24 hrs in Paris

I have exactly 24 hrs in Paris with my husband. We were planning on Notre Dame and Louvre. Any other ideas on what not to miss? Anyone know of a tour company that do night time bus tours of the city? Also need idea of a romantic restaurant with good food close to Hotel Royal Saint Michel.? Thanks for any help.

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Are you not doing the Eiffel Tower?

You might be interested in doing the Hop On/Hop Off bus. That way you%26#39;ll go past a majority of the attractions. And you can hop off at the ones you%26#39;re interested in (such as Notre Dame %26amp; Louvre).

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The Louvre requires a lifetime, or at least a month of days to even begin to grasp. Notre Dame - natch. Arrive at 8:30AM and you%26#39;ll enjoy it without the crowds.

You only have one day. I%26#39;d go straight for the hop-on/hop/off tours like l%26#39;Open Tour or Cars Rouges and skip museums altogether.

These tours allow you to either stay seated and see the city from an open-air bus with spectacular vistas of Paris, or get off and linger whenever you want... and then continue where you left off.

24 hours is like a taste of foie gras, it%26#39;s addictive and you need more. You%26#39;ll be back so save the Louvre for then.

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I agree that to do any justice at all to the Louvre even on a first visit, you really need to give it a few hours.

There are several fabulous smaller museums - the Cluny, Rodin, Marmottan, Jacquemart-Andre to name but four - that are wonderful to visit.

I would not miss the Sainte Chapelle. I%26#39;d put it ahead of Notre Dame.

And I do think going to the top of the Eiffel Tower is like walking the Champs-Elysess. Everyone seems to think they MUST do it, but hardly anybody seems to think they need to do it twice. That should tell you something right there.

Wander the city with a good map and some idea of what you want to see.

Find a great cafe and sit there for a while.

Have a terrific dinner.

Take a night cruise on the Seine.

Enjoy Paris. You%26#39;ll be back another time...

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Irishrover is right. You will hardly have time to see anything in the Louvre as part of a one day trip. However, for this trip, you could just settle for the %26quot;Mona Lite%26quot; tour, a term that was coined by Rick Steves I think. This is a rushed trip to see the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory of Sarathrace and the Venus de Milo and maybe one or two other things you particularly want to see. That may leave you wanting to return for more. Because of the lines, I would not think of going up the Eiffel Tower on a one day trip I think it better looked at than from.

Your hotel is very central and two minutes walk from Notre Dame so you won%26#39;t have any difficulty fitting that in. I also second Irishrover%26#39;s idea of seeing Ste Chapelle as it is enchanting. It is also only a few minutes walk from your hotel on the Ile de la Citie in the grounds of the Palais de Justice. With so little time, I would focus on walking around in the Latin Quarter near your hotel, the 2 islands and the Marais area in the 4th arrondissement just across the Seine from Ile St Louis.

Make sure that you buy a one day museum pass so you spend as little time as possible in lines. You also do not say what day of the week you will be in Paris. A lot of galleries and museums close on either Monday or Tuesday. The Louvre is closed on Tuesday.

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Attractions like the Louvre tend to devour time (unless its Tuesday and it%26#39;s Closed). Even if you were to try to just do a %26#39;..six minute Louvre..%26#39;--get in, see the Big Three (Mona, Venus and Wings) it would probably take a couple of hours. By all means stroll around through the outdoor Cour Carree and Cour Napoleon of the Louvre, but this is a place that may be left for a longer, more leisurely visit. The Eiffel Tower can be another %26#39;time eater%26#39; with llines waiting to purchase tickets, lines waiting for the elevators up to the top and lines again waiting for the elevators back down. Perhaps a better view of the skyline of Paris (one with the Eiffel Tower actually in it) will be the one from the rooftop Terrace/Observation Deck atop the main La SAMARITAINE department store, at the Right Bank end of Pont Neuf (about half-way between Notre Dame amd Louvre. If your camera has a %26#39;..panoramic photo..%26#39; mode, THIS id the place to use it for wonderful 360 views of the skyline of Paris and the bridges across the Seine.

If you%26#39;re only going to stop in one %26#39;church%26#39; in Paris, then make sure that it%26#39;s SAINTE-CHAPELLE on the Ile de la Cite. Notre Dame is MAGNIFICENT....but Sainte-Chapelle has a more %26#39;..human proportion..%26#39; and spectacular stained glass windows.

It will probably serve you best to do some advance research and be selective in the places you visit and things you see. As an example, if your primary interest is in seeing the Impressionists paintings, then skip the rest and head directly to the fourth floor of the Musee d%26#39;Orsay (unless it%26#39;s Monday and it%26#39;s Closed). You should also be aware that the Louvre has late-closing days on Wednesdays %26amp; Fridays and the d%26#39;Orsay on Thursdays until 9:30 PM, which can extend your day. These major museums will also be less crowded in late afternoon and evenings. As has already been suggested, a 1Day CARTE MUSEE et MONUMENTS pass will probably be a good investment--if for no other reason than in time savings, not having to stand in lines to purchase tickets.

Perhaps the MOST DIFFICULT part of your visit will be MAKING THE TIME to just sit at a sidewalk cafe or in one of Paris%26#39; many wonderful parcs or along the banks of the Seine to simply sit, relax and do NOTHING more than watch the world go by, watching you, watching the world go by.

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If you go to St Chapelle (it%26#39;s wonderful), I hope that while

you are there that you will make time to PRAY for more

time in Paris on your next trip.

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Unfortunately I *think* the Sainte Chapelle has been deconsecrated since that little unpleasantness back towards the end of the 18th century...

But a sincere prayer with good intention never goes unheard, or so I%26#39;m told...

;%26gt;)