Trip Report -- A Magical Paris vacation with two little girls

Welcome back, Surfmom. When we were thre in February kids of all ages seemed to love those black and white pillars in Palais-Royal.

Looks like this is going to be a great report and looking forward to more.

Anselm

Day 2, Thursday – Enacting Plan B When the Lines Are Too Long

The girls were a bit confused during the night and woke up at midnight. Since I had neglected to put a clock in their room, they thought it was morning and made their beds and came to find us. When I convinced them it was really midnight, they fell asleep again and didn’t wake until Daddy did at 9:30!!

We had intended on being early in line at the Notre Dame Towers to avoid the crowds, but this didn’t happen since we had slept so late. Since the line was pretty long (we guessed an hour or so), we decided to enact Plan B. We visited inside Notre Dame and then stopped at the park behind the cathedral. For lunch, we went to Brasserie St. Louis on Ile St. Lous and had a lunch of Tarte a l’oignon (yum), Faux filet with frites (yum), and a omelette nature (close enough to scrambled eggs to work), and bread. At La Flore en L’ile, the girls were very happy with Bertillon vanilla and chocolate ice cream cones. After walking and shopping, we found a park! (surprise!). We headed to the Musee Picasso and had fun walking around recognizing art, but weren’t able to find all of our favorites. However, the girls each picked out a few postcards so we found our favorites.

On the way back to the metro, we passed yet another park, so we had to stop and play... and then rode the carousel at St. Paul. After dinner and bed, I went for a walk to the Louvre and took some photos of the area at night (including the magnificent sunset behind the Eiffel Tower).

next: Day 2, Thursday – Enacting Plan B When the Lines Are Too Long
The girls were a bit confused during the night and woke up at midnight. Since I had neglected to put a clock in their room, they thought it was morning and made their beds and came to find us. When I convinced them it was really midnight, they fell asleep again and didn’t wake until Daddy did at 9:30!!

We had intended on being early in line at the Notre Dame Towers to avoid the crowds, but this didn’t happen since we had slept so late. Since the line was pretty long (we guessed an hour or so), we decided to enact Plan B. We visited inside Notre Dame and then stopped at the park behind the cathedral. For lunch, we went to Brasserie St. Louis on Ile St. Lous and had a lunch of Tarte a l’oignon (yum), Faux filet with frites (yum), and a omelette nature (close enough to scrambled eggs to work), and bread. At La Flore en L’ile, the girls were very happy with Bertillon vanilla and chocolate ice cream cones. After walking and shopping, we found a park! (surprise!). We headed to the Musee Picasso and had fun walking around recognizing art, but weren’t able to find all of our favorites. However, the girls each picked out a few postcards so we found our favorites.

On the way back to the metro, we passed yet another park, so we had to stop and play… and then rode the carousel at St. Paul. After dinner and bed, I went for a walk to the Louvre and took some photos of the area at night (including the magnificent sunset behind the Eiffel Tower).

next: A Double Decker Carousel!! A Double Decker Carousel!!

Day 2, Thursday – Enacting Plan B When the Lines Are Too Long

The girls were a bit confused during the night and woke up at midnight. Since I had neglected to put a clock in their room, they thought it was morning and made their beds and came to find us. When I convinced them it was really midnight, they fell asleep again and didn’t wake until Daddy did at 9:30!!

We had intended on being early in line at the Notre Dame Towers to avoid the crowds, but this didn’t happen since we had slept so late. Since the line was pretty long (we guessed an hour or so), we decided to enact Plan B. We visited inside Notre Dame and then stopped at the park behind the cathedral. For lunch, we went to Brasserie St. Louis on Ile St. Lous and had a lunch of Tarte a l’oignon (yum), Faux filet with frites (yum), and a omelette nature (close enough to scrambled eggs to work), and bread. At La Flore en L’ile, the girls were very happy with Bertillon vanilla and chocolate ice cream cones. After walking and shopping, we found a park! (surprise!). We headed to the Musee Picasso and had fun walking around recognizing art, but weren’t able to find all of our favorites. However, the girls each picked out a few postcards so we found our favorites.

On the way back to the metro, we passed yet another park, so we had to stop and play... and then rode the carousel at St. Paul. After dinner and bed, I went for a walk to the Louvre and took some photos of the area at night (including the magnificent sunset behind the Eiffel Tower).

next: A Double Decker Carousel!! A Double Decker Carousel!!

sorry for the doubles guys... hitting 'paste' too often is a problem. I tried to edit and ended up re-posting. argh.

I, surfmom, vow to edit my reply before I post again.

I'm enjoying this. Keep it coming!

You know what I like best so far? The girls made their own beds, and you mention it in a taken-for-granted manner.

I, too, Padraig, was impressed that those dear little girls made their beds!

I'm especially enjoying your report, surfmom, because I have hopes of taking my granddaughter (now 4.5 yrs) to Paris before I get too old! God willing, I'll do it in a year or two. It sounds as though your girls did very well and even enjoyed the museums! What a wonderful trip for all of you!

Hello surfmom, I knew as soon as I saw the title of your thread it would be a good read!

