Trip report (10 days Paris, 2 days Bruges)
 

I will be typing out a full trip report within a couple days but thought I'd post the first part now so I can test out a few things (paragraphs, bolding, etc). I have gotten sooooo much help from this forum, I hope my trip report can help someone else.

<b> Traveling from smalltown, NB to Toronto, ON </b>

<i> I am traveling for the 3rd time to Paris (once when I was 16, once when I was 25 and this time, mid-30s) along with my sister, early 30s. This is her first overseas trip, but she's well traveled within North America. </i>

We were supposed to leave on a 2 hour flight to Toronto at 3:30 pm but the plane had mechanical problems so we only took off at 5 pm. We didn't mind since we had a long wait (5+ hours) before getting on the overnight flight, but many of our fellow passengers had 6, 8 or 13 minutes to make connecting flights.

This first 2 hour flight was uneventful and I appreciated the fact that we didn't have to touch our luggage in Toronto as they already were labeled CDG from NB. That alone saved us about a half an hour's hassle.

<b> Overnight flight - Toronto to CDG </b>

When we got on the 2nd plane direction CDG, we were sitting near the back and noticed there were several empty rows. I asked the flight attendant if I could move to the 2 seat row in front of my sister, but she suggested I take one of the 3 seat rows across from her so I could stretch out. They moved a lot of people to their own rows, so we were clearly not a full flight. A sign of difficult economic times or just a certain time of year?

The whole flight was pretty uneventful. I watched the movie Sex and the City and caught a few zzzzz's before we were served breakfast and landed at CDG around 9:30.

Clearing passport control was very easy and all of our luggage (3 suitcases total) showed up!! Within about 30 minutes of landing we went to get a taxi... the line was very short (2 people in front of us) so within seconds we were seated inside a taxi parisien.

<b> Destination: Apartment in the marais </b>

Looking forward to your full report. Greetings from another smalltown NB.

Ruby, looking forward to more!

Anselm

<b> Day 1 in Paris: Getting to the apartment </b>

<i> We decided to come to Paris in March 2008 and started searching for apartments then. We wanted something in a decent area and under 1,000&euro;/week. From reading reviews here, we knew there were dozens of agencies and almost every one had good experiences with renting an apartment as opposed to a hotel.

I guess we're very picky since it wasn't until July that we found one we both liked a lot:

http://www.homerentalconnections.com...59&amp;code=21

While we won't admit it, I think we were seduced by the red hand!! </i>

Monday morning traffic was bad, so it took close to 1 hour to get to the apartment in the 3rd arrondissement (rue de Braque is between rue du Temple and rue des Archives, right across from les Archives Nationales).

The taxi fare was 48&euro; and then he added 3&euro; for the luggage. We didn't have any coins, so we gave an even 55&euro;.

The apartment was on the 1st floor (European 1st, so we had to climb up a flight of stairs) and through a long hallway. We already had the security code for the outside and were told which apartment to buzz to be let in.

When we got there, the cleaning lady was finishing up. She quickly called the agent to meet us there while we did a quick run through the apartment. Everything was exactly like the website, which was a big relief.

The agent came and we paid our 60&euro; cleaning fee in cash, she showed us how a few things worked (washer/dryer combo, tv, internet, etc), left a bottle of wine for us and gave the emergency numbers if needed. We were then instructed to just leave the keys on the table when we left in 12 days. No contracts to sign, nothing.

Tr&egrave;s simple! <i> (booking was made online, obviously, with links sent via PayPal... They added a 4% fee but it was worth it... I preferred paying with my Mastercard than doing a bank transfer which would have ended up costing $$ too). </i>

We found tons of cleaning supplies, some laundry soap/fabric softener, toilet paper, hand soap, about a dozen large towels (curiously, there were no face cloths!! thankfully we'd brought some old ones from home, intending to throw them out before we left). There was also some milk in the fridge, jam, coffee, pasta, some spices, crackers, and a few other things. There were lots of pots, pans, nice plates, glasses and cutlery. Everything we could have needed...including the all important corkscrew!

bookmarking :)

Lovely start! The apartment looks amazing.

