kdk1965

Other than the screamingly obvious, what should we make sure to do?

What are some good "when it rains" suggestions?

Does anyone have any good suggestions for places to eat that are easy on kiddos and on the pocketbook? We also want to splurge once on really good food, but don't want to upset diners not used to children aged 7, 7, 10 and 13.

Suggestions? My 7 year olds are ready to try escargot

Thanks!!

zkim

I too have children ages 7 and 9. I went to Paris earlier this year but did not take them. I was heartbroken leaving them behind but didn't know what to expect in Paris and from my children. So I guess it would depend on your children and what you do. They will love the Eiffel Tower but may not be as pleased with spending long hours in the museums. Now, looking back, I realize that my daughter would have loved it and my son hated it (he gets bored even at amusement parks!). There are so many parks and the people in Paris are very child-friendly. Unlike SF where I live, children were taken to restaurants and well-liked. Here most of the restaurants frown when I walk in with my children until they realize how well behaved they are. The only thing that would concern me is the smoke. I bet they have a lot of fun!

indytravel

Gross them out with a visit to Les Egouts, the sewers. That's what I did with my 13 & 12 year old niece & nephew.

StCirq

Angelina for hot chocolate and mont blanc

Bethillon for ice cream

Cité de Science for fabulous hands-on science stuff

Deyrolle on the rue du Bac for fabulous taxidermy

The guignol inthe Jardin d'Acclimatation

The street performers at the Place Beaubourg

rollerblading on Friday evenings

For child-friendly restaurants try the Hippopotamus and Flunch chains, crèpes, pizza, and the Brioche d'Or and Pain Quotidien sandwich places.

For your splurge, you might try Bofinger - there's always a crowd and it's not fussy, but the food's traditional and great, and it's a Parisian landmark.

melissa19

(apologies if this posts twice; hit the wrong button)

Message: we're taking our 9 y.o. daughter to paris next spring, so i can share some of our ideas.

the first day we're planning to see the "paris-story," a 45 minute multi-media show of the history of paris. it's near a big dept. store and the petite perfume museum. good for girls . . .

there's the cite des sciences museum and parc villette mentioned above. very modern museum and unique grounds.

we're planning to take her to some of the smaller and more unique museums. in the marais there's the picasso, carnavalet, and musee de la magie, among others.

hitting every garden and playground in town.

sampling lots of hot chocolate.

and, generally, not over-planning our day. head for one activity in the morning, and then see where the day takes you.

when are you going? have fun!

Ralstonlan

We are taking our 10 year old son to London and Paris in two weeks. I booked a three hour tour at the Louvre entitled "Muse Clues", where we will have private tour for the three of us ,geared toward children. They promise to take the children on a sort scavenger hunt throughout the museum, looking for clues in ceratin works of art. It was VERY expensive, but we did a similar tour at the Vatican with him last year and it was money well spent. He learned and retained more than he ever would have otherwise. He now thinks of himself as a sort expert on Raphael and Michelangelo! Look at www.parismuse.com if you are interested.

kdk1965

We will be there Wed-Sun of Thanksgiving. The kids are really pretty good while touring. They loved London and my eldest got a kick out of the FLorence museums.

We plan to let each person get their first choice. My daughter wants the Eifel Tower and her twin brother wants snails. Go figure

Needless to say, we can hardly wait. My husband and I keep looking at each other saying, "We're going to Paris!"

cheryllj

Absolutely don't miss the Friday Night Fever rollerbladers! If any of your kids is a rollerblader especially, that would be fun to participate in, so check out the route beforehand. I think they start from Gare Montparnasse (?). (And I think they do it on Sundays too, if Friday night is too late for them.)

Even if your kids don't rollerblade, seeing the thousands of rollerbladers in the street is pretty cool.

More about the rollerblading:
http://www.pari-roller.com/?lang=en

Of course the Eiffel Tower and Jardin du Luxembourg would be must-sees with kids also. I also think Montmartre would be fun for them, but only during the day. I also think the Pompidou Centre would be cool for kids.

