Help me pick where to celebrate 30th birthday

[kittymamma]

Paris and surrounding area is so beautiful and interesting that I would spend every minute there. On our first trip there, we took the TGV from Paris to Tours, rented a car and drove around the Loire Valley, spent a few nights in Amboise , returned the car and took the train back to Paris ( you do not want to drive in Paris !!! ) It is sensory overload and no way to do and see everything...like on a 7 night cruise. Wish I had discovered France in my youth because I would have wanted to spend a month or so there absorbing all it has to offer. Before our first trip , I also went to a local college and took a 6 week night course in conversational French which helped tremendously. Contrary to what you hear, the French people are warm and gracious provided you make some effort to realize you are in their homeland.

 

[FSU Girl]

Paris and surrounding area is so beautiful and interesting that I would spend every minute there. On our first trip there, we took the TGV from Paris to Tours, rented a car and drove around the Loire Valley, spent a few nights in Amboise , returned the car and took the train back to Paris ( you do not want to drive in Paris !!! ) It is sensory overload and no way to do and see everything...like on a 7 night cruise. Wish I had discovered France in my youth because I would have wanted to spend a month or so there absorbing all it has to offer. Before our first trip , I also went to a local college and took a 6 week night course in conversational French which helped tremendously. Contrary to what you hear, the French people are warm and gracious provided you make some effort to realize you are in their homeland.

That sounds absolutely amazing. There is so much I want to see and do in Paris, maybe I should take London out of the trip

 

[meliscan]

I'm actually afraid of flying lol so I try to keep the number of flights to a minimum. Would you recommend just doing Paris and not including London in the trip

You can totally do both. You won't see everything but with a week you are going to probably hit the highlights anyway. The train is amazing and my preferred method but it can be more expensive than flying between Paris and London. I loved riding the train. Seriously I don't know why the chunnel made me so giddy.