Paris!

I went to Vegas last weekend for our Pi Reunion, and it was awesome (yes, MIT kids celebrate being 3.14 years out of school). We stayed at the Paris, where they totally ham it up - faux Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumphe, French accents, boulangeries, smoking ... and amusingly enough, it really got me enthused for going to see the real Paris. I even convinced everyone to go eat at Thomas Keller's Bouchon for a real French meal. The food could have been better, admittedly, though given the rest of our meals I'm thinking it was standard for the Vegas Strip - the more you pay, the better you get...and baseline is expensive. I was happy w/ my 50$ tab, though I know Kristin wasn't too impressed...her gnocchi got a bit redundant being all gnocchi and not enough other, but I was also happy finally getting to try something that had TK's hand in it. Did you know that French Laundry (TK's well known restaurant) gets over 400 reservation calls a day, and even being able to reserve 2 months in advance still doesn't mean you'll get in b/c of the overwhelmed phone system? What a pain! In lieu of that...

I'm going to plan a trip to Paris for my 25th birthday present to myself. This has me bouncing up and down with excitement...my first time in Europe, my first trip w/o the parents, my first admission that France might actually be a worthwhile country. Baby steps, baby steps.

I think it'll be possible to do this for ~1200$/person for the flight/hotel. I'd prefer to hostel it or crash at someone's place, but don't have that many options.

Any ideas/suggestions/places to go/see/stay at? Let me know!!! Friends that won't mind two people crashing in their doorway (I hear space is tight) would also be good, as would good discount travel sites that you know about - I'm only comfortable with Travelocity but am sure there are better ones out there.

***update*** Ok, it's possible I may put this off until Spring Break, for cheaper ticket prices and better (?) weather. Still, any info is good.