shelly59

I am taking my 13 year old nephew & his mother, my sister, to Paris late next Spring for a long weekend. Need some advice all around . Food, what to see, etc. I would spend my days at Cafe Angelique, Lauderee, the Louvre and D'Orsay, but I sort of doubt that is THEIR idea of a good time! We will hit those spots, and the Effel Tower, of course. But what else? We are staying in the Marais district in an apartment.

He is a fairly mature, but not sophisticated person. That pretty much describes his Mum, too Finally, and most importantly, he has Cystic Fibrosis. SO, any advice from CF parents or parents who have traveled with chronically sick children would be greatly appreciated.

Jenn

We took our 13yr old son to London and Paris this last summer. He really enjoyed the hussle and bussle of Paris.
He like Neopolean's Tomb and the army
museum quite a bit. He loved going up the Eiffel Tower. The museums were OK for him. Not great. One tip- we found that he really enjoyed taking many of the photos on our trip. Next time I would give him a camera of his own to use. It helped him to be more involved with what we were seeing. Took some great photos too! He also got quite good at reading the small "pop up" map we used. He liked tracking where we were and how to get to the atractions. As far as the food-we did have a little trouble- and I have always thought that he was a good eater. Dinners were easier that lunches. We definitely had to stop at small markets and get snacks for the room. Hope you have a great trip.

shelly59

Oh, I LOVE the camera idea!! Thanks. I am so excited about taking him!! I went for the 1st time in May of this year and fell in love. The people were so nice and the food, shopping and sight-seeing were wonderful. I think he is just the right age to start to experience cultures other than his own.

Jenn

I agree - 13 was the perfect age. I really planned this trip knowing that there may be years coming up that he won't want to be SEEN with his parents in tow!!
Have a wonderful trip.

FainaAgain

Shelly, if the child is sick, do you have clearance from his doctor to take a trans-atlantic flight? Was he ever on a plane?

Sorry, I am not familiar with CF, the internet search said it has something to do with the lungs. If this is his first flight, how will he take it?

Make sure he has worldwide health coverage and have emergency phone number and a local (maybe English speaking) doctor's number handy.

Sorry if I've alarmed you, but I had a sick child, so better be safe then sorry.

shelly59

Hi, FainaAgain.

The trip is still in the early planning stages, but yes, he has flown before, although not overseas.

His doctors think it a GREAT idea. and we will, of course, be working very closely with his medical people at all times both before and during the trip. His illness is also why this will be a very short trip..probably Friday through Monday.

No, you are NOT scaring me. It is exactly the type of feedback I need as I am trying to think of everything and your ideas regarding worldwide medical coverage, emergency #'s, english speaking doctors, etc., are great and got my wheels turning, so to speak.
Much thanks and I pray that your child's illness was minor.

twk

I would second the military museum and emphasize that there is more than just the WWII wing (which has some good bells and whistles). Take at least 30 minutes to go through the wing dedicated to the Napoleonic wars as well. The signs for that wing are all in French, but you can still enjoy seeing all the uniforms and weapons even if you can't fully understand the captions.

The Eiffel Tower and other visual sites, like Notre Dame, would be good, although I would think that you would want to avoid lots of climbing, which would rule out some activities that I would suggest for super-active boys (like climbing the bell tower at Notre Dame, climbing to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, etc).

A Segway tour of Paris might be fun for this kid, although I'm not sure what the age limits are for that tour company (do a google search and I'm sure you'll come up with them).

mnapoli

When you go to Notre Dame, go down the street to the left of the cathedral and over a small bridge to the Ile St. Louis. Right there is the greatest ice cream in Paris -- Berthillon. I hope your newphew loves it as much as my daughter did!

BabsB

shelly59, the camera idea is great. If possible use a digital with a large storage card. That way he can take pictures to his hearts content and you and his mom won't freak out about how many pictures he is taking. I am not familiar with CF so don't know what limitations he has to deal with but my son and I went on a Fat Tire Bike Ride that included a river boat trip and it was absolutely wonderful. Have a wonderful trip.

hdm

Shelly,
What a lucky son you have! I love the camera idea too and disposables are perfect because no one gets too upset if they're dropped or lost.