Ruby99, great start to your report. And I'm saving that apartment to my Paris files, because it looks like a great place to stay.

<b> Rest of day 1, Paris, October 27, 2008 </b>

As soon as the agent left, we unpacked. There was a lot of space in the closet (lots of hangers) plus 4 full drawers. We changed out of our travel clothes, called our mom (free North American calls), tried the tv and internet (everything worked) and we put our walking shoes on. With no set destination, we started walking. From our apartment, turning right led us to rue du Temple. A left on that street and we were going straight towards l'hotel de ville and Notre-Dame, first passing le Mus&eacute;e du Juda&iuml;sme. While there were many, many shops, almost all of them on rue du Temple were &quot;vente en gros seulement&quot;, wholesale only, with signs thanking us for not insisting. It's too bad cuz there were some fantastic looking handbags that I would have loved to check out.

We headed towards Notre-Dame. It was shortly after noon and there was a long line to go in. We just took some photos of the outside and kept on walking. We had no set agenda for the first week of our trip, we just went with what we felt like doing when we got up.

We explored for probably a couple hours, near Notre-Dame, along the Seine. It is a nice, warm afternoon. Lunch was just a pain au chocolat, a brioche (for my sister) and 2 huge meringues from a boulangerie called LeGay Choc (http://www.legaychoc.fr/presentation.htm)

Finally we headed towards le centre Pompidou. The outside sure is fascinating! We made a note to visit in the near future... By now we were pretty tired and again hungry so we went into Ed's (small grocery store http://www.magasins-ed.com/) and picked up dry pasta, pasta sauce, yogurt (8 different fruit flavors), cheese, soda, juice and water. We got 2 bags of food for 10&euro;, very reasonable.

For some reason we forgot the bread... it has to be the jet lag!! Thankfully I remembered reading that the patisserie Pain de Sucre (http://www.patisseriepaindesucre.com) was really close to the apartment. It is located on rue Rambuteau and is exactly a 3 minute walk!!! The pastries look amazing!!! We just get a baguette but will certainly return on Thursday when they open again (closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays).

We get back right as it starts pouring (as it often does during the trip... I guess it's to be expected in the fall here). I make pasta and we eat at the apartment... I clean up and watch some French tv while my sister is out of it by 7 pm. I think it's 10 pm when I am out of it, and sleep like a rock.

Tomorrow: more leisurely walking, Forum Les Halles, le marais at night.

Ruby,

I'm really enjoying your trip report, especially since my first trip to Europe in 2002 was with my sister as well - I'm looking forward to reading what she thought of Paris, especially as a newbie!

Did you find the rental company through Fodors or through your own research? That's a really good price for one week in Paris - did you have to give the total payment before you arrived? Was the 60 euro cleaning fee a charge for when you had to leave the apt.?

What did you think about the location? How far was it to get to Norte Dame from your apartment?

I really like how you are using Italics to give background information to each post - really smart, and something I've never seen on other trip reports - can't wait for the rest!

Thanks for posting; really looking forward to the rest of your report.

I, too, like the italic background info...

bookmarking

Thanks!! I'm really enjoying writing this trip report. Some details I have to go back and look at the pictures to fully remember, and in one case I had to use the Google Maps street view for the name of a bistro, but it's all coming together... slowly but surely.

Anna1013, re: apartment. If you read the terms &amp; conditions at the bottom of the site, it is well explained there... no hidden fees.

We sent the first 50% to secure the rental (plus a 4% fee as I said to use Paypal). The next 50% is due 2 months before arrival.

Then the security deposit is due 10 days before you get there. The email detailing the costs will also have links you can follow to make your payments. Easy peasy.

The cleaning fee was paid on arrival and while I'm not 100% sure, I think this is 5&euro;/day (as it worked out to be 60&euro; total for us).

For our 12 nights, everything worked out to be 1,490&euro; (divided by 2 as we split the costs... I found this to be really reasonable).

The location was really good, we were about 10 minutes walk from Hotel de Ville and 15 from Notre Dame, and probably 10 minutes or so from Centre Pompidou.

