thomthumb

Well, I'd like to start off by thanking everyone here for all of the help prior to my first trip to Paris.
That said, I'll get started.
Day 1: Got to Timhotel Nation at 10 am, dropped off the bags and hit the ground runnin'! We did a walking tour of the Marais found in "Frommer's Paris from $90 a day" (a great book for any first timer.) which included a bunch of little stops that we would have never thought of like maison Victor Hugo, and the picasso museuum.
Day 2: We did the walking tour (from the book) of Montemarte. We fell in love with this section of town! This tour included the dali museum (where I bought a watch), place de tertre and of course sacre coeur. We added moulin rouge, and might I say that the street that it's on leaves nothing to the imagination! We then went to the arch to climb it towards dark. then saw the eiffel tower at night.
Day 3: We did a walk of the Latin quarter which included Hemingway's apt. and arenes de lutece. We added Notre Dame and the Pantheon to this day.
Day 4: We climbed the eiffel tower, then went to Invalides, Musee Rodin, Luxemboug gardens, and musee d'Orsay.
Day 5: This day we had an all day trip to Normandy. We went with parisvision and it was great! Nobody was left behind, and the included lunch was the best meal we ate all week!
Day 6: The last day. Notice somewhere we haven't gone yet? We discovered the hard way the the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays! We are so embarrassed to say that we didn't go there! But it's our excuse to go back to Paris I guess. We saw st. Chappelle which was closed until this day due to security reasons, and the we did some hardcore shopping for the rest of the day.

Some overall impressions...
-If your travel includes using "voyages a Paris" as a transfer to and from the airport, CHANGE IT! We had nothing but trouble with them both ways, and they ended up standing us at our hotel and we had to take a taxi at the last minute to the airport.
-Timhotel...I'm not sure if this is normal all over Paris, but, I'm a guy that likes my privacy, and they ignore the "do not disturb" signs. I like to get the room cleaned up only every other day, so I'd put the sign up. We'd come back and the sign would be gone, and Our room would be cleaned. So lock up your stuff!
-The poop on poop...Dog poop is NOT everywhere. I had a hard time finding it some days (and I was looking!). The Marais was the least poopiest.
-The people...We were treated very nicely by 99 percent of the people we encountered. We barely speak any French (just what Rick Steves could teach us in a couple weeks)but we got by fine.
-What to wear...Anything! Jeans, ballcaps, t shirts, shorts, running shoes, anything goes! Ladies, if you want to fit in, bring all of your scarves! Silk, cotton, Big wool winter scarf, it doesn't matter, as long as it's bright and doesn't match anything else you're wearing!

FainaAgain

LOL Thumb, I like your scarf comment!

francophile03

TomThumb, same here, I like your comment about the scarf thing. I went in February and a couple of days were sunny and in the 50's, not really cold during the day especially if you're walking, but the ladies (and men) were all bundled up with their scarves. It's the fashion more than anything I think.

sherry1

Glad to hear scarves don't have to match anything else I'm wearing! Makes packing so much easier. Now all I have to do is learn to tie them like the Parisians do.

thomthumb

It was about 90 degrees F, and they were all wearing their scarves! They all had them tied different ways, so no need to worry about that either.

WillTravel

So how did you deal with the heat, Thomthumb? Someone noted here last week that it was forecast to be hot. Did your hotel room get uncomfortable?

Travelnut

So glad you had a good time.. As they say, you can't see it all in one visit... so it was the Louvre that you missed! Just start planning your trip for next year... :-?

thomthumb

Yeah, it was hot! We would leave the window open, but the uninvited housekeepers(from my trip report) would shut it. Tried to sleep with it open, but too noisy outside. Bring your earplugs for sleeping!

thomthumb

We still have Ireland and Italy etc...so the louvre may have to wait.

hopingtotravel

Thomthumb -- just a note if you're going to Ireland -- since you said you like your privacy. When we were there 3 years ago, we stayed in some pretty nice places. At two of them we were surprised to discover that when we were downstairs to evening dinner they did turn-down service. In both places they neatly folded whatever articles of clothing were laying around the room and placed them in/on our open suitcases (usually the wrong one). Nothing was missing of course; just apparently something we had never encountered.

thomthumb

Good to know!
I also like to leave a tip for housekeeping, but I didn't know they're going to be there, so I didn't leave one on the days that the sign was on the door.

adrienne

Looks like you had a great trip and a very full schedule. You saw many things that first timers don't normally see. I wouldn't feel too bad about missing the Louvre...it's about my least favorite museum in Paris. If the temps were 90F then the Louvre would have been extremely hot! It's very hot in there even on a much cooler day.

I agree about the dog poop. I've seen very little in Paris.

thomthumb

Those walking tours in that Frommers book were great! We saw many more things than I even mentioned in my trip report. I even forgot to mention Saint Sulpice!