There is no bad time to visit Paris, but we like it in the winter. My 13-year-old son, Joe, and I have gone to Paris, and once to London, every February for 5 years, now. We don't go for long, just 4-5 days over a school holiday so he doesn't miss more than maybe one day of classes. Joe gets the assignments from his teachers in advance and does them on the plane. We arrive guilt free and early, around 7 in the morning. Getting from the airport into town can be expensive; especially by taxi, but there are other ways. One way to get to and from the airport is via PariShuttle. They are dependable, promise to make no more than 3 stops, and are a lot cheaper than a cab.

If you have taken the overnight flight, you will have the whole day ahead of you, but you will be tired, so you might want to plan on a nap as the first order of business.

In the winter, the weather can be a factor and you may need a little luck but we have never been unable to do what we expected. Computer weather pages like The Weather Underground helped us know what to expect and seem fairly accurate.

Now for the good stuff.

In winter, Paris seems to turn back to the days of old black and white photographs of bare trees, open spaces, people in long dark overcoats and steaming glass-enclosed cafes. It can be surreal.

Our favorite walks are the Luxembourg Gardens where there is a wonderful, warm spot for tea or a sandwich called Le Buvette des Marionnettes (this is pretty much the only place I saw open in the Gardens in winter), the Tuileries, the Montparnasse Cemetery, all punctuated by stops at La Maison du Chocolat for the most mind-boggling cup of hot chocolate ever, bar none, no question.

We stayed at the Relais Bosquet Hotel in the 7^th and around the corner from rue Cler. If you visit one street in Paris, make it rue Cler, a microcosm of French street shops and life. The hotel, however, is very quiet with large rooms and baths and loves to see you in the winter. Very nice people are on hand and there are several fine bakeries near-by for breakfast if you choose not to have theirs.

Another fine spot to stay at is the Hôtel Henri IV Rive Gauche. This one has a small kitchenette in some of the rooms and is on a cul-de-sac and, therefore, very, very quiet.

In winter, there are few lines for the museums. We have just walked into the Musée d'Orsay as well as into the amazing Musée Marmottan. It contains or so they say the world's largest and most important collection of paintings by Claude Monet, notably the famous "Impression Soleil Levant", and also many paintings of his friends: Boudin, Gauguin, Morisot, Renoir, Pissarro and Sisley.

On the corner of the Place de la Concorde and the Tuilerie Gardens lies the Jeu de Paumes Museum. This easy to miss building used to house the Impressionist collection now on display at the Musée d'Orsay mostly in storage due to the lack of space. Now there are special exhibitions of more modern and contemporary art.

What else do we like? For lunch, LO Sushi on rue de Berri just off the Champs Élysées:

Address: 8, rue de Berri Paris 75008
Specialty: Japanese / Sushi
Phone: +33 1 45 62 01 00
District: 8^th
Metro: George V, Franklin D. Roosevelt

A great long bar with comfortable stools and a conveyor belt that carries small plates of different, inspired things along. Pick what you want and the bill is totaled by the number (and color) of the plates you have chosen.

It should go without saying that all of the normal things hold even more charm in the winter due to the lack of tourists. By this I mean the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, you know, the usual.

I hope this might add a little to your trip as I encourage you to try out the fares and availability of winter travel in Europe.

Bon Voyage et Bon Courage.

Recent Trip

I have returned from another winter's tale in France. On the Paris leg we discovered a couple of different extremes in afternoon delights.

Strange as it may seem, a great, happening place for lunch or dinner is the catwalk cafe inside the Renault Showroom on the Champs ElysÈe. Not cheap, nothing is anymore, but excellent food and you get to see perfectly maintained examples of vintage Renault automobiles. The cars change from time to time but they are all stunning in their timeless artfulness. This is absolutely worth a trip even without the meal.

Another place we spent some time in was Les Jardins des Plantes. Although we just walked around and enjoyed the stark beauty of the place in February, there is a zoo (6.00 € entry fee), a small maze, an astonishing array of plants, trees and flowers just waiting to burst out in warmer weather.

We spent 2 days in Normandy as part of this trip and ended up in Paris. Normandy is another story and one that deserves to be told. A 2.5-hour drive from Paris, the beauty, history and friendliness of the area is a reminder of the quiet civility that people can achieve.

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