I LOVED the marais, it was a great location!

Oh as for finding the apartment, it was actually through a Google search. I'd been looking since March and we just couldn't decide, then suddenly this one appeared one day out of nowhere... the reviews were all positive so it took less than 1 hour to consult my sis and book it!

<b> Day 2 in Paris: October 28, 2008 </b>

I don't do without a lot of sleep and I'm not sure dozing off on an overnight flight counts as sleeping... so we slept in until close to 9:30. What I'm enjoying most about this trip as opposed to the 2 other trips I made to Paris is the number of days we have to explore the city... 10 days as opposed to only 4 days on the other occasions. No need to rush, rush, rush in the mornings.

Breakfast consists of fruit (clementines are in season and the main display at every fruit stand in the city), yogurt and a piece of baguette to get us going. 9 mornings out of 10, as soon as we ventured out, we made an emergency stop at a boulangerie for a pain au chocolat. For about 1,20&euro;, how can one go wrong??

We set foot outside and again are drawn to Notre Dame de Paris. We are so close, why not go there first? Again it is crowded in front so we just walk around and take a few dozen pictures. <i> I am not the official photographer here, my sister is. I borrowed a camera from my goddaughter, proceeded to take 4 pictures at the airport and in the plane as I wanted to document all the food I was going to eat on the trip. After those 4 pictures, the battery died and after numerous tries, I've been unable to get the camera charged. </i>

After only about 10 minutes, my sister whispers she isn't feeling so well, so we are off to find &quot;les toilettes&quot;. We find free public ones in the lovely park behind Notre-Dame and she stands in line. Once she comes out I offer her a choice of Pepto-Bismol or Imodium caplets. She takes one of each!!

We stay close to that area most of the morning in case she feels worse, but a couple trips to &quot;les toilettes&quot; are all she needs.

<i> Interestingly, I am the one who has the sensitive stomach when I get nervous... so I came well prepared with a stash of anything we'd ever need for such issues. I'm relieved to say I was never bothered by this and after day 2, we drank a lot of tap water </i>

You can only explore a certain area for so long before venturing off to another. I'd read a lot about le Forum Les Halles so that's where we landed on Tuesday afternoon. It is in the 1st arrondissement and by foot it probably took us 25-30 minutes.

The building itself is really unique, a series of glass tunnels and inner courtyards built around a huge hole in the ground. This used to be THE food market in Paris before it was moved to Rungis, outside the city. It is majorly crowded as kids are off school that week for le cong&eacute; de la Toussaint (All Saint's day which is November 1st).

We do some window shopping and lots and lots of walking (as we are easily confused here, even with a map). The complex is huge... After a couple hours we leave as it is nice outside and we know we should be enjoying that instead of holed up inside.

By now it is close to 2 pm so we look for a place to eat. We find this nice looking restaurant called Le Moli&egrave;re. We both get un croque monsieur with a big salad and une carafe d'eau to share... My share comes to 15&euro;.

We keep walking direction Ch&acirc;telet, there is a lot of shopping in that area so we wander in and out of many shops.

And then we spotted, on the huge doors leading into le Th&eacute;&acirc;tre du Ch&acirc;telet, Edward Scissorhands!!! We'd read about it being shown in Paris during our time here, but hadn't done further research... we go in and sure enough, it is playing until Monday night... so we splurge (yes, tickets were pretty expensive) and reserve for Thursday night.

<i> Edward Scissorhands has been my favorite movie of all times since the early 90s... this is an amazing coincidence!! </i>

<b> la suite, day 2 (October 28th, 2008) </b>

Then we are off again direction le marais, really it's only a 15-20 minute walk from the theater to the apartment. We see Les Vergers Primeurs as we walk on rue Saint-Honor&eacute;, an upscale fruiterie with gorgeous displays of fruits and vegetables. Who can resist??? I buy some black mission figs (never tasted them fresh before), some kiwi and clementines again.

Across the street is la boulangerie Julien, we go in to get our dinner to-go: salads, a raspberry charlotte for me and an eclair for my sister.

