Join Us in France Travel Podcast To give feedback on this episode, call 801-806-1015 To learn about Join Us in France Tours, visit Addicted to France If you enjoy the show, subscribe to the Join Us in France Newsletter Click here for show notes and photos for this episode. Click here to review the show on iTunes. Join Us in France Book Group on Goodreads Click here to leave us a voice mail question or comment. Send email feedback: annie@joinusinfrance.com Follow the show on Facebook "People who have been to Paris before should not discount this tour because they are going to learn so much, my head got filled every day. And for people who have never been to Paris, what a great way to see Paris for the first time" --Steven Struck, Inaugural Tour member What You Will Learn About in this Episode 4'30 While leading the Inaugural Tour we ran into a lot of tour groups where there were so many people that it was just a one-way conversation.  It's like factory tourism. What we're doing is totally different because our groups are so small. 5'16 Touring with Annie and Elyse is like touring with family. 5'50 Because group members chose us based on the podcast, they were looking forward to it and knew what they were getting into. 6'20 We had group members from all over the US, we also had various ages, and it all worked out really well. 7'10 Our next Paris Tour is going to be October 1st through Oct 7th 2017 and we hope to announce 4 more Paris tours in 2018 as well. 8'50 Our tour started by going to a wine bar called Chez Nous, followed by a river Cruise on the Seine River. Next time we'll probably start a little earlier on Sunday and visit the Luxembourg Gardens. 9'45 Two guys who thought the Luxembourg Gardens were ugly. When you look at something with no context, it's hard to see the beauty or appreciate anything. 11'30 On Monday we didn't start too early 12' We lucked out on all the places we went to eat. Annie's goal was to keep it around 15€-20€ for lunch and 30€-35€ for dinner. We were looking for good value and we found it! 13' France is not a good place to keep a strict diet. No vacation is good for your diet, reallay, is it? We eat a lot of meat and dairy in France. Lots of duck and lamb, fish (fish is usually the "diet" choice on a French menu). But we also don't eat fried food very much in France. 17' We'll be looking for a good audio solution to use all the time. We had a whisper system in some of the museums, but even there, they limit you to a specific amount of time. So we'll be looking for a good solution. 17'50 Monday activities: Conciergerie (where Marie-Antoinette was held before she was beheaded), Sainte-Chapelle, restaurant Saint-Régis. 19' Annie being recognized by her voice, an eerie experience for sure! 20'41 Notre Dame, Place de la Concorde, the Orangerie. "Droit de parole" complications. They give you an appointment at a specific time, which is not always suitable. 22' Tuesday: Orsay Museum which isn't very big as far as Paris museums are concerned. Lunch by the big clock. Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysées. In future tours we will do a drive by night that will include all the big sights of Paris by night. 25' Wednesday: Louvre Museum. If you want to have some peace in the Louvre you have to get off the beaten track and choose other pieces that are of interest to you ahead of time. There are lovely sections of decorative arts, music, Egypt, Roman and Greek, Babylonian, Islamic Arts, etc. Next time we do a tour we will spend a little time with each participant to help them decide about a good section for them so they can go explore that part and enjoy the Louvre with some peace and quiet. 29'30 Montmartre: Annie is not in love with the area, it's too touristy and crass. Elyse will plan a different itinerary where we don't spend so much time in the middle of the crowds. Wine tasting with a sommelier. Next time we'll take the time to have dinner right after the wine tasting. 31'20 Thursday: Opéra Garnier, Galleri