Food..sufmom one time when I drove on a trip with a friend and her two children and my daughter when she was 5 years old I have to tell you, it was a problem, lol. My little daughter was always a terrific eater even with regards to veggies. But guess the morning that we took of on this trip she decided to be a problem. All she wanted to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner was a PB&J sandwich and chocolate milk. After two days of going to places like Denny's (which I hate) I finally said to her..you can figure out what to eat or you can starve, lol. Soooo..I am looking forwawrd to the rest of your trip report!! Especially regarding the girls and what they ate or should I say didn't eat, lol.

Surfmom

Enjoying your trip report. Let me get this straight, the girls are 5 and 6 and they made their bed without being told?
Please come over to my house and teach my 18 year old stepdaughter to make her bed.

My husband and I will then take you surfing at Chun's on the North Shore of Oahu

I also am enjoying your report. I'd love to hear more about your apartment (agency?).

When my sister and I were itsy-bitsy girls, our parents took us on an extended trip to Spain. I hated the food and to this day my mother claims, "I thought you were going to starve to death." Well, how could I when there was ice cream?

What lucky little girls. I wish I had their experiences as a child.
Ues, the bed-making impressed me too

This is a fun report, surfmom. It's great that you are able to take such a wonderful trip with your little ones. We took our girls abroad when they were 10 and 12, and it was one of the highlights of our lives.

They have always been fairly-to-very picky eaters, and I was AMAZED when we went to Germany when they were 14 and 16. We ate Christmas Eve dinner at a very fancy restaurant, and they tasted everything, and liked most of it (inventive soup, aspic type salad, game for the main course, etc.) I thought that I'd never see that day!

I used to tell my kids, when we would argue about things colored green on the plate, "You never know. This could be the day you liked broccoli [or whatever it was]."

You don't eat your dinner, no dessert.

Hi surfmum

We are going to Paris in June with our 2 boys, 6 & 3. How did you find walking with your two girls? Did you use your stroller alot?

Thanks. Looking forward to reading more.

keep it coming.. we are going to be in Paris with our boys - 9 and 7 yrs - and daughter 5 yrs in June for 4 days (part of 1 mth trip in Europe).. would love to hear ALL the details of what the girls liked! Also, about the stroller and how much you used it. My daughter hasn't been in a stroller in yrs - but we're thinking of taking it - especially for Paris!

Oh and the bike tour - assume FatBike Tours? Did the girls ride their own, or tandem or child seats? We're planning to do this -- How was the jetlag? (if you're from US?)

Day 3, Friday – A Double Decker Carousel!! A Double Decker Carousel!!

After waiting in a too-long line, we took the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower. While I agree that the top is anti-climatic and the views are better from the 1st or 2nd stage, it is pretty hard to convince a 5 and 6 yr. old that they don’t need to go to the top. We had fun writing and mailing postcards from the first level of the Eiffel Tower while having a snack. Since the higher levels were crowded, the 1st floor was a nice change with space for them to wiggle a little more. After heading down, we visited the first carousel of the day (just across the street from the Tower), crossed the Seine and visited carousel #2 (this one was a double decker carousel!). On the walk up to Palais Chaillot, we spied another park, so we had to test it out. We finally convinced the girls to depart and walked to the Arc de Triomphe. We weren’t too happy about the thought of carrying the stroller up 284 steps to the top of the Arc… and at that point, an employee pulled us over and we went up the elevator! This made two parents very happy! We walked the final floor to the outside top and since the girls don’t really understand the overwhelming factor driving in 6 lanes of circular traffic, the traffic circles around the Arc weren’t quite so impressive to them.

At this point, we made a rather poor decision and decided to walk to the apartment (about 3 miles, I later discovered). The girls didn’t find it so bad since they either rode on Daddy’s shoulders or the stroller, but we were rather tired. While it was a pleasant walk, it was also a long one. After a dinner break, we went in the Louvre and were happy to again use the Museum Pass. After a few stops along the way, we went to find Mona Lisa – an employee made a point of pulling the girls out and sending them up front to see! We then visited the Apollo Gallery (crown jewels!) and the Grecian stuff. After this, we had tired little people and it was time to head home for bed (after a quick visit to Palais Royal).

next: Who Said Climbing the Steps to the Notre Dame Towers Is Hard ?

The details are the opposite of boring!! Keep going - can't wait... am also interested in which apartment you staying in

Thanks everyone for the nice feedback. Its always a struggle to figure out whether the time factor of writing a trip report is worth it, but since I always enjoy reading others, I decided to take the time to do it (plus it is fun for the girls to remember!).

Two things that I’ll address – food and making their beds.

The making bed thing is fairly new – they are so proud of themselves to do it alone. Probably wouldn’t stand up to Martha Stewart standards, but I’m all for independence! I try to continue to praise them since they just beam over it.

Food, however, is one that I’ve really struggled with. My 6 yr. old is actually pretty good about trying foods – but I think our first day was probably not a day to push it. As the week went on, she was willing to try more foods, but with all the ‘new’ things the first day, I should have just stayed with familiar things. She is very good about trying at least one bite and then deciding – as opposed to my 5 yr. old who won’t like something just because.

