I e-mailed Michael this morning and I have already received a wonderful reply. I am looking forward to his services on our trip to Paris in March.

Michael has provided great touring services for us in the past. He is very flexible and can customize your day with ease. Yes, he is busy (his days are long) and sometimes does not respond right away. Peresever - it will be worth it

OP here to report, that I was finally able to reach Michael and book a tour with him. I had to be persistent with phone, fax, and e-mail, but ultimately we did connect, and last week my family and I spent a wonderful day with Michael touring the Louvre and d'Orsay.

Michael has a low key approach to touring that made us feel we were spending the day with a knowledgeable friend, rather than being lead around by a tour guide. Michael never presented us with a canned speech or rehearsed presentation. Instead he simply talked with us about the artists, their lives, and their work. As the day progressed and he learned more about us, Michael would point out the things he thought would interest us most.

It is obvious that Michael loves what he does, and clear that he stays very busy doing it. I am glad that I didn't give up when Michael wasn't able to provide the immediate response I was expecting.

A slightly different approach: Anthony Atkielski simply accompanies you and puts his local knowledge at your disposal. If you just need help with language and logistics, Tony's your man.

<b>http://www.atkielski.com</b>

He has also published a superb guide to getting around Paris by public transport in a free pdf brochure you can print:

<b>http://www.atkielski.com/PDF/data/ParMetro.pdf</b>

Hi newesttraveler! I am glad to hear about your good experience with Michael. My husband and I have him scheduled on May 30th. I also wanted him to go to the Louvre with us. From the looks of his website or our email exchange his area of interest and education is in art history. We also want to do a walking tour of the Marais with him and leave enough time for him to show us some of his favorites. I am really excited about it. By the way, did you buy his lunch or dinner when you all toured?

I had a wonderful day with Michael Osman in early February. I told him I wanted to see a number of areas I had not been to (Parc Montsouris, Les Batignolles, Les Buttes Chaumont) and he designed a fantastic day to cover them all. I invited him to join me for lunch in the Marais and paid for him because his full day's fee was only 75 Euros and it is his livelihood.

Like others, I had trouble at first contacting him because of computer or email problems. I know these are real because after I got back I emailed him to thank him, he replied and then I emailed back but it &quot;bounced&quot; - &quot;email delivery delayed&quot; then became delivery failed. Let's hope he gets a better ISP or computer. It would be a shame for people to miss having him as a guide. By the time we parted, he seemed like an old friend.

To ilovetulips...

Yes, I did buy lunch for Michael, and also paid for his admission to d'Orsay (he is a member at the Louvre so his admission was covered there).

I felt he more than earned his 75 euro fee and gave him another 15 euro as a tip.

Salut newesttraveler,
I've heard great things about a group called Paris Muse, www.parismuse.com---you can arrange for a tour of a certain museum or a themed art visit. On their home page, you can even check to see what special museum shows will be up during your trip, or read profiles of lesser-known museums.
Bon voyage!

My family just spent a remarkable week in Paris, and hired Michael Osman to be our private guide for six days. I would enthusiastically recommend him to anyone visiting Paris for any amount of time. He is absolutely flexible, extremely knowledgeable, friendly and an expert on art and art history. He managed to keep my wife (artist), myself (easily bored) and two sons (ages 15 and 10) interested and eager to come back to Paris again. By the second day I was able to manage the Paris Metro and buses by myself if need be, and we saw more in that week than we could have in a month. I didn't have to refer to a map once, and our own personal guide through The Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, Versailles, Giverny, Musee Picasso, etc. etc. etc. was priceless. THANK YOU MICHAEL OSMAN!!!