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Stress-free Paree?

We will be in Paris the first week of April and are in the process of finalizing our itinerary. We would like to make the trip as stress-free as possible. Has anyone ordered Paris Visite Passes or Paris Museum Passes online? Did you receive your tickets as proposed in the offer? Would it be better to buy the tickets in Paris? Also, speaking of stress-free, how long does it usually take to go through customs at CDG? What is the situation with "les toiletes" in Paris - are they just hard to find or are they disgusting? I have read vague references on this topic in this forum but nothing specific. I look forward to your replies!

First, the passes are easy to buy at most of the sites or just as we did in September at most metro stations. It is better to wait since depending on when you start it for 3 days or what ever. I do not know if you can buy them on line. But if your plans change, you could get short changed. We drove into France and flew out of CDG but to Amsterdam before heading home. Customs was nothing this way. Toilets in Paris are not a problem, many if not most are better than in the States. Keep some coins in case there is a pay toilette. I think we had to pay at Versailles. Beleive me I wish some of the toilettes in the States did charge, maybe they would be better maintained. Occassionally the attendants in Museums, etc, will send Les Femmes, into Les Garcons, they control who goes in. Just relax and enjoy. Oh if you go to Italy, carry coin and tissue with you as well. The best toiletes are at Schonenbrun Palace outside Vienna. After every use a gizmo pops out of the back, the seat raises and rotates in a circle while the gizmo wipes it down. It was amazing!!!

Hi Meg. Love that name -- spitfire. Reminds me of the WW II British figher plane that won the battle of Britain. As I recall we bought our museum passes in Paris, but for the life of me I cannot recall where. I am sure some one else will come up with a location. We might have have made the purchase at the Rodin Museum, which is near Hotel Invalides, if I recall correctly. As for the toilets. We saw the at a few places along the street. You need to have a couple of franc coins -- two franc coins to be exact as I recall -- to gain entry. We never used them. The only really gross one we found was in a small restaurant somewhere west of rue de Rennes on the edge of the 6th Arr. I did not see it; my wife did. She fortunately copes well with that type of situation. Usually we relied on the facilities at the various museums. In the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay, they were fine as I recall. We do not recall seeing facilities in the Metro stations but, as my wife just told me, she never looked for one and neither did I. We always had a decent lunch; so there were facilities in the places we chose. Bistro de la Gare was our normal nightly place, and it had good facilities. It is a good "cheap eat" on Boulevard Montparnasse, very near the Metro station. In fact one of the lines must go right under the restaurant because we would feel a rumble from time to time. Had I been in southern California I would have looked for swaying light fixtures, rocking furniture and a doorway to stand in or a table to dive under. (Earthquake.) Customs at CDG was a bit of a pain because we had to stand in line. When a big flight comes in, every body gets to the customs line about the same time. But in terms of being bothered much, the inspection was minimal. I thought the line was a little disorderly. We had reserved a van service to get to our hotel. I called the toll free number before we hit customs, but there was a delay in being picked up. But that was not particularly stressful. I think the biggest thing you can do to repel stress is to study the bus route maps and subway maps well before you go over. We used the bus more than the metro because we could see the street scenes from the bus. Try this web site for maps of the bus routes and metro routes. http://www.paris.org/Metro/ The bus route maps are color coded and most bus stops have a little shelter on the sidewalk and the map is posted on the wall of the shelter. Also, I went to the post office and bought a phone card. The easiest way, and I think the cheapest way to call home is to go to the pay phone and stick in the phone card and dial the international access code, then dial the US code ( 1) area code and number. It was cheaper than I expected. My phone card finally ran out when I was talking to my son. So I saw it was low, told him, and we said good bye. But half the battle of Paris is to have the routes down and know where you want to go ahead of time and know how you are going to get there. If you do,then I think it is easy to get around.

I just checked a site for buying your museum pass on line. They wanted $50 to send the pass to your home, $8 to send it to your hotel. You can buy them in any Metro Station, so we are going to wait and get them there.

Meg, Customs has never been a problem for us at CDG, but sometimes it can get really busy (as in most airports, too many flights at once), it's a breeze tho once you get to the agent. The restrooms after we came through customs this last time were crowded and small (3 stalls if I remember correctly). The departure area restrooms (we flew BA) were quite nice and I am sure there are plenty around I did not find! As for in Paris, all the museums have decent facilities, likewise department stores. You may need some small change to give the attendant if there is one (more and more places do not have one but you need to be prepared). In a pinch McDonald's has good restrooms too and they are all over the place. I would definately NOT use the facilities at the Bateaux Mouche - they were disgusting. Most cafe's etc. have OK facilities, often small tho and occasionally the same for both men and women (lock the door!!) In 15 trips to Paris I've never needed to check out the Metro restrooms soI can't speak for them. There is always some stress (delays mostly) to travel, you need to just go with the flow, usually it is not too bad and you can take it in stride. If waiting around bothers you take a taxi into your hotel from CDG - we used the Shuttle, it was fine, but occasionally you might have to wait for it. Try and stay out of the Metro at the height of rush hour - it's stressful to get pushed aside! It's a good idea in general to step aside and stay against the wall till most of the passengers have gone on ahead - that way you do not get in anyones way as you try and figure out what exit you need, etc. Just relax and enjoy - April in Paris is a great time.

