Vacation In Paris website. Here's the link: http://www.vacationinparis.com/apts/id_36.htm . I got it for $175 a night for the 4 of us and it was perfect. It was located on Rue de Levis, a pedestrian street full of vendors with fresh fruit and vegetables, meat markets and lots of bakeries every day. Everything we needed was there, even a Monoprix on our street. It was a 5 min. walk to Villers Metro. I had taken 1"x1 1/4" photos of each of us for the Carte Orange Metro pass we purchased for 14.60euros I believe and it was worth it and so easy. We found the metro very easy to navigate and clean. We were forewarned about pickpockets but had no trouble with anyone. We bought our 3-day museum passes at the same time we got the carte orange passes. Mon. we spent the day at the Parc Monceau by our apt. and walking around the area to get a feel of "our neighborhood". In the evening we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower and went to the top. We took pictures of it at night when it was all lit up. Tues. the guys took the RER train to Bayeux at 10:45am and arrived at 12:45pm for their 1pm American D-Day Tour at Normandy. It was a remarkable experience for them. They were to leave Normandy at 7:45pm but were told there had been a bomb on their train and were sent on a train to Caen, then onto Paris. At Caen there found out it was a "Bomb Threat", no bomb was found. Even though we had this experience, we always felt safe and never had any regrets of going to France. While the guys were in Normandy, we girls went to the Paris Zoo, had the best hot chocolate at Angelina's, shopped at Au Printeps, Galleries Lafayette and bought perfume at Sephora's. Wed. was a big day. First we started with Museum D'Orsay-saw many impressionists on the top floor. Then onto St. Chapelle. Beautiful stain glass-over 1000 Bible Stories are told on these windows! We went into Notre Dame, saw the Crypt Archeology and also walked through Conciergie where Marie Antonette was held in a cell before her death. When we got back to the apt. we got chinese take-out for dinner and played cards till bedtime. We started each day with coffee and croissants at a bakery next to our apt, sitting at tables on the sidewalk watching everyone going to work or making their purchases from the markets. Thursday morning we took the metro to Arc de Trumph and walked down Champs Elysess. What a neat walk!! Then we walked to the Louvre and spent 2 1/2 hours there before having sandwiches there for lunch. From there we walked to the Rodin museum and spent about 1 1/2 hrs. there. We went back to the apt. to rest for a little bit before heading out to do a little shopping on Champs Elysees. Then at 7pm we were by the south piller of the Eiffle Tower for "Fat Tire Bike Tours"! It was one of our families highlights of the trip. It was 28e for adults and 26e for students. It is owned by Univ. of Texas grads I believe and they really make it fun and enjoyable. We rode by the Louvre, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, stopped for ice cream, went through Latin Quarter, left bank and it included a 1 hour Seine River cruise. We finished close to midnight, then stopped at a McDonald's for a late dinner. When we went to the metro the last train had just left so we had to take a cab to our apt. Just to warn you, Metro line 2 stops running at 12:40am. Friday morning we took the metro to St. Michel stop for Paris' best crepes, right next to McDonald's. The policemen were even lined up for them and they were good! It's a stand between McDonald's and an Internet cafe. Then we walked to the Luxemborg gardens which was very peaceful. We took the metro to Anvers stop to see Sacre Coeur which is beautiful. We climbed the stairs to the very top of the dome and could walked around it in a circle and get a panorama view of all of Paris. What a fabulous view! We enjoyed walking around the Montmarte area for the afternoon. In the evening we ate at a restaurant in our neighborhood, then packed up and flew out of CDG on Sat. afternoon. We felt we saw accomplished all we set out to see. We didn't eat in restaurants much, but instead picked up sandwiches on the go and ate easy meals in our apt. or picked up pizzas to take to apt.We were on a budget and really felt we came away with so much! Our kids had a tremendous experience to take with them! I didn't have a set itinerary to start out with, but things just fell into place. I'd be happy to answer any questions anyone would have. Hope your next trip is a great one!

What a wonderful family trip! It sounds simply perfect. You did a wonderful job.

I agree. It's so great that your teenage son and daughter had this opportunity and they enjoyed it with both of you! I haven't heard of the bike tours. How can I find out about them? Thanks.

Thank you for the trip report. Sounded like a wonderful trip.

The bike tour intrigued me too. Are there bike paths to ride on? I assume you don't ride on the streets.

Here's the link for the bike tours, http://www.fattirebiketoursparis.com/ I forgot how to do it so you could just click on it here in this post. This company used to be called Mike's bike tours and I heard about it from my fellow Fodorite's, so you could probably do a search & learn more. We ride in the bus & taxi lanes. There were 22 people that showed up for the night tour and they split us up into 2 groups. One guide per group and it worked remarkably well. They also have a day tour that is completely different so many people do both the night and day tour. No reservations is needed, just show up at the Eiffel!

flygirl, It sounds like you had a fantastic time. Thanks for the great trip report. What perfect timing! We leave tomorrow for Paris and London with our teens, who are very excited about their first visit to Paris.
I, like you, have gotten so much help from Fodor's when planning our trips. I would like to thank everyone for making the planning so easy and fun.

Thanks for such a lovely report! I'm glad you, and your family, had such a wonderful time.

Great trip flygirl,

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for taking the time to share your trip with us!

Great report, flygirl! Sounds like a blast! I love the Metro Villiers area because that's where I always stop to get flowers to take to my husband's final resting place on Grande Jatte. And the one time I went to Parc Monceau, Ritz lost my film. Fun report about a different area.