Go Parisian in 3 Hours or Less

by Denise Furneaux
(Seattle, WA USA)

In April 2008, my best friend Kaye and I went to Paris. We met freshman year in college (1972) and took French together. We promised we’d go to Paris "sometime", and all these years later we did. The only problem is that we are both "still there" even though our human molecules are back in their places in Portland and Seattle.

Steve and Daniel of Paris Walking Tours are responsible for launching what can only be described as the perfect vacation. For 11 days, we became part of the fabric of Paris as easily as breathing.

Daniel was our first contact - very funny by email (I’ve never met him, but he likely has a face for radio). Daniel set up our first tour - an evening at the Louvre. By the time we arrived in Paris, we had also booked an Introduction to Paris tour and two day-trips to Versailles/Giverny and the Champagne country with them.

Steve came to our hotel and collected us for our Introduction Tour - 3 hours - picked up week-long metro passes and museum passes. In case you don’t know, the museum passes get you in a special door so you don’t have to fight the mobs of tourists. Steve shows you the special doors. He gave us so much insight into the workings of Paris that by day 2, we were helping tourists out on our own and could find our way by Metro back to our hotel from anywhere.

The tours were informative, interactive in historical discussions and lively. In short, Steve was a terrific companion. We liked him so much that we took him out for lunch afterwards (OK, that’s what we told him, we actually did it to get free information!)

If you’ve been to Paris many times, or never, this company can offer you something that all the money in the world can’t buy - a street level, gut level, personal view of Paris - it was truly priceless. I should know, I’m still there.