Bonjour!
My three sons, ages 8, 15, 24 and I will be traveling to France July 11-July 22.
Here is the best itinerary I%26#39;ve been able to come up with. I hope I%26#39;ve left some time for browsing, cafe sitting, people watching. I know some times I bounce around the city, but I don%26#39;t mind doing so. Any tips/suggestions would be apprecitate.
Wed. 12-
Morning - Arrive at 9:40 AM. Apartment for 5 nights in Marais.
Unpack, find Monoprix for apartment drinks, snacks, etc.
Buy carte orange, museum pass, Pariscope magazine.
Afternoon- L%26#39;Open Bus tour.
Evening - Early dinner and bed. (Tired from traveling)
Thurs. 13-
Morning- Lourve for about 4 hours.
Afternoon- Eiffel Tower. Reservations for lunch at Altitude 95. Go to
top.
Arc-de-Triumph.
Evening - Montparnasse Tower for night view of Paris
May take a peak at some firehouses :)
Friday 14 (Bastille Day)
Morning- Musee D/Orsay
Afternoon- Lunch at Cafe Flore or Deux Magots
Hotel Invalides
Musee de l%26#39;Armee
Evening- Vendettes de Pont Neuf Cruise
Fireworks, picnic (Champ des Mars)?
Sat. 15-
Morning- Sacre Couer
Montmarte
Afternoon- Leisure afternoon to shop (souveniers)
Evening- Fat Mikes Segway Tours for 2 oldest sons
Youngest son and myself to gardens to sail boats, or
Cite de Sciences (have a list of things to choose from)
Sun-16
Morning- Notre Dame and tower
Tour Island
Afternoon- Other churches, St. Chapelle, St. Sulpice
Evening- Dinner out.
Sunset at Sacre Couer
Mon 17
Morning- Train to Caen, Pick up rental car.
Afternoon- Memorial Peace Museum
To Bayeaux
Evening Bayeaux tapestry
Tues. 18
Battlebus American Highlingts Tour
Wed. 19
Free day to tour Normandy
Thurs. 20
Drive to Mont-St.-Michel
Tour the Mont
Hotel on Mont for night
Fri. 21
Morning- Drive to LeMans and visit car museum.
Late Afternoon- Drive to Versailles.
Visit Versailles Gardens. Hotel in Versailles.
Sat 22.
Morning- Versailles Palace 9A-1P
Drive to CDG, return rental car, check in for 5:55pm flight
to Boston
I am quite satisfied with the above itinerary. I hope to fill holes with vistis to Maison de Chocolat, Dehilliron, Ladurees, ANY shoe stroe :). We will only have a few reserved dinner plans. Other dinners will be spontaneous.
How does this sound? Any day too busy? Have I missed anything?
Merci
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Don%26#39;t focus on finding a monoprix, they don%26#39;t all have a food section (mine at les Gobelins has no food nor drinks), you will more likely find a Franprix, and there you will find food and drinks.
When you buy Pariscope or l%26#39;Officiel des spectacles, check if Orsay museum is open on 14th July because it may be closed, in that case do Montmartre instead.
I wouldn%26#39;t go to St Sulpice unless you are really into churches, i am sure your children would much prefer the Cité des Sciences AND Palais de la Découverte.
Why return to the Sacré Coeur for sunset? Just do it in the afternoon and stay for the sunset, but in July you may have to wait a while for the sunset as it is not early.
After Notre Dame do Ste Chapelle and your the Latin Quarter up to the Luxembourg gardens. Don%26#39;t bother with St Sulpice.
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Mostly I think you%26#39;ve got a pretty good balance here, and you should have enough time for just wandering/sitting/people-watching.
A couple of thoughts:
When you arrive, I%26#39;d be inclined to find somewhere close for a quick, fairly light lunch before you do anything else. I find that that, fresh air and a briskish walk do wonders to restore me after a long flight. And by the time evening rolls around some of you may be too exhausted to enjoy a dinner out.
If you tell me where your apartment is (either the full address or the street and the closest cross street) I might have a suggestion or two, and also some suggestions for places to shop for groceries etc.
Not sure that the Montparnasse tower view is something I would do. You%26#39;ll have splendid views from the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe the same day, and from the Sacre Coeur for an evening view later.