I guess my "bottom line" analysis of visiting Paris is this: pick your hotel carefully so you will have a comfortable base of operations, learn a few words of French and have a language phrase book along, prioritize your primary destinations for visiting, learn which bus and Metro lines take you to your primary destinations, don't push your physical stamina limits to the breaking point(darn hard to do in Paris), be prepared money wise, and you will have a relatively stress free trip. One thing we never had to worry about was finding something good to eat and drink.

Meg: April in Paris! Yes, I had a lovely 3 day stopover during mid-April of a year ago. Bought our 3 day Museum Passes at the Varenne subway stop, which is in the neighborhood of the Rodin Museum. Paid for it using a credit card & the clerk at the station was very pleasant & helpful. Believe that you can also purchase the pass at most of the 'major' museums that it provides access to. Here's a handy fyi - if you want to view the subway system online, you can access that information at: http://www.ratp.fr/index.eng.html Additionally, from there you can link to other subway systems in most major capital cities thru 'Subway Navigator' (http://www.subwaynavigator.com)

I bought a Museum Pass through my Travel Agent as part of my honeymoon package. It came in very handy since we only had 4 days, lots to do, and didn't have to spend time looking for a place to buy the pass. Since we were there during Christmas time, it saved a tremendous amount of time waiting on line.

What an insightful, informative response. I knew I could depend on "Fordorites" for the real scoop. I will travel to Paris with my franc coins in one hand and emergency toilet paper in the other. Phrase bookk to Metro maps to city maps poking from all pockets. Merci, tout la monde!! P.S. (and special thanks)to Bob Brown. Never heard of that WW figher plane but I will be certain to look it up. (I always did sense a bit of an "ace" in myself!) Of probable interest to you is a very daring, well-known female pilot shares my last name and my mother was a pilot!

Hi Meg. The Spitfire was the major fighter aircraft of the Royal Air Force (RAF) when Hitler and Goering were trying to bomb Britain to its collective knees. It was a single engine fighter that packed a fair amount of fire power and was relatively agile for those days. Even though German bombers did a lot of damage, there were times when it was the RAF against the world it seemed. There is a museum in Kent at one of the original WW II air bases from which the Spitfires took off for battle. Have a good trip to Paris. We enjoyed our visit very much and quickly learned that 5 days was not enough because we included Vernon (to visit Giverny) and Versailles.

I bought the Museum Pass and the Metro pass through the internet with no problem BUT I bought them for 10 women, so the service fee was spread over 10 people, not one or two. If you are just two or three people, then buy when you get to Paris. The Museum Pass is available at the museums that it covers; I've bought mine at the Musee d'Orsay in the gift shop which is NOT in the museum, so no lines. Other places like the tourist bureau and subway stations/train stations also have them. They are a time saver, and worth getting just so you don't have to stand in line (i.e., we got into the Louvre at the opening in about one minute, vs standing in the line that winds all around Paris). It also encourages you to visit a museum you might not, and also to make a quick stop for an hour or so, when you wouldn't pay $8 for just an hour. The Metro Pass is also a money-saver if you're using the bus/metro a lot; you can also buy carnets (10 tickets for about the price of 6 or 7) which work well because you can share the tickets (example:4 day trip to Paris; each buy a 3-day metro pass, then for the 4th day buy a carnet). CDG is pretty efficient; if you are smart, you'll have just a carryon - no checked luggage - and beat the rest of the plane to customs and immigration. Figure a half hour from deplaning to getting to your outbound transportation if you just have the carryon. The AirFrance bus or the RER works fine if you have light luggage, and there are just a couple of you. If there are 4 or more of you, consider having a car/driver meet you. Worth the money! Les toilettes (or WCs) run the gamut from the eeeyuuu to the sublime. As mentioned, the department stores and museums have really upscale toilets. McDonald's has GREAT bathrooms. Most big restaurants and cafes in the tourist areas have good bathrooms, too. The accommodations get a little less predictable in small restaurants and cafes, or establishments not catering to tourists. In these places, you'll sometimes find a unisex bathroom, or the hole-in-the-floor with porcelain footprints to help you along. Step back when you flush, because most of the floor is awash in seconds. The toilets on the streets are coin operated, and are clean (they are 'washed' after each use; don't hold the door open for the next person or they may get 'washed' too). Only a few pissoirs exist, mostly in the older neighborhoods (I think I saw one in the 20th a couple of years ago) that are not on the tourist maps. Enjoy Paris; don't compare it to anyplace else in the world; eat food that you've never tried; walk/stroll; buy a painting from a sidewalk artist; sit in a park and watch children play; try to here an organ concert at a church or cathedral; when the big blue doors swing open to let in/out a car, peek inside the courtyard; look UP.

Meg, I have my Paris Museum Pass from our last trip on my desk. It shows the web page www.intermusees.com. We just buy the passes at the first museum we visit. May I suggest the Cluny Museum, the Musee national du Moyen Age (Museum of the Middle Ages)? It holds the world famous Unicorn Tapestries. It's my favorite museum in Paris. Better yet, buy the passes at Sainte-Chapelle, then visit Notra Dame and walk into the Latin Quarter to see the Cluny Museum. Then, another day, when you enter the Louvre you'll be ready to find the little short line to show your Museum Pass. If you have a book by Rick Steves, he discusses the Museum Pass too. Have a grand time! Paris is a joy. If you get tired of decending and ascending stairs to get into the Metro Stations, take a taxi once in a while to maintain your "stress free" calm. Sometimes in Paris or London, you realize that you've been underground too much and a taxi ride may show you some sights as you travel from one pleasure to the next.