Commenting here while fresh in mind and as I don't immediately see Tour Forum access to Review of the tour.
Best of Paris Feb '23 allowed me to accomplish my re-visit to Paris missions. These included, as a Renaissance art educator, access to both the Louvre and the Orsay. ******** At both museums, having been there before and knowing what I must see, I broke from the group, realizing I most certainly could have learned from the guide, but also having the decades of knowledge gained from my personal study and from my earlier visits. I achieved that part of my mission in the many hours I indulged there.
&&^^ My mission also involved & was accomplished in my other specialty, as an Holocaust/Genocide Studies educator, to Bear Witness at both the Memorial Des Martyrs De La Deportation and the Memorial de la Shoah.
%% &* Pre, during, & post tour, my other mission drew me to the numerous Cathedrals (Chartres, Paris, Reims) and churches I could experience and encounter. I said a litany of promised prayers in many as I sought my religious Catholic roots and the Lord's & the Blessed Virgin Mary's intervention while I prayed in these France Catholic institutions.
*** ** As to the Tour aspects: the nice, comfortable Hotel Londres Eiffel, literally a couple of minutes from the tower, was in a terrific part of Paris which helped make the city quite accessible. And that accessibility was enhanced by the very much appreciated Metro Pass. I rode and rode especially when I learned the pivot point of the Concord station to our travels.
^^* Tour meals were the best ones I had in the city as I found some ok and some mediocre food too.
&&## My couple of tour aspect comments to our tour guide, who was knowledgeable and personable (to some more than others) were received with disinterest or given short shrift. He did give clear and precise appreciated directions for the metro. BUT-- I heard maybe 30% of the commentary/tour remarks on the next to worthless toneless all volume no sound quality hanging on the neck "listening" devices. For R Steves tours and with today's much much advanced technology, the crap machines are an embarrassment.
---As to the tour members, most seemed nice middle/upper class US people. Conversations 90% plus centered on 1st world travels each had taken.. Aspiring to the 1st world, guess that's why we were there.
Only old once and Blessed forever, ab