I finished chaperoning a student tour group on Jun 23, with Paris as the final tour stop. While with the group, we stayed out near Disney (though never actually saw Disney itself). It was a clean, nice area with modern hotels, a small plaza with banks, restaurants, etc., and easy RER access to the city. It was a 40 minute ride, however. We did the usual guided bus tour, and had some free time.Didn%26#39;t really do anything new or different for me, but the group loved it.
Once the group flew out, we moved into the city for a couple of nights - specifically the Marais. I was kind of disappointed in this area at first. We were right across from the Pompidou Centre and it was really dirty. The streets and sidewalks were literally covered in trash, all the time.
However, the hotel itself (Hotel Beaubourg) was quite nice - very clean, quaint, and French, with a lovely modern bathroom. As we walked east toward the Place de Vosges, the neighborhood got much nicer.
We walked all over central Paris, covering pretty much all of the arrondisments near the Seine, and they were all clean and well kept. I%26#39;m not sure what was going on with that one particular area of the Marais, but hopefully they%26#39;ll get it sorted out.
Our first day was spent getting to the hotel and settled, and doing laundry, and sleeping. After 2 weeks on a tour bus, these were unfortunate necessities!
However, day 2 was much better. We started by strolling down to the Seine and across. On a whim, we swung by Sainte Chapelle just to check out the line. It didn%26#39;t look too bad, so we tried it. We were through in about 10 minutes - not bad at all! I%26#39;d been before, but my daughter hadn%26#39;t. The stained glass on the second floor is truly a magnificent sight. Do go when it%26#39;s sunny!
Next, we visited the Musee Cluny, and loved it. It was free (maybe that day of the week only?), and so many wonderful things to see - sculpture, stained glass windows, paintings, and tapestries, to name just a few. It wasn%26#39;t crowded at all, and there were no barriers between us and the art. You could examine from an inch away if you chose! The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries were especially wonderful.
After the museum, we grabbed a sandwich and had a picnic in the Luxembourg Gardens - so gorgeous. Our next stop was Pierre Herme for beautiful, luscious desserts. I had an amazing rose and raspberry macaron confection and my daughter chose something chocolate. There%26#39;s no place to sit down in there, so we took our treats with us and ate them in another park along our route.
We finished the afternoon with a stroll through the gardens at the Rodin Museum, also free.
After a short rest at the hotel, we wandered over to L%26#39;As du Falafel, since I%26#39;d read about it on TA so much. I%26#39;d never had a falafel before (can you believe it?!), and they were very good. Our day ended with a walk to the Place des Vosges, where we sat for a while, then back to the hotel. All in all, it was a pretty perfect Paris day.
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sounds like perfect Paris day, and I also love the Luxembourg Gardens.
Thanks for sharing !
EM.
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Thanks for the post.
Do you have anything else to mention about the Hotel Beaubourg? I%26#39;ll be staying there for 2 nights with my mother in October.
Did you have a room with 2 beds? How was the size? Did your room have any kind of view?
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nice post...it reminds me of everything we missed out on doing this trip so I%26#39;m already to go back.
we also stayed in the Marais district and the lady who greeted us at our apt on 6-28 said that there had just been a parade.
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Hi, keylime! Thank you for sharing! Hope you had a great time in the South of France, as well.
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wonderful post. I really enjoyed it. I love seeing people fall in love with L%26#39;As du Falafel. Someone else on another threat on this forum just asked %26quot;are they really that good-never having tried them before.%26quot; Yes they are!
I think the Cluny museum is always free. Amazing isn%26#39;t it. The Paris city museums are free I think.
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Cluny is free on the first Sunday of the month.
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According to the offical web site it was free this year from Jan. 2 until June 30 2008.
musee-moyenage.fr/ang/…home_id20754_u1l2.htm
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Wired - our room had one bed. I think it was a king size, but we were so many places, it%26#39;s hard to remember!
Our view was of the small side street on which the hotel is located - nothing special. I did read another review where the guest had a courtyard view, and liked that.
As I said, the hotel itself was very nice and we liked it a lot. The neighborhood was just so dirty, but hopefully that was a temporary issue. It still felt safe, and that%26#39;s from a single mom with a young daughter. It was also perfectly located for walking everywhere in Central Paris.
Oui - the South of France was incredible too. I%26#39;ll get a trip report done on that today or tomorrow.
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