Debbie, I'd love to hear how your trip turned out for you . . . I followed your posting as I had also planned a trip there with a friend the last week of September. <BR> <BR>We stayed in the 7th just off St. Germain des Pres between Odeon and rue du Bac - a perfect location for central proximity to the sights. We did run ourselves fairly ragged seeing all the sights but she hadn't been there before and wanted to see everything. Were you able to see most of the sights of Paris along with the excursions you planned? <BR> <BR>We left Paris only once on our last full day there - we took a tourist bus to Giverny and were relieved to let someone else do the planning and the driving to get us there. <BR> <BR>Would love to hear about the highlights of your trip with your parents. <BR> <BR>

Thanks, everyone-- we had a wonderful trip! I am hoping to sit down in the next day or two and tell of our adventures-- and we had some! (I knew it was going to be an interesting trip when my mom's diverticulitis flared up, and she aggrevated a foot injury requiring a cortisone shot the day before we left. At least my dad's condition would be predictable! But, they did fine.) We did it all...with the exception of that ONE day...funny you should mention Giverny, Sue.. <BR>

Sorry for the delay- the "real world" called: had to go away on business. (I'm in retail- it's October, time to order spring and summer merchandise!) In the meantime, I've been toiling with this unabridged version for days trying to make it more concise--can't do it. So you are forewarned this is lengthy (and probably in 2 parts--sorry Fodor's!) <BR> <BR>We had a wonderful trip. We had some setbacks and adventures. We had some rain. It was such an incredible time! Paris is a city where we will keep going back. (And I will continue my French language classes, especially for travels into the countryside!) <BR> <BR>We followed our original itinerary, and it worked well. Arrival Friday--our day was sunny and beautiful! We got a late start, but took the double-decker open top L'Open Tour bus on its rounds (2-day pass, stops at 20 places of interest, takes a couple of hours to make the "loops"). Because of limited time we didn't get off at any stops that day, but we sat on top and had a spectacular view; and it really helped us to get our "bearings". (Our timing was good, too, because we had three days of rain after that!) Friday evening, my husband & I saw the Paristoric video presentation (good background info), and walked along the Seine. (It seemed so incredible that we were actually in Paris and walking the Seine- we repeated those walks as often as possible during the week- moments we'll always savor). <BR> <BR>Our hotel, the New Hotel Roblin, was very convieniently located in the 8th e. near the Madeleine, the Concorde, and many other points of interest. I recommend it. <BR> <BR>Because we were dealing with various health issues with our traveling companions(Mom & Dad), we would normally meet them for breakfast(it was included in our hotel package) sometime in the morning, and spend late morning and all afternoon with them. Either before or after breakfast my husband Don & I would do some preliminary "checking out" of the day's destinations, learn the metro stations, etc, to keep their walking to a minimum. (This is pretty easy to do in Paris because many destinations are fairly close.) <BR> <BR>In the evenings, Mom and Dad would head back to the hotel and a neighborhood cafe, and Don and I would walk Paris! We walked down around the Place de la Concorde, across the Seine to the Ile de la Cite (visited Saturday evening mass at Notre Dame--it was powerful), to the Ile de St. Louis (ate Berthillon ice cream- it's delicious), walked the Champs-Elysees many times (we enjoyed the cafes and activity at all hours of the evening; people still arriving for dinner at 12:30 AM!), took the stairs to the top of the Arc de Triomphe(great view at night of traffic circle and monuments), visited the Eiffel Tower and so many other places. <BR> <BR>We were not able to use our 3-day museum passes as much as we would have liked (next time!), but one incident made them very much worth the investment. On our second day, Saturday, we took my dad to the Louvre (via L'Open Tour bus--it was a rainy day so we had to sit down below; I was so thankful we had the opportunity to enjoy the sunshine and the sights the day before). We were dropped off in the rain and entered a huge courtyard where we saw a line hundreds of umbrella-toting people long! (Standing in line for a couple of hours would have taken care of my dad's energy allotment for the day). Don checked, with some skepticism, concerning a "museum pass" entrance. We were whisked over to a side entrance for pass holders where there was NO line, down an escalator where we passed through an admissions area (again, NO line) which ran parallel to the main entrance in the pyramid, where there were just as many people waiting inside in line as we had seen the continuation of outside! And we didn't have to queue at all. Truly amazing! The Louvre was awesome, saw hundreds of paintings, the Mona Lisa, breathtaking scultures; we didn't see nearly enough, but it whetted our appetites for next time! After getting Dad back to the hotel(did the L' Open Tour loop), we tried to get into the Musee D'Orsay at 5:32 (closes at 6pm), but they apparently close the entrance at 5:30. Good try! <BR> <BR>We used the Metro alot during our other days in Paris (carnet of tickets on Sunday, Carte Orange on Monday for the rest of the week). I was concerned about my dad manuvering around the stairways, etc., but the stairs didn't seem to bother him too much, and the connections were so quick; Don & I always checked out the routes beforehand so we weren't getting lost and retracing steps). <BR> <BR>On Sunday, we went to Versailles, Monday a trip south to Tours, Tuesday visited some Paris sights, and Wednesday Giverny. I will post Part #2 soon! Debbie