Traveling with Kids - Paris |
Here are a few things our children particularly enjoyed while in Paris, as well as a few tips about what kind of food they enjoyed, and some great ideas to make the trip more educational and kid-proof. |
Their favorites - buying Metro or train tickets from the machine dispensers. Automatic dispensers take coins or even credit cards. They liked getting money out of the ATM (or Bankomats) also. French francs were easy for them to convert into American dollars by dividing by 6. (I think it's closer to 7 now) They liked the whole Metro thing: watching their tickets get pulled in and spit out the other end, it was a race to get through the gate, especially with backpacks on. They liked to figure out the route to our destination and helped to plan which stops to change trains or get off. |
We ate mostly at brasseries and cafe's. If they had "croque monsiers" (a french grilled cheese sandwich) and "croque madames" (similiar but with eggs) on the menu, we went in. We found the kids most often liked the omelettes, frites (french fries - of course), and crepes. We also had to video the art of crepe making in the little crepe booths on street corners. We decided crepes with Nutella were our favorite. The kids also loved the ones with ham and cheese. For breakfast we fixed hot chocolate in our little tea pot, and enjoyed fresh "Pain au chocolat", croissants and brioches. The boulangerie across the street from our hotel also sold different kinds of sandwiches. We usually bought a few with our breakfast, and then shared them in a park later on for lunch. Their favorite favorite ice cream treats were the "Winner tacos" and "Magnum's (vanilla ice cream covered with chocolate on a stick), that you can buy in just about any little shop. We also discovered the grocery area in the "Monoprix" stores (kind of like a mini Wal-Mart). We bought yogurt, fruit and an assortment of european cookies to have as snacks during the day. |
They loved people's pets - especially the beautiful dogs. We have snapshots of many of the Parisian dogs. At one restaurant there was a huge dog behind the bar, he kept putting his head and paws up on the bar, looking right at the people's food who were seated at the bar, but he always just observed. We then referred to that restaurant as the one with the dog bar tender. |
At least our children enjoyed these things - |
What to eat? |
We did a river cruise on the Seine, but to my surprise the kids thought it was too boring. Their favorite sights were the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame (we visited on a Sunday, when mass was being held, the kids commented that the services added to the atmosphere), and Sacre Coeur. They were in awe of the view of Paris at night from Sacre Coeur. They also liked riding the funicular up, and walking down the steps on the way back. Another day, we wandered along the banks of the Seine on the north side approaching the Pont Neuf from the East. We found we couldn't pass up the pet shops. Inside they had such an assortment of creatures - everything from roosters, dogs, cats, chipmunks, prarie dogs, and exotic birds - it was one of our girls (ages 8 & 11) favorite places! They also enjoyed the outdoor bird market near Notre Dame, we bought pigeon food and fed the pigeons. |
View of Pont Alexandre III - from our Seine river trip |
On Saturday morning we went to Paris's most well known flea market - Puces de St-Ouen and wandered for hours. The kids bought all sorts of jewelry odds and ends and T-shirts, and even CD's. At this market we had gyro sandwiches where the meat is roasted on a turning spit above the grill, then shaved onto the grill, and served as a sandwich. We hadn't had them before and it was fun to watch them prepare it. A museum tip that worked for us was to buy postcards of various artists and paintings in the gift shop before entering the museum, then let the kids look for the paintings as we wandered through the museums. We didn't buy museum passes in advance - although that would probably be a good idea. The kids get in free to all museums in Paris. Their favorites were the Louve and Orsay. We didn't stay as long as I would have liked, when they began to tire we left. But they never complained about visiting another museum. |
Feeding pigeons near the bird market at Notre Dame |
Of course there's never enough time for everything. We visited the George Pompidou center but it was closed. We still enjoyed the fountains and visiting with the people sitting around the fountain in the square. Other places we missed but would have liked to visit were the Grand/Petit palais, Dome church (to see Napoleons tomb), Opera, Les Egouts (someone said their kids loved seeing the sewers, so it was on our list, but we missed them). One more journal tip - take glue sticks and let the kids paste momentos into their journals along the way. It gives them something to do in the evenings and on trains. One of my girls came back with her journal loaded with all sorts of fabulous momentos. She saved everything from candy wrappers, museum guides, metro maps and tickets, entrance tickets, train tickets, and city maps. We used a small pair of scissors from the sewing kit to cut items down to journal size. Her journal has been everyone's favorite thing to review now that we're back. |
It was sometimes a race to get through the Metro gates with our backpacks on. |
We tried out an idea that we had - so that the kids didn't have to bring travelers checks, and have us worry about them carrying cash around. All the kids deposited the money they had saved to buy souvenirs into my husband and my account. Then, when we took french francs out of the ATM everyday, the children let us know how much spending money they wanted for the next day or two. Then we kept track of how much money we gave them, and how much they had left to spend in a notebook. It worked out really well. |
We collected all the usual things, keychains, spoons, postcards, T-shirts, charms. My oldest son (age 17) collected things he could hang from his backpack. It did look really cool, and was a good conversation piece on the trains toward the end of the trip. Another son (age 14) collected hats, and came home with a really interesting collection, we could always find him in a crowd. The 17 year old did collect one more thing - girls addresses! He found some from all over the world, and is busy writing to them all! |
Fountains at the George Pompidou Center |
money - money - money |
Last but not least . . . |
last updated on: 1/19/02
