My husband and I will be staying with family in Paris for the 4th time this March, thus we are not novices exactly. Nonetheless, we want to see and do a lot and get into the feel of the city. Do you have any suggestions as to what is special/parisian to do for someone who probably will pass up the Louvre this time. We will have a car and our trip will be for over a week.

There are two museums that you may or may not have visited before, One is the Marmottan, full of Monet and other impressionsits; that museum is pretty well known. The other is the <BR>Musee Jacquemart-Andre, 158 bl Hausmann, in the 8th.This was a private house and a private collection with a wealth of Renaissance art including Botticelli, <BR>Donatello, Titian,and others. <BR> <BR>Spend time walking around the Marais. <BR>Dusty little shops, neighborhood restaurants, not a usual tourist destination. Ditto the inner (away from the Seine) areas of the left bank. In fine weather you can get an icecream cone and enjoy it sitting on chairs in the Jardin Luxembourg. (There is of course fabulous icecream at Berthillon on Ile St Louis, but it's more crowded there.) <BR> <BR>Cafe Marly, tucked inside the outer pavillion of the Louvre, seems to be a hot and trendy place for breakfast or lunch. Business people while away hours there, and it is a place to see and be seen. The food is only average, prices a bit high, but the scene is worth it, I think. <BR> <BR>You'll have the luxury of time for some daytrips, too: perhaps go to Rheims for some champagne/Champagne experience. <BR> <BR>

There are two museums that you may or may not have visited before, One is the Marmottan, full of Monet and other impressionsits; that museum is pretty well known. The other is the <BR>Musee Jacquemart-Andre, 158 bl Hausmann, in the 8th.This was a private house and a private collection with a wealth of Renaissance art including Botticelli, <BR>Donatello, Titian,and others. <BR> <BR>Spend time walking around the Marais. <BR>Dusty little shops, neighborhood restaurants, not a usual tourist destination. Ditto the inner (away from the Seine) areas of the left bank. In fine weather you can get an icecream cone and enjoy it sitting on chairs in the Jardin Luxembourg. (There is of course fabulous icecream at Berthillon on Ile St Louis, but it's more crowded there.) <BR> <BR>Cafe Marly, tucked inside the outer pavillion of the Louvre, seems to be a hot and trendy place for breakfast or lunch. Business people while away hours there, and it is a place to see and be seen. The food is only average, prices a bit high, but the scene is worth it, I think. <BR> <BR>You'll have the luxury of time for some daytrips, too: perhaps go to Rheims for some champagne/Champagne experience. <BR> <BR>

If you want to see and get a feel for Paris without tourists you can try Rue de Passy and the small side streets in the 16th or Ave des Ternes in the 17th. The covered passageways have many interesting, small shops. I found two off of Bd Montmarte, but there are others.

I agree on the Marmottan. There's also the Cognac-Jay, another collection of stuff in a private home. Balzac's home in the 16th is also very interesting; so's Victor Hugo's home. In the 16th is the Fondation Corbusier, and there are houses in the arrondissement by him and other well-known architects. There's always Pere Lachaise, plus the cemeteries in Montparnasse and Montmartre. The catacombs or sewers are always a weird adventure. Have you visited the deportation memorial at the east end of the Ile de la Cite? How about St Chapelle? For an odd look at France, take a tour of the Assemble Nationale (their "Congress", just as goofy as ours). In Ste-Germaine-en-Lay is Josephine Bonaparate's home (where she lived after she got dumped by the little guy). <BR>Last but not least, the flea market in Vanves is always a treat (the French have yucky stuff, too).