Visiting Europe Again After 20 Years

Yes, there are museums that deal with WW1 in France but they are not located in Paris, aside from the WW1 exhibits in the French Army Museum above.

One is accessible by train, the other is not, ie,the town does not have a train stop. That which reachable by train is Meaux, itself a battle site in 1914 at the battle of the Marne.

You take the TER train from Gare de l'Est to Meaux. Outside the train station is a bus depot, one or two of these buses goes to the Museum. (Grande Guerre). A few years back, I spent a few hours at this museum, it's pretty thorough focusing not only on the military of the war but also war and society affecting lives of ordinary people. The museum also goes into the role played by the US.

The other museum is located in the Somme in the town of Peronne, like that in Meaux it's a big one on WW1. I was in Peronne once, got there too late, ie, 15 mins before closing, so I skipped seeing the place.

Hi,

Part 2 here.... If you or he wants to do a sole day trip from Paris to see the famous WW1 Armistice site, take the TER train from Gare du Nord to Compiegne. Not only will you see the replica of the train carriage where the Allies and Germans signed the Armistice, undertaken by both civilian and military representatives (there is no seat for the US representatives, ie, the US are not represented around the table), the WW1 museum is also nearby on the premises .

Also from Gare du Nord you can reach Amiens, transfer to Albert on the Somme, the town was also the HQ for the British. When I was there about 20 years ago, it had a small WW1 museum flying both the French and Union Jack flags.

What you're proposing is visiting three separate places, two of which the time allotted is too short. And train travel between these three cities is not that easy as distances between these cities is greater than you may realize and the Alps are in between.

Have you considered flying into Paris and basing your travel out of there--since you have so many sights to see on your itinerary. You can also catch a budget airline into Switzerland.

Italy is a completely different place with so many sights to see--and worthy of a trip of its own.

Before your trip is set in stone in your thinking, go to rome2rio and look at transit between each of your locations. This site gives you transit options and times. For instance, time on train from Rome to Lauterbrunnen is 8+ hours. That's a whole day.

Your trip is 15 days. Of this, 4 days are transit days. Do you wish to spend your valuable time on trains? Up to you, of course, but some of these legs are distant from one another.

You may wish to consider a France-only trip. There are MANY museums in Paris which are world-class. Paris, Chartres, Lyon, Dijon, Loire valley - this would make a great trip, minimize travel time, and allow the family time which is important.

Take a look at my post about "travel day".

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/what-is-a-travel-day-notes-for-new-travelers

This Vogue article identifies five Paris museums of potential interest to your wife; I haven't been to any of them myself. https://www.vogue.fr/fashion-culture/article/paris-culture-5-must-visit-parisian-fashion-museums-palais-galliera-museum-of-decorative-arts-yves-saint-laurent-museum

The Vatican Museums have been mobbed for quite some time (years), to the point that the usual advice is to sign up for an extra-cost, early-access tour that gets you inside before the usual opening hours. That seems the best way to have some time in conditions better than sardine-like. The cheapest way to do this is an early-access entry offered by the Vatican itself or a (more expensive) Vatican-conducted tour, but there are also private companies offering such tours. The Pristine Sistine tour from Walks of Italy is popular.

The next-best option for the Vatican Museums is apparently to go during the late-afternoon and evening periods on the days the museums are open late (currently Friday and Saturday, I believe). That's just a regular admission ticket for a suitable time, purchased from the VM website.

Unfortunately, a new problem has cropped up since the pandemic: Everybody and his brother has decided to go to Rome, and Vatican tickets are selling out well in advance. You won't want to be scrambling to buy marked-up, after-market tickets after you arrive in Rome, so it is important that you decide what sort of ticket/tour you want and monitor the VM website so you know when to buy tickets. Be aware that things may not look so bad in the depths of February, but demand will increase as you get into the period around Easter, and tickets will probably sell out at least as fast in May. I'm not a fan of buying sightseeing tickets in advance; they are rarely changeable or refundable, and sometimes vacation plans do change. However, I think you'll need to commit the money before leaving home. At the moment, aside from some scattered availability (mostly in the late afternoon and early evening) this Friday and Saturday, the basic entry tickets are totally sold out until November 7.

https://tickets.museivaticani.va/home

Louis, welcome to the forum.

