Here goes, my first trip report. Thank you to all here who answered all my questions before I left.

I returned a few days ago from an amazing 9 days in Paris.
We went direct from Montreal to CDG, and then took the Yellow Van right to the door of our apartment. All went smoothly
.
We rented a small studio in the Marais. Small but very efficient.
Good comfortable bed, nice water pressure. Small balcony. On the fifth floor with an elevator to the sixth and then walk down a flight.
Bernard who owns it was very easy to work with. There was a laptop in the studio with hi speed internet. TV with a few English channels.
Here is the web site for anyone wanting to take a peek. The address is on Rivoli but apt. is in the back with the balcony on Roi du rue de sciole The décor is a little whimsical but the price is good. We were there for 9 nights for 750€. Plus Bernard greets you with a Baquette, 2 croissants, orange juice, milk and 2 little jams and a bottle of champagne.
There was coffee, salt and pepper, sugar in the place.

http://www.parisrendezvous.com/

We had changeable weather, the first 4 days cooler and showers. The last 5 days fairly sunny and warmed up to about 17 celsius in the middle of day. Cool nights.

We really enjoyed taking the bus over the metro but did use both. We got an orange card with a weekly pass and found it so good that even took another weekly pass for the last 3 full days.

We went to the
Catacombs ( I found this fascinating)
Sewer visits, (just OK)
Walk around Montmartre & a visit to many fabric stores
St Martin Canal locks Boat tour (2.5 hours) ( my husband liked this, I found it long)
Louvre ( What can I say)
St. Chapelle, Notre Dame (Beautiful)
An organ recital at St Eustache Church for 30 min. (great and free)
Harriet Welty- Rochefort wine and cheese tasting (lots of fun)( met other Fodorites)
Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise ( my husband went here while I was at Harriets)
The coin and medal museum ( husband went while I shopped)
Toured the Opera-Le Palais Garnier ( Great building)
Walked around the Marais, loved all the streets.
Went to the Arc de Triomphe ( proud that I climbed 280 steps)( worthwhile)
Walked down Champs-Elysées
Walked all of Blvd. St Germain,
Walked around Rue Mouffetard and Rue Monge
Walked around Place des Vosges and Bastille
Went on an evening Canal Tour ( 1 hour) Highly recommend

Had our breakfasts in apt. Ate out during the day and other than 2 dinners in restaurants ate at home. We loved having a baguette with ham and cheese and pate with a bottle of wine and a lovely patisserie in our room and then relaxing before a hectic new day.

The two restaurants we did try were very good.
Chez Janou, 2 Rue Roger Verlomme, Paris 03 in the Marais & Bistro Paul Bert, 18 rue Paul Bert, Paris 11.

We also went to Angelina’s, Mariage Frères, Au Bon Marché, La Grande Epiciere, BHV, Monoprix, Fran-Prix, Herve-chapelier, Longchamp, E. Dehillerin, Cecile et Jeanne, Agatha, Shakespeare & Co. ,Agnes B., Poilâne, Ladurée, Gavillane,

Missed Berthillon Ice cream because the evening we walked over they were closed.
They are closed Monday and Tuesday.

Tried Street Crepes once. Not worth it in my opinion.


One thing we did that I found very useful was before we left, I went to www.Ratp.fr and put in to the itinery page the address of our studio and address of where I wanted to go and asked for best bus routes. Then printed them at home and brought them with me. They came in very handy. The morning we were going out I would just take the routes I needed with me.

Really nice report. Good idea about pre-printing the bus routes.

(BTW I can open the website but the link to your flat doesn't seem to be working)

I just tried the web site link. It worked for me. Just click on the Rivoli photo after the welcome.

I did - but got a site not found (but I'm currently on my Mom's funky browser so that might be the problem)

I very much enjoyed your report Lyban.

Very enjoyable and concise trip report. We will be there in October, so could you expand a bit on the two restaurants you visited? Were they good? Any exceptional dishes? Prices?

