Side Trips from Paris

I highly recommend Vaux le Vicomte. It's in Rick's Paris guide for details.

Chartres makes a great day trip -- fabulous cathedral and lovely town.

A trip to Reims is nice. The Notre Dame cathedral there is very beautiful -- most of France's kings' coronations were here. Touring some of the champage houses is also fun. Especially nice now tht the TGV gets you there in only 45 minutes.
If you have any WWII interests, there is also a small museum where the Germans officially surrendered at the end of the war. The room has been maintained as it was on that day.

I agree that Chartres is a great place to visit as a day trip from Paris. It's very easy to get there by train, and the cathedral is stunning.

chartres, reims and rouen are good train day trips...i prefer rouen because of the "monet" cathedral, several small museums, many pedestrian streets, my favorite Afghan restaurant, and the restaurant where Julia Child had her first meal in France (i've only looked in the window).

Chartres is a great train trip from Paris. You could even do this for a half-day trip. A beautiful cathedral with world famous stained glass windows and a quaint town. The town of Amboise is also a great full day trip. Leonardo da Vinci's home, which is now a museum, is located there. The inside of the house has models of his drawings and the grounds around the house have life-size models that you can operate. The town also has a chateau that you can tour. Amboise is a one hour, TGV train ride from Paris. Have fun on your trip.

Chartres and Rheims are excellent suggestions. Chartres, in particular,is pretty well accepted as the epitome of a Gothic Cathedral. Would also suggest the Palace at Versailles; the epitome of opulence in pre-Revolutionary France. The magnificent Hall of Mirrors is a once-in-a-life time view of a beautiful "room." The Palace itself is so large I could not stand back far enough to frame it in a single picture. Lastly; a short train ride from Paris.

Chartres since it is the absolute best of the notre dame style cathedrals.

Rouen since the cathedral, in addition to being painted by Monet umpteen zillion times, also contains a chunk of the remains of Richard I (Lionheart) -- guess which part. Also down the main pedestrian drag out the front door of the cathedral is the spot where Jean d'Arc was killed.

There's also Giverny, Chantilly, Fontainbleau and Malmaison. All great.