I really enjoy ecclesiastical architecture, but St. Sulpice wouldn%26#39;t be one of my top picks. St. Germain des Prés (across the street from the Deux Magots), St. Étienne du Mont and St. Séverin (both in the 5th) and St. Eustache (near Les Halles) are all more interesting, IMO. And I have a personal thing for St. Julien le Pauvre and the little park next to it, just across the river from Notre Dame cathedral. (Love the view of Notre Dame from there.) But pehaps you have personal reasons for wanting to go to St. Sulpice, in which case forget everything I just said.
I agree with raphy on the Sacre Coeur. I don%26#39;t see any reason to trek to Montmartre twice. You can wander Montmartre and have dinner and see the sunset from Sacre Coeur on Sunday evening very easily (approximately 5 PM to 10PM) and free up Saturday morning for something else.
And don%26#39;t forget the Arts et Métiers museum as well as the Cité des Sciences and the Palais de la Découverte.
All these are just minor quibbles. I think you have a good itinerary, and I know you will be flexible about it when you need to be, should the weather refuse to co-operate for example.
Have a wonderful trip! (I iknow you will.)
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I would skip Notre Dame (or just do the tower) and visit the Archaeological Crypt and then Sainte Chapelle. Thats enough churches for a day, and its broken up by the roman ruins. I agree with the Iriah guy tho - St Germain was the first Paris church I went to, and remains a favourite
I wouldnt bank on seeing the fireworks from Champ des Mars - too crowded. The local experts should know a better place. Last year I sat in a bar ( I was going to say where but I cant quite remember..) and enjoyed it a lot more :)
For kid stuff, try getting a metro to Buttes Chaumont and wander through the park (8 year old will love that) to Cite de Sciences.
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Thank you all for your input. I will skip St. Sulpice and add St. Germain des Prest o my itinerary. I%26#39;ve also heard alot about how lovely St. Severin is and may add this. .
A question I have is, if I change Sacre Couer from Sat AM to Sun PM (to see the sunset), wont I be giving up shopping the Montmarte area on Sat.? (more important for me to stroll Montmarte area during shopping hours than to see the sunset from Sacre Couer)
Finally, if I cancel the Montparnasse Tower on Thus. PM, do you have any suggestions on how to fill that time? It will be the night before Bastille Day.
I will research Buttes Chaumont as a possibility for Sat. PM while the two older boys do the Segway tour.
Irish, I am staying on Rue St. Antoine near the Hotel Sully. I%26#39;ve heard there are many food shops, bakereis, chocolate shops etc. in the area. Are there any specific shops/restaurants you recommend?
Merci
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Your youngest would most likely find the Catacombs very memorable( as long as he is not a very fearful child) . My son( who wasolder then yours, at 14) considered it a hightlight.
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Enfermera: here%26#39;s my two centimes...
The Marais is a wonderful area simply to explore on it%26#39;s own, and is within a short walk to a lot of eye candy, with so many cafes and interesting places to stop that I would consider skipping the Open Tour on day one. I like to take day one to relax and adjust to my surroundings, and the Open Tour seems kind of aggressive for the first day to me. You%26#39;ll spend almost a hundred bucks for the four of you if you take the Grand Tour, and you already have plans to visit every stop on the tour at some point during the rest of your itinerary. If you want to do something touristy on the first day (after a casual lunch, as Irish suggests), I would suggest picking something close, like the Hotel de Ville or Place des Vosges, or even Notre Dame, which would be entirely at your own pace, and you won%26#39;t feel you need to see everything on the Open Tour to get your money%26#39;s worth.
The Musee d%26#39;Orsay is open on the 14th, as is Les Invalides, but keep in mind they may be REALLY crowded. Admission will be free for your two younger sons, and reduced for your 24y/o if he has a student idea (an ISID card is not necessary, usually any school ID is OK).
I agree with Irish (I think it was) who said you might want to skip the Tour Montparnasse. It%26#39;s expensive to go to the top, and the view you%26#39;ll have from the ET is probably good enough for one day. The top of the ET, then the top of Arc de Triomphe and THEN the TM, might be overkill. Not to mention they%26#39;re a good distance away from one another. I don%26#39;t remember reading any mention of a stroll down the Champs Elysees, so you might consider that after you leave the Arc de Triomphe. I think your boys would really enjoy it. And for the money you would spend going to the top of the TM, you could stop at a cafe along the CE and treat them to a late afternoon desert. The window shopping, people watching and general surroundings might be something they%26#39;d really like. You%26#39;ll pass the huge Virgin Megastore and LaCoste (very in vogue for young men these days), and so many other places, as well as the Elysee Palace, and if you swing to the north side past the palace, you can walk past the US Embassy, etc.
