If you all can stand to review yet another itinerary, I would appreciate your feedback. I have put this together mostly based on comments and insight supplied by TA regulars, but want to make sure it%26#39;s feasible.
My mother and I will arrive in Paris on Tuesday, October 9, 2007. This is our first trip. Any advice you have would be much appreciated. Merci!
Day 1:
Arrive in Paris at 9:20 a.m. Check into hotel (Hotel Britannique), get settled, then head out to see:
- Notre Dame (possibly Paris Archeological Crypt)
- Berthillion for ice cream
- St. Severin (is this a must?)
- Wander around the Latin Quarter
- Sainte-Chapelle
- Seine river cruise and Illumination tour at night
Day 2:
- Louvre (for the most popular %26quot;must sees%26quot;)
- Shopping in Carrousal du Louvre
- L’Orangerie
- Champs-Elysées Walk (starting at Tuileries Gardens (ferris wheel ride?) to Arc de Triomphe
- Trocadéro
- Twilight ride up the Eiffel Tower
Day 3:
- Tour with Barbara from Paris Photo Tours (includes Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur basilica)
- Not sure how to fill the evening on this day.... Advice welcome!
Day 4:
- Orsay museum (arrive 15 minutes before opening)
- Rodin museum
- Ponte St. Alexander
- Picnic on Champ du Mars
- Luxembourg Gardens
- Moulin Rouge show
Day 5:
- Giverny/Versailles tour with Paris Vision Tours
- Dinner on Ile St-Louis
- Floodlit walk by Notre Dame
Day 6:
- 10 a.m. mass at Notre Dame
- Marais walk
- Lunch at a restaurant on the place des Vosges or on rue des Rosiers
- Need afternoon/evening suggestions
Day 7: Departure
Thank you all in advance for your thoughts!
|||
St. Severin - beautiful, but not an absolute must do IMO. I would recommend Ste.Etienne-du-Mont next to Panthéon for a really breathtaking church - and of course my favorite Saint-Eustache next to Forum Les Halles - a 10 minutes walk to the north from Louvre.
Twilight ride up the Eiffel Tower. Be prepared for long waiting lines. The view is equally as good from the skyscraper Tour Montparnasse - and there are no waiting lines. An express elevator takes you up to the 56th floor and then there are 3 floors walk-up to the roof with helipad, telescopes etc. AND you get to see the Eiffel Tower in all her beauty.
Lunch at a restaurant in Marais - don%26#39;t forget to visit the super-charming little peaceful square Place du Marché Ste.Cathérine. Everyone I have taken there have fallen in love with that square instantly.
Otherwise - your plan seems OK. Lot of museums, but%26#39;s that a matter of individual taste. Remember to spend time just sitting in café terraces people watching and a lot of time to %26quot;get lost%26quot; - to wander around after your nose and intuition. Bring a map - but bring it out as little as possible. The secrets and wonderful surprises which you find by chance are precious memories, that you will remember far more vividly than the tick-offs in your guidebook.
How old is you mother ? If anything above 60 - do NOT pace things. Even if she may not complain, she will tire sooner than you - so remember a lot of coffeebreaks or just pausing on benches - and also time for her to take a nap before going out to dinner.
|||
GitteK,
Thank you so much for your response! I was hoping you would reply as I love reading all of your other contributions. My mom will be 68 at the time of our trip - though she%26#39;s in great shape, we will definitely take it easy, if need be.
|||
Your%26#39;e welcome. One thing I forgot.
%26gt;%26gt;%26gt;Champs-Elysées Walk (starting at Tuileries Gardens (ferris wheel ride?) to Arc de Triomphe%26lt;%26lt;%26lt;
Not worth it - it is a VERY long walk and there is almost nothing of interest on the way (sorry, Rick Steves). Take the metro line 1 (direction La Défense) from Place de la Concorde to e.g. metro station George V, which is about 2/3%26#39;rds up the avenue. You can always stroll up and down a bit, but there is no reason to do the full %26quot;green mile%26quot;..... it is mostly carshops, fastfood joints, noisy music shops, cinemas, car rental agencies. I only go to CE to buy museumtickets in the basement of the FNAC-store. You can also do that for Louvre, Orsay and Orangerie, so that you can skip the lines - but maybe you can save some money buying the museum pass, if you plan to see all those museums.
Make a search for Museum Pass
|||
Good to know...thanks for the Metro details!
|||
Good idea to arrive at d%26#39;Orsay just before it opens - I was there on Tuesday and I arrived half an hour after it opened (I strolled and took my time due to all the wonderful things to look at!) - and the lines were long. They moved, but were long..
I agree with Gitte in that the walk from Tuilleries up Champs Elysee is a touch long, and very busy.. I did it yesterday and I thoroughly enjoyed it, and didn%26#39;t find it long at the time, but for someone your Mums age it might get tiring, weaving in and out of all those tourists!
Oh, and after you see Notre Dame (are you planning to climb the stairs to the towers? I highly reccomend it if you are both fit, although there are lots of stairs..) it won%26#39;t take long at all to see the Crypt - I checked it out after my visit and although interesting, I was done within half an hour..
Your itinerary seems to leave lots of time for eating and wandering about - sounds great!
|||
Thank you, AusBoxer. I am planning to climb the tower at Notre Dame, but my Mom is claustrophobic and I have heard the stairway is not very spacious! We are definitely planning to leave time to do a lot of people watching in cafes or just wandering aimlessly about....From reading all the other posts (I am truly a TA junkie now) I gather this is the best way to enjoy our time there the most.
|||
dep0515 - yes, the stairs of N-D are very narrow and (if I remember rightly after 35 years....) quite steep. I wouldn%26#39;t bring mum up there.
Samt thing in Sacré Coeur.
The stairs in the Arc de Triomphe should be more %26quot;customer-friendly%26quot; I am told - broader and easier to climb (can%26#39;t remember those, though we weer up there also). And the Arc is not so tall. There is also an elevator, so if you ask your mum to look very weak and to limp as you approch the elevator, you can escort her up.
(Advice from Truffaut, a TA-expert)
|||
As long as you%26#39;re at Notre Dame, you may want to stop in the Conciergerie. You%26#39;ll see what the cells were like where they housed the prisoners during the Revolution. It doesn%26#39;t have to be a long visit. St. Severin was interesting, I thought, but sort of out of your way on that first day.
I really was impressed with the Pantheon, which is about a 10-15 minute walk from the Seine, through the Latin Quarter. That%26#39;s another place you will walk into, look around in awe, and it doesn%26#39;t have to take a lot of time.
As long as your%26#39;re at the Rodin, you should go to the Invalides,the building with the lovely golden dome that you will see when you look at The Thinker in the Rodin gardens. I would just suggest going in the main room with Napoleon%26#39;s tomb. The architecture is breathtaking.
When you go to the Louvre, go directly to see Mona Lisa. My husband and I were all alone with her, except for a couple of other visitors. It was the high point of my trip.
|||
Oh, and another thing, when we went from the Louvre to the L %26#39;Orangerie, it wasn%26#39;t open for individuals until 12:30. I don%26#39;t know if that%26#39;s just on Mondays, or all the time. Allow some time to take in the sight of the Place de la Concorde.
|||
You might also consider that, if you really look forward to climbing the stairs at ND, your mom might welcome the chance to sit in front of the cathedral and people watch (read: rest her feet:).
No comments:
Post a Comment