They are great fruit and okay veggie eaters and good about milk and yogurt. It’s the meat thing for the 5 yr. old so I actually took peanut butter with me. How, you might ask, when I didn’t check bags ? Well, I found the little ‘Jif to go’ containers that are 2.2 oz and I put them in my quart ziplock (I think I fit 6 ?). Every day she either had pb sandwiches or pb and baguettes or pb and pretzels. And a complete vitamin, too. I keep hoping it’s a phase she will grow out of, but we’re not having much luck.

Another great thing were all the fruit stands all over -- you can buy 1 piece of fruit. We bought at least an apple and a banana every day and they would eat it while walking. (in addition to fruit/veggies with meals) It was a great way to get 'free' nutrition in them when they were hungry

VeeBee, jacri, Leely, I’ll answer your questions later. I promise. I need to go help in school right now and have to run.

Surfmom -- I too am enjoying reading your report. I was very excited to see that you are taking your fabulous pictures! As you know, I find your pictures to be very creative and, frankly, have them in my Paris "favorites" so I can get a fix every now and then!

I think it's wonderful that you're doing the trip report for your girls as they will so enjoy reading it as they get older. I know my own memory is such that I sometimes can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday. I have done journals of my three trips to Paris and still enjoy reading them now and then. Brings back such great memories!

Keep it comin!

joy/luvparee

surfmom, I am struggling with the same questions about trip report that I'm writing now. My sense is that a LOT more people read (and enjoy!) than you will ever know. Not everybody comments, and those that do comment really aren't going to say something every segment. AND, there are those who will read later when the report comes up on a search. At any rate, I am really enjoying your report and I hardly ever read anything about France. I'm glad it caught my eye!

Yes, please keep it coming. What a great experience for all of you!

Lovely!! I'm extremely jealous of your daughters though. I'm 30 and have not yet been to Paris!

Love the trip report, surfmom. We're leaving in 2 weeks for Europe (including 5 days in Paris). Our sons are 5 and 7. The peanut butter tip is great! I won't get any work done today as I continually refresh my screen looking for the rest of your report!

I also made note of the tip about making sure the kids have a clock! NThea - I will watch for your trip report in the upcoming months as well

Totally agree with OP about
We would do differently:

- maybe fewer attempts at eating out
- avoid the lines at the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame
- consider skipping the top of the Eiffel Tower

I am glad to find me not alone at last!
- maybe fewer attempts at eating out (the food doesn’t look the same) or pack lunches to eat in parks
- avoid the lines at the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame
- consider skipping the top of the Eiffel Tower

For those who traveling with kids - Nutella could be a substitute for peanut butter. Our kids loved it!
They still asking for it at home.
Also "if you eat it first you can make a wish" approach worked well for "not too strange looking" food.

Have a good trip everyone.

P.S. After 4 years I can't tell if kids remember the trip. They were 9 and 10.
Pictures certainly helping. So have camera!

Great stuff, Surfmom. My wife and I just got back from Paris on Sunday (my first trip out of N. America!), so I'll be starting my trip report soon and, I hope, helping some other first timers feel less nervous about their first experience with a different culture. First, I agree 100% with your daughter who didn't like her hot dog...it was the only thing I ate all week that was not "the best whatever I've ever eaten!" Of course I learned my lesson...NEVER order American food in Paris! The other recurring theme I'm seeing in your report is something that I felt, too. I know some people must have had negative experiences in France and that's how the whole "the French are so rude" thing started, but our experience was just the opposite...nearly every person we met in Paris was warm, friendly, and helpful. Maybe it was because I had learned just enough French to start conversations, order food, etc., or maybe they just appreciated the fact that we always said, "Bonjour, merci, and au revoir," but nearly every Parisian we met seemed genuinely interested in making sure we enjoyed our stay in their city (with the possible exception of the cab driver who tried to kill us on the way to Chas. de Gaulle airport!). It was more beautiful and magical than I could have imagined and I can't wait to go back. Looking forward to the rest of your report. (Oh, and my 12-year-old has lived on Kraft mac & cheese, peanut butter sandwiches, and McNuggets for years and she's just fine, so don't worry about your finicky eater!) A bientot!

Hope this isn't a ridiculous question... can you get ketchup and "hot dog mustard" (French's - not sure if that is the same brand in the states) in French grocery stores? And does this mean you can't get peanut butter? (hopefully it won't be needed... but just in case...)

Also... I would imagine that going to the top level of the Eiffel tower might fall into the category of "things not to do again" rather then "things to never do". And maybe for the kids, one of those things to know you have done even if over time you don't remember if you enjoyed it

Hey, Canada V, I wondered the same thing about ketchup. I didn't expect it and frankly the frites were so good I didn't think they needed it, but one waiter actually did ask us if we wanted ketchup! I was stunned! We said no because it was later in the week and by then we had learned how good the fries are if you dip them in a little of the Dijon-type mustard (think Grey Poupon only better) that they bring out with just about everything. This thrilled my wife who likes to dip her fries in Gulden's anyway!

