A couple days in Paris

[SeeBass]

any girl would love versaille it is like all their dollhouse wishes come true

I have never met a single woman who didn't enjoy it

If she needs to hide from the hussle of Paris try a park called http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_des_Vosges very pretty and a little slower.

For night life a single woman doesn't need to go to the Latin Quarter she would be better in the gay Marais district. Better eating/drinking and more mature crowd.

Unless she is a big fan of Moulin Rouge tell her don't bother and save it for the two of you.

If she is in shape she needs to climb the tower of Notre Dame or Arch de Triumphe

The Eiffel tower is a must but the other two are a better view as the tower is so high you lose perspective.

If she is there for 3 days tell her to get a 3 day Paris museum pass.

The louve of course but stay away on free days.

Tell her there will be another day for Paris and don't expect/try to see it all. If she hurries around she will miss what really is Paris.

#1- Sit at a cafe, lots of cafes and take in the soul of Paris. Don't be a tourist be a guest and Paris will love you back.

#2- always say bonjour first when you enter their shop

[tete]

One piece of advice - despite the mild weather that Paris does have throughout the winter, it can and does snow there. I had the unfortunate experience of that two winters ago - and the snow followed us throughout north-eastern France as well. Pack decent shoes and gloves/hat. Oh, and an umbrella. If it's not snowing, it's probably raining.

[icarus]

On my most recent trip to Paris last month, I stayed just off the Blvd Raspail in the area around Montparnasse/Luxembourg/St. Germain (south of the Seine). Not a bad area (better than some I've stayed in) and pretty central. The hotel was on Rue Brea and was good value.

[shermanator]

I'll second the comments on Montmartre. Stayed there during my trip to Paris and it was rather sketchy. The highlight of my few days in Paris was walking up the steps of the Rue Foyatier to the Sacre Coeur and enjoying the view. No picture will ever do it justice, but here's an idea.

[sun]

Unless she really loves art, skip the Louvre. Especially if she plans to return someday. It is pretty unbelievable, but overwhelming. You could easily burn one whole day in there. On a three day trip, I think her time could be better spent elsewhere. Probably an unpopular opinion, but there you go.

I would recommend the Musee d'Orsay and definitely the Musee National Rodin if you still need your museum fix.

[Kjesse]

A stroll through the catacombes would make for an interesting solo adventure.

[jeffporfirio]

I apologize for hijacking an old thread, but felt it not Kosher to start a new one.

For the traveling knowledge base out there:

We (Me, Wife and 3 kiddos) are traveling to CDG in the early summer and staying in the 7th Arr. near the Eiffel tower. We're only staying a few days and moving on to Denmark from Orly.
I feel that after the 9 hour flight with kids, a shuttle service might be worthwhile.
Can anyone recommend a service?
Opinions on the matter are welcome.
Thanks

[sa226]

The Blue line RER runs straight from CDG and gets you pretty close to the Eiffel tower, depending on where you're stay. The RER is less of a subway and more of a regional train. Pretty easy from the airport.

If you need to transfer to another line, it does up the difficulty but it's not too bad.

Aside from the language barrier I've found the Paris train/ subway system to be one of the more efficient and intuitive systems I've experienced.

[jeffporfirio]

Originally Posted by sa226

The Blue line RER runs straight from CDG and gets you pretty close to the Eiffel tower, depending on where you're stay. The RER is less of a subway and more of a regional train. Pretty easy from the airport.

If you need to transfer to another line, it does up the difficulty but it's not too bad.

Aside from the language barrier I've found the Paris train/ subway system to be one of the more efficient and intuitive systems I've experienced.

Thanks.
Follow-up question. I'm assuming it's no big deal carrying luggage on the Blue Line RER?
Again, thanks

[greyshep]

Originally Posted by jeffporfirio

I apologize for hijacking an old thread, but felt it not Kosher to start a new one.

For the traveling knowledge base out there:

We (Me, Wife and 3 kiddos) are traveling to CDG in the early summer and staying in the 7th Arr. near the Eiffel tower. We're only staying a few days and moving on to Denmark from Orly.
I feel that after the 9 hour flight with kids, a shuttle service might be worthwhile.
Can anyone recommend a service?
Opinions on the matter are welcome.
Thanks

I am heading to Paris in the middle of April. We are there for more than a few days though. What kind of shuttle are you referring to? We were considering the hop on/off bus and the hop on/off boat that takes you along the river Seine. We arent planning on renting a vehicle so we will be reliant on bus, train, foot but it sounds like thats more than manageable from our limited research.

Also if you are referring specifically to mode of transport from CDG, your options are likely bus/train/taxi. We are probably going to taxi to our accommodation as its a pretty similar cost to doing the train when you add up costs for 4 people. We figure we may as well get door to door service.

[jeffporfirio]

Originally Posted by greyshep

I am heading to Paris in the middle of April. We are there for more than a few days though. What kind of shuttle are you referring to? We were considering the hop on/off bus and the hop on/off boat that takes you along the river Seine. We arent planning on renting a vehicle so we will be reliant on bus, train, foot but it sounds like thats more than manageable from our limited research.

