Paris Trip Report
 

I'm going to write this in segments while I unpack, grocery shop and get back into the routine of life at home. DH and I went to Paris for 1 week for a fun vacation. We were both interested in seeing all the sites we learned about in high school French classes.

Flight - Northwest (jacksonville-detroit-amsterdam-paris gotta love reward tix!)

Hotel - Hotel Prince (66th Ave Bosquet, 7th district). We paid about 120 E/night. We booked this trip kinda last minute and this hotel was not our first choice, but it was a great selection. I loved the area that it was in, it was clean and I always felt safe. The only bad thing I have to say is that the bed was really hard and I think that hurt my back.

Day 1/2 - Travel day. No problems with our flights, loved the in-demand movies. I tried to sleep on the flight, but I couldn't. I even took sleeping pills, but I think I was just so excited there was no way I was going to fall alseep. When we arrived in Paris we found the ATM very easily, got a map from the info desk, and found the Air France Bus ticket booth. This all worked out a lot easier than I expected. The Bus took us to the Arc de Triomphe and we found a line for taxis to take us to the hotel. I think the total cost for this was about 40 Euro (bus and taxi). We had previously thought that we would take the train from the airport to the hotel, but after talking to some more experienced travelers they recommended a bus b/c we would be exhausted, vulnerable, and carrying all our luggage. At the last minute we decided to do the bus, but in retrospect I think either one would've worked out.

We then headed over to the Historic District for Rick Steve's Historid District walking tour. We had purchased both the Frommer's guide and the Rick Steves' book on Paris and while Rick Steves was incorrect on a couple things (I'll get to that later) we liked his book a lot better. He has a lot of good walking tours and museum tours while the Frommer's book doesn't include any of that.

I was so intimidated by the metro b/c I have so little experience with it and I thought for sure that we would never figure it out, but it turned out to be a lot easier than we expected. The metro stop was about a block from our hotel. The trains ran so frequently, about every 4 minutes, that you never had to wait too long.

Once we got over to the Historic District we ate lunch at La Fountaine St. Michel Bar Brasserie. This was our first official meal in Paris. Very good, but also our realization that the French don't rush meals. At first b/c I was so anxious to see so much, this was really frustrating, but as you sat there it was so nice - kinda like forced relaxation! My husband loved it ;)

After lunch we headed over to Notre Dame Cathedral. We didn't have our Museum Pass yet so we had to go back to climb the tower. My favorite view of Notre Dame was from the back side, in the park. You don't see the two towers as well, but you do see the steeple and the flying buttresses. It is also less crowded with tourists. Next we went to the Memorial de la Deportation, a memorial to the 200,000 French victims of the concentration camps from WW2. We then walked the Rive Gauche and into the Latin Quarter. We stopped at a crepe stand and I got a Nutella Crepe and that really ended our walking tour. All of my concentration was lost and I was focused on the crepe. Yummy!

We headed back to the hotel and took a short nap. We had dinner near our hotel at Relais De La Tour. We both ordered the escargot expecting it to come in the little dish like in the US. My husband, who wasn't even sure he would like escargot, and I were quite surprised when the shells came out and we had to extract the snail from the shell! It was great fun and they were delicious!

After dinner we headed over to the Eiffel Tower. Wow! We were also surprised when the night show began.

A very fun day!

We love Paris trip reports! Sounds like the air travel and transportation went smoothly, which is always a relief. There's nothing like that first "click" moment(like you had at lunch) that this custom of leisurely meals can be part of the pleasure. Sounds like you did very well on your first day--give us more info....

Waiting to hear more! I love Paris trip reports, too. Did you by any chance eat at Ristorante Tina? -- fairly close to your hotel, I believe.

Looking forward to the rest of your report. We are planning to go late October next year so I need all the help I can get :-)

Thanks for sharing your trip report. The 7th is a very nice area to be located. However, I'm surprised that the cost of Air France bus plus taxi is almost the cost of if you had taken just a taxi from the airport.

