Travelmom

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to go about planning 6 days in Paris with a pre-teen and young teen? We've never been, so we want to see the old standards as well as anything of particular interest to kids this age. What's the best way to actually rough out an itinerary for each of the 6 days? Also, any restaurant suggestions...and breakfast ideas. What about nighttime activiteis? We will be staying in the 6th.

Fred

Treat the kids as adults - they'll love Paris. They all do. E-mail me for more information. [email protected]

elvira

Please see some other posts re: using this board to advertise, and mentioning Fred's name. <BR> <BR>1) search this forum for recommended hotels for families; most include a continental breakfast. If the kids need more than that, you'll need to stay in either an American-style hotel or an apartment; there are a couple of American restaurants that do bacon and eggs, or there's always McDonald's. <BR>2) When I plan our group's itineraries, I ask for suggestions from everyone, with the understanding I'll try to fit in everything, but no guarantees. Do that with your young-uns; give them a couple of guidebooks, let 'em loose on the web, and get their input. You also don't have to stay together like Siamese quadruplets - Mom and one kid can go do something while Dad and the other go off someplace else. Each day, try to mix heavy stuff (like honker art museum) with light stuff (like a boat ride on the Seine). <BR>3) Nighttime activities: on certain Friday nights, it's roller night - a section of Paris is closed to traffic, and out comes everybody on rollerblades; there are internet storefronts where you can rent computer time (email, games, web, etc.); no malls (except at Les Halles, if you want to call it a mall), and the department stores close around 6 (they do stay open late one night); Blvd St Michel and St Germaine and the Champs Elysees are loaded with boutiques and shops, and many of them stay open later in the evening; movies are HUUUUGE in Paris - look for VO on the sign (means it's the original soundtrack, usually with French subtitles). <BR>4) The search for food is so easy, it's a sin. There are sandwiches from shops and patisseries/boulangeries; there's pizza and Italian food; there's Chinese food. The closer you are to the tourist sites, the more expensive the food (as a general rule). Wander down a side street and check out the menus (restaurants must post their menus outside, either on a podium of some sort, or in the window); pot au feu or boeuf bourgagnon is stew: coq au vin is stewed chicken; cassoulet is franks and beans (okay I'm taking some liberties here, but it's easier to explain to the young uns what they're eating); there's always McDonald's or Burger King if they've had it with French food. <BR>5) There's a doll museum, a coin museum, a stamp market, a lock and key museum, a mechanical toy museum, the catacombs, the sewers, the zoo, the geode and science museum in La Villette, the dog and cat cemetery, the ferris wheel at Place de la Concorde, caricatures of you drawn by Montmartre artists, rollerbladers and skateboarders on the Trocadero.

Christina

I have no idea what treat the kids as adults means anyway, but I would not pay for that kind of advice, nor seek out more of it. There are some good specialized web sites and guides for kids you might want to view. They tend to focus on younger kids, that's true, but you might get some ideas from the section for kids in Paris travel on www.timeout.com/Paris and www.about.com has a great article on that, also. I agree the food thing is pretty easy, you'll find plenty of casual cafes and brasseries that will do but I would advise you that it is not as common in Paris as in suburbia US to take kids out at night to restaurants (even casual ones) late. There is a great food court in the basement of the Louvre that you might like--sounds tacky but it's not that bad, actually, maybe 10 casual restaurants with a variety of cuisines (pizza, Moroccan, French, etc) at reasonable cost and everyone can buy what appeals to them most and kind of view the food first. I don't know what you want for breakfast ideas, with kids I would probably search out a hotel that offers a good buffet breakfast, rather than continental and rather than going out to a cafe; some cafes do not offer a wide variety of breakfast food and it can add up in cost--there are more of these in Paris (hotels with buffets) now due to tourism. I have one very offbeat suggestion for casual dining, nongourmet -- there is a good French cafeteria (Melodines) right near the Alesia metro stop. There, you can view and pick out the food you want, the quality is as good or better than most cafes but cheaper (a chef makes omelettes to order in front of you, for example), and there is a wide variety of drinks (including beer and wine), desserts, etc. Lots of French families with kids go there as it's more casual for dining and that kind of setup is more foolproof for kids who can pick what they want. Now this is not a touristy area, that's true, so if you don't want to venture beyond the tourist areas at night, skip it--but there are a couple movie theaters right near there that sometimes play American films in VO (version originale) meaning not dubbed, just subtitled in French; your family might find that a fun evening activity; it's good for lunch, also, and you can have a nice walk (and see more real Paris) up av du Gen Leclerc to place Denfert Rocherau (check on rue Daguerre area to west just before there) and through Montparnasse cemetery in the next stretch (many famous people buried there, like Sartre and Beauvoir). This area (Alesia) has lots of good discount clothes and shoes and other shops on it, also, you could do shopping along there in the daytime. Actually, it would probably be better to head up to bd Montparnasse for a movie as there are more VO movies in the "artier" neighborhoods and in the more residential ones they tend to be dubbed--the Mistral theater at 70 av Ge leClerc (Alesia metro) does sometimes have films in English, though. There is lots to do up in the Parc Villette area in NE Paris -- a terrific music museums which I'd recommend if your kids are at all interested in music, the Science and Industry museum, they have concerts for kids up there sometimes (classical see www.cite-musique.fr or www.la-villette.com/us/index2.htm) for some ideas up in that area. I just recommended to someone else on here looking for eve. theater stuff the French circuses at Parc de Villette and you can find out about them at the above URL, also, they have eve. performances around 9 pm so would be good family eve. entertainment). I am not pushing anything so do NOT want you to email me, ha, ha (you can if you wish, though, some people do at [email protected]).