Canada_V, I don't remember seeing ketchup in the grocery stores (but I wasn't looking, either), but I have certainly seen it offered in cafés and bistrots in Paris.

DaveBrad, looking forward to your trip report.

Surfmom, your giving us all a great account. Thanks for taking the time to write this all up. It's wonderful.

Anselm

There are plenty of ketchup in Monoprix and if for some reason they are out - buy it in McDonalds.

Enjoyed your report and looking forward to reading more. My husband and I have a rule when traveling with our three children (7 yr old twins and 5 yr old) regarding food~you can't say you don't like it until you have at least one bite! I do have one question though, why in the world did you have a stroller? I thought that I read your children were 5 and 6 yrs?

Oh don't get me wrong... ketchup would not be the first option. The children I am planning to bring are eager and open to all new experiences and will not only need no coaching to try new things, but they will lead us in those discoveries!! Actually, my real children are usually willing to try, but not often able to embrace the new so the ketchup would be more of a fallback plan.

Day 4, Saturday – Who Said Climbing the Steps to the Notre Dame Towers Is Hard ?

We got in line for climbing the towers at Notre Dame about 9:30. They let in groups of 20 people every 10 minutes and we were in the 2nd group of 20 who were let in to climb. We were surprised how quickly the line grew and were happy to have been there early. Even though they say ‘no left luggage’, they allowed us to fold up the stroller and leave it at the entrance. We climbed to the top … all 400 or so steps! After viewing many gargoyles, chimeras, Emmanuel (the bell), and the bell tower, we climbed the remaining steps to the top of the North Tower. The girls did terrific and climbed all the steps without complaining. In fact, our 6 year old repeatedly told us that it wasn’t so bad and she had could have done it again. By this time, we were hungry, so we stopped at ‘L’ombre de Notre Dame’– hot chocolate and pain au chocolat for the girls, and frites for Daddy. Yum! We walked over to Sainte Chappelle and enjoyed the stained glass windows. The sun was finally shining (we couldn’t see the Eiffel Tower from Notre Dame earlier) and the windows were glorious.

We decided to walk to the Pompidou Center, and watched some street performers outside. Unfortunately, the jokes get a little lost when you don’t understand the language, so we decided to go in the big escalator tubes. The girls thought they were pretty neat and we went all the way to the top (6th floor) and then back to the 4th floor to the Museum of Modern Art, which was very interesting. Lots of questions about ‘what is this?’ and the kids had some questions, too. There were definitely some random things… like the blue wall panel. That’s it, a panel of blue on the wall. Tell me please how that is art ? The descriptions of the art were also ‘works of art’ themselves – ‘representation of man’s evolution blah blah blah’. I don’t do it justice. Another of my personal favorites was the ‘MindExpander’ – a bunch of inflatable easy chairs – huh?

After departing, we found the Igor Stravinksy fountains and then we had a stop at Amorino to test the ice cream. After walking home, we headed to Palais Royal for our daily visit. After the kids were asleep, I headed back to the Louvre to yet again shoot more pictures of the Pyramid.

next: How to Freak Out a Five Year Old on a Tandem Bike

i'll be waiting for the next chapter -- on how to freak out 5 yr old on tandem as we have similar plans.... and would like to hear all your recommendations for bike tour with just turned 5 yr old daughter, 7 yr old son and 9 yr old son.

Joy, thanks for the nice words (again) about photos. I hope to have some time to work on them and organize and categorize so I can post them in the next few weeks. I do remember we talked about them from last trip!

Amydelta/jacrichanne/VeeBee, we decided to take a stroller for our 5 yr. old. We struggled with that decision since even our 3 yr. old (left at home) doesn’t use one at home. However, the height difference between our two girls is very large – our 6 yr. old (will turn 7 in 3 days) has gone through some big growth spurts while the 5 yr. old is petite and is built with a ‘swimmer’s V’ – very strong upper body, but virtually no legs. We were pleased to have taken it since it worked out well and wasn’t too much of a hassle. It also was good for carrying groceries, carrying luggage, and also for sitting in when an ice cream cone was being eaten! It was a lightweight umbrella with a shoulder strap, so it was easy to fold up and throw over our shoulders while in the metro, etc. We also ended up walking more than we originally thought since we were centrally located and we figured by the time we bought 4 metro tickets and spent the time waiting for a train, transferring, etc., we could just as easily walk.

Ketchup – pretty readily available most places. (except our last night, but the kind waiter hunted down a bottle for us!) There was a bottle in our apartment, so I didn’t purchase any, but I definitely saw it in Monoprix when we did grocery shopping. I *love* the mustard that they serve in the cafes with fries – the ‘good’ Dijon stuff, not the Americanized Dijon stuff. Nothing like a mustard hit to clear the sinuses! I brought a few bottles of it home – yum. (DaveBrad, sounds like your wife and I are soulmates with regard to mustard. Glad to hear your trip was also terrific and filled with kind people)

Canada_V, I’m not sure you can get the ‘French’s’ type of mustard. I always saw the Dijon stuff.

