Hey guys and gals. Our family will be flying to Paris, France next weekend for 6 nights (5 Days Total to walk around). Wife, son and stepdaughter have their list of places to see. I told my wife I would like to pick one place to visit. I am interested for a day trip to see Historical Place like Omaha Beach or the American Cemetery. Any suggestions on “must see place” on my wish list?

Suggestions on “must see places” within Paris for everyone in our group? Any tips on how we can spend our hard earned money wisely?

Wife and son have the same birthday (Nov. 8). Wife turning 50 and son is turning 17. Want to make this short trip a memorable one for all of us.

My two daughters and I did Paris ... loved it !

The Louvre : a must see.

Versailles : loved taking the train and the walking through the buildings and the grounds.

... let me look at our diary book and will post lot more here.

My two adult daughters and I flew to Paris non-stop SEA-CDG on Delta December 2012 for our 10-day visit.

We rented a third floor apartment in Rue Cler, a few minute walk from the market, from a Seattle attorney I stumbled upon who was planning to retire in Paris with his French wife.

We took a private cab from CDG to the apartment.

Loved eating in the restaurants and grocery shopping in Rue Cler cooking a few meals at the apartment.

We got around by walking, taking the bus and a five-day pass on the Batobus (passenger bus along the River Seine. We were a short walk to the Eiffel Tower and the Batobus stop.

Though the weather was sunny and cold, we only had one day of rain ... and that day we spent most of the time riding the Batobus back and forth along the River Seine.

Highlights for us :

(free) Pere Lachaise cemetery. Fascinating beautiful with the bare trees and above ground crypts. My daughter wants to visit the grave of Chopin and Oscar Wilde and myself visiting Jim Morrison of The Doors (lots of interesting graffiti).

(free) Montmartre /Sacre-Coeur : Amazing, especially the view overlooking Paris !

We did okay getting around. It helped that one daughter spoke good French, the other a little French and I remembering a little French from my high school days. What is huge to know is to always greet a shop owner, or whoever you speak to, with "Bonjour" as well as "Au revoir" when leaving. Just trying to speak a little French goes a long ways.

There is so much to share ... will wait for others here. Will add more to the bottom on this thread if anything is missed. Also, please share any other questions you may have.

* We took a very little amount of Euros with us and used the airport ATM (as well as ATMs around the city) for cash (euros). Since we belong to a credit union, for some reason we were not charged foreign access fees of any kinds and received a favorable exchange rate.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: old dino,

Thanks old dino. Looking forward to your feedback and suggestions. We found a person through a friend in Paris who can drive/show us around. He gave us 5 day itinerary. But each day is averaging 400-500 Euro (plus any entrance fees). We find that too expensive.

quote:

Originally posted by old dino:
My two daughters and I did Paris ... loved it !

The Louvre

Versailles

... let me look at our diary book and will post lot more here.

Omaha Beach is not around the corner from Paris. If you're heading that far out, you might as well check out the Bayeux Tapestry too. Obviously, Versailles, the Louvre, Hotel des Invalides (Napolean's tomb), Champs Elysee, etc. should be on the list. Not sure what Notre Dame's condition is these days. I remember a pretty cool torture museum there long ago. If you're getting a car, the thing I'd recommend over all other is a trip to see the cathedral at Rheims. It blows Notre Dame away. In fact, it might rival the Terra Cotta Army. I'm not religious at all and it was almost hard to hold back the tears when I saw that place. It's so underrated.

Take an evening and make your way to the top of the Arc de Triomphe around sunset and stay up top until the Eiffel Tower's light show starts. You can get some awesome photos for your scrapbook.

Also, I enjoyed Les Invalides and Napoleon's tomb which is on the same grounds.

The local tour guide via friend quoted us a Day Trip to Normandie, American Cemetery, Honfleur and Deaville for 400 Euro.

Another package is Mount Saint Michel, Normandy and Liseux for 500 Euro.

Does that Day Trip package for 4 people sound about right? I have NO idea what is there. Is Normandie the Main Area to see where our troops landed?

The Eifel Tower is best viewed from Trocadero. It's not so pretty when you're right underneath it, but from a distance with a good backdrop, it's pretty cool. If you go to the Louvre, get your tix online well in advance. Lines to do it day of are ridiculous.

Don't be afraid to drive yourself around Normandy and to Mont St. Michel. See how much renting a car would be couple of days. I would rather get myself to Normandy and then pay a local tour guide or use one of the tour companies as that will be more time and money efficient in my mind than paying some guy from Paris to take you to Normandy.

We used Overlord Tours on two occasions and were happy with them.

Montmartre

Not sure which day you arrive and depart, but one potential cost savings is that all of the museums are free to enter the first Sunday of every month. That includes the Louvre, d’Orsay, etc....

