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Utee spent a lot of time in France, so he knows it better than most.  Nince days is tough though, the first day for me is jet lag city.  I THINK Paris has to be the focal point for a new person going to Europe, if that is the case.  Here is my itinerary, geared more for me:

3 days in Paris  

Drive to Bayeux for 2 nights.

Drive south to Mont St. Michel, stay one night in the town.

Now it's tough, maybe I'd make my way back up the Loire Valley, staying in Saumur maybe, seeing castles and wine places.  Orlean?  

Last night in Paris, probably at CDG.

The problem is missing Provence obviously.  And Burgundy.  And the Alps.  And Bordeaux.  

we did one driving trip from Paris going the other direction, including Strasbourg up into Luxembourg then Brussels, that worked too.

We've spent time in Civitavecchia before and after cruises. Very cool city, about 45 minutes from Rome via train.

Thanks all for the insights.  The city I was already thinking of, is Rome.  And potentially a sidetrip to Firenze although that's probably less exciting for the kids than it is for me.

Sienna is also cool. You can spend about a 1/2 day there and then on the walk back to the train you can hit up a local cabbie to show you around Tuscany for the other half. That was very cool and it only cost me $25.

So much to see in those places.

Some advice for you:

Context Travel: Private Walking Tours with Expert Guides

Use this company for tours in Rome. We did the Coliseum, Palatine Hill and the Vatican with them. Not cheap, but very much worth it to not have to wait in lines for hours.

We also used them in Florence.

Thanks all for the insights.  The city I was already thinking of, is Rome.  And potentially a sidetrip to Firenze although that's probably less exciting for the kids than it is for me.

We stayed a couple nights in the Cinque Terre, and it was really cool. It's coastal, and the seafood is outstanding. 

We were there in late March, when the place was pretty close to shut down. Which we loved. If you're talking about July/August, it might be too crowded (and I suspect that's when the pickpockets are a bigger problem). But if you can avoid the really busy season, it's cool. 

We stayed a couple nights in the Cinque Terre, and it was really cool. It's coastal, and the seafood is outstanding.

We were there in late March, when the place was pretty close to shut down. Which we loved. If you're talking about July/August, it might be too crowded (and I suspect that's when the pickpockets are a bigger problem). But if you can avoid the really busy season, it's cool.

Yeah we've been to Cinque Terre, I love it.  But it's a bit too much time to get there and back from Rome.  So we're going to need to keep it a bit more focused.

Firenze on the other hand is just a 90 minute ride on the fast trains!

Yup, we took the slow trains from Florence to the Cinque Terre.  Took at least a half a day.  It was okay though, we'd gone to the Florence market that morning and grabbed some bread, wine, and cheese, and feasted on the train whilst enjoying the Italian countryside.

We did take the fast train from Milan to Florence before that, though.

did you tell them CD is a close personal friend?