Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Planning for Paris - It's Coming Along

There are days where I feel completely overwhelmed planning our fifth anniversary trip to Paris.  I sit on the couch with the laptop and three travel guides cross referencing hotspots, must sees, don't bothers, etc!  My head is spinning from all of the choices.  I wish I was a fly by the seat of her pants kind of gal, but I'm a planner.  I will say though, for me, the planning is half of the fun.  And we're getting there...

We have our arrival day planned.  A casual lunch by our hotel (the Hotel des Grandse Hommes near the Pantheon) when we check in, off to the Champs-Elysees where we will stroll down this beautiful boulevard taking in all of the sights.  We're going to take a boat tour of the Seine that evening before we head to dinner at Hidden Kitchen.  Yay! 

We're still mapping out Monday and Tuesday, but we're going to get a two day bus pass on the L'Open Tour - bus tours of Paris.  They let you hop on and off all over the city, so we thought that'd be a good introduction to our trip.  Wednedsay is my cooking class and food tour day. I think we might also have a late night date with The Mona Lisa since the Lourve stays open late on Wednesdays!!

I am very excited to announce that we have our Thursday plans all set!!!  I am so looking forward to our plan to stroll through the St. Germain!  We will start with breakfast and hot chocolate at Les Deux Magots.
We plan to spend the morning walking through the neighborhood before we set off on our picnic lunch in the Jardin-du-Luxembourg.  I had read about all of these great little places to make the perfect picnic lunch, so we'll be stopping at a few different places to gather all of the things we need:
And off to enjoy some sunshine is such beautiful gardens!

That evening we will be going to the Yves St. Laurent exhibit at the Petit Palais which I am so excited about.  We've decided to try to have dinner close to the hotel to avoid zig zagging across Paris, and we found the perfect little spot  called Chez Dumone - Josephine.  It just looks like the kind of bisto I imagined dining in from the day we starting talking about making this trip.

And so there you have it.  Our Thursday in Paris.  I guess the only thing left out of my little travel planning hands is the weather.  Hope for a lovely day!

Are you like me and plan every detail of your trip?  Or do you spontaneously take in the sights? 

19 comments:

  1. How exciting!! I can't wait to hear all about it and see some fabulous pictures! xoxo

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  2. Oh Jen this is so fab! You are going to have a ball! Tres romantique, n'est ce pas??!! I've done L'Open Tour in Paris and it is THE BEST. Perfect that you don't get boxed into any one tour guide and you can hop on and off at so many locations. You must visit the boutique "Colette" on Rue Saint-Honoré. Such darling things. Not to far from the Champs Elysees. FUN FUN FUN!!

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  3. oh! i am so jealous but in a good, happy for you kind of way. you will have such a lovely time and i cannot wait to see and hear all about it.

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  4. Love all the planning! And sooo want to come with you, please? ;)

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  5. You're going to have so much fun. I lived in Paris for 2 years & still felt like I didn't get to see it all.

    Such a romantic city :-)

    Cheers!

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  6. Ohhhhhh, what a heavenly trip! Color me mucho jealous!

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  7. i must say i'm not a planner but my sweethubby is and he usually plans our trips. i will be interested to hear how your trip is, i've always wanted to go to paris -how amazing!

    i'm having my first ever give*away if you are interested, i'd love for you to stop by :)

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  8. You are gonna have so much fun in Paris, i have always wanted to go, maybe one day!

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  9. It sounds like you are going to have the time of your lives! All of your plans are fabulous. I can't wait to hear about it when you get back!

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  10. Sweet trip!
    You have a cute blog!

    Xoxo.

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  11. I am very much a planner!!! You are going to have sooo much fun!! Take plenty pics!!!

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  12. I am such a planner! I plan everything and trips are even worse. Im like Danny Tanner with clip board and everything in hand. You guys will have such a blast on the trip :) I cannot wait until I find the one and get to travel like you all do :)

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  13. I plan to an extent, but not as detailed. You've got it nailed. I have to say the best things I experienced in Paris were not planned. Mostly it was just areas I stumbled upon and wandered around to explore.

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  14. Yes, I am a total planner. Especially when I went to Paris. I bought a 2 Day Paris Museum Pass so I had to plan out what days I was going to see what so I could get the most out of that pass. And in general, I wanted to know what was in what arondissement so I could methodically see things without traipsing back and forth, wasting time in the process. My schedule had some flexibility which was good because I ended up swapping days when the weather wasn't great one day.

    I had an excel spreadsheet with columns for each day. i had so much fun planning that trip. It was truly the trip of a lifetime - just like this will be a trip of a lifetime fro you & Mark. :)

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  15. Def check out Miss Manon and Laduree!!! Trust me you will be doing so much walking that you won't feel the least bit guilty for indulging on yummy food!
    Chris and I also had a Wed night date with Mona Lisa. It was great you feel as if you have the whole place to your self!

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  16. Oh how fun! You simply must visit Pierre Herme!His pastries are breathtakingly beautiful and sooo delicious!

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  17. When is it that you're going? We'll be there for two weeks in June.

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  18. I can't wait to see your spreadsheet!! :)

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