I think you need to rethink your travel days. You’re not giving yourself enough time per stop. Things can go wrong. Here’s my experience from 3 weeks ago:

At the end of the RS South of Italy tour, I took the train the Venice. To break up the trip, I spent a night in Milan. I should have arrived in Milan at 1pm, after a 6 hour train trip, plenty of time to see the Duomo at my 3:30 ticket time. What no one could predict was a dead body on the tracks in front of our train in Genoa. We were stuck on the train for over 3 1/2 hours while the police investigated. Arrived in Milan too late to get my bearings or see anything. I walked down to the Duomo but didn’t take time to see the sights. Plus there was some fashion thing going on. By then I was tired, hungry and grumpy.
The 2 1/2 hour trip to Venice from Milan was a breeze.

More in a 2nd post below.

I know Paris has Musée de l'Armée which I believe is Napoleonic. Are there museums that deal with WWI or WWII?

It has everything and makes a good one-stop.

I’d cut Rome and build a different future trip for that- you’re wasting far too much time traveling and far too short of vacation for so many long hauls.

More from my previous post: Yes thing have changed a lot in 23 years, more than you think. Not just the cities themselves but everything is booked online. Little cash is used, everywhere uses contactless credit cards and Apple Wallet.

In 2019 I went to Italy after an absence of traveling in Europe of 27 years. Everything literally had changed by then: no traveler’s checks, manned immigration booths, no travel agents helping plan the trip. Fast forward to last month, after 3 years: cashless credit card transactions, Global Entry to speed through TSA and US immigration, E-gates for Europe immigration, book all your own tickets online.

I suggest doing a lot of research before you start booking. Write out an itinerary that allows for what you want to see/do, travel time even walking between sights, meals, just enjoying being back in Europe. As someone suggested Rome2Rio will help plan travel time but book direct with the airline and trains. Ask lots of questions on the forum. Read guide books. Research on the internet. Download travel apps for easy access.

If it was my trip, I’d save Rome for another trip. You’ll be jetlagged. And it needs a minimum of 3 to 4 full days to see the sights.

Enjoy your trip! You’ll have a great time.

As much as I love Italy and the Vatican Museums, I don't think you have time to go there if
you must go to Switzerland. Personally I would want my child to see the Vatican Museums and I would add a day there and fly from Rome to Paris or if there is an airport near Lyon, there.

Lauterbrunnen for 2 days, so that means 3 nights. Is that the plan? If you plan by how many nights you have can calculate how many full days you have. If you mean 2 nights, that’s only 1 day. Either way, with such a short time what happens if you run into bad weather and don’t get the views you want? It’s something to think about. You might want to revisit Lauterbrunnen another time with your wife when you can have more time there. Maybe for a special anniversary?

You could consider limiting yourself to Rome, Lyon and Paris. Fly from home to Rome, fly from there to Lyon and then take the train to Paris. Fly home from Paris, booking your airline tickets multi city from home airport - Rome, Paris - home airport. Buy inexpensive airline tickets from Rome - Lyon. Considering your interests I would give more time to Paris than to Rome.

Edited to add that Lyon does have an airport. We took a train from the Lyon airport to Nice in April.

Louis,
Lots of good advice already. I concur that you are undertaking too much in too many places. We figure that real travel time is about twice the time on the road (air, rail, afoot, etc). If Rome is a must, I recommend you skip the Vatican Museum. Go to the Borghese instead - better explained, overall better quality stuff and way fewer people. The Vatican museum is over stuffed, overwhelming, over crowded, and over rushed. You can visit St. Peter's without the museum - it is a museum in it's own right. You do miss the Sistine Chapel but you can get excellent info & pix in books (guides can't talk in there - no one can). We did the Vatican in 1996 without a guide and with far, far fewer people. Again in 2016 with a guide and pretty much a waste of time. We felt like we were in a cattle chute headed into the abattoir!
If you concentrate more on Paris, day trips to Giverny, Versailles and Chartres are feasible. Rome2Rio gives good travel time estimates. We think the walking times are too short and the waiting times are not included, tho'.

