On the road. Point to point, no layovers, no weather, gotta happen, right. 
Before we get into the photos and fun stuff here is some potentially useful information:
Booking and planning consideration.
I realize this tour can change, so I will attempt to keep this relatively short. (figure the odds 
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Considerable research and thought is needed before even booking this tour, unless your availability is limited, you are a traveler who doesn’t book pre- and post-stays, you are only interested in the published itinerary, and you don’t add your own additional on-tour activities. If you want to maximize your time and what you see, you’ll need to plan, and do it early
When to go considerations:
Weather: As with any tour, weather is always a consideration. Due to the effects of the nearby Atlantic Ocean and the English Channel, northwestern France can be cool and wet in the Spring and on into Summer. Annually, there are 161 sunny days in Paris and 155 or more precipitation days, the rest are overcast. Paris has an average annual precipitation of 25” and experiences light rainfall distributed evenly throughout the year, however, the city is known for intermittent, abrupt, heavy showers. WeatherSpark.com is a good source for historical weather trends.
Crowds: Crowds, like weather, are always a consideration and both are typically in conflict. The busiest months are May to September, with July being the busiest followed closely by June and August.
Schools/students: Unless you have researched French holidays, you may not know that in addition to an eight week summer holiday, schools in France have a two week spring holiday in April/May. The Ministry of National Education sets the dates for each of the three zones. The zone holidays overlap. French students and those from the EU get free admission to most museums and cultural sites. In many cases however, they are still required to have (timed-entry) tickets, but they still take up spots.
What departure and what will be open, when I’m there?: A new, classic or small group tour, typically starts every 2 - 4 days, so the days of the week tours start and venues are visited can differ from departure to departure. Why does this matter? Most museums and cultural sites, especially in Versailles and Paris, are not open 7 days a week and closures are not consistent among them:
e.g. at Versailles. The Palace and the estate of Trianon are closed on Mondays, the Gallery of Coaches is only open on Saturday and Sunday during the summer period, the Musical Fountains show is only on weekends, the Musical Gardens only run from Tuesday to Friday, and the Fountains Night Show is every Saturday night, plus Friday July 14th and Tuesday August 15th. Got all that?!?! So, when is the best time to visit Versailles??? If the venues are important to you, do your research, decide if a pre-stay is needed, then decide which departure will allow you to visit your preferred venues.
e.g. Paris. An after-hours visit to the Louvre is only scheduled for select departures. Tauck typically doesn’t know for certain which ones they will be until early in the year which I assume is why it is not mentioned nor listed in the website itinerary! Each time I called Tauck I was given a different answer- eventually we learned our departure does not visit the Louvre.
A few notable Paris closings: Musée Rodin, Musée d'Orsay, Musée Carnavalet, Petit Palais, etc. are closed on Mondays. The Louvre, Musée de l'Orangerie, and Pompidou Centre, etc. are closed on Tuesdays. The Arc de Triomphe, Conciergerie, Panthéon, Halle Saint-Pierre, Sainte Chapelle are closed on weekends:
For a complete list of weekly closings for cultural sites in Paris follow this link to the Paris Tourist Office Official Website: https://en.parisinfo.com/what-to-see-in-paris/info/guides/weekly-closing-days-of-cultural-sites-in-Paris#1
Also, a number of venues have free admission on the first Sunday of the month and on some French holidays- rather than an opportunity to save money, it should be viewed as an opportunity to navigate larger crowds!
Buying Tickets. You can purchase tickets to museums and other venues via their online websites or, in many cases, the Centre Des Monuments Nationaux. Timing varies as to when tickets go on sale- some can be purchased as early as 60 days prior, some only 30 days prior. Some venues release a full month’s worth of dates at one time. The Eiffel Tower, which is open seven days a week, deserves special mention. As I discovered, tickets are released day-by- day, EXACTLY 30 days in advance, starting at 10:45 pm EST. Despite tracking it closely and “sniping” (old E-bay term) to get on the site at the exact moment tickets went on sale for our desired date, I was unable to get tickets for 3:00 pm and felt lucky to get them for 3:30 pm. All half hour time slots for “Lift to the Top” tickets for our desired day sold out in less than an hour. You can also purchase many tickets through third party vendors like Viator, but they may cost significantly more and/or you might be required to pay for a package that could include activities or places that don’t interest you.
So, again, the bottom line, do your research early before selecting a tour date and purchase tickets as early as possible for places you want to visit that are not included in the Tauck itinerary.
I will update this thread with photos and a review over the next 13 days.
