Bookings
Intel
🆘 Key info
Paris: Meliá Vendôme, 8 rue Cambon, 1st · Milan: add when booked (Duomo/Brera).
Paris metro from hotel: Concorde (1 · 8 · 12), 4 min. Madeleine (8 · 12 · 14 — Line 14 runs direct to Orly). Milan: M4 from inside Linate.
Taxis: FreeNow app works in both cities; G7 in Paris (+33 1 41 27 66 99); Uber works in both. Never take an unbadged "taxi" at a station.
112 works everywhere in Europe. France: 15 medical, 17 police. Italy: 118 ambulance, 112 carabinieri.
Pharmacy = green cross: farmacia (IT) / pharmacie (FR). Closed ones post the nearest open one on the door.
US Embassy Paris: 2 av. Gabriel — 6 min from the hotel, next to Concorde. +33 1 43 12 22 22. US Consulate Milan: via Principe Amedeo 2/10.
Lost card: call the number on the card's app, not a googled one. Photo of passports in a locked notes app before you fly.
Museum Pass: 4-day — purchased ✓
96h clock starts at the first tap — Versailles Wed ~10:00 — and runs through Saturday (Wed 25 → Sat 28). Covers Versailles, Orsay (Thu), Army + Rodin + Orangerie (Fri), Louvre (Sat): ≈€116 of value per adult vs €105. Kid free everywhere. Still book each museum's free timed slot. Versailles Wed 10:00 is a pass-holder slot ✓ — the first tap.
The two hard drives
Normandy (Tue): train to Bayeux (~2h15) + the Bayeux Shuttle guided tour from the station. No rentals, no driving, and a guide for the kid. Sunset 17:05 — take the earliest train.
Bastogne: cut from the trip (kept in Notes for a future run). Normandy carries the WW2 thread; the Army Museum closes the loop.
Cars & trains
No car anywhere on this trip. Normandy = train + Bayeux Shuttle tour from the station. Book ahead: Paris ↔ Bayeux trains (Tue) + the tour itself.
Transit
Milan: M4 metro from inside Linate to San Babila, 12 min, ~€2.20.
Paris: Navigo Semaine week pass (~€32.40 + €5 card) runs Mon–Sun — your dates fit exactly, and it covers RER C to Versailles and RER A to Disneyland. Line 1 is driverless: the kid rides the front window.
Still to confirm nearer the trip
Bergamo Christmas market 2026 opening date (typically ~Nov 15) · Arromanches 360 winter showtimes · Tuileries market opening date · Louvre gallery closures (check louvre.fr the week before) · Navigo fares pending final approval.
The Bayeux Tapestry is closed until autumn 2027 — no detour.
Notes
🥐 The French Bastards — nearest to the Meliá Vendôme: 64 rue du Bac (7th), ~15-min walk through the Tuileries + Pont Royal. Open 7:30 weekdays / 8:30 weekends. Babka, cookies, croissants. Fits Thanksgiving morning and the Friday walk to the Army Museum. (Also close-ish: 181 rue St-Denis 2nd, 5 rue du Temple 4th.)
🍽 Pierre Sang — go to "In Oberkampf" (55 rue Oberkampf, 11th), the original and most casual of his three spots. Korean-French blind tasting with an open kitchen — the guess-the-dish game is great with a kid. Lunch €19–52, dinner menus €43–52, open daily. Scheduled: dinner Tue Nov 24 after Versailles. Book online at pierresang.com.
⭐ Villa del Balbianello (Star Wars/Naboo) — was part of the Como day, which was dropped for Bergamo. Kept for a future trip: Lenno, Lake Como; FAI season ~mid-March to mid-Nov; the Anakin–Padmé wedding loggia.
🪖 Bastogne — cut from this trip (Oct 7). For a future run: War Museum family pack 2+2 €72 incl. audioguide + Generations45 + Bois Jacques; Mardasson free; ~4h from Paris by car, ~4.5h by rail via Luxembourg.
🦃 Thanksgiving (Thu Nov 26) = duck confit at La Fontaine de Mars, 19:30 — the day itself is deliberately unscheduled.