Rome2Rio cannot really be trusted on fares, travel times or frequencies. What it is usually accurate about is whether a destination has rail service or will require a bus, and where you might need to transfer. Beyond that, you really need to go to the website of the train (in your case) or bus company providing service. If you keep clicking through Rome2Rio.com, you'll find the name of that company and very often also a link to its website.

My husband and I went to the Vatican Museums last month for the first time in 10 years, and I went again a week later with 2 friends. Each time we had a private guide. Compared to 10 years ago, when it was just busy, this year it was mobbed, and having a guide for just the 3 of you would be worth the extra cost. Last month, many of the crowd was with official Vatican guide groups, large bunches of people following a leader holding a flag on a stick. Others were with huge groups with other tour companies. See the Rick Steves guidebook for guide suggestions, and really consider his information for selecting a private guide.

Before, the Sistine Chapel visitors were respectful, not loud, and not taking photos (much). Last month, to quiet all the people talking loudly, they had to, ironically, make loud regular announcements in several languages to not talk, and that photos were prohibited. It was a (stunningly decorated) zoo. Go to the Vatican Museums, but be prepared for an ordeal of masses.

For France and WW II, there’s the fantastic museum “Mémorial de Caen“ in Normandy, in Caen, and more museums and sites farther north in the D-Day landing beaches and villages. Those are, of course, all north of Paris, and might involve longer than a daytrip.

In addition to the Louvre and Orsay in Paris, there’s also the medieval Cluny Museum, in the Left Bank, a surprisingly excellent cultural experience.

Last month we took the train from Lauterbrunnen to Rome. We left our lodging at 7:00 am and arrived at our hotel in Rome about ten hours later. Needless to say, you'll be so tired from that long day that you probably won't want to do much else except find some dinner and collapse. So, don't count your travel day as a day in which you'll do much of any sightseeing.

I usually refer people to maninseat61, so I'm glad that you already found that excellent source of information for train travel.

Switzerland Travel Planning Group page on Facebook has some excellent advice about purchasing travel passes and tickets. It's very confusing, but there's a wealth of information there.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Resistance Museum in Paris. This is on my list for my next visit to Paris.

If these are the locations you want to visit, go for it. Also, train it if you want. It's relaxing. I love the train as you remain on your vacation, see the geography of the land you are passing through, etc. and it also provides a rest day. Flying removes you from your vacation, IMO, and adds stress. Also, the train is so much more environmentally friendly than flying. So if you want to train, do it!

That being said, you need to count the train day(s) as transit days, not days in the arrival location. My impression is that you have included the train days as in the location...that's what distorts your 15 day schedule.

We strongly disliked the Caen Museum in Normandy. It’s not focused on WWII, it’s focus is the rise of Fascism. It’s expensive and very crowded. I think the WWII focused museum in Bayeux, Normandy is far better.

There is a museum in Fontainebleau devoted to Napoleon if you're interested in that, located ca. 30 mins from the Chateau. The address is 88, rue St. Honore.

The problem is, however, that it is closed for the time being. I've been here a few times, well worth it historically and culturally.

Regarding your wife‘s fashion interests - This past March (‘22), I visited and enjoyed three of the five museums mentioned in the Vogue article linked by Acraven upthread. The Palais Galliera, Yves St Laurent and the Museum of Decorative Arts. All three museums have permanent collections and special exhibits. I recommend checking the websites to determine interest in the subject of the special exhibit and any closures for exhibit change over.

My favorite of the three is the Yves St Laurent (my third visit), set in the designer’s atelier. It’s very intimate with a glimpse into his actual studio and the room where models would show the designs to clients, as well as selected clothing and accessory pieces, construction details and fashion history.

Just a few blocks from the YSL, the Galliera is a beautifully restored building. Unfortunately, the Chanel collection was closed the day I visited but the special exhibit was worth my time. The Arts and Decoratif is the biggest of the three and often has one or two very big, splashy special exhibits.

I’m not aware of any special dress up photo opportunities.

https://en.parisinfo.com/paris-museum-monument/71086/Musee-de-la-Liberation-de-Paris-Musee-du-general-Leclerc-Musee-Jean-Moulin

https://www.museeliberation-leclerc-moulin.paris.fr/

Relatively new, and with lots of insights into how Paris experienced Occupation and those who fought back. The special exhibit on female war photographers, in several wars, is also revealing.