That is true about the taxi..I just paid 42 E from the Ile St. Louis to CDG airport for a radio cab..if I had walked to the taxi stand it would have been less.

Brende,r thanks for the report so far..

If a taxi is called to pick you up there's a surcharge, that's true.

<i>My favorite view of Notre Dame was from the back side, in the park. </i>

Oh, me too! Was the accordian player there at the foot of the bridge, playing Edith Piaf tunes?
Ahhh, Paris!

Interesting about the taxi. I'll talk to DH about it and see if we can remember about how much we paid.

Day 3
As I was getting ready in the morning DH went down to the local patisserie and got us croissants and chocolate eclairs (love being on vacation!). How wonderful! The croissants were sooo good, very flaky. Yummy!

We decided to start this day by finishing the Historic Paris walk where we left off the day before. This is where Rick Steves led us astray! In his book it says you can get the Museum Pass at the metro stations, but that was incorrect. We weren't sure where to get it, but apparently they are sold at the sites. I'm sure another fodorite posted this info and I missed it in my research.

We started at St. Chapelle, which was amazing with the stained glass. This was one of DH's favorite spots. The Rick Steves book had an excellent tour of the cathedral. The stained glass shows over 1100 bible stores, starting with Genesis and ending with the coming of Christ. After this we walked across the street to the Cite Metropolitan - one of the original 20th Century subway entrances. Across from this was the Prefecture de Police where Inspectur Clouseau (of the Pink Panther) used to work. Being a Pink Panther fan DH was really excited about this!

We then walked to the Conciergerie, the prison famous for housing victims of the guillotine during the Revolution - including Marie Antoinette (really looking forward to seeing the movie). The prison was actually interesting b/c they had some cells set up and displays about the history.

Next we walked along the Seine River to Pont Neuf. Along the way we noticed that buildings under construction had tarps over them that had prints so they still looked like the building, complete with wrought iron fence! That was too funny :) We went behind the statue of Henry IV to the park and relaxed there for awhile. That was another one of DH's favorite spots!

After the park we walked along the Seine to Notre Dame. With the Museum Pass this time we climbed to the top. Great view of the city and of the largest bell that Quasimodo swung on :) We went back to the Latin Quarter for lunch (can't remember the name of the restaurant). It was fun b/c we sat outside and did a lot of people watching. There were a lot of tourists, but not as many American tourists. I thought that was kinda interesting.

After lunch we strolled along the Seine River to the walking bridge and made our way into The Louvre. This was one of our 3 trips to the Louvre and a huge reason why I think getting the Museum pass was worth it. Financially it was definitely a deal, but with having the pass it allowed us to kinda come and go to the Louvre as we pleased. If we didn't have it we would've probably spent 1 entire, exhausting, day there and been completely overwhelmed. Instead we toured the museum in sections and I think we got more out of it that way! We got there around 4pm that day and were able to go in through the main entrance since there wasn't a large line. We again followed Rick Steves tour which led us to the Denon Wing. The tour gave us the highlights of the museum - pre-classical greek statues, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace (my favorite), the crown jewels, The Madona of the Angels, St. Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata, The Grand Gallery, St. Sebastian, Virgin Child and St. Anne, La Belle Jardiniere, Mona Lisa (WOW), The Marriage at Cana, The Coronation of Napolean, Le Grande Odalisque, The Raft of Medusa, Liberty Leading People and Slaves. It was all so incredible! The museum itself was gorgeous and amazing to walk through as every room is a surprise. I've never seen so many different colors of marble. The Mona Lisa was smaller than we thought it would be, but very moving. The museum closed at 6pm and after our walking tour we wandered as much as we could until we were shuffled out!

After the museum we returned to the hotel and went to dinner at an Italian restaurant across the street.

That night, even though I had too much wine, I had so much trouble sleeping. I think it was just the excitement of seeing everything. I kept replaying the scenes in my head b/c I didn't want to forget any of it.

O-kay, just spoke with DH. He said it was 26E for the bus from CDG to the Arc. Then it was 10E (including tip) from the Arc to our hotel.