Finally, I%26#39;m going to give your idea of visiting Montmartre in the morning a strong nod. It has been my experience that both the view, and photo ops are better in the morning if it%26#39;s not raining, as it tends to get hazy as it gets warmer. For the best pictures of the Sacre Coeur with brilliant blue skies, arrive early. And then take your sons to the top for the Visite du Dome. I believe it%26#39;s something they won%26#39;t soon forget, and visits end at 17:30. Then lunch at the Place du Tertre, which I also believe they will enjoy thoroughly. I think once you%26#39;ve been there, you%26#39;ll be able to decide if you want to come back to watch the sunset on another day.
As Irish also already said, if you don%26#39;t change a thing to your current plans, you%26#39;ll be fine as well. I think you have lots of time for relaxation built in, which is a good thing. I just wanted to offer a couple of suggestions. My only parting thoughts would be to try not to be too rigid with any schedule. Having a general idea of what you want to see, and when, is great, but always be prepared to be flexible and open to change things around a bit. Have a wonderful trip.
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Sunset in Paris in July isn%26#39;t until 21:45 (9:45 PM) so that may have some impact on your plans.
For the rest of Paris, you may find that proposed daily %26#39;..itineraries..%26#39; have a way of going out the window in relatively short order. Your best bet may be to organize the places, attractions and things that interest you (and other family members), with a few basic details for each (address, cross-street, nearest Metro, etc) into manageable geographic %26#39;..sections..%26#39; ( i.e Eiffel Tower/Invalides/Ecole Militaire/Musee d%26#39;Orsay; Saint Germain des Pres; Latin Quarter; Îles/lower-Marais; upper-Marais/Monmartre; Canal Saint Martin/Republique/Bastille; Louvre/Tuilleries; Opera/Madeleine/Grand Blvds; Champs Élysées/Arc de Triomphe). There will always be overlaps and oddities---but any %26#39;..system..%26#39; that makes %26#39;..sense..%26#39; to you will work equally well. In this way, when the %26#39;..itinerary..%26#39; goes out the window, you can %26#39;..create..%26#39; a new one, more suitable to mood and moment as you go. We%26#39;ve always found that it%26#39;s better to be able to say, %26#39;..Nah...Let%26#39;s do something else instead...%26#39; and scan the immediate options then......than, %26quot;..Dam...if we%26#39;d only known...%26#39; later. It%26#39;s okay if these %26#39;sections%26#39; have more %26#39;items%26#39; than can possibly be %26#39;done%26#39;; all it really does is serve as an aide memoire and your own personalized %26#39;rough-guide%26#39;. You can do as much or as little or nothing at all.
As an example, You%26#39;ve got Eglise Saint Sulpice and Saint Germaine des Prés, in the 6eme-Saint Germaine des Prés, on your %26#39;list%26#39;. Raphy has offered the alternative of Eglise Saint Severin, a lovely church, and perhaps a better choice...but you could just as easily add the equally lovely and interesting Eglise Saint Etienne-du-Mont (near Pantheon) and Eglise Saint Julien-de-Pauvre (across fromNotre Dame), in the same general neighborhood...a few blocks this way or that---just a bit to the east into the 5eme-Latin Quarter. You could easily stop at all...one...or none...but it would be your choice, as mood and moment present.
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a FUN place to eat near Moulin Rouge --
if you and your kids are into fondue.
The place is a riot !
Le Refuge des Fondus
17, rue des 3 Frères
75018 PARIS
Abbesses - Anvers
Tél. 01 42 55 22 65
Site web:
www.lerefugedesfondus.com
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You%26#39;ve had a lot of good thinking thrown your way this morning. I%26#39;ll try and keep this focused so you don%26#39;t end up on overload.
You%26#39;re planning mostly souvenir shopping in Montmartre, right? I think any touristy places will be open around the place du Tertre in the late afternoon/early evening though I haven%26#39;t set foot in the Place du Tertre in a while. You%26#39;ll find a greater density of souvenir shops on the rue d%26#39;Arcole near Notre Dame cathedral and across the pont au Double on the left bank close by. Also on the rue de Rivoli near the Louvre. Museum shops are wonderful places for really great souvenirs too. If I need some little trinkets to bring home I usually just stop in one of these places as I pass by and get the whole thing done in one stop in a half hour or less.
