Paris for first timers - with a 10 year old
 

I know that this subject has been covered here a lot of times but still I would appreciate advice on what to do and see that would be of interest to a 10 year old girl but would give mom and dad a chance to experience the real Paris as well. We are going the week of Thanksgiving. We have decided to rent an apartment in the 7th.

Are there any city tours that you would recommend? How about venturing outside to Versailles?

Also, what would be the best Paris guidebook/map to buy and take with us?

Head to the library and check out several guides -- decide which you like best and DEFINITELY get you daughter into reading them. She may come up with some super ideas while she's at it. When you are there, I suggest you take one of the Paris Walks tours -- my favorite was the tour of Monmartre. (Pick up a copy of Time Out at the Airport usually the meeting times & places for the tours.) I would take her to visit the Musee Carnavalet to get a flavor of the French Revolution and how the aristocracy lived rather spend all day going to Versailles and back. It's a pretty eclectic museum and might be more interesting to a 10 year old than all the empty rooms at Versailles. Besides, it is in the Marais and there are some trendy shops a "tween" might enjoy visiting.

Hello there! Like you, I'm also taking a ten year old to Paris and staying in the 7th. We differ in that my child is a boy and we'll be there from Christmas to New Year's.

I recommend that you order a book called "Around Paris With Kids", which is published by Fodors, but I bought from Amazon.com. It's got "68 great things to do together" in "the city and beyond".

There are lots intriguing activities listed that I didn't know about and I've been to Paris several times, although without children.

For amusement on the lengthy plane trip, I also bought "Just Plane Smart", 92 pages of aviation related trivia, puzzles, etc.

We'll also be taking a GameBoy with silencer option. (Wouldn't want that annoying electronic noise to get us tossed out of the plane in mid-Atlantic.)

For a useful, compact map booklet, I recommend Michael Middleditch's "The Paris Mapguide" (also on Amazon.com).

Hope you and your family have a fabulous vacation! It will definitely be a memorable one.

Thanks for great suggestions so far. Keep them coming.

Hi
I have a file on Paris for kids; if you'd like to see it, email me.

I don't know what her interests are, but your daughter might like oddities like the Catacombs or Sewers--there are guided tours. There is also the remains of a Roman arena, medieval unicorn tapestries in the Cluny Museum (now called Museum of the Middle Ages),
a musical instrument museum, etc etc

On Wednesdays, school kids are off--if weather is decent it's a good day to go to a park like the Luxembourg Gardens and she might have some play time with Parisian kids. There are also puppet shows there, etc.

I have a nine year old daughter and we will be staying in the 7th over the Christmas school vacation. This will be my 9 year old's fourth trip to Paris. I think you will find plenty to do for the adults and your daughter. Some favorite activities of my daughter are visiting the childrens playground in the Luxembourg Gardens, the sculpture garden at the Rodin museum. We usually choose some paintings and sculptures to review ahead of time and then seek those out at the Louve and the d'Orsay. We also found this cute series of books about a little girl and her adventures meeting the artists of some famous paintings. I'll find the title of the books for you over the weekend. She loves to eat at the crepe stands and we usually think about a special item that she would like to bring home and we keep our eyes open searching for the perfect souvenier. Those items have been a puppet for her collection, a snow globe with the eiffel tower and believe it or not some shoes. The kids shoes in Paris are adorable and plentiful!! She has been to Versailles and mostly remembers the long wait to get in. Her favorite is the Eiffel Tower. I also have a 14 year old daughter and I will ask the girls if they have any suggestions and get back to you. You will have a wonderful time!

Paris has carousels in several locations. I remember one in a little playground area near Sucre Ceour (sp?). Also the boat ride on the Seine is a nice thing to do (and a nice break from a busy day). We took one at sunset, it was lovely.

If your daughter is not big on museums, just check out specific exhibits of interest at the Louvre. It can be overwhelming. We rented the audio tours and my kids enjoyed using them. We also liked th Picasso museum quite a bit. It's small and very managable.

We stayed near Luxem. Gardens and on afternoons we'd always allow for down time in the park. We brought along a football to play catch with (I have a son and daughter).

We spent a morning at Versaille. We had friends that drove us there so that saved a lot of time. We did not go on a tour, but again, rented the audio tour. We beat the crowds and were done by lunch.

Your daughter might enjoy the movie with the Olsen twins that takes place in Paris, I can't remember the name. ALso, the Hunchback of Notre Dame and A little Romance (takes place in Paris and Venice). Let her watch a few movies with Paris settings before the trip and then see what she recognized when you're there.

Have fun.

We went to Paris with our 12 year old son during spring break a few years back. He enjoyed the playground at Luxembourg Gardens, the Picasso Museum, the Salvador Dali musuem (because the pictures there were weird - not sure if it would be appropriate/interesting for your daughter). One of the highlites was climbing to the top of Notre Dame and seeing the Gargoyles. Don't miss this. It is definitely worth the wait and climb.