Thanks,

Thanks for the excellent summary. I'm adding it to my collection of information for our trip to Paris in June. Any kids, or just you and your husband? We'll have 3 kids in tow for ours.

lyban,
I enjoyed your trip report The apartment sounds good. We leave for Paris in a few days! Next time you go, you might want to try the crepes in front of Saint Germain des Pres. They're not all equal, as some places make theirs ahead of time. The ones in Saint Germain des Pres are made fresh, and topped with warm Nutella and a whole sliced banana. Mmmmmm...

Sandy

lyban - who were the other Fodorites you made contact with - just interested: and how/where did you meet??

I'm at home now - and the link works. Nice looking flat.

I was surprised at your crepe comment -- but then again, there are crepes and there are crepes. Unfortunately you probably just picked a bad place. A nutella crepe walking back to the flat at night -- yums!

I'm heading to Paris in a few weeks. Can you tell us about the canal tour.

Sounds like you had a lovely trip and covered a lot of ground.

Hi Lynn, I am PJ, we met at Harriet's wine and cheese tasting. Great report!

We were in Paris from March 21 to 25th then left for Prague. We had the worst weather in Paris that 4 days, yuck.

Thanks for the pictures from the cheese tasting, I loved that afternoon. PJ

Thanks everyone for the remarks. To answer the questions:

Nukesafe: Chez Janou was a small place like most Paris restaurants but the food was delicious. There were two of us and we had a bottle of wine and I know the bill was 95 Euros.
We both had an entree,mine was a pear and walnuts and goat cheese salad, then I had beef with delicious potatoes and a dessert to die for Chocolate cake with a softer center and a creamy caramel sauce. I do not remember my husbands entree, then he had a very good duck and a creme caramel.

The other restaurant Paul Bert was a prix fixe of 32 Euros for an entree, plat principale and dessert or cheese.
We had a 18 dollar wine so that place cost 82 Euros. My husbands cheese plate, they brought a platter with about 7 cheese and he took a small sliver of each. Nice assortment. I had Paris Brest and it was yummy. Can you believe I don't remember what we had besides that, but I do know we liked our meal very much.

Tod: I met the other Fodorites at Harriets wine and cheese tasting.

Janisj and Sandypaws3: The crepe we had were cooked in front of us but I just did not find it so good. We picked nutella and bananna and maybe the reason is we are quite used to Nutella here in Quebec because it has been sold here in our grocery stores for the past 20 years or so so we are quite used to it and maybe we should have gone with another flavour or maybe like you say they are better at other spots.

Luvtotravel:
The canal st Martin cruise was good especially for 2.5 hours at 13 euros each for seniors. I just found it a little long because there are so many locks to open. Here is the web site:
www. pariscanal.com

PJParlor: Glad you got the photos and yes the first days in Paris the weather was not great but we did not find it too bad. I guess it all depends on where your coming from. It was an improvement for us.

thank you for the concise and intereseting trip report!

Thanks for the great concise post, lyban.

I, too, don't particularly like crêpes from a lot of street vendors--too doughy. But when they're great...give me beurre/sucre and let it carmelize just a tad...mmm!

Thanks for the great report! pp

Great report...

We are going in May, and we checked the apartment website...but it was booked. We definitely would have switched to it.

Questions:

(1) You mentioned a 1 hr. night canal trip -- where was that?

(2) What is the senior age for the St. Martin canal trip?

Thanks.
SS

ssander,
The one hour canal cruise was called Les Vedettes du Pont Neuf. Before we left home we printed coupons from there web site and safed twoo Euros each making it 9 Euros instead of 11 Euros. 1 hour
www.vedettesdupontneuf.com

The Canal Lock trip was called Paris Canal and the senior rate was 13 Euros. 2.5 hours Here is the site:
www.pariscanal.com

Lovely report...I am dreaming vicariously of getting back there.
I liked the Canal apartment as well.

Glad you & your husband had a good time in Paris - you wrote a great trip report. It sounds like you planned the trip very well & made good use of your time in Paris. We also enjoyed meeting you at Harriet's, (hi there, PJ) - it's hard to beat an afternoon of wine & cheese tasting in the good company of Harriet & Philippe & fellow Fodorites. That was a lot of fun. (Thanks for the photos!)