Returned from 2 weeks in Paris and Provence ...lessons learned.

Notre Dame is free to get into for everyone. The Tower climb and Archeological Crypt are what you can get into with the Museum Pass.

When we were in Paris, we saw folks getting chilled carafes of tap water that the restaurant kept in the fridge. So we asked for them too. No charge. What a treat and it saves you tons of money.

A put another entry out there, but thought I would weigh in here also.

We also got hit by the gold ring scam--at D'Orsay (twice)and during our walk from there to the Louvre--three times. Pretty bad scam. My husband just told the person "Bon Chance" and we walked away. Never saw it again.

We entered D'Orsay at opening. Very few in line and the Impressionist gallery was nearly empty. When we left, there were 500 or more in line, and I am sure the wait to enter was over an hour. Get there early or late.

Same thing at Orangerie--it was nearly empty and made the experience a lot more enjoyable--you could actually see the Monet panels without gobs of people blocking the way!

We bought Carnets, and spent about 44 euros for transportation. Did not bother with the passes. It was still a lot cheaper than driving and paying 1,40 euro per liter for gas. And the Metro is so easy and gets you anywhere you want to go.

We rented an apartment and ate at home almost every night. We had lunch out, shopped the markets, etc. and cooked some great meals: rack of lamb, Bresse Chicken, chacouterie--all for much less than eating in a restaurant would cost. We loved the shopping experience--made us feel more Parisian, which was a great experience for us. One thing we did not do until the last night, that we wished we had: we bought a meal in the shops that prepare foods: Crepes Formage, Coq au Vin, Tomatoe provecal. It was delisious and the entire meal, including wine, cost 14 euros.

We were also able to experience some wonderful French wines at home. Monoprix and Nicholas were great resources for this.

We were in Paris late september for five days, we bought a carnet of metro tickets (and walked nearly everywhere)We would also ask for a carafe d'eau instead of bottled water in the restaurants, and when leaving for the day would fill our bottles with tap water. We also bought the museum pass for 2 days and did all our museum sightseeing in those days. We were approached about 6-7 times with the ring scam, even had one young girl try it on us,thanks to the travel sites, we were already aware of this. As for Provence we were in a gite for 8 days, which indeed saved us a lot of money by enabling us to have our breakfasts and suppers there.

whenever someone comes up to you and waves a piece of paper in front of you, asking "do you speak english?" assume it is a scam unfolding.

Scams: Whenever the person would wave the card in front of my husband and ask if he spoke English, he always replied, "No, I don't. Go away." The scammer always looked a little startled at the response...but they left us alone.

To the gold ring person, we just always told her to go away also.

I haven't heard of the GOLD RING THING. MY daughter and I are leaving on Nov 7. Thanks for letting us know.

Tom

Re the gold ring scam - just yell 'RAUS'. If they think you're German, it helps.

Seriously, walk away quickly. If you see little Gypsy children who ask if you speak English, walk away quickly. We don't use money belts in Paris, because we generally go in the winter and we're bundled up and harder to pickpocket, but it would not be a bad idea.

Just got back and here is our two-cents worth.

I agree with Sue, Springfield re eating in. We rented a 2-bedroom apartment in the Marais and ate all our breakfasts and many of our suppers there. There was a Monoprix and a wide assortment of shops selling cheese, meats and prepared meals within a 5-min. walking radius of the apartment.

I also agree with Sue, Springfield re "carnets" versus the "carte orange". I debated long and hard but came down on the carnets. We each (there were 4 of us) bought a carnet and when we ran out towards the end of the week, bought a carnet to be shared by 2 (a carnet per couple). It worked out real well.

We used the Metro and service was superb. We would have liked to use the bus a little more but the logistics was too complicated for tourists when transferring from one to another.

The carnet tickets were also good for Basilique St-Denis (very highly recommended) and for the bus that covers just Montmartre, as well as the funicular up to Sacré Coeur.

Everywhere we went we asked for tap water (eau du robinet) and were never dissed.

Also used the Museum Pass for 4 days. We couldn't fit everything in because physical activity was a little limited because one of the party has a heart condition, so with great sadness we dropped Musée d'Orsay in favour of Versailles. In other circumstances, we probably would have used the Versailles pass instead. Too much to do and too little time.

We had many toilet adventures. Male/female toilets in the Conciegerie, the carwash type, modern toilets without seats (all over the place) and the hole-in-the-floor type in the rest areas on the Paris/Provence autoroute. The latter were ultra-modern and ultra-clean facilities but equipped with the HITF type. I don't know how they cope if they have diarrhea or other intestinal problems.

In Provence (perhaps elsewhere too), we loved the use of traffic circles.

Maureen

We were in Paris this past July and the Gypsy kids were everywhere around the Eiffel Tower. My daughters (12+14) got so sick of them coming up to us that they would take turns growling "go away" and giving them the "death stare". (if you dont know what that is, you don't have teens) Never got the "gold ring" scam though.

We had heard that in Paris, restaurants open for dinner at around 8 p.m. It didn’t seem to be a problem for us — either we were there at the right time or in Paris, everything goes.

However, we discovered that this rule was strictly adhered to in Provence. We arrived Saturday and hoped to stock the kitchen at the gîte Sunday. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Everything is generally closed between Sunday morning and early Monday afternoon, restaurants included. We missed out on a great meal at Île-sur-la-Sorgue on a late Friday afternoon because we were too hungry to wait (picked up something and ate it at the gîte). In Avignon, we noticed that the café was closing right after we were finished (2 p.m.). Saturday in St-Tropez, the same thing and when we returned to the parking lot, it was empty. The only people visiting the port were tourists and even they were not numerous. This probably explains why the roads in Provence were traffic-free Sunday. The bistros appear to remain open between 2 and 8 but only for drinks.

Mindful of this, we checked ahead of time when we were in Monaco only to learn that they don’t close at all during the day.

Live and learn.

Maureen

Another scam is the young Bosnian girl ( looks 12-16) who has a piece of paper written in poor English, which says her father was killed in their civil war and she and her mother and sibs are refugees and anything helps ( etc). This particular one was by the Eiffel tower. I said "Sorry, no" but my tenderhearted 14 year old son gave her a euro from his spending money. So we had something to talk about while we waited for the elevator to the top.

Interestingly enough, when we came down we decided we were too tired to take the metro back to our hotel, what with changing in a station or two, so went to the taxi stand. By sheer chance we saw the same girl, counting the MANY coins in her hand, getting a taxi too! Still a learning moment about our choices!

We had the gold ring attempt on both sides of the Seine, so figured we looked too well dressed.