The evening of the 13th should be a great time to just wander the 3rd/4th and be a part of the party. There will probably be some carnival stuff near the St Paul métro, likely in the place de la Bastille as well.
You%26#39;ll find great shops for everything you need in a few blocks along the rue St Antoine between St. Paul and Bastille. There%26#39;s a Monoprix right at St. P., a half dozen boulangeries scattered along the street, a really good charcuterie called Au Sanglier near the corner of rue Beautreillis, a good fruit and veg place at the corner of rue de l%26#39;Hôtel St Paul, and my favorite café/brasserie of at least a half dozen is on the other corner. It%26#39;s not the fanciest and arguably not the best, but we%26#39;ve always had a warm welcome there, the food when we have (very occasionally) sampled it was just fine, and the quality/price ratio good. (Prices have crept up in the area over the past ten years, though.) There%26#39;s three or four wine shops, of which the pleasantest IMO are the one really close to the café whose name I forget, and the Nicolas store up near the Bastille. The Comtesse du Barry shop just across the street from rue Caron is a great place if you need to find some gourmet gifts to take home for friends - or better yet for yourself.!Probably the best, certainly the fanciest patisserie nearby is the branch of Dalloyau just a few steps up the boulevard Beaumarchais from the place de la Bastille. And you%26#39;ll find everything else except a good fromagerie along the street, including housewares should you need them. For a really good fromagerie the rue St Louis en l%26#39;Ile is the closest place we%26#39;ve found, not far from Berthillon!
Restaurants: There are so many. Just a few. A nice bistro on the lovely pedestrian only place du Marché Ste. Catherine, I think it%26#39;s called Le Bistro de la Place. There%26#39;s another right next door on the corner of rue d%26#39;Ormesson that is to be avoided, the one with the green awning. Nearby on rue de Jarente, the Auberge de Jarente, a great place for big appetites, as is Vins des Pyrénées on rue Beautreillis. A really good inexpensive neighborhood place, small and family friendly is Café de la Poste on rue Castex. For lunch only Le Temps des Cerises on rue de la Cerisaie, a block south of rue St. A. at the corner with rue du Petit Musc (the street spoken about in a recent thread!). Might be a good place for lunch your first day. In the last two places you might be the only tourists . Another good (but small) place is Baracane on rue des Tournelles just before you get to Place de la B. The cafés on the Pl. de la B. are good for people-watching and resting tired feet, either the Café des Phares or the somewhat fancier Café Français.
There are dozens of other good places within a quarter mile of your apartment so if you ignore all my suggestions (except the place to avoid on the Pl. du M. Ste. C.) you probably won%26#39;t go wrong.
I hope I%26#39;ve covered everything you asked. If not, ask again.
BTW, you mention staying near the Hotel Sully. Did you mean the Sully Hôtel which is a hotel, or the Hôtel de Sully, which, as you will discover (I hope) is not?
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Wow! Thanks everyone for your expertise.
Irish, The apartment is near the Hotel de Sully (has exhibits and gardens). You have given me such great advice. I will print it out and take it with us to Paris. Thanks for all of the store information. The Comtesse du Barry sounds perfect for the gifts I had in mind for some friends. I%26#39;m sure the Dalloyau will see me a few times during our visit. (I have a sweet tooth). Au Sanglier is a name that I%26#39;ve heard before. I%26#39;ll have to check it out.
Again, thank you very much.
ArrowCapet, Regarding the L%26#39;Open bus tour, I have a feeling that on our first day, after a long flight, we may not want to sit on a bus. I%26#39;ll have to wait and see. I very well may start our sightseeing at Notre Dame. Also, I had not given a stroll down Champ Elysses much thought because I did not think it had much to offer young men/boys who don%26#39;t enjoy shopping much. However, I just read a previous thread about a Toyota store that I must research. Sounds like something they would enjoy. Looks like I will rethink Montparnasse tower. I%26#39;m not getting any %26quot;you must see this%26quot; advice on this.
KDSail, Love your approach to an itinerary. This is exactly what I%26#39;m trying to do. Find the things I have to do, then find things I hope to do, and a list of things I might do if we have the time/energy. I%26#39;m trying to organize the days, but am willing to change it around if the mood arises. As long as I have a knowledge base on what I want to do, I feel comfortable.
DowntownMinneapolis, I will research the resturant. Thanks for the suggestion.
I would have never been able to plan such a wonderful trip without the help of all of you. Our trip is still weeks away, but we are so excited. Thank you for all of your advice.
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