Hi all

OH and me off to Paris on the 15th for 3 days before getting the train to Nantes to visit a friend.  I haven't been to France for about 30 years :o so I was wondering if anyone had been there recently (paris) if they could recommend any cheap eats and drinks or good places to visit.  My french is laughable (the french certainly do laugh!) but I can get by.  My recollection is Parisiennes don't like to speak english.  Cops is off to his regular holiday home (Edinburgh cat and dog) so I have no worries about him :)

CG

Get yourself to the catacombs!  I went to Paris for my birthday in September '05, but the catacombs shut at around 3 or 4pm I think and we missed them by half an hour or so.  I was gutted!

Not sure about them not liking to speak English - they seemed happy enough to do it when I was there.  Can't recommend any restaurants or the like offhand - we went to 2 (one for lunch and one to satisfy a craving for proper chocolate crepes :-P), but the first one nabbed us as we walked past and we happened to be hungry, and the second one was the first one we found that served said crepes!

Just have a wonder around, get yourself a day pass for the metro (and the cashiers all speak english by the way) and enjoy yourself!

And get up that tower of course!

I took my mum in Nov 06 & we had a great time.  We stayed in the Notre Dame area, which is a lovely area with some reasonably priced cafes & restaurants, you can get a lovely breakfast for about 7 euro's in some of the coffee houses.  I'd recommend getting a museum pass before you go, you can get them on the internet & it allows you access to all the museums & exhibitions in Paris, that way you don't have to queue up & pay at each one.  You can also get a 3 day travelcard which allows you unlimited use of the Metro & bus service - these are available from the same sites that offer the museum passes.  We had a night at the Moulin Rouge which was fab, not exactly cheap but such a great experience & your ticket does include a bottle of bubbly too!  Eifle Tower is a must but try early morning & evening, the queues during the day can be horrendous, especially if it's half term anywhere!  A boat trip down the Seine is a nice & quick way of seeing the sights too, some offer lunch or afternoon tea on board too!  If you're feeling flush there's a Jules Verne restaurant on the second floor of the Eifle Tower, they do an amazing dinner & they have a private life up the tower!  Paris is a great city for wandering around, taking in the atmosphere, stopping for coffee at a cafe, eating lots of yummu pastries...I could go on but I think you get the impression!  You'll have a fab time - I deny anyone who doesn't like Paris! Enjoy!  PS Don't worry about not speaking the lingo, your'e in the majority!!!

Google Paris Pass - that will give you access to museums & travel! Just remembered!!!

Lucky you.  We went August last year and had a lovely time (city so quiet because most of Paris had gone on their holidays too).  Nothing really to add to what's already been posted, except when we nearly ran out of money on the last day, we bought dirt cheap baguettes from a Metro station and sat eating them by the Seine bathing in gorgeous sunshine (I'm just trying to remember what it felt like ... )

Thanks all.  Really looking forward to it.  Better go and pack!

CG

We go in June, we are going to Euro Disney and then having a couple of days and a night in Paris. Does anybody have any ideas of things to do with children on a night? Will probably be on quite a tight budget after Euro Disney but we want the kids to see Paris!!

The Eifle Tower is beautiful when lit up at night & you can take a leisurely walk along the Seine or I think they do round trip evening cruises which would be a good way to see the sights inexpensiveley! Whenever I've been to Paris evenings have been spent at the theatre or drinking, not much help for children though, sorry!

> My recollection is Parisiennes don't like to speak english

I bet French tourists would. say the same about Londoners not speaking French, LOL

I think the French like us are perhaps lazier about learning languages than many other Europeans.

How amny of us here in UK can speak a foreing language fluently (unless brought up to like me with my Polish)?