April in Paris! » Tuscany Tours - Gateway to Tours & Travels in the World of City

April 12 to April 19, 2012

April in Paris! explores the City of Light’s world-famous attractions in the realms of culture, cuisine, and entertainment. In between champagne river cruises, museum visits, and a potpourri of other adventures, our home base in Paris will be the exquisite Le Dokhans Radisson hotel, located in the Trocadero district just steps away from the Eiffel Tower.

As the week unfolds we will also meander over to Paris’ neighboring regions to see Monet’s gardens, visit the Cathedral of Chartres, stop at Mary Magdalen’s tomb, and enjoy Burgundy’s wines-(but not all in the same day!).

After getting acquainted over champagne at our hotel, we’ll head off to visit the Eiffel Tower and get an eagle-eye perspective on Paris from the tower’s panoramic viewing deck. Then it’s on to our first dinner together at Ladurée, a landmark restaurant on the fashionable Champs Élysées.

Our days in Paris will include visits to its two most famous museums, the Louvre and the Musée D’Orsay, as well as to a lesser known wonder, the Musée Jacquemart-André which we especially enjoy. It’s the former showcase residence of an aristocratic 19th century couple who married neither for love nor for money, but to share their passion for collecting art–much of it from Italy! The collection that they bequeathed to the city of Paris after their deaths is the monument which they spent their lives creating.

Needless to say, we promise that our museum visits will never be thorough! Focus on the best and skip the rest–that’s our motto…

Our Paris days will include an evening of frolic at the inimitable Moulin Rouge, a champagne cruise along the Seine, and even a daytrip (with an optional bike ride) to Monet’s retreat at Giverny. Seeing the gardens and ponds that Monet himself landscaped and designed…and then immortalized in his paintings…is not easily forgotten. The planting of the flower gardens is still maintained throughout the seasons precisely as Monet specified 150 years ago. The intensity and variety of color in the flower displays is itself a work of art.

Later in the week we’ll enjoy a guided walking tour of the intriguing Marais District that will be led by our friends and colleagues, David Downie and Alison Harris. David is the acclaimed author of Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light, with photographs by Alison. As a writer/photographer team, David and Alison have also produced several superb guidebooks to regional cuisines…including one that will especially benefit us on this trip: Food, Wine, Burgundy. The book is wonderful, but having the authors with us is even better!

David and Alison will be arranging a pre-dinner tasting of various Burgundy wines, matched with a variety of Burgundy cheeses. Suffice it to say that several of the pairings they arranged for last year’s tasting gave new meaning to the expression, “marriage made in heaven”. All this will serve as a prelude to this evening’s Burgundy-themed dinner entrée, Boeuf Bourguignon (i.e., beef in the Burgundy style). We will drink a toast to Julia Childs while we’re at it!

On the following day, David and Alison will join us as we head south-east out of Paris to explore the adjacent wine-producing region of Burgundy. Our day will include a visit to the medieval town of Auxerre and the town of Chablis where we’ll enjoy lunch along with tastings of a local vintage based on the Chardonnay grape, known as…no surprise…Chablis. While we’re in the neighborhood, we’ll make a special stop in the tiny village of Vézelay at the Benedictine abbey church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine where tradition has it that Mary Magdalen is buried. Slightly drunk and greatly blessed, we’ll then make our way back to Paris.

We’ll end our week with a visit to the town of Chartres, just outside Paris, which hosts one of the world’s most magnificent cathedrals complete with flying buttresses, vivid stained glass windows, and, even, a labyrinth. The town of Chartres provides a delightfully frivolous contrast to the sober church, and it offers some great opportunities for last-minute shopping for the loved ones on your list.

Later in the afternoon, we’ll head back to our hotel to relax for a couple of hours and gather our forces for our last night’s farewell-to-Paris dinner!

And then, alas, it will be time to bid a teary farewell to the monuments of Paris-and to one another-until we meet again…

Come join us on our April adventure-we hope to see you in Paris! Click here to Register!

Tour Specifics:

Dates: April 12, 2012 to April 19, 2012

Cost: The land cost of the tour is $4248 USD per person, based on double occupancy. Cash discount cost is $4125 per person for payment by check or wire transfer. Airfare is not included. You may make your registration deposit using PayPal and/or your credit card and still be eligible for the cash discount cost if your final balance is paid by check or wire transfer. Single rooms are available for a supplementary charge of $795.

Accommodations: 7 nights lodging in an elegant, historic Parisian hotel. All rooms have in-suite baths. As always, we look for superior properties with ambiance and style, along with cordial, helpful staffs.

Meals: All breakfasts, one full-course meal daily, additional meals as scheduled. All meals…after breakfast!…include regional wines. We carefully choose the restaurants based on ambiance and quality of cuisine.

Wine Tastings: Scheduled tastings of various French wines (including small local producers and famous well known producers).

Transport: Within Paris itself we will use the Metro for daily excursions, supplemented by mini-buses for occasional late evening transfers. Transfers outside of Paris will be on comfortable, air-conditioned buses.

Admissions: Entrance fees for all planned visits to monuments, galleries and museums are included.

Small, Intimate Group: We will be limiting the number of participants to a maximum of 16.

Early Arrival/ Late Stay Options: Depending on hotel availability you may be able to arrive early or stay after the end of the tour. We’ll be happy to help you make these arrangements.

Arrival and Departure: The tour will begin at our hotel in Paris at 5pm on the first day and ends after breakfast on the 19th. If you require transfer services upon arrival or after the tour, transfers can be arranged through our travel partners for an additional fee. We would also be happy to book extra nights for you at the beginning or at the end of the tour.