Also if you are referring specifically to mode of transport from CDG, your options are likely bus/train/taxi. We are probably going to taxi to our accommodation as its a pretty similar cost to doing the train when you add up costs for 4 people. We figure we may as well get door to door service.

I apologize, yes, I meant an Airport Shuttle/taxi/Uber.
Considering 3 kids will be tired, I though a car-service might be worthwhile

[InglewoodFan]

We used taxis a bit last fall, we found the G7 Taxi app handy. Can pre-book cabs, summon them, get an idea of fares, pay the fare if you want. Kinda Uber-like but for the big taxi company. Other than that, we just bought transit multi-day passes. Very easy to get around.

Carrying luggage on an RER shouldn't be a big deal unless it is rush hour, I used to do it in my backpacking days.

[MoneyGuy]

Remind her to be aware of those around her at all times. It’s a crime-ridden city. If someone approaches with a clipboard to do a survey, DON’T. She needs to take care with her purse and other valuables.

[lazypucker]

Is Paris like Rome where there will be people putting bracelets on your arm and then make you buy them for ridiculous prices?

[Cappy]

Paris isn't that bad. Their are certainly grifters but they are easy enough to avoid. The most popular grift last time i was there was the "three card monty" games going on around tourist sites. If you aren't a sucker they don't bug you.

EDIT: also, alot of scammers rely on the fear of getting into trouble if the scammer went to the police and the inability to speak the language. This is not an issue in Paris as, sorry to say, most scammers are Roma or Algerians, and French Police (French in general) are not kind to these scammers.

[RichieRich]

a few years ago but the wife and I simply took the express train from the airport into downtown area. I suspect the Tower area may be only a few stops further and maybe 1 train change? Easy enough to look up these days. In fact you could just go to your Google Maps now and enter your estimated hop-on time. We had our own luggage and we seriously popped out less than 1/2 block from where we were staying.



I *do* recommend the Hop on/off bus for a good size tour of the city, plus it used to include a river cruise. With kids sometimes that's relatively painless and you can elect where to get off.


The Catacombs were super awesome and cool. Dali museum isn't exactly a kids delight but I was fascinated... maybe they will be too by all his inventions and crazy sketches/drawings. It's up near the Sacre Couer. Don't forget to be around the Tower after 9 or is it 10pm?? super light show. If you go out in the evenings be aware that transit stops.. maybe at 11pm? The Wax museum was better than I expected. If eating at sit-down restaurants be prepared to pay dearly... whereas the neighbourhood grocery stores often had great eats from their walk-up delis. I'd love to go back again one day!

[CaptainCrunch]

Its easy to gain respect in France as respecting their food culture by ordering catsup, with everything that you eat.


Also if you get fast food, the proper term in not French Fries, its Freedom Fries.

[FurnaceFace]

I could write a very long message on Paris. My wife’s family is from there so we’ve been numerous times. I’ll try and put something together including a couple of favourite hidden gems.

RER B - the main line from the city to CDG is undergoing a major upgrade ahead of the Olympics. I believe they are generally trying to keep things running fairly regularly for tourists but when I was there in October there was some shuttle bus service before getting on the train. I’d check the airport site for the latest updates.

https://www.parisaeroport.fr/en/pass...ccess-airports

There were a pile of very helpful guides at the airport and at the shuttle bus stations which made it fairly easy going back to the airport. I was alone on my arrival and it seemed the middle of the RER line was closed on the Sunday I arrived so the train service didn’t sound as straightforward and ended up with car service thanks to my FIL.

With kids you may want to like at a service as it would be one less thing to worry about when you’ll likely to be overly tired.

As for precautions, it’s like any large city. The guys selling the trinkets around the tourist spots aren’t a worry. The normal situational awareness you have as a tourist in any city is fine for most areas. Blend in as best you can. I’d be a bit more cautious around Montmartre as that area seems to have more of the bracelet crowd. There is also some weird scam where the person drops a ring and says it’s good and tries to sell it to you. Pigalle and the area around Moulin Rouge is a bit red light districty. Like anywhere, keep your bags closed, keep them in front of you if possible in the really tourist areas and on the metro.

Do use the metro. It isn’t costly and there are stops everywhere. There are a pile of different apps you can download which have the entire metro plan and will tell you how to get from point to point.

It’s a great city with tons to see, enjoy it.

[Redliner]

Originally Posted by InglewoodFan

Carrying luggage on an RER shouldn't be a big deal unless it is rush hour, I used to do it in my backpacking days.

I would say this depends on your luggage. If you have to transfer trains from TER/RER to metro or vice versa, you could be dealing with a lot of stairs as the stations are three and four levels deep underground and each level serves a different type of train. You can certainly do it with luggage but if you’re dragging a big suitcase (or two) around then you’re going to have a bad time - not to mention instantly identifying yourself as a tourist.

Otherwise the metro is great. Goes pretty much anywhere you want to go and it’s cheap, as long as you don’t mind the stench of human urine that permeates some of the stations.

[jeffporfirio]

Thank you for the solid advice. Much appreciated.

One last question.
Is it possible to purchase sim-cards ahead of time, or should I just roam on the first day and they buy a sim card locally.
We are heading to Denmark after Paris and later to Brussels to cap the trip.


Dumb question. Found out Amazon sells Orange Sim cards.
Again, thanks!