We walk back to the apartment and have dinner there, along with leftover pasta from the night before. <i> Yes, we're in Paris eating leftovers!!! But 1) we don't want to waste perfectly good pasta and 2) we're still well satisfied from the croque monsieur... 1 big restaurant meal per day is pretty much what we do during this whole trip </i>

The evening isn't too eventful, we just walk through the neighborhood. I love rue des Archives and we go into Starbucks for a taste from back home... I get a 3&euro; cup of house blend!!, drinking Starbucks in Paris would break the bank if I had too much of it!

We feel very safe in this neighborhood, our agent told us not worry. We see a lot of women alone, purses held in their hands (as opposed to close to their bodies and around the necks like we have ours!!!) well past 10 pm at night.

Tomorrow: March&eacute; Montorgueil, and a pedestrian &quot;accident&quot; on les Champs &Eacute;lys&eacute;es

Ruby99 - Enjoying your trip report a lot! The apt looks great, thanks for sharing too. And I'm looking forward to the rest of your TR... we were in Paris &amp; Bruges in Sept 08.

Nice report! I'm looking forward to more since I'm planning my first trip to Paris for next May!

Can't wait to read more! Love the chair.

Is there any way to edit our previous posts? I just found my receipts and the croque monsieur poil&acirc;ne eaten at Le Moli&egrave;re (40 rue Saint Honor&eacute;, 75001) was 9.20&euro;, not 15&euro; as previously posted. I was looking at my CC statement and the conversion was in Canadian $, obviously.

Not a big detail, I know, but being able to edit once we've posted would be a great feature!

<b> Day 3 in Paris: October 29, 2008 </b>

This morning we take off for the Montorgueil market area. Again, this is a short walk, 20 minutes or so from our apartment. Immediately, I know we're going to love it here! There are so many merchants and appealing displays it's incredible. Not only are there great shops on the main market street, there are really neat finds on the side streets also.

We explore, feast with our eyes and keep strolling leisurely in the area for a couple of hours. By now we are hungry so the first place we head to is Amorino (!!), an Italian gelato maker (http://amorino.fr). I think I died and went to heaven here!!!

<i> Yes, clearly we have forgotten all about proper nutrition on our trip, like eating dessert before lunch! </i>

I get a small cup of tiramisu flavored glace and my sister gets something with a long italian name that the server says tastes like Nutella. OMG. Heaven in each bite, for 3&euro;.

<i> We do not realize until our 2nd trip to Amorino that you can mix flavors... I'd actually recommend this as my small cup of tiramisu got very sweet near the end, and it would have tasted even better if I'd gotten a scoop of something tangy </i>

We keep on walking in the Montorgueil/Les Halles area and I think I would have been perfectly happy staying here too. Are there any bad areas in Paris???

After a few hours, we decide to venture towards the more touristy areas. La Tour Eiffel? Nope, we want to do that at night. Go inside Notre-Dame? No, we're so close we can go anytime, when it rains. L'Arc de Triomphe? Ok!!

Since we are so close to the Ch&acirc;telet metro station, this is where we experience the m&eacute;tro parisien for the first time.

<i> On my previous trips, I came with experienced travelers and didn't have to check any directions or maps on my own... and my sister had been in the subway in Montr&eacute;al, but it is nothing like in Paris. And did I mention we are from smalltown, New Brunswick, Canada, population 3,000? Our town doesn't even have a traffic light!! </i>

<b> Day 3, cont: Le m&eacute;tro, les Champs &Eacute;lys&eacute;es et l'Arc de Triomphe </b>

We know we'll be using the metro to get around a lot, so we buy un carnet (book of 10) for 11,10&euro;. We each put one in and cross on the other side. The scary, confusing side. Yikes! Ch&acirc;telet is one of the biggest stations in Paris and it has not only 5 different lines, but 3 RER lines.

We can see we need to get on line 1, direction les Champs &Eacute;lys&eacute;es. Signage points in one direction, then it gets extremely confusing. Arrows pointed downstairs but the only signs down there are for the RER. <i> I admit we got majorly confused here and slightly panicked </i>

Finally we venture down to the RER section and sure enough, there were also signs to catch line 1 too. Phew!

