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!