Paris for a week

[debthaven]

I think you can now book the Eiffel Tower tix in advance. 

ETA: The best time to go IMO is before sunset, so you can see the view during the day and at night. There is a super expensive restaurant there (the Jules Verne) but there is also a less expensive one lower down. I've been to the Jules Verne (in another lifetime). I've never been to the lower one but friends have been there and liked it. 

[zibazinski]

Jan 19, 2016 18:57:00 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Also, Zib, I don't know where you're staying but I know the hotel industry is suffering because of the terrorist attacks (although the tourists ARE coming back). They did NOT target tourist areas ... they targeted the sort of places your DD could have been in on a Friday night if she lived here, Gd forbid. 

If you're into fancy restaurants, dinners are always expensive at those places, but you can get good deals for lunch, even at some extremely nice restaurants. I don't know if you're into that or not. 

If you haven't booked a hotel yet, I'd encourage you to book one that's VERY close to a good metro stop. DH has a lot more stamina than I do, but the one time we booked a posh hotel in London, I was up for doing a lot more, because we were literally a 2-minute walk to the Tube stop. 

As far as money goes, my routine post when ppl say they are going to Paris is that once you get to your hotel, find a grocery store, and stock up on water / snacks / fruit. Buy one or two small 6-packs of mineral water. You will pay pennies per bottle rather than 2 or 3 dollars if you get thirsty on the Champs Elysees. 

Don't eat in restaurants ON the main streets, go to perpendicular / nearby streets. You will generally get better food and better value for money. 

I don't know where we are staying either, yet. If that agent doesn't come up with a trip soon, I'll be doing this on my own. Because it's 60 days away.

[debthaven]

You should also contact Mich who was just here with TD. Although I would probably opt to stay somewhere more central than they did. I think they were in the 16th Arrondissement. It's very posh and very nice, but maybe not as central to the places your DD would want to see. 

[debthaven]

That's the sort of trip I always do on my own ... it's just plane fare and a hotel. 

Heck, last summer I booked a 4 week trip to 3 countries in SE Asia for 5 people on my own LOL (with help from DD and Travelnut). I would NOT do that again though. 

But Paris is REALLY easy! It's just flights and a hotel (or apt). If you do decide to do that, feel free to PM me about hotel locations. 

[zibazinski]

If she doesn't contact me tomorrow, I'm starting the process on my own.  Thank you, I will call on you for places to stay.

[debthaven]

One more thought and then I need to go to bed ... 

I think it's Last Minute that does "mystery hotel" or "secret hotel" bookings. (I can't remember the exact term they use.) You input your desired location / price, and they reveal the exact hotel after you book. 

I've always wanted to do that but never had the cajones. This said, with the reduction in tourists, since the hotels do NOT want to stay empty, I'm thinking you have a chance at staying at some fabulous hotels. 

I haven't checked the calendar but it sounds like you are staying till Sat or Sun. Remember that your last weekend is Easter weekend, so things may book up quickly for that weekend (but not for the week). It is not Paris school vacation either, so hopefully you won't be plagued by scores of Parisian kids. 

[debthaven]

Zib I don't have any actual hotel recommendations, but I can certainly advise you on the neighborhood. 

If I were you I'd go for 4/5/6/7, or 8/17. I would definitely prefer 4/5/6/7 because they're more fun / funkier, but 8/17 (top of the Champs) is good too because there are many nice hotels that are near Line 1. 

11 would be OK too if it's near Bastille. 

[zibazinski]

Saturday to Saturday is the goal.  I'm allowing an extra day in case of a flight problem as she must be in Jacksonville on Monday the 28th for classes.

[debthaven]

I think that's very wise of you. You would be amazed at some of our students who think they will just take a taxi from the airport to their exams, without accounting for even an hour delay, while flying back from another continent. Then they miss their exams and want to know what WE are going to do about it. 

Good night!

[debthaven]

Can somebody please tag Mich? I don't know how to do that (although I should certainly learn). 

I'm sure they have some great advice too. 

[kittensaver]

Hey - calling The Walk of the Penguin Mich ! Your input on Paris is wanted here

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

We spent 8 days in Paris.  We stayed at L'Hotel Pergolese, which was very nicely placed for us.  You walked to the end of the block and you could see the Arc de Triumph.  Champs Elysee was on the other side, about 4 blocks away.  We were about 2 blocks from a metro stop.  The rooms were very decent and I found the beds comfortable, I think that the rates were anywhere from 101E to 160E (they varied, I think most were at 101E though).  Another thing I really recommend when you book any hotel.  If you can add a breakfast onto the room cost, do so.  One hotel charged 25E for breakfast per person (it was a really, REALLY nice breakfast) but since I added it on with our room, it only added another $10 to the room rate.  This hotel does have a very decent breakfast.  I goofed and clicked on the wrong option at the hotel we stayed at in Paris, so we wound up needing to pay.

I will like to make a plug for the hotel staff at L'Hotel Pergolese.  When TD was so sick, we were gone from the room for only a little over an hour and they got in and made it up as soon as we walked out the door.  They knew he was sick and the staff brought up bottles of water, juice and extra blankets.  There was a period were I thought I was going to have to call the doctor for him and they were ready and willing to do so the minute I gave the ok.  They really did a great job, and seemed way more invested in the comfort of their guests than many US hotels.