Instead of going straight to l'Arc de Triomphe (stop would have been Charles-de-Gaule &Eacute;toile), we get off 2 metro stops sooner at Champs-&Eacute;lys&eacute;es Cl&eacute;menceau. No worries, it is a beautiful day and we can walk the length of the Champs before getting to l'Arc de Triomphe.

Wow. The boulevard is really grand... the weather is amazing and we just take our leisurely time walking along. The streets are crowded, which I found was the case no matter where we went in Paris. This surprised me a bit since I didn't think it would be as busy in late October.

It's easy to spot the Arc de Triomphe, it is so huge!! I think from the time we get off the subway to the time we reach l'Arc it takes about 2 hours. But we go in and out of shops and take our time.

We do go underground, under the traffic circle and outside l'Arc but we prefer to climb up at night, so just hang around taking pictures for a while. I like seeing the unknown soldier's tomb also...

Next: Late lunch at Ladur&eacute;e, Monoprix and a spill in the street!

Great report Ruby!
I was just in Paris at the beginning of October with my Mom and we stayed in a hotel right near your apartment. I also remember all those &quot;wholesale only&quot; stores and I was so disappointed we could not shop in them!

I discovered Amorino by accident
&amp; was amazed...so addictive!!!

<b> Paris, day 3: October 29th (continued) </b>

It is now late afternoon and all we've had to eat was our usual breakfast and the glaces from Amorino. We decide to head towards Ladur&eacute;e (http://www.laduree.fr/public_en/mais...ps_accueil.htm) We'd heard fantastic things about it from our cousin who was there in March, and really all the reviews were great.

There is a 20 minute wait or so to get seated in the tea-room, but we decide to wait. The downstairs part doesn't seem as nice (tables too crowded), so we're glad to be seated upstairs in the library section. We ask if we can still order lunch and the waitress says yes, until closing. So we both order club sandwiches: a normal turkey/bacon one for my sister and I get the smoked salmon club. It arrives with green salad and about 4 beefsteak fries on the side. We're not tea drinkers, so we just get une carafe d'eau.

We savor the food and the atmosphere, it is great here. We're asked if we want dessert and when we say we're too full, she suggests a take-away box of macarons. That would have been great (no waiting in line) but you can't choose flavors that way. So we pay (21&euro; for mine) and I get in the queue at the comptoir des p&acirc;tisseries. The line moves fast enough, but it is still about 15 minutes before I get my turn. I order 4 macarons @ 1.80&euro; each (pistachio, citron, framboise et chocolat). Mmmmm. <i> Did I really stand in line for 15 minutes to get 4 macarons though?? Only in Paris! </i>

We then cross over on the other side of l'avenue and go into Sephora, FNAC and a few other stores. Then I see my first Monoprix in this city and go browsing inside. I don't think a similar store at home would excite me like this, but I love Monoprix here!!!

We then decide it's time to get back to the apartment and start walking to the metro George V (line 1 still... this will bring us right to Hotel de Ville). It's now dark and crowded and for some reason I trip on the sidewalk and go down in the middle of a side street !!! My hands hit the pavement first, I'm soooo lucky I was wearing gloves cuz it was a hard fall and my hands slid a bit... I could easily have broken one or both wrists. My sister asked what I was doing there!!!??? and a very kind lady crossed the street to see if I was OK. I'm lucky I wasn't hit because a car had to slam on the brakes when I fell in front of it. Not good.

Very luckily, that was the only incident on the trip. We always have travel insurance, but it would have sucked to make a trip to the ER.

<b> Day 3, Paris, October 29th, evening </b>

Finally that evening we just went back to the apartment for a bit (checking email, calling home) and we took off by foot towards rue des Archives and our beloved Starbucks. We just buy a wrap and a salad to share and a couple coffees (6&euro;30 each) Not very parisian, (actually the place is packed with Parisians!!) but it suits our needs. After we eat we start walking sans mappe and end up in the 11th arrondissement, making notes of a few things to visit during the day.

All in all, I'd say we walked for 6 to 8 hours!! It really would have been cool to have a pedometer!

