[Christien]

We went to France for my 30th birthday. We split the trip in two, one week in Paris, one week in Brittany. Don't rent a car while in Paris - all the usual problems of a large, old European city - traffic and parking. Besides, you experience way more of the city on foot an on the metro. Paris is probably the most fascinating and wonderful city I've ever been to. But there's much more to the country than that. Our week in the rural areas are where most of our best memories of the trip came from. Yes, English will be much less common outside Paris, but that's half the fun.