Review: Luxury France Family Vacation, Paris, Normandy, Champagne Region, Omaha Beach, Orsay Museum, Louvre, Eiffel Tower

My favorite part was the "Paris Charms and Secrets" electric bike tour of the city.  The bikes were great fun both for middle-aged me and for my college and high school aged son and daughter.  Our guide was a hoot who knew so much history and had a knack for storytelling.  He had an unbelievably interesting story about the paintings in a cathedral - I still hope he gets around to writing a novel, as it will be as good as the DaVinci Code! My son loved it so much that later in the trip he insisted on going back to a number of the sites we had seen to show his brother, who missed the bike trip due to a stomach bug.  We all also loved the day trip to the Champagne region and the day trip to Normandy, both of which were led by personable and very knowledgeable guides.  The Champagne trip included a stop at a family-owned winery where we were treated to lunch with the owner, including a lot of delicious champagne.  The Normandy trip included a heartbreaking tour of Omaha Beach and surrounding areas and the American cemetery.  Our guide knew a lot of history and was able to get us into the interesting battle sites early so that we saw them before the very large tour buses pulled in.  We had some flexible time in the afternoon and chose to have a lovely lunch at a restaurant specializing in the foods, especially cheeses and cider, of the area, and to visit Bayeux and see the 1000 year old tapestry there - definitely worth a visit.  The Orsay was the best museum we saw.  Having lunch in their dining hall, which looks like Versailles, was such a treat - the best food we had during our stay and a lovely, peaceful hour.

I also should mention a great Eiffel Tower tour - we saw the underground bunker where the military sent messages during the war, went up to the middle level and toured, and then climbed up to the roof, which gave a spectacular and very un-crowded view of Paris - not one was up there other than our small group.  We loved it!