With regard to the clock, my oldest is used to a clock in her room and she doesn’t get out of bed until 7am. If she wakes up early, she will lay in bed and read and just wake up. So the lack of clock for her was definitely a hardship. I gave her mine and kept my watch next to our bed. That is also a lesson learned for me for next time we travel!

I’m not sure if you can find peanut butter or not. I had read that some specialty stores had it, but I decided that it is such a staple for my kid, that I didn’t want to be chasing it down. If you check bags, you can just throw a jar in your luggage, but we didn’t check bags on the way over, so that's why we did the small containers. (it is considered a liquid)

I’ll talk about Fat Tire Bike Tours tomorrow – they were great! The problem was user error on our part. I’m dead on my feet, so I need to go to bed right now.

Thanks everyone for the kind words. Have a good night!

Sainte Chapelle with the sunlight streaming through the windows. I've wanted to see that ever since I studied about it in my art history classes many, many years ago. Sigh. Sounds wonderful.

Grocery notes: you can sometimes find peanut butter in the larger Monoprix stores - brands imported from the Netherlands usually. Easier to find in hypermarkets.
Anybody who wants American style mustard can buy Amora's 'condiment' -- it is bright yellow and has no bite.
As for ketchup, it is everywhere. No restaurant or café would be without it. Same for Tabasco.

Wonderful report. My DD stopped using the stroller at home when she was 2, but it always worked amazingly well when we traveled. We took it along until she was a tall 6 yr old.

Day 5, Sunday – How to Freak Out a Five Year Old on a Tandem Bike

We had scheduled a bike tour for today (Fat Tire Bike Tours) and rather than try to arrive at the exact time, we decided to give ourselves extra time. We stopped at a park along the way to the Eiffel Tower (the meeting place for the bike tour). After a quick walk back to the bike tour offices and picking out bikes, we were ready to go.

We opted to use tandem bikes for the girls, which worked great. The tandems were the equivalent of 3 wheels – attached to the parent’s front wheel and two rear wheels. Unfortunately, I managed to freak out my 5 yr. old in the process. The tough lesson that I learned was that when the adult bike seat is all the way down (lowest seat position), the tandem arm (attaching the child’s bike to the adult bike) doesn’t swing freely and catches on the luggage rack. This means that turning any corner becomes a little adventure and on one sharp corner, I had one of the tandem rear wheels in the air. Oops. Bad mommy. At one of the stops, we raised my seat about an inch – which made it a little more difficult for me to pedal, but infinitely easier for my 5 year old not to freak out.

Overall, there was not much biking on roads, but through parks, sidewalks, and bike trails. We went through the Tuileries, but were required to walk our bikes and stopped for lunch at one of the cafes. On the return, we rode along the Esplanade towards the Invalides on a bike trail. While biking on the trail along the Esplanade, a car pulled up next to us – and took photos of the girls behind us on the tandem bikes. Sunday is a great day to take a bike tour because even though they avoid roads with traffic, there is a little bit of riding on streets, crossing streets, etc. This was Easter Sunday and traffic was even lighter, so there were no issues with traffic. I think people are also more patient on a Sunday and less likely to be annoyed to have to wait for a pack of bikes. I would absolutely do this again on a Sunday.

After dropping off the bikes and saying goodbye to the tour, we decided to walk back to the Invalides. Along the way, we found a park. Surprise. The girls were less than impressed with Napoleon’s Tomb, but were very interested in the side rooms (the stained glass windows are gorgeous in these rooms!). After our short visit, we continued along to the Rodin Museum. We posed with “The Thinker” and imitated many of the sculptures outside. (This was actually the inspiration for a new game called “Statues All Around” – one person makes a pose and the others have to imitate it and hold it for 5 seconds. Take turns and the next person freezes a pose. It is a great way to kill time - especially at the airport where it got us stretching before a long flight home!)

Took the metro home and stopped at the cafes in Palais Royal looking for fries. Rejected. Again. So it was home for dinner. Back to Palais Royal to jump on the black and white things and to bed.

Thanks for the tandem report! WOuld like your suggestions for the bike tour.. we have a small 5 yr old daughter and 7 yr old son who is almost the same size. do you suggest 1 tandem per adult bike? Assume my 9 yr old son can keep up on his own with child bike? I've heard this is a great thing to do your first day as overview for kids of the city? What do you think? Did you consider the trailer option ? (thinking of this for 5 yr old) Also, any thoughts re night tour? Sorry for all questions..but want to make my reservations with FatBike soon..

VeeBee - looks like we both have a very keen interest in this particular thread! Our trip isn't until next June, so I will be looking forward to your trip report including how the Fat Tire bike trip goes!

This thread has actually inspired me to find a way to do a trip report for our upcoming family adventure in June. I never thought about it as something i could/should do for my kids as a record of the trip (just knew i should provide some feedback on this board to help others as i have been helped in my research).. but this really has me thinking.. the only problem is that we are going to be gone for a month with no laptop - so how will i record all the wonderful details? I am so dependant on my PC - that i can hardly hand write at all anymore!! Suggestions?

Day 6, Monday – The Eiffel Tower Twinkles!

