Let's say you're in Paris from 10am to 5pm. What do you do?

Kill rats.

Double decker bus tour. And get a banana Nutella crepe near the Eiffel Tower.

Save your 100 euro in cab fares from CDG and take a nap

We did it in 10 hours a few years ago.
1) arrive at 9 am. Metro to station we'll be departing from later. lock up luggage
2) metro to Notre Dame
3) walk a long ass way to Louvre (buy tickets at a tobacco shop in the mall underneath and avoid the line
4) walk through park outside Louvre
6) metro to Arc de Triomphe
5) metro to Eiffel Tower (note: sooooo many aggressive vendors)
6) city bus ride all the way through town to Pere LeChaise cemetery
7) metro to Sacre Coeur (food from a street vendor)
8) metro to station to get luggage. Train to Germany departing at 7pm

Rick Steves' has a great Louvre podcast walking tour that is just the highlights. I think we did it in 90 min or so and you see all the most famous stuff.

Eiffel Tower is the big ticket item. Buy tickets ahead of time to skip the line. Then metro to Notre Dame, those would be the big highlights and could be done in 7 hours. I wouldn't walk into any museum with only 7 hours. Paris is a great city, one could easily spend a week there. CDG isn't that close to the city center, so be careful.

If the weather is nice head straight to Aggie owned Fat Tire bike tours. You will see all the major sites and get a good feel for the city in a few hours. Then sit in a sidewalk cafe. That's it.

prolly a segway tour of some sort

Potcake said:

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Cheat on your wife?








Again

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Ummmm. Did I miss something crazy here?

You must have missed where I owned up to the troll

Aww shucks! I sure did!!!

Walking along the Seine is a great way to spend an afternoon!

Here's the Bourdain Layover video in Paris:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2x9oms

What everyone said is pretty much spot on. If you have enough lead time and really want to get up the Eiffel tower, try to book a reservation on their official website. I think you may need a good month of lead time, but still really cool and keeps you from having to stand in the crazy lines.

Or, if you want a view of Paris from a high vantage point without the aggressive sellers, massive crowds, and really long lines, go over to the Tour Montparnasse.