Just another thought. Your day of arrival. Have you given thought to the fact that at least one of you (if not all)will possibly not get even an hours sleep on the flight over and unless you plan the first day to go to sleep early in the evening and wake up to a normal breakfast time the next day you will probably be dragging your you know whats for the next couple of days before adjustment to the time. Most experienced travellers take a lie down for a couple of hours, do a light sight seeing,eat a very early dinner and in bed before nine and wake up ready to go. Taking in too much the arrival day can hurt you for the next couple of days.

I agree with Bigal. Just do some light sightseeing nearby your hotel, get acquainted with the neighborhood, have lunch and dinner, and get some rest. Then the next morning begin as early as possible to begin the major sightseeing.
FYI, the Moulin Rouge show is really good. If you reserve the dinner/show the meal isn't memorable but you do get to sit closer to the stage than the tables that are for drinks and the show.
It's mandatory to check your coat at 4 euros.

We just came back from Paris and I would like to put in my two cents worth regarding your first day. Our flight came in at 9 and we were at the hotel by 11. We were very lucky to be able to have our room right away. We showered and decided to just start walking rather than do anything "planned." We walked from the 13th to St Germain where we met up with a friend. We ended up having wine, cheese, pate and bread in her hotel, then we walked back to the 13th and went to bed around 8. I don't think we could have done anything really requiring planning and or thought, and it turned into a very lovely, unstressful afternoon. We started hitting the hightlights first thing the next morning, refreshed.
Enjoy!

Hi,
Your plan is looking good! A few minor questions/comments.
I notice you take taxis to a few locations. Have you considered the metro? Faster, cheaper, and you get to explore neighbourhoods a little more. Plus (others here to confirm) I believe you cannot just hail a cab, but must go to a cab stand (or get someone to call one for you).

I see you have several tours with Mike's. Have you considered other tour groups (like Paris Walks) or do you have a preference for bike tours?

You also have scheduled one tour with a night cruise, and then a night cruise a few days later. Perhaps combine the two?

I think you will find a lot of restaurants and bistros serving the kind of food you like. At lunch, you will find many places selling sandwiches, crepes, pain au chocolats,etc..

For dinners, I have used the Michelin Red guide as one of my tools. Ile St Louis, for example, has several restaurants that might meet your needs (Auberge de la Reine Blanche, Gourmet de l'Ile, etc..) And in nearby st Germain I can recommend Rotisserie du Beaujolais (chicken and garlic mash!), Chex Henri/Moulin à Vent, Montebello, Chez René).

Hope this helps and have a great time!
Mike

Again, thanks for all the help.

Honestly, I do think that our first day will be nice and light. After all that time in the plane, we'll want to stretch our legs but only in the general area of our hotel and even that is optional. Then it's just sitting in a bus for two hours and sitting on a boat for an hour. Standing in line at the Eiffel Tower will be about as strenuous as it will get. I'm not generally a fan of drive-by tours but in this case, it seemed like a good way to get acclimated without having to worry about organizing transportation. We plan on eating dinner either downstairs at the Grand Cafe or across the street at Chez Clement so that we can make it an early night. Thanks for all your concerns, we've taken them to heart.

We want to rely on the Metro and buses starting on Monday. On Saturday, there would be too many connections on what is admittedly a tightly-scheduled morning. So we'll pay a little extra to reduce the stress and to save time. We'll have a European cell phone with us to call a taxi to pick us up at Marmottan if we don't want to walk the 1/2 mile to the nearest cab stand. The Streetwise Paris map does an excellent job of marking all the taxi stands and all the metro stations.

We've scheduled several bike tours because the guys really prefer bikes to walking. (Flat feet or something) They'll take place when Mom and I are doing something else (shopping or gambling). So, the first night's river cruise is men-only with free wine with their new bike-riding friends. The second cruise is for all four of us and hopefully the guys will be a little more well-behaved than they plan on being on Sunday night.

For some reason, Mom and Tom have their hearts set on going to the Moulin Rouge, so we will definitely go there. I had heard that the dinner was nothing really special (especially for the price) but didn't realize that it would affect our seats. I just checked their web site and it looks like some of the tables in back are in the next arrondisement. So, thanks to your tip, we'll probably have dinner there just to get closer to the show. (Hopefully, the other 846 people won't be too jealous of our seats.)

Thanks especially for the dining recommendations.

Cher

Here is a good site for transportion in Paris...metro, bus and taxi.

http://www.parisby.com/transpor/transpor.htm

Note that when you call for a cab, the driver starts the meter as soon as he heads in your direction.

There are lots of bus routes heading out from Opera, and the routes are posted at the stops. The Paris Mapguide shows bus routes and is helpful.

There is a very good multimedia show, Paris Story, which plays hourly on the hour. It is next door to the American Express on Rue Scribe. This might be something to do on the first day.

Up the street, there is an observation deck with nice views on the roof of the second Le Printemps. Nice spot for picture taking in the AM with the Eiffel Tower in the distance.