Any reccomendations for a private tour guide in Paris and out to Versailles for the day?I've used them in Italy with great satisfaction.thanks

Michael Osman, Michael Osman!

Do a search here for his email and website..I don't have it at hand right this minute!

I would have to second Jody's reccomendation of Michael. My family was quite fortunate to have him along for our visits to the various sites in Paris. His insites on history and art helped make our visit a special one.
His email is [email protected]. He also has a webpage but I can't seem to locate that now. Contact him for a trip to Versailles. He was our escort to Malmaison.
Laura

Another vote for Michael!

I agree that Michael sounds wonderful; however, I have emailed him on two separate occassions over the last year and never received a reply...

Keep trying...he is worth it. He does get busy and sometimes doesn't respond, but if you can get him, he is a great guide with lots of knowledge and he is a lot of fun to tour with. His website: http://www.geocities.com/parisfinder/

Just a suggestion--Versaille is very easy to do on your own. I'd save the tour guide for Paris and have him take you to places off the beaten track. Our hotel concierge set us up with a native Parisian and we spent nine hours that did not include the major sites. The biggies (Eifel Tower, L'ouvre etc. are easy to find, but the charmm of the city is found where the tourists rarely travel.

Keep trying Michael. he helpedus for a few days in November and it was great - we got to see the less touristy attracyions. If I recall correctly he is in Strassbourg for a week or two on Holiday at the moment - he may not be checking e-mail.

check Virginia Dae at ParisInsight.com. She custom designed a tour of Pere Lachaise for us, which is one of my favorite memories of Paris. She also has an apartment for rent, but I have never stayed there.

My friend Véronique Gain, a 20-year veteran of Paris Vision tours, is now on her own freelancing. She knows more about every stone and brick of Paris than anyone I have ever come across. If you want to get in touch with her for private tours, which are very reasonably priced, send me an e-mail at [email protected]

I would also reccomend Michael. He was a great help to my family on our trip to Paris last May. He helped to make the visit a very special one. He was the best! He's a bargain at his price.
Contact him at his parisfind email address.
Good travels to you.
Paul

Another recommendation for Michael. We spent last Tuesday with him in Paris. It was a wonderful day and our children compared each of our remaining days in Paris to the day we spent with Michael! We all agreed that our day with him was a highlight of our trip. Try sending him another email. I found that he is quite busy and persistance paid off.

The mention of children by the last poster here has me interested in this idea of a guide. Could someone tell me their experience with Michael and their children? What age were the children that he toured?
Does he tour the art museums or just the city?
This could be a solution to entertaining two teenage boys. I don't think I could get them that interested since I need the help too!
Thanks in advance for any added info on Michael.
Ellie

Mr Osman was a wonderful choice that a friend suggested and he was wonderful with my teenage son who gets bored easily. He also guided me here for our next trip to Italy. Hat's off to this guide who is also a painter.

Elearit -- My daughters are 10 and 14. They both loved Michael. In fact, the 10 year old asked him if he was available to baby-sit! We spent a Tuesday with him and the museums we wanted to visit with him were closed. The kids have been to Paris several times so we were quite flexible about what we wanted to do with him. Michael did a fantastic job of getting to know us in a short amount of time and tailoring our day to keep each of us happy and interested throughout the day. We explored some areas that we had not previously spent much time in. We looked at portions of the original wall around Paris; we visited a couple Churches, looked at remnants of graffiti from the revolution, ate, walked and hopped on buses when we were tired. It was my idea to book Michael and my husband wasn't so sure it was necessary as we have been to Paris many times. At the end of the day he thanked me as he also considered the day a highlight of our trip. Around 7 PM we made our way back to the neighborhood of our apartment and decided that we would shop for some groceries before going home. Michael insisted on coming with us to help us carry the groceries home! He also popped in a patisserie and picked up some macaroons for the kids as a special treat! We all decided after the tickets are purchased for the next trip to Paris that the second thing to do would be to reserve Michael!!

Michael Osman update: Could it be that those who "can't seem to find his website" (Good Lord all you have to do is google his name), filling the boards with his praises, are, in fact, Mr. Osman himself?

We found Linda and Christiane of www.parisphototours.com to be wonderful. They can do photo tours and many other kinds of tours. They know the city extremely well and we saw parts of Paris we would never have found on our own.

gotcha,
Michael hardly has any need to write up his own praises. He has more than enough satisfied customers to do it for him.

Dude: Why don't you read my post again? I never said the guy isn't "wonderful," and I'm sure he went out of his way to make your day "memorable." I'm just stating what my mom and others say about him, and people on these boards should get the full picture. Are you against that?