Cool stuff for kids in London & Paris?
 

Hello, <BR> <BR>i´m trying to find the "coolest" and most exciting things to see and do in London and Paris with teenagers, age 10 - 14. <BR>Any ideas? <BR> <BR>Thanks a lot:)

My brother and I just went to London last Sept. We are both in our 20s, but we act like children, so here is what we liked best that your kids might like as well: <BR>1. Tower of London <BR>2. The Big Bus Tour (this includes a cruise on the Thames). <BR>3. The theatre--we saw Witches of Eastwick, but I don't reccomend this for them. The Lion King would probably be a good choice though. <BR>4. Our day trip to Bath--to see the Roman Baths, maybe they would like to eat at the Pump Room--Really classy restaurant, but lots of tourists so they wouldn't have to dress up or anything. <BR>5. Take a walking tour with the Original London walks company, they have a web page, but I can't think of it at the moment. My brother and I went on the Soho Pub Walk, but again, I wouldn't reccomend this walk for kids, but many others would be great for them. <BR>6. Portebello Road-- My brother was amazed by all of the army equipment, antique guns. I had to try on some of the medieval armour. We had some fun pictures from here, and we shopped a lot here. <BR> <BR>Hope this helps! <BR>Vanessa

My kids were 14 & 19 when we took them to Paris. Among the things they enjoyed most were the Virgin Records Megastore (open until midnight or about), and going to the Louvre the night it stays open late -- much less crowded than daytime, and lots of students/young people around. <BR> <BR>If you're interested in London theatre, I just rediscovered this address in my London file: www.whatsonstage.com, features 'a comprehensive listing of theatre & classical music events in Britain' (from Nat'l Geographic Traveler). For Original London Walks, check out www.walks.com. They offer an incredible selection as well as day trips to Bath, Cotswolds etc. Have fun!

<BR>As to London, I have a note on disc and am copying it to you attached to the e-mail copy of this message. <BR> <BR>As to Paris, there were correspondences on this forum a week ago and month ago, and a little on the Lonely Planet forum. Yesterday I decided to boil them together, and the resulting casserole is a note of four A4 pages which I am copying to you with the e-mail. <BR> <BR>Both notes are concerned with younger children, too, but you'll no doubt cut those parts out. All parents writing on this topic say the central point is to have the children choose the visits, plan each day at breakfast time, read the tube and metro maps, and so on. It needs to be their visit, not yours. <BR> <BR>Welcome to Europe. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines <BR>

Ben- I would love the Paris notes as well if it's not too much of an inconvenience. thanks, cathy

Without doubt, the Millennium Wheel in London. It's part amusement ride, part sightseeing and part history. And it's all "cool" according to my nephew.

You don't say whether boys or girls. Took our kids to London at ages 9 (girl), 11 (boy), and 14 (boy). Their favorite things were, in no particular order: The Tower, especially the yeoman warder tour, (which later netted my eldest major brownie points in history class back home in the states), the history of women's costume at the Victoria and Albert (a definite mom-and-daughter thing), the science museum, the London Transport museum (especially the Tube simulator), Tower bridge (check at the bridge to see what time they will raise it the day you are there--kinda cool). They got a kick out of just riding the Tube and the busses (be prepared to hear them chanting "mind the gap" for months afterwards), watching the buskers in Covent Garden, the Imperial War Museum (more history class brownie points). They weren't particularly impressed by the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles, but BOY were they glad they had seen them the next year when they got it in history class. Oh, and the maze at Hampton Court, and Hambley's toy store. Have a great time. Never been to Paris.

We took our 12 & 8 yr old sons to London, & in addition to what has already been mentioned, they both liked the Rock Circus - wax museum dealing with the history of Rock music. Liked eating in pubs(kids can only go in to pubs where there are family dining areas - they can't be in the bar area). Suprisingly enough, they both liked going thru Westminster Abbey with the handheld guide supplied by the abbey. Liked going to Greenwich & going through the museum at the top of the hill & also the maritime museum. Liked the daytrip to Bath & anything to do with castles. <BR>Took our older son to Paris, & he liked the climbing things - Sacre Couer, climbed to the top of Arc de Triomphe. Going to the top of the Effiel Tower, Boat ride on the Seine. He really got interested in Napoleon's tomb, all the armor in the Musee de l'armie, & interestingly enough - the garden area of the Rodin Museum. He wasn't overly impressed though, by our day trip to Versailles.Eating at outside cafes & morning bread at the backery's was near the top of his list.

A second vote for the maze at Hampton Court. It's filled with kids, usually, whooping it up. <BR> <BR>I highly recommend a daytrip to Warwick castle. My son (11 years old) loved the dungeon rooms, the wax figures, the peacocks etc etc. In the armor section, they even put several pieces of armor on my husband (son too shy)- excellent photo opportunity. We've visited many castles throughout England (my son likes them) and I think this is one of the best, if not THE best. <BR> <BR>Make an effort to MISS the Dungeon Museum in London. It is TERRIBLE! A huge waste of time and money. <BR> <BR>As for Madame Troussaud, my son found it boring and we ending up liking it more than he did - you can see what our forefathers actually looked like because they sat(posed) for Madame Troussaud. A lot of political figures that my son could care less about. <BR> <BR>I haven't been there but I've heard that the Museum of Moving Images is quite interesting. Maybe someone else can comment on it in terms of whether a child/teenager would be interested.

Visited Paris for 4 days last summer with 10, 12 and 2 13 yr. olds (two families). Some of the highlights -- The kids loved the Eiffel tower at night. Arrive at sunset and watch the sun go down over Paris (the sun set about 10:00 PM in June). They loved the ferris wheel ride at the Tuileries Gardens (also done at sunset), as well as other carnival rides. They enjoyed the Louvre, but we did an "express" tour and saw the sights that they were familiar with. <BR> <BR>We walked along the Champs-Elysees and stopped in the Gap to see a bit of America. <BR> <BR>They loved the climp to the top of the Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame Cathedral. The views were spectacular! We did alot of walking and climbing stairs, but they enjoyed the physical activity and we saw so much! <BR> <BR>We were in Europe for 3 weeks and the trip was absolutely incredible. I hope you and your family have a wonderful time. <BR>

When I was 14, I was able to go to France for 2 weeks. Some of my favourites (at the time) included: <BR> <BR>- The Eiffel Tower (walking up 2/3s of it by stairs was half the fun) <BR>- The Hard Rock Cafe (It was my first Hard Rock Cafe) <BR>- Pere Lachaise Cemetary (where Jim Morrison is buried - I was a fan) <BR>- Musee D'Orsay/Le Louvre <BR>- the Parisien street life of the little shops, the cafes, the street entertainment, etc. <BR> <BR>I was 15 when I went to England. I spent 5 days in London. Things I loved: <BR> <BR>- The Tower of London (this is a must if you have kids - old weapons, royal jewels, tamed ravens, etc) <BR>- Picadilly Circus - at night, the energy at night is amazing, especially if that's the same night you landed. <BR>- Covent Gardens - flea markets, carousel, shops, pubs, <BR>- British Museum - Egyptian mummies, Paul/John's hand-written lyrics on old school books before the Beatles existed, many amazing artifacts. <BR>- Windsor Castle (it's outside of London), but your kids are at that age where they'd have a blast.

Thanks a lot to everyone!!!!That´s really helpful!