Trip Report - 8 Days in France
 

First, thank you to the many people who post on here. I used MANY of the helpful hints on here to pack many things into an amazing 8 day trip to France.

I arrived at CDG and met my friend (travelling on a different airline). I tried one bank machine which wouldn't give us any cash, but then tried another, and it worked - at least partially. Even though I had called my bank and asked them to increase my daily limit, I was restriced to only get 200 Euros at a time (my friend was limited to 140 Euros). This was a bit of a pain, but oh well, at least we had some cash.

We bought our 4 day Museum Pass at the airport between Terminal 2A & 2C - 45 € - they only took cash, no credit cards. Then we proceeded to buy our Navigo Decouverte for zones 1-5. Since we would be in Paris from Tuesday to Saturday, this made sense. We would be going to and from the airport as well as to Versailles and within the city too. We brought our photos with us and purchased the Navigo in the airport train station - 37,10 € = 32,10 € + 5 € for the card.

Then we took the Metro to St. Michel metro stop and walked to our little apartment. We rented a small apartment in the 6th - the small first floor studio at http://www.residences-paris.com/. It was exactly what we needed. Having a tiny kitchen was awesome, and the grocery store right down the street was great (saved on breakfast and lunch). The owner Vladimir is very nice, and he provided us with a computer and internet connection to use while there. He usually rents for a week, but we got the apartment for 4 nights (total 400 € - 100 € per night).

So, we put our bags in the apartment and headed out to "keep moving" on our first day. We went to the Cociergerie, St. Chappelle, Notre Dame, Latin Quarter, Pantheon. We had dinner at Le Procope ("the oldest restaurant in France"). It was OK...not amazing, but at this point, we didn't really care.

The next day, we started by taking the metro to the Eifel Tower (went up to the top). It was a bit hazy, but it was fun anyway. Then we walked to the Rodin Museum (AMAZING!), and then walked to Musee d'Orsay (also awesome). That evening we went to see a play at Bouffes du Nord (in English). Great theater...wonderful experience.

Then next day we trudged out to Versailles. Once there, it was a bit difficult to figure out where to enter using the Museum Pass, but finally we got in. There were MANY, MANY people there. I can't imagine what it's like during the high season. But, it was awesome...if not a bit overwhelming. It would have been nice to see the fountains, but walking the grounds was really fun. The whole Versailles trip took about 4.5 hours. From there, we headed to Montmartre. We did some quick shopping and climbed the steps to Sacre Coeur. Finally, we headed back to the apartment to get ready for the evening. That night we had tickets to the opera at the Palais Garnier. That building is amazing. If you get a chance, go see something there (ballet, opera, symphony, whatever).

On our last day in Paris we started at the Arc de Triomphe. Then we walked a little down the Champs Elysées. Then hopped the metro to the Tuileries and proceeded to see the Louvre. It is huge, so we saw some highlights, ate our bag lunch, and then hopped the metro to the Bastille. We then walked to Place des Vosges (the oldest square in Paris), bought some street paintings from a nice artist, walked through the Marais, to the Pompidou Centre. We were getting tired, but trudged on. I enjoy modern art, but this building is a bit difficult to navigate. The signs are confusing, and it was hard to figure out where to go, but we survived.

The next morning we packed up and headed to the airport to pick up our rental car for the rest of our trip. I will update more on that later.

likembrave...

Great start. I'll be in France in Sept./Oct for 3 weeks and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your report.

bookmarking

Nice, concise report. You really hit the ground running and made the most of your limited time--good for you!

By the way, I agree about Le Procope. We finally went there on our last visit (this past January) and it was the only poor meal of our trip. However, we shared a table with four adorable Japanese students and had a wonderful conversation, so all was not lost!

We ate at Le Procope last June, and like you say, it was ok, not great, but it was neat to see it, and the street it's on. I wouldn't recommend it for supper, perhaps, just a drink.