We took the metro to Tour Montparnasse. What an amazing view of Paris! I hadn’t ever thought that I would like it so much, but after having been there, I’d go again. We then took the metro to the Opera and did a self-guided tour here. Although it stated that the auditorium was closed, there was a tour group inside and two boxes open to view the inside. We enjoyed the large double staircase inside and I liked the Chagall ceiling – not what I expected.

After a stop for lunch at an outside café on rue de Rivoli, we went into the Tuileries and rented sailboats to float (2 euros for 30 minutes). The wind was light, so you had to be patient while they sailed across the pond, but our girls enjoyed this.

We then walked to the Orangerie to see Monet’s Water Lilies. We tried to walk straight through to the water lilies gallery but the guard sent us downstairs first. We weren’t sure why we weren’t allowed to go in that gallery initially – we felt as if we were being ‘forced’ to view the paintings downstairs when we weren’t interested. I loved the paintings and was also impressed with the display of them – I thought it was a beautiful way to display the large canvases with the diffused light from above.

We decided to take a Batobus ride on the Seine, however, it had gotten pretty warm by this point and the glass walls of the Batobus had a greenhouse effect. We had intended to ride a full lap and get off at the Louvre, but since we were hot and tired, we bailed at the Musee d’Orsay stop and walked across the Seine instead. The girls were hungry for ice cream (imagine!), so we went into the Carousel du Louvre and enjoyed the shade and coolness of that.

For dinner, we had reservations at Chez Francis on Pont de l’Alma. Not terribly fancy, but everyone was very nice to us and the food is good (Pasta with fresh mozzarella and a veal chop, and for my 6 yr. old, they made penne with butter which she loved). We opted to sit outside, although when the sun went down it got chilly. I was happy that we had brought sweatshirts even though the outside heaters were on. The girls had fun watching the Eiffel Tower twinkle (started at 9pm) and we headed home after this.

next: A Travel Day. The End. Apartment Thoughts. Thoughts About Traveling with Kids. Museum Passes.

VeeBee, Fat Tire Bike Tours – they are great and very nice. We used the tandems behind the adult bikes – they were actually two wheels in the rear, so no balancing issues (unless the adult doesn’t let the tandem arm swing freely). I found it much easier when I rode with my 6 yr. old – she actually pedaled!

I would think the 9 yr. old can be on his own bike – we didn’t move very fast. The 5 and 7 yr. olds I would put on the tandems attached to the adult bikes. Unless your 7 yr. old can ride a 2-wheeler confidently by himself, then maybe see if he could ride a small bike? I’m not sure about the trailer – our kids were never really fans of those and I always think those are used for smaller kids, so we never even considered that option.

They only have 3 tandems, so definitely make reservations. I don’t know what the weather policy is though.

I don’t know if I would do this as a first day option. We found on our first day that we needed times to have ‘downtime’ and you really have to keep up with the tour – you can’t really bail in the middle. That is assuming your first day is coming from the states on a plane? If you don’t have jetlag issues, that might be a fun way to get acquainted with things. We did spend almost all day outside on our first day, but it was more at our pace.

As for the night tour – it actually has more biking than the day tour, so if you are worried about that, I might stick with the day tour. They wear reflective vests at night, but I would still be a bit stressed about the 9 yr. old at night. I would do a day tour first and if that goes well, you can make reservations for the night tour later in the week (it is a different route). I think they accept ‘walk-ins’ and not everyone has to be reservations, but I don’t know how crowded they get in summer.

I definitely loved the ‘less traffic’ aspect of Easter Sunday. The tour goes across Rue Grenelle towards the end and the tour guide warned us to expect honking at us. He said, “that just means they are saying hi!” But he was telling us that to not let it surprise us or stop, but to continue with the group. We encountered no problems or negative responses at all, but I think traffic was really light. So, my point here is that I would look at the day of the week that you might book it as a priority.

So that is my brain dump for the bike tour. I have some photos of the bikes and the group, email me at jsemmer at comcast dot net and I can send them to you or send you the link when they are posted.

VeeBee, I have always kept a journal of our trips abroad. Most often this is in a little three ring binder (3" x 6"), but it does take a while each night to update it.

In recent trips, I've been taking notes (either during the day or at the end of each day), writing down in shorthand fashion what we did/saw, any memorable incidents or quotes from the day. Then when I get back, I make it a priority to sit down at my computer and type up the journal from the trip. I have my maps handy, my notes, receipts, and my photos, and am able to reconstruct it pretty well.

After my fall trip to Romania with my father and my brother (where we had nearly 4000 pictures) I made a book for my father for Christmas. It turned out to be 222 pages and it has a full dust jacket. People can't believe the quality - I've lent it out several times. The site I used is blurb.com, and I can't say enough good things about the books. There are a variety of sizes and prices, although they are all reasonable. I paid just under $60 for my 200+ book, but you can do a small book for under $20.

Another thing we have done on family trips is to bring little tape recorders. My girls have always kept journals of our family trips, and dictating their impressions and stories sometimes works when it is too hard/time consuming for them to write. I've done the typing from the tape once we returned home.

surfmom, this is such an enjoyable report! I hope you post a link to some of the photos!

