hi s'rene, thanks for your tips. hope ur fiance will be fine soon.
hi piyo & berry egg,
I personally don't find them snobbish at all just that their English still not very good hee. personally i have met many friendly French.
LV is about 20-25% cheaper. Other European brands, esp French brands, are cheaper there too due to tax refund. Some common brands to buy from are LV, long champ, ferragamo, gucci, agnes b etc. All the prices are standardise so all the shops sell at the same price. rest assured that it is cheaper than online.
to get tax refund, each purchase must be >175euros. You will need to stamp the tax refund form at the airport AFTER you get your boarding pass. The custom has the right to ask u to show them the items u bought so remember must hand-carry.
http://www.globalrefund.com/default.asp?viewFolderId=2061&viewDocumentId=4426
I have never been to factory outlet in Paris as it is not really a popular thing unlike in US. my colleagues who stayed in Paris nvr recommend us to go there. for local market, i've been to a few but nothing much to buy. for sightseeing still ok la.
it is pretty easy to get around. the metro system is very convenient and quite easily understandable. most people can speak a little bit of English. But I think it is important to learn some basic phrase like "Bonjour (good day)", "merci (thanks)" etc. some restaurant don't have English menu so be careful when you order.bring along a small travel guide book with useful phrase should suffice.
The disneyland in France is ok just that everything is in French, just like in Japan disneyland everything is in Japanese.
Places of interest: Seine river cruise, Latin quarter, Montmarte (with a nice cathedral-Sacre Coeur and an artist market and can get a panaromic view), Versaille, Opera (there are several large departmental stores nearby), Champs Elysées (Paris's orchard road with all the branded stores), Arch of Triumph, Luxembourg Garden. day tour from Paris to nearby places like Champagne, Giverny, Fountainebleau etc.
There so many things to share but don't want to flood this forum. If there's anything else you like to know can PM me
Especially on shopping, details on place of interest, how to get around and communicate with the locals.