Paris 2012

What fun!  We went to Ireland and London with our two girls (17 & 19) in November.  ENJOY.

We took to the train from Paris to London, had a fantastic time.  My husband does all the planning, I just pack my bags.  We're flying up to Philly to meet our friends who are going with us, from there we all fly to Rome on March 16, stay for 5 days then taking trains to Paris for 5 days. 

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This was one of my favorites pictures I took. 

LuvRVing, for the price why don't you look into a apt?  I don't know what your budget is but I would think with the size of your family it might be a better deal.  Our hotel was great, extremely small room but it was just the 2 of us and just being in Paris was enough for me, as long as it was clean and came with a breakfast buffett in the morning, I was happy.  We would eat a large breakfast and just get something small during the day.  One of my favorite days there was completely unplanned, we just started walking along the siene and stopped to grab a fresh crepe, like you would a hot dog in NY.   

Hope you have a wonderful trip. Not going that far, but my significant other and I are heading to Key West for Valentine's Day for seven days. He says the trip is to celebrate my recovery. I say it is to thank him for being there!!

mccrimmon - DH and I went to Italy in '09 to celebrate his retirement from military active duty.  One thing I would recommend is the guided tour of the Vatican Museum.  We did it the first night we were there - invaluable insights from your guide.  You put on headphones and they take you around and explain all the art and antiquities to you.  It was the only organized tour type thing we did but it was awesome.  I made those arrangements from home before we left, printed out the tickets from my home PC.  Mass transit is easy to use in Rome, same system as in Washington, D.C.  We were surprised by how casually Romans view the ruins - I guess because they have been ruins for so long!  There was not much in the way of supervised official stuff - like park rangers, or federal police.  Even in the Vatican when we went in to St. Peters the guards were reading the paper instead of looking at the x-ray screens.  We could have totally taken guns, bombs and knives into the cathedral.  Also the airport when you are coming in looks kind of third world, they never even looked at my DH's passport!  Italians are pretty relaxed!  Going home it was chock full of shopping with all the high-end Italian designers having stores.  Weird!

mccrimmon - the tour ends in the Sistine Chapel, which was a highlight.  I was really impressed with the tour guide's depth of knowledge combined with her casual delivery - it really was great.  I hope you all have a wonderful trip - goodness knows you deserve it.  That goes for luvrving too!

LuvRVing.  That looks beautiful and we walked around the latin quarter last year.  Think that was my husband's favorite day.  He can't wait to get back there. 

We did do 1/2 our time in Paris and 1/2 our time in London, definitely loved Paris more but you should really go see London and take the train.  It's fun.  We reserved seats with a table between us and the 4 of us played cards for a while until everyone but me fell asleep.  Before you go into the tunnels its amazing to see how fast your traveling. 

Also, if you do London, look into the London Pass for a day, it may be worth it.  We really enjoyed taking the bus and the Tube. 

Both my husband and I really want to do the Normandy tour, it's expensive and I believe a two day trip?  I can't remember now, but how many more times are we going to get the chance?  How cool that your husband was able to have the experience.  Then to be able to share it with his family.  My grandfather was stationed in Hawaii during WWII, and just fell in love with it.  I always get a kick out of hearing him tell us about how he and his buddies used to sneak into the pineapple fields and just feast on them. 

Joining in please.  DH taking me to Paris this year.  No date yet, but my task to plan it all.

Teresa

LuvRVing, Your trip sounds great. The london pass is a good idea. There are so many things to see and do. We want to go to Pairs also but DH wants to see Ireland so we will probably do that this year. Will keep reading this forum for all the great ideas you all have.

Mccrimmon, just looking at my France brochure. You can do Normandy in a day out of Paris. It's 14.5 hours and costs from $270 AU.



We are planning day tours to Champagne, Burgundy, Versailles, Giverny and maybe Loire. France is not cheap though. Some of these trips are up to $300 pp. For a larger group it would be more economical to hire a car. Which side of the road do they drive on?

I loved visiting the village of Giverny, especially Monet's home & gardens.  I've always been a fan of the impressionists, so this was heaven for me.  It's in Normandy, so for those who want to visit Normandy, a worthwhile stop.  We visited Giverny & Versailles on the same day, easy day trip from Paris.