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Old 01-24-2019, 09:23 AM
PennBF PennBF is offline
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Smile Worked in Paris

I was fortunate to work in Paris (LeDefence area) for a couple of years and would suggest a few things. 1.)go to Barnes and Nobel and buy a book on Paris and study its sites, transportation (e.g. Metro system), Restaurants, currency, etc. When you arrive you should be able ot know all about the city as though you had lived there. 2.) Do not use expensive taxi's as Metro system is great.3.) a good way to prepare for for the city is to take an American Express 1/2 day tour, sit in the front and mark on a city map the places you want to go back to,4.)If you elect to drive in the city which is not that hard remember the 3 rules of driving in Europe which we don't do in the US..(1) Don't look back and remember the driver, regardless where you are.. on the right always has the right away, (2) Don't drive in the passing lane unless you are passing someone, (3) signal when changing lanes.
I have driven into Paris on Sunday night and around the Arch and it was packed but remembered the "driver on the right always has the right way and it is like a dance where every one jus keeps moving to the right as they turn off the side streets, etc. If you intend to walk from site to site, you may want to mark the sites on a city map and identify the distances between sites with a ruler, etc and you will see that in some it is too long a distance thus the need to understand the Metro system. They really don't have violent crime at the level of the US but they have an abundance of "Pickpockets" so take the appropriate precautions to protect your money. Always count your change on the Metro as they do make mistakes..These are just some observations that may help. As far as a cruise is concerned I would be more interested in which ship to take since some of them are terrible and some really good. GOOD LUCK AND CONGRATULATIONS.