Well, since you asked…I’ll be happy to tell you.
Since it was a group trip, we had a large bus (coach) that drove us through all that horrific Paris traffic. So I didn’t get to use the Metro all that much. However, I’m not one to just stick with tour, so I went off on the Metro on my own (or with a few others). I found it to be a rather nifty and well thought out system once I got the hang of it. It was really just a question of figuring out how the lines intersected. After a few rides and quite a few minutes staring at the map, it seems to make quite good sense.
We stayed way out in the 17e arrondisement at an Ibis hotel (kind of toward the Brochant Metro stop). People at various sites (tripadvisor.com) seemed to think it was seedy, but I thought it was a pretty cool cultural mishmash of a neighborhood. Should Paris get the Summer Olympics for 2012, the Olympic Village is going to be right there. So somebody other than me thinks the area has something going for it. The hotel rooms, as I was forewarned, were very very small. I’d been to Spain last year, so I knew that European rooms were smaller, but I didn’t expect anything quite that small. There were a few times that I could have used a chair in the room, but no big whoop. Didn’t spend that much time in the room anyhow.
This is evidence of my super-geekdom, but the Pantheon was the most impressive thing for me. I just think the idea of a secular tomb for all “worthy” people of the nation is a really good idea. It pays proper tribute to people other than the aristocracy and the generals.
I’d have to say for the “most fun” it was a dead heat between the Latin Quarter and Montmartre. Just hanging out with some good friends and some new friends, drinking some beer and watching the world. And how uncoordinated tight-hipped ol’ me ended up in a salsa bar in the Latin Quarter, I’ll never know.
As far as the most overrated, I’d have to say Versailles. Impressive, yes, but maybe oppressive is a better word. The palace was really more infuriating than anything. After seeing that monument to greed, I don’t see how anyone could not want heads to roll at the Place de la Concorde. I really surprised that the hammers and the torches weren’t but to the palace during the Revolution. So it’s worth seeing for it’s historical value, but vastly overrated for “coolness.”
But so many other things were so terrific. The Louvre (which, if I were king, would have sufficed as a palace 
), the Pompidou, the Museum of the Army, Eiffel Tower, and on and on. But more than anything, the food impressed me greatly. Nothing quite like the crepe of your choice being made right in front of you. I don’t think I even need to comment on how good the breads and pastries were. Words would fail to describe them anyhow. I was surprised (as I was in Spain) that it’s pretty much cheaper to drink beer and/or wine than soft drinks.
Anyhow, I could go on, but I think I’m just prattling at this point. So apologies for the long post…but you asked for it. 