Travelnut

Please note that the Friday night rollerblading is best left to expert skaters. Literally thousands of skaters hit the street at 10pm-1am, with police escort. They do not leisurely stride, they ROLL. People fall down and a sea of skaters flow around them. Younger kids might be ok joining at the back of the pack. There are other skating events in the daytime, I forget if held on Sat or Sunday. These would be much more age-appropriate, in my opinion.

kdk1965

Our hotel is right by the jardin di Luxembourg.

Does anyone know of a good language site? I get the feeling we will find ourselves lapsing into Italian. It is more than time for us to pick up a few phrases in French.

Looking for Bofinger info now

StCirq

kdk1965 - I like www.travlang.com for learning simple, useful phrases. Your kids will like the audio feature and can practice getting their pronounciation right.

muffysanpasqual

If your children are even remotely interested in museums, I stronly recommend the very colorful and educational Pompidou Centre! I simply LOVED it (28 year kid at heart). Low cost eating can be found at a creperie where your kids can fill their crepes with gooey chocolate, sweet friuts, or something savory and totally differnet(sorry for butchering the spelling of French words, but I speak Italian and Spanish, not French!).

ben_haines_london

If you e mail me I can gladly send you a longish note on what forum parents say their children enjoyed in Paris.

ben.haines@:btinternet.com

kdk1965

We will practice daily. Thanks for the tip!

My husband speaks survival German, I speak survival Spanish and we both speak slightly above survival Italian. French will be our next survival language

Mary

travelbunny

..the children will love the Batteux mouches..a great way to see the city at night. Les Invalides has a great collection of armour..agree with the sewers. I dont know whether there is a tour of the conciergerie in English, but I took it in French and it was great but I wouldnt go ther without the tour if I had children of that age...If you have a day to go to Chantilly, I think they would enjoy that..There is a very pretty park in Scieux (a southern suburb of paris). The RER goes to it. The park is a great place to kick a ball or walk..lots of families. It was designed by Le Notre.

Ralstonlan

kdk- Looks like we will be in Paris at the same time. Crazy thought, but maybe we should try to meet up. Our son (ten years) also has the Eiffel Tower high on his list if priorities as well as eating rabbit!Our plan is to see the Eiffel Tower on Thanksgiving morning, as we have reservations at Jules Verne for lunch.

Fodorite018

Our children were ages 8 and 10 when we took them. Both tried and fell in love with escargot! The 8 yr old also tried and really liked frogs legs...he ordered them twice during the trip.

The Eiffel Tower was a hit...definitely go to the top. There is information up there as to how far away various places are, so there is more to it than just the views. We did have dinner at Altitude 95 one evening. The food isn't bad...not great, but not bad...and although it is a touristy thing to do the kids did really like it.

We enjoyed all the usual places...but also just wandering around and seeing what we came upon. Kids are great in that they can find wonder in just about anything!

dln

Bring your children to Luxembourg Gardens. It's a great park complete with fountains, a big pool for sailing model boats, statues everywhere, and a fantastic playground. You could spend quite some time there.

Bofinger's website is www.bofingerparis.com. If you book online, there's a discount!

Michel_Paris

If you want to venture further out, Versailles may be the spot. A real 'castle', interiors that are over the top and grounds that cover acres. Perhaps plan a picnic around this? The Arenes de Lutece is an excavated Roman arena on the Left Bank and would be another neat spot for a picnic, or perhaps Musee des Moyens Ages (formerly Cluny Museum) that is small enough plus was built around Roman baths. The Musee des Armees has loads of neat things, like armour and weapons from the age of knights and kings. Maybe you could just pop into these places, not spend hours at any one.
Mike

mebanese

I've taken two separate groups of kids to Les Egouts, and they both loved it. We also took a day and went to Parc Asterix, and small theme park close to Paris.

My boys really liked Notre Dame - especially the tower. They still talk about Rodin's Garden and the Louvre.

Make sure you explain what you're going to see before you see it, so they'll know what to expect. We used Rick Steves "Mona Winks" as a guide.