Berthillion? Does it come with a Keebler elf cookie on top? You know, because it sounds Elvish. Like, Tolkien. OK I’ll stop now.
Have a fun time 
Yeah, I suppose it could take that long. Hopefully customs won’t take more than half an hour . . .
We’ve already seen most of the sights of Paris - The Eiffel Tower is great, but I don’t think that after a 12 hour flight we’ll be in the mood to brave the tourist hordes. 
For a leisurely afternoon, there’s always the straight-line walk from the Louvre, through the Tuileries Gardens, and along the Champs d’Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe. It’s touristy, but lots to see and do along the way.
As far as museums are concerned, my favorites are the d’Orsay, the Rodin, and the Picasso.
We’re used to them, since every summer we have to fly to Ireland to see my boyfriend’s folks. I thought about just chilling at the airport but from what I’ve heard, CDG is a horrorshow of an airport.
Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I think we’re either going to stroll along the Canal St Martin or hang out on the Île St Louis (I hope the weather is nice).
I’d suggest the Musée national du Moyen Age (Musée de Cluny).
But I also agree with beartato. I think you’re vastly overestimating the amount of time you’ll have to wander around Paris. Given your flight times, and allowing for collecting baggage, clearing customs, travelling from CDG into the city, travelling out from the city to Orly at peak hour on a weeknight, and the likely delays you’ll find there with the summer, high-season length queues for check-in and security, I doubt you’ll have more than two hours on the ground in Paris itself.
The Musée de Cluny has the awesomest expo on right now about swords. I love that place - always recommend it to people as it’s a nice short visit.
Anyway H-nut, I hope I didn’t come across as a pessimist, I’ve just had too many experiences with train delays and cancellations and so on in Paris; just last month I went to meet friends at the airport. Got to the RER station to find… All the trains to the airport were cancelled. No warning. The only option was to take the train along to the fork where it should have been going to the airport, run up and try to get a cab, and hope my jetlagged, tired friends wouldn’t respond too negatively to “so… How does everyone feel about a 70 euro cab ride back to the city?” when I greeted them at the terminal. I’m sure none of this will happen to you, and of course it can happen anywhere, but it’s just no fun.
wine tasting is said to cure jet lag, but i can’t feel.
Yikes. Yeah, unfortunately we’re used to dealing with the unexpected while traveling. If we’re lucky we’ll have a few hours to chill in the city but if not, then . . . c’est la vie. I’m hoping that the worst of the peak season won’t have quite hit yet (I know it’s usually worst in July/August, and we’re flying in mid-June).
With that little time on my hands I’d go to Stolly’s and have a Bloody Mary or a Caipirinha.
Wanted to wake this thread up before it become a zombie. What do you all think for a 7.5 hour layover, arriving at and departing CDG? It’ll be next Saturday, arriving at 6:30 or so in the morning.
I understand I’ll have to pass through customs, but do I have to reclaim my checked bag if I have one? Usually I’d expect it to be routed through to DTW, and of course the airline would remove it if I didn’t make the connecting flight.
So I figure 7.00 am at the gate, 8 am clear of customs without my bag, 9 am downtown via the RER-B (credit cards? Or do I have to convert my leftover rand into Euro?), a couple of hours in the Louvre (still not been there other than the basement), back at the airport around noon, through security, and catch my 1:30 pm or so flight?
If I have to clear customs with checked luggage, then I’ll consider just staying in the business lounge the whole morning.
If it were just me, I’d hang at one of the parcs (Monceau, Luxembourg) or in the place in front of the Louvre (by the pyramid).
But if I were with someone like an interested party, like a date, even a spousal-date, I’d take them to Pigalle and see a donkey show. J/K. It’s a horrible place to go, and I used to live there.
Can you find someone to care for your bags? Maybe a reputable hotel would do it for a fee. Don’t need a backpack or a suitcase for Paris.
Actually, if I had only 4 hours, I’d go to the Arenes de Lutece, after grabbing the best Greek sandwich in the city (about three blocks away), and have fun chatting with my partner and discussing where to go next.
I don’t know about the checked bags. You can probably just rather stay at CDG – you can get some beer, some sandwiches, have a smoke, watch the servicemen and the hobos and laugh at the bemused tourists.
I’ve got two 2.5 hour layovers in CDG next week so I’ll probably just find a nice airport bar and spend some leftover Euros from my last trip.
My outbound trip is through Atlanta, and so that’s what I plan to do, except they’ll be dollars, and won’t exactly be leftover.
In my case, it’s a solo business trip, and I’ve not seen a donkey show in ages, so maybe that is a good way to spend some time in Paris!
No idea what you have to do with checked bags these days for security - I’d assume they’ll be checked through, but ask your airline.
You can buy RER tickets with a credit card, so no worries there. But, the queues to get in the Louvre are huge - I think you’ll have difficulty just nipping in, having a look round, then getting back on the RER in an hour and a half.
I’m also not sure CDG has a business lounge (I was there the other week - it doesn’t look like it’s got much of anything - a grotty, grim place to have to spend time) but it does have wifi access, so it maybe won’t matter that much?
With a couple of hours in Paris, I’d find somewhere to have lunch, and that will be more or less your time up, I think!
This is what I’d suggest. The atmosphere of the city is more important than its sights. Get into a side street, buy a croissant, sit at a cafe and eat a croque monsieur, have a beer and a coffee, and watch the world go by.
If you absolutely insisted on seeing something, I’d recommend the Pere Lachaise cemetery which is unusual, free and quick to get around. And there are some nice cafes near the entrance.
We have a friend who used to bartend/live in St Martin, but moved back to Paris last year. I would research his address ahead of time and stop by unannounced to say hi. It would absolutely freak him out, in a good way.
In any case, Amex was able to change my return trip to go via Atlanta again, which got me home eight hours earlier.
What I would do is get a haircut. I say this because I know a lot of women who have gone to Paris and returned with the best-looking haircuts I have ever seen, and they thought so, too. Let’s just say that their hair, which didn’t look bad to begin with, suddenly looked amazingly marvelous.
Four hours is plenty of time for a haircut. Then go run through the Louvre.