Tomorrow: Le Panth&eacute;on, Jardin de Luxembourg, the left bank, Edward Scissorhands!!

I'm in the process of getting my photos uploaded so I can share. It's such a lengthy process (as they all have to be scaled down) that they should be ready by year 2010!!!

I now understand why others said it took so long to put their pictures up...

We had over 1,600... I will probably share 300-400.

Ruby,

I'm glad your fall wasn't as bad as it could have been, especially since you were near the road.

I'm also from a small area(although not as small as yours!)and I had to laugh at your metro experience since we had a similar one on our first trip...except we were so intimidated that we left the station! At least you didn't get stuck in the metro doors as I did.

By the way, thanks for answering all my questions about the apt. I'm not familiar with the different areas in the Marais, and safety is almost always my top concern. I've always been hesitant to rent an apt. that requires you to pay before you get there, but I did check the site, and all the people(yourself included) seemed to have positive results.

I'm really amazed at all the walking you have done on your trip. When you mentioned that something 20 minutes away was close by, I felt like a wimp - that would be a &quot;far&quot; walk in my book :)

It's funny because our very first Monoprix was also the one on Champs-Elysees...isn't it great! What is it about foreign supermarkets that seem so spectacular? I'm not trying to be sarcastic, but was it really 21 euros for a salmon sandwich at Laudree?

I loved hearing about the Montorgueil market - I've only been the the one in the Bastille, but I would love to get to that market one day.

Anna, we really did walk that much yeah. The one thing I wish the apartment had was a tub so we could have soaked the aches away at night... but a hot shower was ok too.

Yeah, now that you point it out, 21&euro; for a sandwich was pretty expensive *blush*

<b> Day 4, Paris, October 30th, 2008 </b>

Every morning so far, my sister's gotten up before me (as I said I like to take my time in the morning) and gone to see how long the line is to climb to the top of Notre-Dame. This morning again, she decided it was too long and when I met up with her at our designated time, she asked if we could go to the Panth&eacute;on.

<i> Since this is her first time, I'm letting her decide what she wants to see most. We aren't big museum fans, but she definitely wants to see some of the top ten structures </i>.

Off we go, direction 5th arrondissement, by foot. It's a nice morning, but the forecast calls for rain in the afternoon. We probably walk for a good half hour, uphill in a lot of cases!, in front of l'universit&eacute; de Paris, La Sorbonne and a few other colleges.

We arrive at Le Panth&eacute;on mid-morning and there is no queue at all... we pay the 7&euro; fee to go in and start exploring. What a huge building!! We probably spend 30 minutes exploring the main level then we go direction les cryptes. Signs and security guards remind us it is a solemn place and to keep quiet please!

I will say I really enjoyed it here. There were large posters with all the names, important dates (birth, death, achievements) and a few of the most renouned had flowers on the crypts. I especially enjoyed seeing Victor Hugo, Pierre &amp; Marie Currie (as I took a lot of chemistry), Louis Braille and Alexandre Dumas.

After about 1.5 hours, we set take off direction les Jardins du Luxembourg, but we take a few moments outside the Panth&eacute;on to take a few pictures next to the humongous columns and also to admire the pieces of art in front (I forget what they are called exactly, but they are really big mummy-like sculptures outside).

We find peace and quiet in les Jardins du Luxembourg. It's probably a bit after lunch now and there are only a handful of people. We watch a couple kids with little boats on the pond, and stroll leisurely through the gardens. A must see!

We then walk until we get to &Eacute;glise St-Sulpice. Again, this is pretty empty so we can explore in peace. It's the 2nd largest church in Paris and definitely impressive!

I do tend to exaggerate at times, and I'm sure some distances felt like they were much much longer, but I swear today we walked several miles. We walked along the lovely boulevard St-Germain, window shopped only, and somehow we ended up at the Louvre!! By now it had started drizzling and we were famished (it's probably close to 3 pm) so we just take a few pictures of the glass pyramid and hop on the m&eacute;tro direction l'h&ocirc;tel de ville.