We didn't eat at Restaurant Tina :(

There were no musicians at Notre Dame while we were there.

I should aslo mention that the weather was beautiful while we were there. I was afraid it would be bitterly cold (I am a Flordian!), but it was very pleasant, which was nice for all the walking and climbing up stairs we did. The trees were also changing colors and loosing their leaves - this was really nice b/c we never see that at home.

Thanks for verifying the transportation costs. Usually the taxi cost me 45 euro from CDG to the center.

Anyway, I was there two weeks ago and expected cool weather too. No. It was actually warm and humid although the nights were cool.

Sorry you missed the guy who plays the accordion. The music adds to the atmosphere. He was playing on the Pont St. Louis.

Day 4
DH returned from his croissant run with croissants and a raspberry tart. Tres bien :)

After breakfast we were off to the Arc de Triumphe and Champs-Elysees. We climbed to the top of the Arc and enjoyed the views. Next we strolled along the Champs Elysees and enjoyed all the shops. We went in to a few of them, but they were really expensive! From there we walked to the Louvre, and had fun taking pictures along the way! We stopped at the Place de la Concord.

Next we went to the Musee de l'Orangerie. This had just re-opened and since Rick Steves didn't have a guide we got the audioguide. The audioguide provided a lot of good information, but I think they should have 2 - one for art enthusiasts and one for tourists! Although it provided some great information it went into so much detail that it got really tiring to listen to after awhile. We really enjoyed this museum a lot - especially Monet's waterlilies. We also saw works by Cezanne, Renoir, Metisse and Picasso.

After the museum we walked through Tuilerie Gardens, one of my favorite places in Paris, and relaxed at a cafe in the gardens. We had a quick bite to eat - quiche fromage and a coke. This quiche was very interesting, at the tip was a strong cheese, like blue cheese, and then as you got to the side the cheese got more mild. I think it ended with a brie or camberbet. Very good and very interesting. Just as we were about to leave it started to rain so we enjoyed the gardens a little bit more! It was nice to just relax there b/c the trees were different colors and some of them had begun to loose their leaves. How romantic!

When the rain lightened we made our way to the Louvre. I was quite perplexed as to why in this beautiful garden there is a submarine in the fountain! I haven't found the answer to that yet although DH and I have come up with some amusing reasons.

This time when we went through the Louvre we went to the Richelieu wing. It was neat to see the Law Codex of Hammurabi, King of Babylon b/c I remember studying that in World History class in high school. The stone listed all he laws the King made, like an ear for an ear...All the writing was in cuniform. It was also neat b/c we met an Iraqi who was exstatic to see all this art work from his homeland. After we did our tour we started wandering. This time we were surprised to find Napolean's Apartments. We were only there for a few minutes when they started ushering us out, but b/c of my love of all things gaudy we had to go back. It was so incredible!

After the Louvre we made our way to the Gallaries Lafayette, which was past the Opera Garnier and the Sephora store! The Opera was closed by this time. We went into the Sephora store and I tried a lot of different perfumes, but they all smelled the same b/c there were just so many in the store. The Gallaries Lafayette is one of the oldest shopping centers in Paris. I thought that it would be open late, but they closed around 7 or 8. I really wanted to get something here, but the dress I picked out was 700E. A little too much. I was very amused by the descriptions of each floor - high fashion, casual fashion, sport fashion, and seductive fashion! There were many Parisian women running around and it was very overwhelming. Unfortunately b/c I am really picky I didn't end up with anything :( Probably better for my wallet!

From there we walked over to the Hard Rock Cafe to get a souvenir for a friend. We had dinner at Brasserie Haussmann at the Millenium Hotel. The food was really good.

Am enjoying your report. I did an incredible amount of walking, too, when I was there in May.

You mentioned eating at an Italian restaurant across the street from your hotel -- I think that was &quot;Tina&quot;. :)
I think the sign outside says Pizza Tina, but I had two very good dinners there. Did you not like their food? I'm just curious.