We arriving first Sunday of November (7th). But we arrive 10:15 AM. We still have to travel to hotel and check in. If we still have time in the afternoon and there are museums close to the hotel, we will check them out. Thanks for the tip. We depart the following Saturday.

quote:

Originally posted by Mutiny:
Not sure which day you arrive and depart, but one potential cost savings is that all of the museums are free to enter the first Sunday of every month. That includes the Louvre, d’Orsay, etc....

Keep in mind it’s normally cold and rains a fair amount this time of year, so plan/dress appropriately.
Also this week and next, the Paris schools are out for Toussaints (All saints day) vacation through Nov 8. So potentially you’ll see more crowds with local kids and families at the touristy spots.

Les Invalides is the military museum. Some great historic artifacts there. The Napoleonic displays are really something else.

Really enjoyed Montmarte and Sacre Coeur. It's a cool area with good restaurants and a neat vibe.

The Louvre is amazing and you could really spend multiple days there.

Musee d'Orsay is the impressionist museum and has a ton of great modern art. Monet, Pisarro, Gaugin, Van Gogh, etc.

The Louvre and Musee d'Orsay are amazing. Seriously, if you have any interest in art and history at all and you are in Paris, you have to see both. The Louvre itself, completely disregarding the art contained within, is astounding.

Sadly you can't go on top of Notre Damme and see the city spread out in rings around you any more. I remember being a young man and walking up those stone steps, worn into U shapes by hundreds of years of feet walking up them, and then seeing Paris spread out like the rings of a tree around me from the roof. More than anything else, that is what hit me with the fact that Paris is OLD. We don't have that in the US.

There is a Picasso museum there that I enjoyed much more than I thought I would. I was never a fan of Picasso, but while I was staying in Paris I got dragged there by a very large and enthusiastic Lebanese man who was a friend of a friend. I may have become a Picasso fan out of fear of being pummeled otherwise.

You are required by International Law to get a photograph of the Eifel Tower. The view from the observation deck is nice (not as nice as from the cathedral sadly).

I spent 3 weeks in Paris back around '96 and I loved it. It's a beautiful city that drips history. The Metro system is (or at least was back then) very well laid out and a quick way to get around. The people, despite their reputation, were extremely nice provided you understood you were a visitor in their country and at least TRIED to use a word or two of French instead of just assuming everyone speaks perfect English. Even just "Pardon, parlez-vous anglais?" (Pardon me, do you speak English) works wonders. At least when I was there they REALLY appreciated tourists making the effort.

I can't help with food. I was a dirt poor college student at the time (I stayed with a French guy who had been an exchange student here and who was nice enough to let me use his couch). I ate mostly street food in the Vietnamese part of town, which was unbelievably good, or Gyros from Greek sandwich stands.

I'm hoping to go back in the next year or two. I think I'd appreciate it even more now and my wife has never been.

If your knees are healthy, a walk through The Catacombs is as cool as it is unusual.

Thousands and thousands of skulls of long dead Parisians… they used to throw parties down there… it’s far less morbid than it sounds.

There is a spiral staircase at the end which is a fair climb. If you have bad knees or pulmonary issues it may take awhile to get up into the daylight.

Even one whole day, open to close, at the Louvre is barely enough.

And 5days is too short to also see Normandy, imo.

Rodin Museum is definitely worth the effort. The gardens, sculpture, and house/studio are great.

Musee d'Orsay is great. I liked it better than the Louvre.

Andrew

Inside Paris....

Sainte-Chapelle, walking distance to Notre Dame on Ile d Cite

Musee d Orsay

Louvre

Swing by the Hermes store and get a nice scarf for your wife's birthday.

Also check out the Père Lachaise cemetary...Jim Morrison and probably most of the famous Frenchmen are buried there.

Paris is not close to Mont Saint-Michel (190 mi W of Paris) or Normandy (140 mi NW of Paris). It would be like staying in New York and doing day trips to Boston (190 mi) and Albany (130 mi).

Factor in that cars and gas aren't cheap in the EU. Hopefully that may explain the cost of having a driver take you around.

Also, as I recall there were some hoops to jump through to get to the big attractions, lines and tickets, that sort of thing. A good local/tour guide will know how to manage that to minimize your time spent waiting.

The other thing. There is a lot to see in Paris (see above, and this being SIGforum, most likely below as well) and your time is limited. Will you want to spend that much time on the road, out of that? You might be able to make a one-day trip from Paris and see both the Normandy beaches and Mont Saint-Michel, maybe, if your driver/guide is OK with that much time on the road and you got a very early start so you could spend some time at both. Or stay overnight out that way somewhere to make it easier, at the cost of spending even less time in Paris.