Day 7, Tuesday – Travel Day and The End

We took a quick visit to Palais Royal for our last playing on the black and white things and then it was time to head to the airport. After a uneventful trip, we were back home with tired little people.

Apartment thoughts – rue de Richelieu

Liked: location (rue de Richelieu – quick walk to Louvre), very bright and airy, well-equipped, open kitchen to living space was nice, had basic necessities (salt, pepper, mustard, dish soap, etc.), dishwasher (with detergent there), washer/dryer combo unit, bathtub AND shower (kids liked having a tub, adults liked the shower!), bathroom sink area was large, elevator, master bedroom bed was very large (a king maybe?), 2 bedrooms were awesome!

Disliked: only comfortable seating was couch, lack of internet connection (although we were able to piggyback a very slow unsecured connection from someone around), bar stools were hard for kids to climb in and out of, washer/dryer combo unit was loud, jute carpet was uncomfortable on tired barefeet.

Overall: We would definitely rent here again. My positives significantly outweigh the minor negative points about this apartment.

Museum Passes

I know many have debated the cost/benefit factor. We decided to purchase them and weren’t sure about whether we would want 4 days or 6 days. We considered just buying 4 days and if we thought we would want an additional 2 days, we would purchase a 2-day pass. However, the incremental cost between 4 and 6 days was only 15 Euros, so we just decided to do 6 days. We weren’t planning on visiting a ton of museums and weren’t sure they would ‘pay’, however, with kids, we decided there was a price for the ‘front of the line’ factor. It was nice knowing that we could just walk into any museum also. As it turned out, we saved almost 20 Euros per person by purchasing museum passes as well as the front of the line privilege. I would definitely do them again.

Thoughts About Traveling with Kids

- Food. This might be a problem. I have picky eaters who like things a very specific way. We found lunches out were okay, but dinners in were critical to getting anything nutricious in them. Thank goodness for baguettes, pain au chocolat, fries, and ice cream. The apartment was incredibly helpful since we kept yogurt, milk, etc. here. Buying fruit sometime during the day was a great snack and was at least a little healthy! (We typically purchased one banana and one apple and the girls would eat it as we were walking around).

- Museums – Wow! We thought they were fabulous with kids. From the woman at the Louvre seeking us out to send the girls up front to see Mona Lisa, to the man at Musee d’Orsay who sent us to another entrance to avoid the line, to the people at the Arc de Triomphe who sent us on the elevator since we were carrying a stroller. I get a sense that they enjoy seeing children at these places and were very accommodating.

- Parks and carousels – keep your eyes open and you will stumble across parks throughout the city. Don’t be afraid to stop and play and run around.

- Be flexible. If they are losing it, then bail. Head home for downtime. We didn’t even watch tv (only had French channels) and they didn’t miss it.

- Keep a journal - They actually wanted more time to write in their journals, but since we wanted them in bed, we made a list instead so they could remember. Even my 5 yr. old had fun with a journal – I would tell her what to write and she would draw the picture (or we would help). She liked taping the metro ticket stubs, the Eiffel Tower ticket stub, the name of her new doll into her book. The only downside to the museum passes was that we didn’t have individual tickets for each museum to save in their journal.

- Read books about the Louvre, d’Orsay, etc. Having them walk around museums saying, “I recognize that” was incredibly fun! We particularly liked "My Little Louvre", "My Little d'Orsay".

- Hand sanitizer – we carried hand sanitizer around and used that after every bathroom break. Much easier than kids getting splashed from high sinks, no paper towels, etc.

- Flat Stanley – there is a book about Flat Stanley where a little boy gets crushed by his bulletin board and is flat. He mails himself to his friend for a visit. Many kids read this in K or 1st grade. My 1st grader’s class had a class mascot – Fluffy the Bear, which her teacher offered to let us take. Since I was trying to pack light, I took a photo instead and we had a ‘Flat Fluffy’ with us. We took pictures throughout the day with Fluffy and wrote a story with him. This was a fun activity throughout the trip.

- Stroller – We debated taking one. We finally decided to take a lightweight umbrella stroller which I purchased (a bit of contention since we have 2 old umbrella strollers in our garage – but they are pretty nasty). We were very happy with the stroller and used it throughout the trip. It was also nice that it folded easily since we could fold it and put it under our feet at meals. Even though the Notre Dame Towers say ‘no left luggage’, they allowed us to fold it and leave it at the entrance.

surfmom, our days of having a young child with us are long gone (although who knows, there may be grandchildren), but I enjoyed every step of your trip. I admired, too, your parenting wisdom.

Thanks for posting this report. It was one of the best I've read.

Anselm

You are SUPERMOM!! I so enjoyed this whole report!

Thanks for posting a trip report with a different angle.

By the way, I do tell everyone going up to the top of the Eiffel Tower not to bother. The "traffic jam" there is always to get to the top and the view from the second level isn't all that different.

Alas, most people just cannot bear to be without bragging rights to say they went to the top.

By the way, with my own kids, my daughter went to the second level with her girlfriend (who was with us). My son, who decided he was scared of heights that day, stayed with me on level one.