When we get out of the m&eacute;tro it is pouring rain so we stop at a restaurant called Le Relais de l'H&ocirc;tel de Ville, really close to the BHV, corner rue Rivoli and rue des Archives.

I'm craving steak-frites so I order mine bien cuit (well done). I usually like it medium-well, but I know they have a tendency to undercook things here. My sister orders the same. After about a 20-25 minute wait (the restaurant is tr&egrave;s busy!), we are rewarded with a huge plate of fries, salad and a well done steak with a delicious pepper sauce on the side. Yum Yum for 13,90&euro;.

<b> Paris, Day 4 continued... October 30th </b>

As we walk back to the apartment, we make the required stop at Pain de Sucre to see what great desserts they have in their display cases. The guy remembers us from Monday! I'm always amazed at the line ups there, even with the higher prices for their sweets. While we just finished lunch, we are planning for after the show tonight and get dinner &amp; dessert:

A goat cheese &amp; tomato calzone-like pastry, a strawberry tart for me, a big sugar cookie for my sister and a verrine to share!! I don't remember exactly but I think this is about 14&euro; total.

Then it's off to the apartment to call home, check/send emails, research a few things on the ratp.fr site (it has a great interactive map where you can enter your starting point and then you enter your destination and it shows you exactly which metro line to take).

We walk to the Th&eacute;&acirc;tre Ch&acirc;telet, in the pouring rain, unfortunately. We get there around 7:30 (the show is at 8) and it is packed! Thank goodness we bought the tickets before hand.

One thing that surprises me here is how they divide the sections. I am in seat 13 and my sister seat 11 and the ticketseller assured us we were seated together. What happened to seat 12? Well they put all the odd numbers and all the even numbers together, separate sections! Neat.

The theater is huge, several balcony sections, but we'd splurged on 3rd row seats! The orchestra is below the stage, right in front of us.

The Edward Scissorhands ballet is absolutely awesome! This evening is definitely one of the highlights on this trip!!! It has nothing to do with Paris and history, I know, but we still enjoy it immensely!

Back to the apartment after the show (10ish), finally the rain has stopped. We make our way behind the Centre Pompidou, again a 20 or so minute walk. I feel safe walking here too, even after dark. We get back and eat a very late dinner, our savory cheese/tomato calzones and then the yummy desserts.

Tomorrow: Market, Notre-Dame (inside), Ile-St-Louis and miles of walking!

I'm exhausted, but please keep going!

Can't wait to read your &quot;take&quot; on Pompidou! Hope you got up to the roof.
=D&gt;

Ruby, such a fun report and how wonderful to be in Paris with your sister. I will be going with my three sisters in October, 2009, (hopefully). I have been once before, but they have never been. We will have only a week, but that is four days longer than I had on my previous trip.

I love reading about your wanderings. Please continue.

hi ruby,

i'm loving your trip report!

we were in paris at the end of september ... i want to go back NOW ... it's nice to be able to live vicariously through you! :)

please continue!

Ruby,

Thanks for another post - I really want to go to Pain de Sucre...you make everything sound wonderful. Always nice to have another patisserie on the list.

Sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel guilty for your sandwich at Laudree - you're basically paying for the ambiance as well. I just didn't know what the prices were like since we were never able to get there.

I'm looking forward to hearing what you thought about the Ile Saint Louis in your next post.

<b> Paris, Day 5: October 31st 2008 </b>

We wake up to some rain again, and leave the apartment to see if we can find le march&eacute; des enfants rouges, the oldest in Paris. It is on rue Bretagne, in the 3rd. I guess we got there around 10ish or so... and we appear to be the only ones there and very few merchants are at their booths. We just walk around quickly and leave within 10 minutes or so. What a disappointment :-( I think it's definitely bad timing, as I'd heard some really good things about this market. Too bad.

We then follow rue de Reaumur, rue de Turbigo and along Blvd S&eacute;bastopol in the 2nd. We shop and stroll along, by now we can put the umbrellas away.

Really, that's all we do in the afternoon, just window shop and make a few purchases as we get back near the apartment (a lovely alarm clock... we forgot to bring one and will need it to catch our early morning train next week!). I also find some nice cards and writing paper and stock up on some nice stickers too.

