Seeing a show in Paris

Show? What kind of show? Not likely to be anything in English in case you don't speak French. If you want to see an opera google Opera Bastille to see what will be on for your dates. It does seem to me that for Day 1 you could eliminate boring old rue Cler . Also be aware that depending on what time of year you will be in Paris, visiting Notre Dame can be time consuming. When I was there in late December just past, there was an enormous line-up outside awaiting entrance. Looked to us like it could take at least an hour to get in. For Day 2, though all three museums are wonderful, you can't possibly really visit all 3 unless you plan to dash through them having a quick glance at the all-time favourites as you race by. You do after all have to stop for lunch and dinner and it would be nice to have time to sit at a café one afternoon for a while and just enjoy being in Paris.

Oops - Norma and I posted at almost the same time. I agree with her. I think your Paris/France itinerary is too packed. I visited every site you have listed above (except for Reims, Epernay, and the Orangerie) but I did it and a bunch of other stuff over 8 days. Day 1 looks doable. I agree with Norma about skipping rue Cler. I wasn't wowed by it. Almost every street I saw in Paris has its own fromagerie, boulangerie, boucherie, etc. I don't understand what the big deal is about rue Cler. Day 2 - no way. The Louvre is ENORMOUS and the signage is terrible. The museum map doesn't help much. You'll spend maybe a third of your time there trying to figure out how to get from one area of the museum to another. We spent 3 hours there and saw maybe a quarter of it. I love museums but couldn't handle another one until the following day. Day 3 - Versailles will wear you out. We went through the palace and walked around the gardens down to the Grand Canal, then visited the Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon and walked all the way back to the train station. We were exhausted at the end of the day, and saw maybe a quarter of the entire grounds. If you take your time on the Champs-Elysees walk, say from the Place de la Concorde to the Arc, it will take about an hour. It's worth taking your time and stopping in some stores (including Laduree with fabulous macaroons). You probably won't want to do that after hours of walking at Versailles (and if the train is crowded on the way back to Paris, which ours was, you won't be able to sit for most or all of the ride).

How's your legs? I can hike twenty-five or thirty miles a day but I'd friggin die if I had to spend that much time standing and humping on concrete. Day Three would really stink. If you do it, start the walk at the Arc which would give you a slight down-hill advantage. Day Two would have you banging your head against the wall from too many museums and you still wouldn't see very much, much less remember what was where. You left off most of the best areas in the city to spend time inside buildings. Build your own walks instead of nipping them out of a guidebook. Skip Rue Cler.

Day 1 - I agree with the others about skipping Rue Cler. It's not near the other places you want to go and there are similar markets everywhere. With your short trip its not worth going out of your way for. Day 2 - Been there, done that with the 3 museums in one day. And I had been to the Louvre and d'Orsay before. It was exhausting!! Maybe you could do one of them on Day 1. The Louvre is enormous, d'Orsay is good sized, and the Orangerie is smaller. I don't know what kind of show you have in mind, but IMO you are already trying to do a lot.

To answer your question about shows: I agree that with that schedule, the last thing you have to worry about is "free time in the evening." You'll be so worn out that all you'll want is dinner and bed. If by "show" you mean things like the Folies Bergere or Moulin Rouge, i.e, a "breasts and feathers" show: that's your call. They are very expensive, there won't be any locals there, and there will be lots of large tour groups. If breasts and feathers are worth 90 euros or more to you, go for it. There are occasional English language plays in Paris. Sometimes there are American musicals performed in French; I saw an outstanding production of Cabaret and a less stellar but still interesting production of Hair. As Norma noted, there's also lots of opera, ballet, symphony, etc, as well as jazz and all other kinds of music (no language barrier). Many movies are shown VO (meaning in the original language, which of course may not be English). VF in a movie listing means it's dubbed. Paris has a greater number and variety of films being shown that just about anywhere else in the world, so you can probably find something of interest. Pariscope magazine (cheap and sold at every newstand) lists all of these options and more, and has a small English section.

Was in Paris with a group in Paris last weekend. Several people went to the evening show at Moulin Rouge and thought it a great variety show including a ventriloquist and a trained dog that put the dog in "The Artist" to shame. Probably breasts and feathers were there as well, but they didn't say. I went to "L'Or du Rhin" (Das Rheingold) at Opera Bastille and it blew me away, although wifey thought the Rhine Daughters' costumes were "just a little on the trashy side".