I'm not one who likes to keep a travel journal (and would have liked it even less at 13, I think) but I do use a tip someone once gave me for keeping memories fresh and your son might enjoy it too. Whenever we travel I buy a postcard of something we've done or seen that day and at the end of the day I write my memories, thoughts, ideas, etc. on it (including, in Italy, what flavours of gelato we ate that day). Because there's a limited amount of writing space you don't feel overwhelmed and it's just the right size to store with your pics. We had so much fun going through the postcards when we got home -- there were lots of "oh ya! I'd forgotten about that!" memories.

hdm

BabsB -- posting at the same time and it just goes to show how far behind the times I am with cameras. While I love computer stuff, I'm not one to carry a camera and have only recently stopped using disposables in favour of a 'real' point and shoot. I have to say, though, that the small size of the digitals appeals to me and I'm hovering on the brink of buying one. I might wait till after Christmas though, and see if one shows up in my stocking.

missypie

My son was 13 when we went to Paris. He is into ancient Egypt, so we spent a lot of time in the Egyptian section of the Louvre.

He also loved eating crepes, shwarmas, ice cream and pastries and drinking Orangina!!!

If you aren't "museumed" out, my three kids enjoyed the Beauburg (Pompideau Centre) and the Picasso museums. I admit that we did more laughing at the art than serious appreciation of the art, but it was wild to see and kept everyone's attention. (And you'll be in the neighborhood.)

One last thing: If he's into the Harry Potter books, Nicholas Flammel's house (purportedly the oldest house in Paris) is just around the corner from the Pompideau Centre.

Bill_I

When we took our 12 year old son to Paris he also really liked the Musée de l'Armée & Napoléon's Tomb. But he also liked going through the Luxemburg Gardens. He also liked going through the Conciergerie. Sacré-Coeur was another place he liked, as well as the artists' square. We did the Seine boat rides & the Tour Eiffel during the day & at night. But 1 thing that really suprised me that he liked was the garden at the Rodin Museum. We were too late to get into the actual museum, but really enjoyed the garden. He somewhat liked seeing Versailles palace, but it wasn't one of his favorites. He enjoyed the gardens more. Foods he liked were Omlettes, Sandwiche du Jambon - ham sandwich from the sandwich carts in the parks, & his favorite was going to the bakeries in the morning to get some of the fresh french bread to munch on. & where ever we ate, we let him ask for the bill at the end of the meal - l'addition s'il vous plait. That was always a winner with the kid & the wait staff.

shelly59

Wow! So many wonderful responses.

Scribbling down all of your ideas and feedback. My nephew is VERY healthy for a CF kid, plays hockey, baseball, basketball, etc. Unless you knew he was ill, you would have NO idea at all. So we are blessed. He is such an awesome kid, I think he is ready for Paris. Dublin is next on the list ;-) or it may be first, depending on friends I have over there. I am SO excited, even more then HE is, lol...but what are crazy aunts for??

missypie

Good to hear he's so healthy. Can he climb? All of my kids loved whatever could be climbed to the top of and looked out of...Arch de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeure...they found a lot to complain about, but never complained about climing.

Also, has he read the Da Vinci Code? I know it's an adult bood, but my DS loves it. If he's read it, make sure to include a few sites from the book.

cmt

I am not an expert about Paris or about CF. I know you can find many threads on Fodors re things to do with children and teenagers in Paris. Because your nephew has CF, avoiding smoke and air pollution may be an issue for you. Though the last time I was briefly in Paris, the air outdoor was pretty good and, for my very few meals, I managed to avoid heavy exposure to smoke, I often hear that Paris has an air pollution problem and that many restaurants are very smoky. (I am extremely sensitive to exhaust fumes, cigarette smoke, and similar "bad air," but do not have any lung disease or other serious health problem.) You can probably gather some info in advance re smoke-free places to eat in the neighborhoods that you'll be visiting. I think there have been threads here on that topic. In the unlikely event that your nephew has a medical crisis during the trip, I think there will probably be excellent care available in Paris, but maybe you can probably get some specific info in advance re the best hospitals for lung conditions in the city. If you are an experienced traveler, I know you'll probably remember to take any prescription medicines or enzymes or medical aids in a carry-on, rather than in checked baggage, just in case the airline delays your luggage.

meocamuzet

The catacombs!

Citylghts

I agree with the catacombs suggestion. Not sure if the CF would prevent this, but an extension of that would be the sewer museum and tour. If he's like most 13 year-olds I know, he'd think that was even better than the Eiffel Tower.

The museum entrance is just east of the Pont de l'Alma and admission is around €4.

marigross

Would you consider going for a longer period? I think that such a short trip (Friday-Monday) with so many close-together hours in the airplane would be more stressful/unhealthy than spending more time in Paris. You should also allow for jet lag management.

Have a great time, chronic illnesses should not be a handicap until they absolutely have to be.

shelly59

I would LOVE to spend more time..must see how he and his mum feel about it though. It is the first time to Europe for both of them and they are a bit leery.

"chronic illnesses should not be a handicap until they absolutely have to be."

1000% in agreement. Which is why I want to take my nephew ASAP. I understand that CF gets much worse, not better, as he gets older.