We go back to the apartment for a late lunch and stop at a Monop' (from the Monoprix chain but they sell mostly food and wine)... we pick up an extra bottle of sauce for the rest of the box of pasta and some wine and juice. Close to the apartment on rue Rambuteau we go into a shop called Berko (I think! I can't find them online...) that specializes in tarts (savory and sweet). I buy my favorite, a raspberry tart, and my sister gets a gooey caramel and hazelnut sensation.

After this late lunch, we go to Notre-Dame, finally. There's no line so we go in... it's my 3rd time inside but it never fails to impress me by its size. A magical place! We buy some lampions to bring back to the religious ones in the family but guard our wallets very very closely. It's always kind of dark in the cathedral and one never knows who's standing by waiting for the tourists to get careless.

It's now Friday night around 6 pm and my sister suggests going to Ile St-Louis. I agree, thinking Berthillon ice cream would rock right now! I checked their website to go over the long list of glace flavors and the different sorbet perfumes. It's going to be hard to decide but I'm up to the challenge!!! I enjoy the walk from Notre-Dame to the other island... it looks far on the map but it's really not too bad.

The crowds are very reasonable and luckily, a lot of shops on rue St-Louis en l'Ile are still open. There are some very unique ones and we enjoy a lot. I check my watch often but no worries, we still have lots of time before Berthillon's 8 pm closing.

I warned my sister it could be a bit crowded in there as it is the best ice cream in Paris, after all! We make our way down the street... no lineups, no one walking with cornets de glace. Hmmm. Doesn't anyone eat ice cream when it's cold in Paris??

And then I see it:

&quot;Nous serons ferm&eacute;s (CLOSED) du 27 octobre au 6 novembre inclusivement&quot;. :-(:-(

This sucks more than if the Eiffel Tower had been closed! I sulk all the way off the island.

That night we just keep walking, walking and walking. Around 9pm we start to get hungry and look for a restaurant that isn't too packed. It seems Parisians only start to eat dinner at 9 or 10... way later than our usual 6 pm here. We end up at a place really close to Pompidou called Le Cavalier Bleu (143 rue Saint Martin, 4e arrondissement). It is packed outside under the heated lamps but inside it's nice and cozy. We each order une soupe &agrave; l'oignon, and we are served the biggest bowl of soup in our lives! It really is bottomless! I think it cost 6&euro; but it is worth it!

For our main courses I want more steak, medium this time, and it comes with awesome mashed potatoes. My sister just gets a cheeseburger and fries. It comes loaded with lettuce, large onion slices, tomatoes, 2 slices of cheese... it's really big and tall. Yum! For the soup and the steak, it was around 22&euro;.

Friday was really uneventful, but was still an enjoyable day.

Friends we are communicating with via email can't believe we've been in Paris 5 days and have yet to go to the Eiffel Tower!!! I tell them there's much more to Paris than la Tour Eiffel...

Tomorrow: A very rainy Saturday, le Centre Pompidou and les Vedettes du Pont-Neuf

I forgot to mention Halloween... it is NOT celebrated much here. We did go by a costume shop that had long lines outside (they were only letting in a certain number of customers in at a time) but we never saw anyone in costume on the streets. The only decorations we saw were some chocolate pumpkins at Jadis et Gourmande, a chocolate shop on rue des Archives and a pumpkin at a fruit and vegetable shop that had a face drawn on with a black marker.

Oh how terrible! Too bad Berthillion was closed. We were able to rent an apartment on Ile Saint Louis, and on the day they aren't open(Monday)we went to a shop right across(rue des due ponts) that also served Berthillion ice cream - did you notice them? The shop was dark green, and they had an illuminated menu for ice cream flavors at night...but I'm guessing they must have been closed since I'm sure you would have seen it.

Great report...looking forward to more.

Thanks everyone for still reading!

Anna, I wanted the ice cream but more importantly the atmosphere at Berthillon's, so I didn't go anywhere else :-(

It must have been great to stay on l'Ile-St-Louis!