Is 2nd time around in Paris better or the same?

Note: Started writing this 1st thing I got back from Paris but never finished or published 'cuz Mike said it's too long. It's been over a month since I'm back and I still haven't finished it. So I'm going to publish as-is and come back in the future, hopefully soon).

I'm here again in Paris. No, this time is with Mike. Is this time better? Hmm...read on...

Day 1
Flied from LAX to ATL and couldn’t get on our original CDG flight ‘cuz there were over 40 standbys for our flight. The next flight was already negative. Since our buddy passes have the lowest priorities, we changed our plan and flied to Brussels, Belgium instead. Once at Brussels, we were told that the only flight to Paris had left and our only option was the train (Lily told us that the Delta worker might be referring to just Delta flights ‘cuz Brussels is a large airport…). Took the local train to the international train station. On the way, we met a lady from Brussels coming back from a conference from S.F. She said there are only 5 places to go in Brussels and we can pretty much finish in 1-2 hrs. Since our train to Paris was in less than an hour and the view I saw of Brussels in the 20-minute ride to the International station didn’t look appealing, we decided to skip it.

The train we took to Paris was not what I expected, the bullet train. It took almost 2 hrs. for the 150+ miles and cost us €78 (~$100) each. When we got to Paris, it was already 22 hrs. from the time we left the LAX hotel. Checked into our hotel by the Eiffel Tower, called Hotel de la Bourdonnais. The hotel was not what I expected…no elevator, room and stuff in it were much older, and the street is really noise at nite. Since we didn’t have euro, we went to a local café for our lunch. It was a place suggested by Rick Steve’s Paris tourist book. It’s supposed to be cheap, but it turned out to be more than I expected. Then we went to Champs-Elysées where we could get euro from the only Citibank we know of and got water from Moniplox super market. Stopped by the main L.V. store shortly (didn’t buy anything) before heading back to the hotel.

Day 2
My wonderful friend called me at 2ish AM ‘cuz she forgot I was in Paris. Afterwards, I coulnd’t sleep ‘til 6ish AM, so our day started close to noon. We got French sandwish by the station and headed straight to Orsay Museum. I couldn’t believe my eyes when we got out of the Metro station. The line was really long. There was no line for the museum pass but we didn’t have it at the time. Instead of lining up, we went to the Opéra. We were disappointed that we spent €7 and didn’t get to see much. We thought we can go in, but the stairways by the main entrence was pretty much all there is. There’s a section to walk thru upstairs, but it’s not worth the money. We recommend ppl to go in and take pictures by the door or buy tickets to watch an opera where you’ll be able to go inside.

We did some walking around at Galeries Lafayette.

Day 3

Day 4
My alarm didn’t go off ‘cuz I set it wrong. =( We didn’t get up ‘til noon. After getting lunch, we went straight to the Louvre Museum. Can’t believe how many ppl were there. But we still went thru pretty much everywhere in ~3 hrs. I couldn’t find Da Vinci’s 2nd printing from the Da Vince Code book. Oh well… We then walked from the Louvre thru the Tuileries Garden and to Obelisk of Luxor by Place de la Concorde before taking the Metro to Arc de Triomphe. Before calling the nite, we stopped by Saint Germain’s Internet café to finish up our remaining time. I finally tried the crapes. The one by the Internet café is really good. Highly recommend ppl to try it.

Day 5
Last full day at Paris before heading home. Before heading out to a full day of shopping, we stopped by the Eiffel Tower. The line was soooo long, so Mike decided to skip going up and went tea shopping with me. Then we headed out for our shopping journey. We went to Champs-Elysées first. Then we went to Madeleine for Mike’s shopping. I can’t believe how many upscale shops are there. I originally expected Champs-Elysées to have all the upscale shops, but I was disappointed. At Madeline, you can find pretty much all the upscale shops, except L.V. After Madeleine, we went to Hardrock Café by the Opéra to get shot glass for one of Mike’s coworkers. Finally, we went to the two main department stores in Paris, Galeries Lafayette and Printamps in back of the Opéra. We ended the day with Mike heading to the Eiffel Tower to catch the nite view and me packing and confirming our flights.

Day 6
Finally heading home after over a week (we went to Orange, CA to attend Carlo’s graduation before heading to Paris). From the time we left our hotel, at 7:45AM, to the time we boarded the plane, at 11:15AM, we did not have time to stop at all. We took the Metro then RER to CDG, went thru 1st Delta security, check-in at Delta, went thru Tax Free, immigration, luggage security, and 2nd Delta security, got our ticket at boarding, went thru 3rd Delta security, boarded the bus that carried us to the plane and finally the plane. Thank God we had the business Elite seats this time. I really wanted Mike to experience the biz class and we did.

Our flight from ATL to SFO had over 30 standbys and only few available seats. Most of us were pushed to the next flight, which was an hour later. It actually worked out nicely ‘cuz Linda was able to give us a ride after her Giant’s game (we waited an hour at SFO) instead of us taking the BART. When we got home, it’s already 24 hrs. from the time we left the hotel. Time to go to bed…

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Suggestions for next time or someone else visiting Paris:
- Get the Carte Orange RER/Metro pass if you're staying over 3 days or want to hop-on and off a lot.
- Get the 2 day Museum pass at the Paris Tourist Office, 25 Rue des Pyramides (Metro station no longer sells them) - Get hotel around Latin Quarter (like Saint Germain & Saint Michel area) or Champs-Elysées if you like more things to do at nite or around Opera if you want a nice quiet place. I don’t highly recommend Eiffel Tower.
- Get international phone card from the state or in Paris at local Rally (like 7-Eleven) for €7.5.
- Get a small map booklet ‘cuz it’ll definitely help you get around (even local ppl carries one)
- Get snack and/or water from Moniplex super market (one on Champs-Elysées next to Virgin Record or Franklin D. Roosevelt Metro station)
- Get euro from Citibank ATM at Champs-Elysées (take M1 toward La Defense and get off at Charles-de-Gaulle Etoile)
- Get excellent tea from this local tea store,
- You get 10% off things that don’t have the RED MARKER from both Galeries Lafayette and Printamp (this is in addition to the 12% Tax Free return for anything you spend over €175).
- L.V. items are 20-30% cheaper (Tax Refund already included in that discount) in Paris than around the world.
- Chanel items are 20% cheaper (Tax Refund included).
- 1st Sundays of the month are free museum days