September 1, 2025

Planning for Paris: Part I

Planning for Paris: Part I

Every year in August my Husband and I take a trip that we call our “Honeymoon” to celebrate another year of marriage. We alternate picking a location and this year was his turn. He chose Paris! I’m the planner so with a trip this big I knew it was best to take a year to not only plan, but prepare for it, and pay for it. We used a travel agent through AAA Travel. I’ve been an AAA member for over 12 years, so this provided access to their travel agency. The membership offers special hotel rates, which is another advantage. The process was easy, I completed an inquiry form that asked our preferred dates, budget, and location. Within 48 hours an agent from one of the local offices contacted us to get more details on our ideal trip. The agent emailed hotel options, and we picked one that was spacious, within walking distance of various landmarks, and in our price range.

Just a few things to note:

Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements, which are administrative districts. Each one is its own unique character with various restaurants, sites, cultures, and attractions.
Most buildings are centuries old, so a lot of them do not have AC or elevators
The sq. footage in hotel rooms are smaller than those in the United States. The average square footage of a hotel room in Paris is 140 sq. ft. compared to those in the U.S. at 300 sq. ft.
August is considered a month of holiday for Parisians, meaning a lot of local shops and restaurants are closed. This played a major role in how we created our itinerary.

We chose Hotel du Louvre in the 1^st arrondissement due to its proximity to attractions such as The Louvre Museum, Tuileries Garden, and the Parfum Museum. From the photos and reviews we knew our hotel was the best option. After selecting our hotel, we paid our deposit and made monthly payments.

Day 1: Arrival

Paris has two major airports Paris-Orly Airport (ORY) and Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). We flew into CDG. On arrival you have the option of using Uber, Taxi, Metro train, or other ground transportation. We booked round trip ground transportation on Viator through PROFI Driver, a local company. After securing our baggage the chauffeur was waiting with signage to retrieve us. Paris is 45 minutes to an hour away from the airport. We arrived at our hotel, and it looked exactly like the photos. Simply stunning. Hotel du Louvre is one of the oldest luxury hotels in Paris, built in 1855. With just a short 3-minute walk to the Musee du Louve and dozens of cafes. The bellman and chauffeur took our luggage out of the van, and we were greeted by the front desk staff “Bienvenue Monsieur et Madame Lenoir”

We checked in; however, our room wasn’t ready. To beat jet lag, we walked around outside. Next door to the hotel was A La Civette the oldest cigar shop in France founded in 1716. Then we had lunch at Le Café Marly, a café near the Louvre Museum. Once seated we raised our glasses of sparkling Rose’ to toast to a wonderful trip. We ordered a beef tartare, a popular French dish, and a club sandwich. A few hours later our hotel suite was ready. A Junior King Suite with a view at 376 sq ft on the top floor with 3 terraces, the view was immaculate. We laid out our clothes for tomorrow’s adventure, showered, ordered room service and at 8:30pm we were sound asleep.

Day 2: Our real first day

We walked to Boulangerie Eric Kayser – Louvre Rivoli, a nearby café for a light breakfast, a croissant and coffee. From that moment I was officially on vacation. I’m not a bread person but the croissant was the best I’ve had, fresh, soft, and buttery.

The Louvre

We booked a time slot for 9:00 AM. The Louvre is the largest museum in the world at over 780,000 sq ft with 35,000 art works. The square footage equates to about 8 miles! We knew we wouldn’t be able to see everything, so we narrowed it down to three wings to visit and whatever else we came across that drew our eyes. We stayed in the museum for 3 hours to provide some perspective.

Monna Lisa

Our first stop in the museum was the famous “Monna Lisa” by Leonardo Da Vinci. The picture is not big, but its detail is undeniable, and it does have the effect on its viewer that her eyes follow you. We visited a few other halls with Baroque type of architecture; I can’t recall the specific name of each but seeing it all will take your breath away.

Couture Hall

9,000 square feet with 65 designs on display along with accessories and special archival pieces. Designs from Jean Paul Gaultier, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, Vivenne Westwood, Coco Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Thierry Mugler, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Givenchy and more.

Ancient Egyptian Art- The Great Sphinx of Tanis

Over 5,000 years’ worth of history with 6,000 works. The rooms displayed, hieroglyphics, Pharaoh Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti, the annual flood of the Nile River and the Mastaba’ tomb of Akhethotep, overlord of the 5^th dynasty, the highest official of the royal court next to King. And the temple room elaborates on the significance of religion and funeral traditions. I’ve never seen anything like this and to be transparent it was overwhelming in a good way. Yes, I’ve seen Egyptian exhibits before however, not on this level. I will connect this further to the Black History highlight in another post in this series.

Dior Museum

The Dior Museum is dedicated to designer Christian Dior. The museum tells the story of his beginning as a gallery owner then becoming one of the world’s top fashion houses. The gallery displays notable quotes from him, original sketches, his passion for flowers that are translated into fragrances, his mentorship of Yves Saint Laurent, and of course couture gowns. I really enjoyed learning more about Dior beyond the design itself. After the museum tour we had a bite at the Dior Café. A cute monogram pistachio cake, and tuna tartare were the perfect snack.

Later that evening we had dinner at the Ralph Lauren restaurant. Yes, very American of us but we wanted to go and visit the Saint Germain neighborhood a few days prior to an up-and-coming tour. For some reason I really wanted to try their hamburger, this is out of the ordinary for me to order for dinner, and hubby ordered a steak and frites and yes, the fries are better in France! No regrets, the food was delicious. After dinner we took Uber to Cubana Café for drinks and a cigar.