"Paris, France" a Paris Travel Page by TimDaoust

This has been long overdue. An update to the Paris page. How to begin? This August I went back to Paris for the fourth time, this time with my parents again but also with my aunt whom had never been. Anyone who's been to a place multiple times and become familiar with it can speak to the pleasure of introducing someone to that place. Suzy was very excited not just for the trip but the whole planning stage, which I took complete control of. I find that planning a trip can be the most fun and sometimes the most rewarding and satisfying part of the whole experience. Seeing those plans through on the other hand was a whole 'nother experience.

The trip took us out to Brittany for a few days as well but that trip I will chronicle elsewhere.

I must be insane or some kind of Paris freak for the amount of times I've visited Paris. I guess there are five times I have visited Paris altogether. Six if you count a train connection on the way back to Angers from Marseilles and a frantic race through 6 metro stations and through the Montparnasse station to catch the train to Angers. The first time I spent two days and two nights there with a guided tour of high school students (tours are good only the first time to introduce you to Paris) but the real exploration of Paris was during my junior year of college when I studied in Angers. The group spent the first three days of the month long trip, and the final day before leaving, here in Paris, staying at a hotel in the 6th district (bordering in the 14th). With the map I had, pictured here, I was able to really get the hang of the metro and the city streets of each arrondisment we visited. The free time to explore around on our own was what made it most worth it.
The next time I went I was two years out of college and was able to plan a week long trip with my ex and my parents. We stayed in the 14th and hit a lot of the things that I hadn't seen yet and even some things we had all so we could get my parents introduced to Paris. This served the purpose of getting them to fall in love with Paris so that they'll retire there and I can go visit even more. Ha!
The most recent visit was this August '07. Most of the insight on these pages comes from these last two trips. Hope you enjoy the tips.

Paris, this time around. Trolling around the Jardin des Tuilieries and just watching the joggers, thinking, "I'd love to just live here and be able to say that I take my morning jog through the Jardin des Tuilieries.