Hi FrenchMystiqueTours,

Can I check with you how best to avoid the crowds on a sat or sun? I will be arriving in Paris on Friday afternoon.

I am intending to go to Provins on a sunday. What itinery should I fill on the saturday?

Regarding Louvre, I cannot make up my mind to go either on the same Friday evening (after 6pm - but I am not sure if 3+hrs is sufficient time), or early morning Sat or next Wed. If we go out of the Louvre for lunch or dinner, can we come back again with the same ticket after evening?

Thanks.

I have just checked out the vianavigo.com website - can't see they have one for zone 1-6 and the rates for it though I am sure they have one.

But i note that the weekly pass is from Monday to Sunday? I am arriving in Paris Friday & will be leaving the following Friday - can still use this weekly pass?

For Saturday I'm afraid I'm not much help with itineraries as my advice is to see do whatever ever interests you. If you spend some time learning how to get around Paris by public transport and have some ideas of the sites you want to see then pick one to start and then move on to others until you don't have time to see anymore. Don't rush to see everything but take your time enjoying what you do see.

I can't answer your Louvre question as I really don't know when to best avoid crowds there. I usually enter through the Carrousel du Louvre, buy a ticket from a machine and go right in. There are always huge crowds around Mona Lisa, Winged Victory and a few other well known exhibits but I find crowds manageable otherwise. Lots of people but enough room to move. Crowds then as you move up to higher stories.

As far as avoiding crowds on Sunday I don't know that that is a problem. There may be a lot of peope there, or there may not, but crowds are nhuge there nor are they anything to be concerned with. If you are planning going to one of the shows (falconry, horse shows etc.) then you might want to buy a

Darn! Hit the reply button AGAIN! As I was saying:

If you are planning going to one of the shows in Provins (falconry, horse shows etc.) then you might want to buy a ticket ahead of time as I believe audience size might be limited but I don't know for sure.

As I said earlier, there is no longer a zone 6, there are only zones 1-5. Look at the RATP interactive map and you'll see that.

In regards to a weekly pass, as it states it can only be used from Monday to Friday so if you arrive on a Friday you shouldn't buy it until Monday and then you'd have use of it until the Friday you leave. But you'll have to decide how much you'll be using public transport and do the math and see if it is more cost efficient than just buying carnets of 10 tickets (which cost 13.70€). In case you weren't aware, a carnet is just 10 individual tickets that you purchase at a discount vs. just buying single tickets, which cost 1.70€ each.

To learn how to get around Paris by métro/bus/RER use www.ratp.fr. Here is a link to a route planner:

http://www.ratp.fr/itineraires/en/ra...herche-avancee

Here is an interactive map of the system:

Here are some other Paris tips:

Buy a good detailed map of Paris of around the scale 1:12,000 and it will show all streets and street names, museums, monuments, gardens, parks, sites, attractions and the location of all RER and métro stops. A handy booklet to buy is called ''Plan de Paris par Arrondissement, L'Indispensable''. It is available in the Relay bookstores you'll find in the main line train stations and RER stations. It can be bought in many other places as well, such as bookstores, magazine/news stands, many touristy souvenir stores, larger supermarkets, tabac stores etc.

I also like to have a full size fold out map as well since the booklet I mentioned only shows one arrondissement per 2 pages, so you can't see the whole city at a glance and can't see where one neighborhood is in relation to another.

In any métro or RER station with an information booth you can get free maps of the Paris transport system and use those in conjunction with your street maps to figure out how to get around and determine where you are.

You can figure out walking times and distances between sites by using a mapping website like www.mappy.com or a similar website.

You can look at the Paris tourist office website for info about what to see and do in Paris as well as learn about the various passes for visits and public transport: http://en.parisinfo.com/


http://www.ratp.fr/plan-interactif/carteidf.php?lang=uk

These are great information FrenchMystiqueTours.

Thank you so much!

Forgot to thank Christina as well. Thank you. And the others too.

I think I have finally resolved the major routes. Now just need to sort out the schedule of where to go.

Offended? Chill? Yes.