Greetings fellow travelers! Heading to London, from there we will be taking the Eurostar Train from London to Paris for a weekend. This will be the first weekend in March, so it will not be warm summer weather, more on the chilly side, but it will still be beautiful. We are two young college students on a budget. Therefore we are trying to stay away from fancy expensive hotels and restaurants. We of course want to indulge in the charming French culture, but need to be conscious of our wallets while doing so.
Now, my biggest issue so far is what hotel or hostel to stay at. When getting off of the Eurostar it brings you to downtown Paris. There are places to stay that we can walk to from the Eurostar station but the places we want to see such as Eiffel Tower and Notre-Dame Cathedral are at least 20mins from all of that. We are looking for a GREAT location hostel or hotel. We would like to be located somewhere, where we can walk to popular shopping streets, restaurants and maybe even some great cathedrals. Also, we want to be able to drop off our bags where ever we stay, so a hostel that has no safe lockers or private rooms would not be ideal. We are not backpacking and bringing our bags everywhere.
If there are any unique experiences or tips you have about traveling in Paris that would be wonderful as well. We are not looking for a chaotic weekend trying to pack everything in. Just a relaxing and breathtaking culture experience.

Places on our list to visit:
Nortre-Dame Cathedral
Eiffel Tower
Lock Love Bridge
Arc de Triomphe
What else??

Thank you!!

What els

Have you looked up Paris under "destinations"?

Do you have guidebooks and maps? That's the place to start (and here with the Destinations tab) doing your research.

Paris has only one cathedral, Notre Dame, the seat of the bishopric of the archdiocese of Paris.

Please don't vandalize a beautiful ancient bridge with a cheap, meaningless lock.

Why don't you just walk around the Latin Qtr some, you will be right near it when going to Notre Dame. You would probably enjoy that.

Of course if you like art galleries/museums, you could fit one of those in as they have several very nice ones. If you don't care that much about art, why not drop in the Petit Palais which is just off the Champs Elysees (kind of in the middle between the Arc and place de la Concorde). It has a very nice collection from all periods and is free entry. info http://www.petitpalais.paris.fr/en

As for hostels, there are some in the Marais that would be convenient for you. This group has several that are very nice http://www.mije.com/

I don't know the details on lockers for this one, but it is a great location in the Latin Qtr http://www.youngandhappy.fr/

If you want to go the budget hotel route, here is a great one, also in the Latin Qtr and not that far from Notre Dame and the Seine http://www.hotel-marignan.com/
Here's another one fairly nearby http://www.commerceparishotel.com/

Really depends on what you enjoy. The Pantheon is not too far from Notre Dame and right by the Sorbonne.

Sacre Coeur might be a good choice and is so different in appearance than Notre Dame. We love St Sulpice.

You might check to see if there are any exhibitions at the Grand Palais. The Petit Palais is nice and entry is free.

What kind of art will determine your museum focus....L' Orangerie and Musee D'Orsay offer a combination ticket. If you like Impressionistic art both are good choices. Musee Rodin is good if you like sculpture.

Endless options to explore.