Flying_Mom

Hello to you all,
Thanks for your responses. Our flights are open to fly out of London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam. We are airline employees so changing departing cities is not a problem, only worries are if open seats are available.

Our only concern of staying in London for the entire week is the curency difference. Everything is so $$.

Athens is out as the flights to and from the US are full. Rome is full as well.

We will probably continue with our original plan of flying into London and possibly take the train to Amsterdam. I just need to get a travel book and check out the sites. Do you have any suggestions of things to do with children (ages 9 and 11) in Amsterdam?

Thanks so much for your help....

MorganB

>>> What about the car and building burned in the Marais? I'd say that's fairly central Paris. <<<

Got a link with that info Underhill?

francophile03

I saw an article posted on the US Yahoo! site this morning. It mentioned what Underhill stated about the Marais.

Underhill

I read about the Marais burning in the on-line New York Times--but I can't get the link to post. Just go to the NYT on-line site and search for

Paris riots Marais

WillTravel

These two articles briefly mention what happened in the Marais:
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/articl...51107110249302
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/in...rtner=homepage

MorganB

Found it everybody thank you.

>>> On Sunday, a gaping hole exposed a charred wooden staircase of a smoke-blackened building in the historic Marais district of Paris, where a car was set ablaze the previous night.<<<

I dont think its accurate however. That would have been saturday night when there were some cars burned near Republique. I think I would have seen it on the news or read about it in the French press. On the yahoo news they refered to the same fires as being "near" the marais district. Sounds like the bldg was damaged by the car fire.

grantop

Morgan, it is accurate. The Republic incident and the car and resulting damaged building in the Marais were the same night (Saturday)

tuscanlifeedit

If you decide to stay in London there are so many wonderful day trips your kids would probably love. You could have a great time and not be rushed changing cities and hotels. This could be good for the kids, too.

cigalechanta

I received an email today from the Marais. I asked if it was true and they say no that the city is safe that the riots are not in any section where the tourists are.two Other Parisians say they see nothing except what's on the news. Some fodorites will be returning soon so we wait to hear what they say.

Flyboy

I just returned from Paris yesterday and I would be happy to return tomorrow. While the rioting is a serious matter in the areas where it is occurring, it is not something that is having an impact on daily activities in central Paris. It is getting plenty of media coverage and attention from government officials and the police. Authorities have a lot of support for coming down very hard on the troublemakers. Whatever sympathy there might have been concerning some of the underlying issues involved is being drained away by the widespread sense of disgust that the continuing damage is generating.

Christina

I read that article in the NYTimes and it did seem specific to the Marais, but you never know -- some American press may use the term Marais for an area I wouldn't call that, just because they think it would be more known by Americans, or even because the reporter didn't know. I've been reading all the main Parisian papers recently, and they aren't really being that specific on locations from what I read, at least not within the city. None of them seemed to mention the incident within the city that much, and it isn't as emphasized as much. Actually, this seemed to have more importance in my local US newspaper than in the Parisian ones I've been reading.

travelgirl2

We took our 10 and 12 year old boys to London in August for about 8 days. It was great. There was tons to do. I don't think 2-3 nights would be nearly enough.

I can recommend Mary Poppins - we saw it because it was recommended to us (although we had low expectations). The lead actress was wonderful and I think it was better than anything I've seen on Broadway! Tower of London - tour with a beefeater guard was hugely entertaining. British Museum - visited twice for my history buff - afternoon tea there overlooking the library was great. Saw a show at the Globe Theater - very avante garde (unexpected), also very uncomfortable seating so we left at intermission. Kids loved the London Dungeon (I hated this one) and Madame Tussaude's (felt silly and touristy, but was slightly amusing). Hopping on and off the Big Red Bus was fun for a day (expensive though). Sunday church at St. Paul's was memorable, with an amazing choir. Our favorite meal was the Thai food at the Churchill Arms pub in Notting Hill (very inexpensive), so we ate there twice. We rented an apartment for 8 nights and then went to Bath for 2 nights. Everything was very $$$ - the apartment helped with breakfast in, laundry, 3 bedrooms for the price of a hotel room, etc.

kswl

Try Priceline for rooms in London. You will be pleasantly surprised. A family room or two doubles could be had in Kensington for less than $200 per night. Have a great time---a week is just right for London!

jules4je7

With 10 days to be there, I'd recommend staying in London for 5 days (you'll need that kind of time anyway -- London's way cooler than you'd think if you haven't been there before to know), and then see how things are going in Paris.

Personally, I would go to Paris anyway if I were with adults only, but since you're travelling with children, I'd be more concerned in case you run into something really ugly. It's one thing to be in harm's way yourself and gamble with your safety, but with kids you're wise to be at least thinking about it.

Maybe you could go ahead with plans to go to Paris, given that you wouldn't be there until about the 20th (let's all pray it doesn't take them 2 more weeks to get this thing under control), and you can see what I and many others on this board consider to be the greatest city on earth.

If things aren't under control, you can cancel your reservations in Paris with 24 hours notice, take Ira's advice and go north to Scotland & Wales, and fly into CDG to get home if you must.

Jules

ira

Hi Mom,

You can fly from London, Glasgow, Edinburgh to AMS for a lot less than the Eurostar.

See www.whichbudget.com