I posted a question a few months ago about traveling to France for two weeks, Paris in particular and possibly Normandy and Provence by train and car. I so appreciated all of the responses you gave, and now what was a dream trip with my wife and 18-year-old granddaughter is becoming a reality. I love the flexibility of renting houses, apartments or townhomes and have places to stay in Normandy and Provence if we go there. It has been 11 years since I was last in Paris, and we stayed in a hotel for three nights. I would like to ask for suggestions from you about the best area to stay in Paris, and if you have any experiences or recommendations for specific lodging as noted above. Money on this trip is not an issue. My granddaughter has traveled very little in the US and never abroad and this is a HS graduation present for her. Her interests are in art, music and dance, which is why we selected Paris (her twin brother and my son get Rome with me next spring because of their interests). While I realize that I can probably get around most places speaking English, my wife was a French major in college and taught French, so that will help with communication. In addition, I'm working with Babel to teach myself some French as well. Any thoughts you have on our trip will be appreciated.
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Charleston & Birmingham
4449 posts
You must take your granddaughter to a late afternoon(so the sun is streaming through the stained glass) classical music concert at Sainte Chappelle. I also recommend a food tour-we used Secret Food tours and our then-college age daughter said it was her favorite thing we did.
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468 posts
Montmarte/ Sacre Couer, take the little train that takes you around and the ultimate girl thing..lunch or tea at La Maison Rose. Get a reservation as soon as you can
The gardens at the Rodin Museum.
Musee d’Orsay for the Impressionists, Degas sculpture and all the other treasures
L’Orangerie for Monet’s Waterlilies mural
Louvre
Evening River cruise (not dinner cruise) on the Seine to see the twinkling lights on the Eiffel Tower. Check what time they start to twinkle on the hour.
Paris Opera House
Download the G7 Paris taxi app for the convenience of when you want a ride in an official Paris taxi even if you plan to generally use public transit. This app is a lifesaver when you are tired or just want to get somewhere quicker.
What a wonderful time for all of you! If she hasn't traveled much, she may be a bit overwhelmed with so much to see and do; how spread out Paris is, with so much walking; so definitely allow downtime for sitting in cafes, parks, etc.
If you go to Normandy; be sure and visit Mont St Michel.
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155 posts
What a wonderful trip for all of you! We just got back from a graduation trip with my twins to France. It was a great time!
So helpful that your wife knows French. It had been quite awhile since my last time there and I had forgotten how little English is spoken outside of Paris. We encountered most of our communication challenges in Normandy.
My twins have traveled a lot and have been overseas multiple times and even they were a bit overwhelmed with Paris. So I would suggest keeping the itinerary flexible enough to allow for time to sit in cafes, take a break etc. and not rush from site to site. There are many great museums especially art ones so as your trip gets closer you may want to see what special exhibits are happening as it may help you narrow down which you will visit. We chose to visit Giverny, home to Claude Monet and there is a great Impressionism museum there also. And my son choose for us to visit the Musee D'Orsay based on a current exhibit they have.