visiting France

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My wife and I are going to be in the Clichy area on business in March. We have 3 or 4 days to do touristy stuff. Does anyone have any recommendations? We'll probably try to see the Louvre but have no plans otherwise. We'd like to see a bit of the French countryside outside of Paris, but we don't plan to rent a car so anything we do needs to be accessible by public transportation.
Thanks for any suggestions!

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lab rat, What kind of interests do you have? Art, food, museum, wine, countryside? If you wish to see a lot in the shortest time possible, take organized tours - especially if this is your first visit to Paris. The Metro in Paris is easy to use.

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I have no advice but am always interested -
in the meantime, I hope you have a fine trip..

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Since Clichy is just ouside of Paris (you want notice that, and a metro line is going to Paris, too), have a look around places in Paris, you perhaps don't now.

A visit to the cathedral in St. Denis is highly recommeded. Maisons-Lafitte is very close as well.
And Rueil-Malmaiso (le chateau there and especially Napoleon's home) is kind of insiders' tip :wink:

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Thanks for the advice so far.
c.i., my wife and I both like rural/countryside settings; she likes art, as well, and we both like classical music. We were thinking of something along the lines of a bed-and-breakfast in the country for a night or two (or are B&B's an American thing?).

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A day trip, or overnighter, to Chartres or Reims is a possibility. They're both only short distances by train. We stayed at a wonderful B&B not far from Chartres, but you do need a car to get to it.

Or Monet's gardens, at <where the hell was it?> Walter recommended it a couple of trips back, but I didn't make it!

Plenty of museums, or go to Versailles - for an over the top experience - and the gardens are great, too!

See if you can get tickets, say - Paris Opera, or similar.

Have a ball! Laughing

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lab rat wrote:

Thanks for the advice so far.
c.i., my wife and I both like rural/countryside settings; she likes art, as well, and we both like classical music. We were thinking of something along the lines of a bed-and-breakfast in the country for a night or two (or are B&B's an American thing?).

B&B weren't invented in the USA - some European got the prefix "old" for good reasons. Laughing

French b&b's are called 'Chambre d'Hôte'. You'll find them by googling for "Chambre et table d'Hôte" and then look at the different régions, départements etc

Clichy, however, isn't rural at all.

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Giverny, margo ... and I know some really nice b&b's and hotels aroundd there as well (isn't that far from Clichy, but you should have a car). :wink:

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The "better classified" 'Chambres d'Hôte' are called "Gîtes rural" (to be identified by this sign

http://images.google.de/images?q=tbn:7c_Ie8Ac8GUJ:www.la-figuera.com/icones/gites.GIF

.

Their website is HERE

There are none in Haute-et-Seine (which is the department, Clichy is in). So you may have a look here
Gîtes, chambres d'hôtes, locations, villages vacances en Ile de France

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Great responses, everyone. Thanks for your help!

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Now, lab rat, you have to REPORT BACK!

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That's right, we expect it!!!!

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lol--okay. Watch for an update sometime after March 15.

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I think it will be a bit early in the year for Monet's garden at Giverny to be looking its best - the leaves won't be on the willows etc around the pools and not many flowers out - early summer is an absolute riot of blooms and wonderful

the Marmottan museum ( or marmattan???? forgotten spelling) is wonderful, it is in a lovely quarter near the Bois de Bologne and is in a house Monet lived in, there are loads of impressionist works in a home type setting and in the basement are some huge waterlily paintings that I prefer to the ones in the Orangerie, They have copies of his letters scrounging money from friends which I found fascinating.

The Rodin museum is also fascinating and not far from the Seine. In his old house/studio with a large garden and further work outside. I particularly like his drawings.

There is so much to see in Paris that i really wouldn't worry about getting out into the countryside as it is pleasant but nothing spectacular.

You get metro tickets much cheaper if you buy batches of 10, it's worth looking into. It also saves a lot of time,

Oh ... do go up to Montmartre as the views are great, looking out over Paris and the steep little streets that tumble down the hillside. the cafes etc are a bit of a rip off so eat before or after visiting there!

We went to look around the galleries and i realise that not everyone would want to see as many as we did but also worth visiting at the Orangerie, the Pompidou Centre and the D'Orsay, Only consider the Louvre if you like old classical paintings - it is vast and that is all they have.

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Quote:

You get metro tickets much cheaper if you buy batches of 10,

'Mobiles' would be best for Paris, I think.
And since you'll have to use perhaps the suburbian trains (RER) as well, "The Paris Visite Pass" (1 day/3 day etc) is worth buying (gives you some discounts as well).

Monet's Garden is still closed in March, btw.

The Louvre really is vast, but they've collected more than just classical, Egytian for example; arts from Ozeania, Australia, America, Africa; sculptures... :wink:

The Musée d'Orsay certainly is not so crowded.

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One of my wife's French coworkers has suggested that if we want to see "countryside", we rent a car and visit the Loire Valley. If we make it out there, we'd like to possibly rent bikes, although it will probably be cold. Any thoughts?

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Try this site, they have the most ecxperiences, good prices and are well recommodated:

anjou-bike-center

If you are going to this on your own, I suggest to stay in Blois: the town is big enough, but not too big; very attractif, a couple of good hotels/guest-houses, b&b's; rural enough.
And you could stay there a couple of nights, going either left or right site plus castles not direct on the Loire.

This link will give you more ideas, I hope. Best European Cycle Tours

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and you can get to Blois very easily by train, thus avoiding having to drive in Paris at all! The tourist office was exceptionally helpful, also!

As an aside, I've had a couple of great haircuts in Blois - 10 years apart! Wink

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Margo is right, you would enjoy the Loire valley and the chateaux.

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Everytime I check this thread I'm pleased with the quality of the answers. You folks are awesome!

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visiting France

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