I have been to Paris a lot but this time it is with my family. If you were starting at the Place de la Madeleine (8th arrond)-- and you will be leaving your luggage around there say 10 am. What would you do to walk off some jet lag?? The more specific the better. Think walking towards the Seine-- a restaurant and perhaps an interesting store -- maybe a museum- or maybe not. A park. Suggest away.

Hi signmeup,

Yes, I'd walk along the Seine. Walk to the Concorde, then turn and either walk through the Tuileries or along the river, Walk to the islands and have lunch somewhere with a nice view. After lunch, go up into the Marais, for instance up to Rue des Rosiers and/or Rue du Tresor.

Alternately, walk up Rue Tronchet and Rue d'Amsterdam up to Pl de Clichy, then turn to stroll along Rue Caulaincourt -- what one poster here describes as one of the best streets in Paris. Have lunch, then explore Montmartre.

I think you'll get a lot of great ideas here -- fun dreaming!

s

I know you said, think Seine, but I'd go in the opposite direction. Up Blvd de la Madeleine, and Blvd des Capucines passing by the Opera Garnier and possibly stopping for lunch at either Lavinia wine store with nice upstairs restaurant or the art nouveau Grand cafe Capucines. Continue along Blvd des Italiens and take a right on Blvd Montmartre in the vicinity of which you will find some of the covered passages like Jouffron, Verdeau and Panoramas Explore them. Take a right down Rue Vivienne passing the Bourse (near which you can dine at the Brasserie Vaudeville if it was too early to stop at the above suggestions when you passed them). Continue passing the Bibiotheque Nationale and pop into the Galleries Vivienne, another passage, also with several good restaurants including the Brasserie Vivienne and the Grand Colbert. Pass through the Palais Royal gardens and interesting modern sculpture area, then take a left passing the new/current Bourse and then the old Bourse of Commerce to hike through the Parc Nelson Mandela and then pass the newly renovated Les Halles via Rue Berger to the festive area outside the Pompidou. If you have lots of energy, after stopping for a libation, you can continue on along the Rue de Rivoli passing the beautiful Hotel de Ville and ending at the Place des Vosges from when you can hike over to the Place de la Bastille and take the metro or bus back to the Madeleine and your lodging in Paris. Feel free to drop off at any place you tire and return to your point of origin and make as many stops as you can along the way, to watch the rest of the People of Paris pass by. Enjoy.

The passages that JV suggests are indeed much more interesting than walking to the Seine, where you will be going in any case on the following days. There is much more life along the "Grands Boulevards" in any case.

Here is a tiny bit of information about them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulevards_of_Paris

FANTASTIC suggestions!! This is EXACTLY what I was looking for. Yes-on the other days- we will be doing a bike tour in Paris and also going up the Eiffel tour plus hitting some of the museums. True!! WE will be in that other area a lot. Thank you. Happy to entertain more ideas. Thanks.

I even made a complete photo report quite a few years ago about the Grands Boulevards. Quite a few things have changed since then along the way, but the boulevards have been part of Parisian life for a long long time.

Paris streets: les Grands Boulevards | Any Port in a Storm

For me, the jet lag walk is based upon the need for sunlight. Lots of sunlight. While it may be interesting to go in stores and the like, I always prefer (even in February) to be outside to help reset my body clock. We have always (when traveling with newbies to Paris) we take the Seine boat cruise. We use Vedettes du Pont Neuf. If you have family who have not been to Paris, I'd recommend it for both the sunlight and the views of all the main sites. They are under the Pont Neuf Bridge. If you don't want the boat ride option, I'd see some of the outside things that you wouldn't normally go to during a stay. The Pont d'Alma bridge has the Liberty Flame replica, and it marks the spot, generally, that Princess Diana Spencer died. DW picked up a small bunch of flowers and left them there the first time we walked by it. This is also pretty close to the Grand and Petit Palais buildings which are pretty spectacular to look at from the outside. The tuileries gardens are just down from the Palais as well, and they are always nice (except February) when in bloom.

Personally, I have taken jet-lagged family and friends on boat cruises on the first day, and the thing they liked the most was being able to snooze. The second time my sister-in-law visited, she asked to go back -- but not on the first day.

After walk or maybe before pop into Fauchons and get some goodies to take out - nice day picnic by the Seine!