Gay Paree! Arrival and Day 2

Okay, Happy Paree does not have the same ring to it, so Gay Paree it is.

We have 3 and a half days here - so much to do and so little time. This is my suggestion for our time in Paris, but it is up to you to decide what you want to see and do. Please let me know what you think so I can prepare maps and itineraries!


Paris is divided into neighborhoods or, as the French say, Arrondissements. Our hotel is in the Left Bank area in the 5th Arrondissement. This is generally known as the Latin Quarter and is home to the Pantheon and Sorbonne University, and is filled with students. This makes the Latin Quarter one of the lively and quirky neighborhoods of Paris. I think we'll like it there.

Once we have landed at Charles de Gaulle airport, gotten our bags and gotten into the city via taxi, it will likely be after 6 PM. We should check-in, get a bit settled and then head right out to the Pantheon.

The Paris Pantheon was copied from the Pantheon in Rome, and was built by order of King Louis XV who vowed in 1744 that if he recovered from an illness he would replace the ruined church of the Abbey of Ste. Genevieve with an edifice worthy of the patron saint of Paris. Soufflot was charged with the plans to create the Pantheon. Construction began in 1757 but was not completed until after Soufflot’s death in 1789, the beginning of the French Revolution. After the completion of this church it was turned into a burial place for the great men of France by the new French Government. Only the parliament or powerful leaders could have the privilege to be buried in the Pantheon.

We can then stroll the streets of the Latin Quarter, pick up some snacks and vino for the room, and enjoy our first Parisian dinner!

Wear your walking shoes, girls, because Day 2 is a doozy. Today we explore the 4th, 7th, and 8th Arrondissements.

We should begin with a decent breakfast, lots of coffee, and then head up to the 4th for a look around the Pompidou Center. It's a center, it's a museum, it's a trip.

Then we'll walk over to the Ile de Paris and visit Notre Dame. Once we've enjoyed the cathedral, we'll jump islands to the Ile de St. Louis for some lunch.

Back to the Left Bank of the Seine, right by Notre Dame, we will purchase our 2 Day Pass on the Batobus. The pass is € 18 per person and allows us 2 day's use and we can get off and on as often as we'd like. So, we buy our passes and head to the 7th, enjoying the sights along the way.

We will get off the boat at the Eiffel Tower. After visiting the Eiffel Tower, maybe going up to the top level, and enjoying the park, we will head off to the 8th, again using the Batobus.

We will disembark at the Champs-Elysees stop, walk to Place Charles de Gaulle L’Etoile, the large circle home of the Arc de Triomphe. From there we wander down the Champs-Elysees (Shaunz A-lee zay) going cafe to caberet (**see below).

I say we have a nice dinner and head back to to the hotel to rest up for Day 3!

**My favorite song line of all time is highlighted below. To hear the original version, click the song title. Wow.

Free Man in Paris by Joni Mitchell (partial lyrics)

I deal in dreamers
And telephone screamers
Lately I wonder what I do it for
If l had my way
I'd just walk out those doors
And wander
Down the Champs-Elysees
Going cafe to cabaret
Thinking how I'll feel when I find
That very good friend of mine
I was a free man in Paris
I felt unfettered and alive
Nobody was calling me up for favors
No one's future to decide

Paris Day 3 and Departure Day

On Day 3 we will explore the 1st Arrondissement, and perhaps return to the 7th for a quickie. This day is very flexible depending on the amount of time we want to dedicate to the Louvre.

We can spend days in the Louvre and still not see it all, or we can go in and see particular exhibitions. If we want to see something particular, we need to study the museum plan so we can make the best of our time there. I have visited Paris but not gone into the Louvre because I felt I did not have time to do it justice. I have blocked off half a day for us, but if we decide not to spend that much time there (or want more) we can adjust. If you are interested in seeing what the Louvre has to offer, please visit the link on the right of this page. If you find something that you must see, let me know so I can find a good walking map to get us to the areas in the museum that you'd like to visit. Honestly, it is like a city and we would need a map.

After visiting the Louvre we will head to Les Halles for a shopping trip. It is not only shopping, but a place of interest so it’s worth a visit. I suggest we begin by having lunch and resting a bit before our exploration here.


We can also visit the Place Vendome or the Royal Palace, if we want.

If we did not use all our time in the Louvre, we should head across the Seine, back to the 7th and visit the Musee d’Orsay. Here can can view Monets, Manets, Lautrecs and all sorts of other paintings by French artists. (We can skip this if we did explore inside the Louvre).

Hopefully, it is now about 6 PM. At the Musee D'Orsay (or the nearest stop to our location), we get on the Batobus for a complete ride on the Seine using the 2 Day pass we bought the day before. Sunset will be around 8:15 so as we end our cruise it will be approaching dusk and the lights of Paris may be coming on. The boats stop running at 7 PM. Another choice is to buy a 1 Day Batobus pass and use a different service for an evening cruise. See **Alternate plan below.



**Alternate Plan
After visiting the Louvre in the morning, we make our way to the Bateaux Mouches Jetty near the Champs-Elysees. We purchase a lunch ticket and spend an hour and a half cruising the Seine, eating lunch, and seeing the sights. Price for lunch and cruise is € 50 per person. Should we decide on a meal cruise, we would only purchase a 1 Day Batobus ticket. After lunch we head to Les Halles and continue with the plan.

Or if we do a full morning Louvre visit, then Les Halles in the afternoon, we can head to the Bateaux Mouche Jetty and do a dinner cruise departing at 8:30 PM. Price for this is € 130 per person, but the bonus is the seeing Paris by night.

Bateaux Parisiens also offers a lunch cruise at 12:45 PM. The cost is € 80 for a good table view. They have dinner cruises, too. Theirs departs at 8:30 PM and costs € 188 for a good table. They offer "animation" during the cruise.

Bateaux Mouches has cruise only tours lasting half an hour and starting at 7:45, 8:30 or 9:00 PM. Price is €11 per person.

Bateaux Parisiens offers a € 12 per person cruise only evening trip, as well. The 8 or 9:15 PM would be nice ones to see Paris by night.

When you check the websites, make sure you have selected English and then you can explore the routes, menus, etc. using the link on the web page.

In any case, we'll have dinner and call it a day.

On our last day in Paris we will only have a few hours to explore. This will be the time to go back and see something again, or we can take the Metro up to the 18th Arrondissement and visit the Sacre Couer Basilica. It has the best views of all of Paris.

From here we wander the streets on Montmartre, walking in the footsteps of artists such as Matisse, Renoir, Lautrec, Modigliani and Picasso who lived and painted here.

We have a good lunch and then head back to the hotel, grab our bags and head to the airport for our 5:40 PM flight to Düsseldorf.