I did go to the top once years ago--in May. I would never attempt it in summer.

I can't tell you how incredibly helpful this post was SurfMom! We are taking our 4 boys to Paris this summer (14,13,10,5) as part of a 2 week Europe trip, and I've gone back and forth on the stroller-issue (I'll take one now), museum passes (again, yes) and peanut butter (thank you Jif tubes!). The apartment sounds like a wonderful idea. I'll have to check into it as we will only be there for 4 1/2 days. Thanks a million for posting ~ I loved all of the details!

I really enjoyed your report, surfmom. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

I also really enjoyed this trip report. I get the sense sometimes that people hesitate to do a trip report from a sort of "who would really care about the nitty gritty of my trip", but I think this is proof both that people are going to be interested, but also that this exercise can be a catalyst for organizing your thoughts for your own record! And especially those who have replied here (or just read!) who are taking their kids to Paris soon - I eagerly await your reports!!!

VeeBee - it was a while ago now, but pre-kids my husband (then to be) and I did the 'backpack through Europe' thing, and at first tried to write detailed and literary journals, but fell off that wagon pretty quickly! What we did do (for different reasons) was keep a log of where we spent our money, and we found that when we got back that was an amazing memory trigger so we were able to flesh out a 'trip report' afterwards. Just basic notes about what we spent on accomodation, any food and what it was,and any activities and we were able to remember the whole day.

Just a thought on going to the top of the Eiffel Tower with kids. This is something I've done with all 4 of my kids and it is something they always remember when the details of other things have started to fade. While I agree that once is enough (and sometimes more than enough!), I do think that it is something they will appreciate over the years. Certainly, that trip up has appeared in all the "what did you do this summer?" essays, and I've heard discussions with their friends about having done it. I wouldn't have skipped it on their behalf for anything.

Surfmom - What a terrific report! Thank you for taking the time to record your experience. (And I have to tell you: With your screen name I keep picturing the surfing mom from that one car commercial where a mom pulls up with three daughters to go surfing. Have you seen it? This is my mental image of you!)

We are leaving for Europe in 13 days! (Yahoo!) I'll post my trip report when we return (mid-May). We'll be in Cologne, Haarlem, Brugges, and Paris. For our 4 nights in Paris, we rented an apartment through vacationinparis.com. Ours is an intergenerational family trip: myself and husband, two sons (5 and 7), and my parents. I'm sure that will add an interesting twist to things!

Your children are so lucky! Now get some sleep!!

I also enjoyed your report. Thanks for posting.

We were also in Paris with our children at this time, arriving a few days earlier on 3/31 and departing on 4/7. Daughters are 9 and 11. I hesitated to put a trip report out because of the sometimes rude responses people offer, which I didn't want to deter from our amazing vacation "after thoughts", you know how it takes a week or so to return to your normal state of mind.

Anyway, glad your trip was as succesful as ours. I will try to find time to put details out. Our 9 and 11 year old went with us on their bikes to Versailles on Fat Tire and it was one of the most magical days of my life (travel wise, 2nd only to Taj Mahal).

Our favorite museum was L'Orangerie.

For everyone who poo poo'ed me on hiring a car in advance to take us to our apt, you were all so wrong. Driver was there waiting with sign, took control of our luggage from us, didn't walk us far to car, drove us to our apt, helped us get all of our stuff upstairs in tiny elevator runs, and made arrangements to pick us up for our return. Was well worth the money.

Edye -

Oh please, please don't hestitate to write your trip report. This Fodors board is a lot like my neighborhood association: interesting, diverse personalities sharing one (and often only one) thing in common: their love of travel. Don't let those Crabby Patties (as my sons would say) get you down. I want to hear about your trip!!!

thanks everyone for the kind words and thoughts. My husband thought I had way too much detail, but I wanted to share my thoughts and feedback also.

As to parenting... it is the one 'career' that I find I constantly don't know what I'm doing! As soon as I figure out one age, they change. And personalities are different from kid to kid. It is a lot of trial and error and figuring out what is important for your priorities and your family. But it is fun, too.

If anyone is interested in the highlight photo of the day (the trip report is the same), here is the link:

http://tinyurl.com/3cltnk

(hey I even tried tinyurl! I hope it works!)

The pictures are SOOO cute! What wonderful memories your family will have. Enjoy them now; they grow up so fast.

Adorable family, but where is Maman?

Your report was such fun to read!

Surfmom,

thanks so much for the trip report.. lots of good thoughts. We've got 1 month left before we leave.. excitement is building and a little nervousness also! Will be the kids first time outside of US - and I just hope they enjoy all as much as I'm dreaming...thanks for bike tour details.. did you say you had some pics? I couldn't quite envision the size from the description..

SurfMom: ditto on everyone else's congrats on your post - I'm way past having little kids but enjoyed it immensely. The whole journal thing: I've regretted not keeping one for early trips but know the limits of my willingness to sit down each night to record activities; now I use inexpensive maps I pick up and make daily notations on them. They're pretty easy to store and a handy reference when we return to a location. I'm also trying to keep a separate "food" journal since, in my 50's, eating has replaced shopping as my favorite vacation activity!