"Staying in the shadow of the Eiffe ..." a Paris Travel Page by janiac

Just got back from an eight-day trip (if you include travel days) to Paris and Venice with a 15-year-old girl and an 18-year-old boy. This was a graduation present for the 18-year-old.

Day one (travel) - I had a feeling our flight would be a problem as it left at 5:45 p.m. from Washington D.C., and went directly to Paris. Had to do this flight due to school reasons, etc., and because I didn't want to take the risk of doing the next and last flight after that, which left at 11:00 p.m. in case of weather delays. I told my kids to sleep on the plane as we would be landing 6:00 a.m. Paris time, which was 1:00 a.m. our time. Daughter listened, son stayed up to play the games on the Air France system.

By the time we got to our hotel, the Paris Hilton by the Eiffel Tower, he was done. I knew ahead of time we would not be getting an early check-in because the hotel had informed me I would have to book an extra day. We went out to explore a bit, but at 8:00 am., everything was still not open. The Eiffel Tower is a quick two-minute walk from this hotel and this hotel is virtually in its immense shadows.

We went back to the hotel to wait for things to open where unfortunately my son crashed on the couch. I knew it wasn't proper, but I also knew he was tired. The staff were not happy and told him to wake up. He sat up, fell asleep sitting up and they woke him up again. Thankfully, after about 45 minutes, we headed out again to the Eiffel Tower.

While earlier in the morning, the tower was virtually deserted, it was now at 9:15 a mass of people (it was a Saturday morning), so warnings to any who plan to visit this beauty that going early on a weekend is not going to eliminate waiting in line. We headed to the batobus (a boat that floats up and down the Seine that allows you to get on and off at any of their stops) and floated up to Notre Dame. Along the way, we took many pictures of the gorgeous sculptures and bridges. The weather was great, heading to a high of 61.

Notre Dame was incredible. There appeared to be a huge line, but it moved swiftly. What a joy for me who had never been to Europe and seen churches like this. We next went to the Concierge, a prison that once held Marie Antoinette. It was okay. We then headed back to the room and unfortunately wasted the rest of our batobus ticket since we were all too exhausted to do much more. My daughter and I did go out later to pick up some bread from the nearby bakery and drinks from the local supermarket and to admire the Eiffel tower. That was the beauty of staying near this tower, any time I or any of us felt like slipping out, we could go out and walk around (or in her case, jog) near it. We eventually walked up to the Trocadero where it was hopping with local teen activity. Had one of those wonderful crepes they seem to sell at every cart on the street.

Sunday - went to the Louvre. I was lucky enough to purchase two tickets from our hotel lobby (under 18 does not need a ticket). We tried to figure out the metro system but decided to do the tourist buses instead, so we walked to the front of the tower and bought two-day tickets for the L'Open tour buses, which are large yellow buses with audio guides that allows you to go on and off all over the city. That bus was my son's favorite. We took it to the Louvre and having tickets ahead of us let us skip the huge lines by going in the Richelieu entrance. Loved it, son not so much.

After the Louvre, we took the bus around to see the other sights. It was lighly raining but even on top it was not too cold (temps in 50's this day). Went past the Moulin Rouge and got off to see the Sacre Coeur. Again beautiful and we entered as a service was starting and the nuns were singing. The church is gorgeous and the views unbelievable.

Unfortunately we had to hurry out as we had heard the bus stops exactly at the time they say they will no matter where you are. We thought we had budgeted in enough time, but traffic in this area was horrible, so we ended up getting dropped off on the Champs d'Elysee. The temperature had dropped suddenly and we were now freezing, so instead of exploring here, we caught a cab back to the hotel. Had a nice dinner at a restaurant up the street from the hotel, then enjoyed the twinkling lights of the Eiffel tower.

Monday was supposed to be our day to see the Orsay, but since it wasn't one of my initial picks I didn't research it closely enough. It's closed on Mondays. I had made reservations through the Hilton to eat lunch in the Eiffel tower restaurant, Altitude 95. It was pricy, but good. You skip the lines to buy tickets this way too.

After lunch we explored the orange Montparnasse line of the L'Open tour, which took us through some very interesting neighborhoods that felt more real, less touristy. We enjoyed our stay there. We thought we would see the L'Catacombs, not that I wanted to but the kids wanted to, but they were closed for renovation.

We ended up getting dumped on the Champs D'Elysee again, but this time we were determined to see the Arch, et cetera. We kind of got ripped off for dinner (be careful to check the entire menu out when you go out. The drinks were like 7 euros in the place we ended up (and I'm talking soda not alchohol).

Overall, we had a wonderful time. The dollar is just horrible though. If you use an exchange you basically get only half of your money back. If you can, withdraw money from a bank. I charged alot, too, in hopes that exchange rate would be better, but I haven't gotten a chance to check on that yet to see if that was any better.

We then headed to Venice.