Hello!
My wife, 12-year old daughter, and I are going to Paris for 8 nights this Christmas. We are staying in an apartment just 2 blocks south of the Odeon Metro stop on BLVD St. Germain. For my wife and I, this will be our 2nd trip to Paris. We've always heard Mr Steves rave about Paris at Christmas time, so here we go!
I have the total list of stuff we want to do pretty well hammered out, but I need need help with the first 3 days of the trip. You see, we get in on Sunday Dec 23. Monday is Christmas Eve, and Tuesday is Christmas Day. So with the actual holidays hitting its "yule-tide" crescendo 2 days after we arrive, I'm struggling to balance between lettin' her rip with some Paris "must-dos" and/or starting slowly to enjoy a bit of Christmas cheer, Parisian-style.
Here's what I have on paper so far... tell me what's wrong:
Sunday AM - Store our bags with our host and follow Rick's Historic Paris Walk
Sunday PM - Check in, then go get groceries for the apt. We may also try to find a small christmas tree. Unpack and explore our neighborhood. We may do Ricks' Sevres-Babylon shopping walk although the book says Sunday may not be ideal.
Sunday Evening - do a boat tour
Monday AM (Christmas Eve) - Monmarte - Lots of museums are closed on Mon so we thought we'd do Monmarte area in the morning - other suggestions? It looks like the Louvre is actually open on Monday which would be a great thing to do before Champs, but Christmas Eve? Is this like the worst day of year to go to the Louvre?
Monday PM - Do Rick's Champs Elysee walk with a Christmas flare: go ice skating, do the big ferris wheel and window shop.
Monday evening - we want to go to an evening Mass at Notre Dame. Is there an earlier mass that we allow us to eat dinner after? Should we go to another smaller church? We could flip our day and do Monmarte PM and do evening mass at Sacre Couer - thoughts?
Tuesday AM (Christmas) - sleep late and eat in - it's Christmas!
Tuesday PM - Luxemborg Garden - see the kids riding ponies; ride the carousel; enjoy the park. We may also see a movie (I know,but it's one of our little family's traditions and there are great theaters in our area)
Tuesday Evening - Trocadero, then we have reservations for late dinner at the Eiffel Tower
The rest of our time will be packed with the "greatest hits" of Paris: Louvre, Orsay, Catacombs, Marais, Rue Cler etc
OTHER QUESTION: What is the best day trip from Paris at Christmas time: Versailles, Chantilly, Veaux Le Vicomte, or Chartres? We would prefer Normandy, but may be outside our budget and not if one of these other destinations is especially awesome during the holidays.
So to recap - I need help with the first three days culminating with Christmas Day, and advice on picking a day trip that is optimal for Christmas week.
Thanks to anyone who reads this post.