So if you have 8 days, what would you do?

"What would you do?" I'd go to the library, check out some travel books, peruse the internet on Paris and see the things that interest me.

Get out of town once or twice or you might start to hate the place and leave with a bad taste in your mouth.

Get the Rick Steves' Paris guidebook. It will keep you busy for a month. The "major things" to see are well covered in most guide books. Did you not like the responses your received to your eight day question yesterday?

Do you have RS Paris Guide Book yet?

I agree with Ed - spend 4-5 days in Paris and then go to Brussels, Lyon, or another destination of interest to you.

Thanks so much for all the input. I will use my 8 days well. Maybe 1-2 trips out of Paris. Maybe not. I will go with the flow!

I happily spent 10 days in Paris on my first trip. There's plenty to enjoy, although the specifics depend on your interests. If you enjoy art, there are many amazing small museums. I particularly like the Rodin museum, Musee Marmotten Monet (which has Monet's son's collection of Monet's work), and Musee Andre-Jacquemart... all three have great collections, in historically interesting homes. Chartres and the chateau Vaux le Vicomte are two of my favorite day trips. There's an flower market near Notre Dame (turns into a bird market on Sundays). The chanted Sunday Mass at Notre Dame is amazingly beautiful (around 10, I believe, but check if you want to go). And Notre Dame was restoring their organ last year; if it's done, there is an organ concert on Sunday afternoon.

Mary Jane I suggest that one or two daytrips are a good idea, but not leaving, my shortest visit to Paris was nine days and long, and I had brought a friend who had never been, ( I had been many times) and we both agreed nine days was too short!
I think a common mistake people make is giving a huge place like Paris only a few days and then complaining about the lines, the crowds the stress.. if they had more time they wouldn't have had to cram so much into so few days and likely had a better time, and worried less about lines and such.. plus of course you can blow an afternoon sitting at a cafe and people watching and sipping some wine,, a perfect vacation waste of time, that one can get away with if they have enough time! I will suggest two good daytrips are Versailles and Giverny, both very easy to do on your own, but I did a Fat Tire Bike tour to Giverny and LOVED it ( its easy for anyone from kid to grandma pretty well ) . As for Paris , everyone has their "must sees" and no two persons will agree on everything. I love museums so spend time returning to the Orsay, Louvre, and Cluny each time .. I also love visiting Notre Dame over and over.

How exciting! Here's how I plan a visit to Paris. Make a list of the sights that sound interesting to you. Start with the Paris Museum Pass official website - it lists most of the major sights and many others. Then arrange the list by area and note the opening hours and any days they are closed. Another good website is Frommer's Destinations. They list the major attractions and rank them, and give brief descriptions of what they offer. Make a list of things to do that sound interesting to you. Some popular ones are Paris Walks tours, Seine boat cruises, bike and Segway tours. There are a number of good day trips from Paris. Find 3-4 that sound interesting to you. The most important part of this is " interesting to you." There is so much to choose from, you won't be able to do it all in one trip. So relax and enjoy your time there. Sometimes, I just walk out of my hotel with the list of sights and follow my nose to one of them. Then I go on to see the others that are nearby.

Some of the Seine river cruises are dinner cruises, not sure it's worth the money, but others are basically a hop-on-hop-off system and your pass is good for all day.

We did a week in Paris last year and loved. Make sure you leave time to just set outside at a cafe and people watch. Notre Dame is a must see, the cathedral is beautiful. I loved Versailles, my husband not so much. I also think the Louvre and Carnivalet (probably misspelled) museums were my favorites. Whatever you decide I am sure you will enjoy it.

Zoe you are confusing the whole boat thing.
There are one hour cruises, they cost between 11-14 euros, most people enjoy them very much , especially in the dark seeing all the monuments and bridges lit up. There are dinner cruises, last between 2-4 hours,, they range in price and quality, some are mass market banquet quality food and some are actually pretty good food and smaller groups.. research carefully. Many people will consider a dinner cruise a hightlight of their visit. I haven't done this one yet, but will as its well recommended by people I know and trust.. and the prices are fair. Calife Cruises. Then there is the batobus. A boat bus that goes up and down and stops at various sites..some people like that, I found they are rather useless as they only are convenient for sites near river.. and I found them hot and crowded in summer, plus you must mount stairs up and down from river level to street so not good for those with mobility issues.

Pat, thanks so much for the info on Calife Cruises. It might actually be fun to do it next time. Maybe I'll feel like Audrey Hepburn.. lol. Thanks for mentioning it!