Finally, whenever we take a trip to Europe, we always take into account that this would not necessarily be our son's first choice. So we try to take him to some amusement park while we are there. My husband and I don't really like amusement parks even in the US but we figure if he can be a good sport, so can we.

We were in Paris for a week so we agreed to spend one afternoon at Paris Disney. I wouldn't dream of doing this without a child - wouldn't want to waste precious time. Also, if you are only in Paris 3 or 4 days, forget it. Definitely not worth it. But, although I hate amusement parks, I have to admit, it was fun seeing European families(I only saw two or three Americans there)experiencing Disney. Very different.

Anyway, whatever you do in Paris, you will have a lot of fun. My son was not a museum fan and we went to all of the biggees and several small,less known ones. He enjoyed it and still talks about the trip. In fact, he likes to go to museums now - Paris changed his point of view. You are giving your daughter a wonderful gift.

The tethered hot air balloon in the Parc Andre Citroen (in the 15th) has been a huge hit with French school children, so your daughter may enjoy it as well (I thought it was a lot of fun). As far as I know, it's not mentioned in the guidebooks, but here is a link for all the details:

http://www.whatsontheplanet.com/wow/...event_id=79655

As you will be in the 7th, you might want to check the activities board at the American Church in Paris. The church is more or less a community center for American expats in Paris and you may see posted some activities (many of them are not at all church related) where your daughter could socialize with American kids living in Paris.

Wow, what great suggestions! Thank you all.

Elaine, I would love your file but not sure how to e-mail you. Would you mind just e-mailing it to me at [email protected]? Thanks.

Hi iza
I cut and pasted your email address, tried sending the file and got an error message in return.
Some email systems have limits on the size of incoming attachments, and my file is pretty long
Please email me at [email protected] if you have an alternate email address or if you typed yours in incorrectly above

I e-mailed Iza my collection of notes from Fodors parents on what their children liked in Paris

[email protected]

I thought the comcast addresses were comcast.net (was this an old attbi.com address--all of my friends with those addresses are now [email protected], not comcast.com)
Elaine, try again with comcast.net and see what happens

If she has seen the Disney "Hunchback" movie, she might get a kick out of climbing to the top of Notre Dame bell tower. Those bells are BIG, and an 8-year-old Allie Go made it up to the top with little trouble.

She also liked Versailles. And the Seine river cruise. And playing in the little park on the west end of the Ile de Cite. But her favorite place in Paris is Berthillon...best ice cream ever!

Hello friends, of course it is @comcast.net. They have just switched us recently from @home.com to @attbi.com to @comcast.net, so I'm still getting confused. Just can't keep up with those bankruptcies and mergers ;-)

I would appreciate if Elaine and Ben could e-mail me again at [email protected].

Thanks a lot!

Elaine and Ben,
If you have the time I would also love to receive your "Paris with kids" files. We will be taking our 6 and 10 year olds in late October. Thanks in advance.
Gina
[email protected]

We visited Paris last April with our 10- and 11-year-old daughters. Their favorite things about Paris were the desserts, especially ice cream at Berthillon on the Ile St. Louis (about a 10 minute walk from Notre Dame), and the raspberry/rhubarb torte at Moscade (sp?), a pleasant cafe on the northwest side of the Palais Royale. They both liked the flower and bird market on Sunday at the Cite metro stop near Notre Dame. Our older daughter had a school project on the Persian Empire, so she spent an afternoon at the Louvre sketching some of the Persian exhibits there. She liked it so much that our younger daughter spent a couple of hours looking it over the next day. The Louvre is so big, we saw only a bit of it, but that may be the key for Paris as a whole - don't try to do everything. They really liked the down-time at the apartment, too. Our older daughter also liked going to the top of the Eiffel Tower (despite the one hour wait), the Impressionist paintings at the Musee D'Orsay, Ste. Chappele with its great stained glass, and the Cluny/Museum du Moyen Age, which had the unicorn tapestry. The open air boat trip on the Seine was not a big hit with the girls, perhaps because it came at the end of a long, hot day with lots of walking.

Hi, I am just back from Paris. The Balloon in André Citroën parc
http://www.aeroparis.com/venir.php. the Promenade de planet and the Canal saint martin cruise,
where all fun, but I don't know how it will be in December.

The puppet museum http://www.museedelapoupeeparis.com/
And the Musée Jacquemart-André will be nice in any weather.

Sunday in good weather is wonderful in the mornings in rue Muffetard. (thanks to all the Americans who recommended the place. the accordionist was there right on time and there were a lot more street performers).

I have on disk a long note of things that parents on Fodors forum said went well for their children in Paris. If you ask me I can e-mail it to you.

Welcome to Europe

Ben Haines