As noted in my last Paris report here (http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...once-again.cfm), we are experienced visitors to the City of Light, and while the city itself is endlessly fascinating, there is also much of interest nearby. So, over time, we have done many of the standard day trips, such as Versailles, Fontainebleau, Chartres, Chantilly, and Giverny. On that last trip, we used Annabel Simms’ “An Hour From Paris” to see Provins, and enjoyed that greatly.

So for this visit, I reversed the usual trip plan, using the Simms book as the main guide, with Paris as the jumping-off point for train travel outside the city into the Ile de France. However, this trip did include the 2012 Heritage Days weekend, and so an opportunity to see some less generally accessible Paris sights.

So, in the report below can be found the various locations visited outside Paris: Sceaux, Châtenay-Malabry, the Créteil islands, Moret-sur-Loing, St. Mammès, Luzarches, Écouen, St Germain-en-Laye, Conflans-Ste Honorine, Andresy, Poissy, Villennes-sur-Seine, and Crécy-la-Chapelle. And in Paris for the Heritage Days included visits to the Elysée Palace, the Luxembourg Palace (home of the French Senate), and the Paris Observatory.

As all of my previous France reports (http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...have-moved.cfm), it’s done in phototravelogue style, with the report integrated with the pictures through the photo captions. To start the report, just click on the link below, then click on the first picture to start the captions: https://plus.google.com/photos/10147...97058404834817

Truly fantastic photographs, SemiMike, and you really did see things that most tourists do not have the time or the knowledge to see. You've also seen more of the Elysée Palace than I -- I was there just once in the main reception rooms but not in all of those private salons.

Work intervened before I could finish reading your trip report, but so far it's wonderful and I look forward to getting back to it. I like the places you see and photograph. You have a good eye and a good camera, I'd say.

kerouac, compliments from our preeminent Paris-area photographer/reporter are especially appreciated - and I'm delighted to find that I have pictures of something that you don't. That's no easy task!

Coquelicot, my camera is nothing special: just a Fuji FinePix S700 point-and-shoot, but the good optical zoom frequently comes in handy. I'm a confirmed Francophile with (admittedly) a very romanticized view of the country, and perhaps for that reason I find photography there to be so pleasurable: France takes the pictures, and I just happen to be standing in the way ...

Wonderful! Thank you.

Well, that was wonderful! I wished it would not end.

Your remark about realizing that you have "fully landed in France" and "the pure, unfiltered joy of being completely in the present moment" struck a chord with me. We have those moments in France, and they can come from the simplest things--a walk on a country road, a view, a display at a market stall.

How did you plan your trip? I can see that you selected your JduP sites for maximum splendor. But how did you know where you'd find beautiful riverside walks, and how did you know which surrounding towns were going to be scenic?

Thanks for this special trip report.

Thank you for such an interesting report

This was a fascinating report, I spent hours yesterday reading and looking at the photos. Some of the sites look really lovely, I intend to visit them on a future trip. Great to know there are some ancient towns in the Île-de-France in such proximity to Paris.

What a terrific report! You saw lots of interesting things and not the usual stuff, at all. Very interesting.

A section of your report brought back a set of jumbled memories. My parents worked in a children's home after W.W.II, and we lived in the farm building that was part of the estate where the children's home was located (http://histoire.andresy.free.fr/manoir.htm ). I also recall walking across the Seine on a temporary bridge because the RR bridge was destroyed, although I am not sure that the pillars that photographed took represent that bridge.

Thanks for the report.

This was just an astonishing report. I did two of these trips in two years! I'm amazed how many you did. Thank you so much for a wonderful report.

Could you tell us how you did the google set up with commentary? I remember when you were using Kodak and, now that they're gone, I assume you chose Google over Shutterfly for good reasons.

correction: <i>that photographed took</i> should be changed to "that you photographed ..."

Fascinating. Lots of useful ideas for my next trip, thanks.

Footnote on the short Louis XIV bed: I seem to remember hearing that until relatively recently people preferred to sleep sitting up (lying down was inviting death, or something).

Coquelicot, as noted in my original post in this thread (and in the captions early on), I basically gave myself over fully to Annabel Simms' "An Hour From Paris" and her instructions/maps, sometimes with a bit of supplementing with materials from the local tourist offices.

Now, in many cases, I did not fully understand what I was seeing at the time. But back home, I filled in the gaps with some Internet browsing, and translating local brochures and information plaques which I had taken pictures of (but not included with the album - and as an aside, for images, I became very fond of http://www.onlineocr.net/Default.aspx for OCR'ing jpg images for translation). It's quite a bit of effort, but in a very special way, I then get to take the trip again, and so it's a job I enjoy doing immensely!

Also, thanks very much for your "present moment" comment - I've had more of these rare but treasured experiences in France than anywhere else, and have noted them in some of my past albums as well. The Buddhist term "sukkha" - as interpreted as the "sweetness of life" - comes closest to the feeling I have, which is not easy to fully describe.

nancy1652, the album is created in the Photos section of Google, which has an easy provision for captions. I create those captions beforehand in full in a Google Doc, then just cut and paste them into the captions. I like Google Photo over Shutterfly, since the former allows 1000 character captions, and the latter 500 - and as you saw, I can get a bit wordy ...

wow..just wonderful..thank you for your efforts!

I just briefly started looking at/reading your report. Wonderful! I'll get back to it tonight when I have the time to digest and enjoy your report at leisure. Thank you so much for allowing me to follow in your footsteps.

Interested to see my old report reappear a year later! I spent another week just this September rounding out the book, but weather and a tender tummy did limit what I was able to add to what's already here. But I do hope to add that week in a new report sometime soon!

TTT for later enjoyment.