Personally, I enjoy the Musee d'Orsay more than the Louvre.  The Louvre (IMO) you can only take so much of and you get overwhelmed with the breadth of stuff to see.  So if I was going to do the Louvre, I'd break it up and do something outside for the other half of the day.  We didn't go to the Louvre this trip, but the day we went on the tour we passed the Louvre and the line was really long to get in.

We went to the Eiffel Tower, to the second stage - not all the way to the top.  When we went, if we bought a ticket to the top there was no guarantee that we could get there as the waiting line was quite long.  One thing to note, we went in December, which is off season and there were still a LOT of lines.  

Paris has a city pass that you can buy that will give you a break on the lines and some of the museums.  I would not buy the pass with the metro with it because you simply will not use it that much.  You'll use the metro, but it makes more sense to buy carnets (books) of 10 tickets.  We *barely* broke even on the day pass we bought the first day.  Buying packets of 10 tickets at a time turned out to be much more economical.

The first day, I really suggest that you book an Open Tour.  It's an open tour bus that picks you up (for us, but there are stops all over the city) at the Arc de Triumph.  You can jump on, jump off and it really gives you a good lay of the land.  I wish we had done it the first day we were there rather than the last.  I think that the tickets were about 32E each.  We jumped off at the Rodin museum at the end of the day and finished up there.  However, the lines were long here too.

Watch your wallet.  I got pick pocketed the first trip on the metro.  I got pushed into a group of women and the doors closed and the train started.  I let go of my purse, which was closed tightly, to grab the rail to steady myself.  In that short time, someone managed to get into my wallet and snag about 150E and $100 out of it AND they managed to open the (very difficult to open) side zipper and drag my passport out.  They didn't take it and I got my wallet back but I really suggest you take a cross body bag that is difficult to open and keep your arm around it at all times.  TD kept his wallet in his front pocket rather than his rear pocket.

We lost 2 days out of our trip because TD got sick.  We went to the Musee de l'Armee (which is adjacent to Napoleon's tomb) and had to bail pretty much after we walked in because he was ready to pass out.  We also had to bail on Notre Dame for the same reason.

The hotel we stayed at had a very decent Chinese restaurant around the corner that I used for takeout while TD was sick.  It was quick and I could bring him back some soup and eat in the room to keep an eye on him.  We also had a couple of boulangeries in the area that we would hit up for sandwiches for dinner.  Honestly, after walking all day (and walking was phenomenally difficult for me, I was slow and had to rest frequently so I did slow us down too), I really didn't feel up to putting on shoes and going out to eat.  So I think that we only went out to eat 4 nights we were in Paris, 2 I ate in (Chinese) and twice we picked up sandwiches on the way back to the hotel room.

We had a couple of events we were going to go to.  On the night of the 23rd, there was a concert at Notre Dame.  We were there that afternoon, and got to hear the men and boys choir do their practice.  I REALLY wanted to go back that evening, the tickets were decently priced and from the rehearsal, they sounded wonderful (the acoustics in Notre Dame are outstanding.  Nope, TD was passed out sick.  Christmas day, there was a dinner cruise on the Seine and the chef was from a 2 Michelin star restaurant.  It was rather pricey, but we were going to do it anyway until I read the dress code.  Formal dress, and neither of us brought anything that remotely resembled formal dress....dammit!  Best I could do was a pair of black slacks, and TD had only brought khakis.

I will note that security is very high around every single tourist attraction.  We went through 3 levels of security at the Eiffel tower (including a metal detector)  and at the Musee de l'Armee.  Bags were searched and we had to open/take off coats for every place else.  Notre Dame on the 23rd had some minor security (in relation to other places).  We went back on the 25th and the whole plaza had been cordoned off, there were 20x as many military with big guns and you had to go through a metal detector.  I don't know why the disparity in security between the 23rd and the 25th, but the only think I could think of is that they were anticipating someone trying something on the holiday.  The lines to get through the metal detector and to get into the church that day were really long (and not moving fast), so we just left.  

As we were flying from Vancouver, we flew into Amsterdam and then into Paris.  We got into Paris about 3 in the afternoon.  Our first week was in Normandy and we rented a car from the airport (CDG is probably one of the more complicated airports I've ever driven through).  I originally thought we could get to Rouen that evening, but then decided to find a hotel at the airport and stay there for the night and take off early the next morning.  That turned out to be a smart move on my part, as TD had RLS really bad on the flight and paced all night.  He can sleep on planes but I don't, so both of us were useless.  We returned the car and took a cab both to and from the hotel.  There was a disparity in costs there too, the cab from the airport to hotel cost us 45E and the return trip was 65E.  Even though in the past I had always done the RER to the metro, I just can't haul anything other than my body up steps anymore so this helped a lot.  

I think we figured that the 16 days we spent there cost us about $5500.  I think our tickets ran us around $1500, hotels were $2200, the car rental was about $500 and the rest meals and admissions.  Neither of us bought anything back with us.  I coveted a purse I saw when we hit the Champs Elysees and went into the store to look more carefully at it.  <gulp>  I wasn't about to pay 2200E for it!  Oh well..... it was nice to window shop!

[djAdvocate]

i am going to Paris in April/May, with an excursion down to Rennes.  it is a beautiful place, and a beautiful time to visit, zib.

relax and have fun.  Paris is safer than most US cities.