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Paris from December 26th unitl January 3rd

Paris from December 26th unitl January 3rd

Old Dec 12th, 2010, 03:51 PM
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Paris from December 26th unitl January 3rd

Just last week decided to take our kids to Paris over the holidays, we are a family of four with a 16 year old boy and a 12 year old girl. We have rented an apartment in the 5th and we are just starting to look at restaurants, day trips, museums (and their schedules), shows, etc.
We need help in every possible area. We are planning to have one nice meal out every day and we'll probably eat in at breakfast time only.
Also need suggestions for New Years Eve celebration, our kids are pretty well travelled but this is their first time in Paris, would like this New Years celebration to be extra special,

Looking forward to your input.....
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Old Dec 12th, 2010, 05:31 PM
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The Christmas markets, I think, will still be open-should be fun to check out.

If you are going to museums and monuments get a Paris Museum pass that you use on consecutive days that could save money but will save you time, as you won't have to stand in line for tix.
Most major sites accept the pass there is a list on their site plus all the details.
http://en.parismuseumpass.com/

Le Train Bleu is a beautiful restaurant that you might want to try for one of your nice meals out...at Gare de Lyon...gorgeous place!

Versailles is spectacular and an easy day trip from Paris.

We are going over Christmas and are planning to check out the catacombs for the first time...your 16 yr old might like that!

If you don't mind spending some coin....see what special dinner Hotel de Crillion on Place de la Concorde has for NYE.
Or maybe Le Jules Verne at the Eiffel Tower might be fun for dinner.
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Old Dec 12th, 2010, 07:13 PM
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Dear Denisea,

Thanks for your reply. Just checked the website for Le Train Bleu and we think the kids will love it. This is a great recommendation.

Will definately go to Versailles,have friends there and might even spend a night in that area.

For the museum pass, I am in California, should I get it in advance? I checked that they can send it to us. I will probably date it from Monday 12/26 for six days.

we would skip Le Jules Verne but would definately like to consider the Hotel de Crillon, they offer a New Year party for EURO 196 per person. I had checked Hotel Le Meurice and was a lot more....

Any more details would be greatly appreciated.
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Old Dec 12th, 2010, 07:50 PM
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Here is a blog with the Christmas market information:

http://networkedblogs.com/baf1U

We're looking forward to our holiday trip as well!
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Old Dec 12th, 2010, 08:40 PM
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Thanks beach girl, this is a great link. We could see the top 3 markets, the others will be closed.
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Old Dec 13th, 2010, 08:57 AM
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I think the main Paris museums are free the first Sunday of the month. You may want to double check and think about how many museums you'll actually go to before getting a pass -- especially given a day in Versailles and with most likely closed on the 1st. Just a thought.
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Old Dec 13th, 2010, 09:28 AM
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The one benefit of the pass may be to avoid the lines. You will have to decide if that is worth the cost or not. Or, you get to musuem first thing in the morning.

I might suggest a few of the smaller museums. Musee Moyen Age (aka Cluny) covers the middle ages, has a famous tapestry, and is built over the ruins of roman baths. The Jacquemart-Andre is the house of an industrialist/art collector, that was donated to city after death. Rodin is another good small one, as is Marmottan (Degas) which is located in upscale arrondissements. Marmottan is also holding large Degas retrospective right now.

For metro/subway, I might suggest just gettgin a few carnets (books of ten tickets). With a central hotel, and walking, you might find that the carnet is enough for 1 person for the stay.

A Seine cruise is a must, at night. Vedettes du Pont Nefu is one I've used and liked. Bit smaller boats than those near Place D'Alma (Bateaux Mouches).

Paris Walks would be a nice break from the guidebooks. They offer Enlgish languages tours of several neighbourhoods. Good value, last ~ 2 hrs.

Cityrama and Parisvision are two companies that coach tours of the city as well as outside, such as Versailles. Versailles can be easily reached by RER train form central Paris. You can decide if you want to DIY or organized group.

Restaurants will post their menus outside, so you will be able to have a look, translate, and decide if it is for you. There are multiple threads here on restaurant recommendations.
For me, I would skip any hotle breakfast and go to local cafe. I have a cafe creme, OJ, and croissant as my breakfast. Lunch, I tend to pick up a delicious sandwich from a vendor or a local shop that serves sandwiches and sweets. Crepes are a local favorite. I tend to save on these meals to spend a bit more on dinner.

You will read the guides here (and purchase one?). Some of my favorite places are Palais Royal square, Place des Vosges, Ile St Louis. walks along Seine,etc.. If you take the Paris Walks morning tour of the Marais, they finish at Aplce des Vosges, so you cna have lunch there and then wander area. Some decent shopping aorund there, and Hotel Carnavalet is the museum of the City of Paris, built in a coupel of old mansions.

Hope this helps.
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Old Dec 13th, 2010, 12:31 PM
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I'm not sure who "they" is, but no one will send you the museum pass for free in California, I presume, so you have to figure out if you want to pay whatever the postage is. I don't see any reason to do that, it's one more thing to possibly get lost en route or that you have to remember to take and you'll pay more for it that way. But it's your money. If you aren't buying from a govt source than you are probably paying more for the pass itself on top of the postage to California. The official website is www.parismuseumpass.com

It appears they charge 13.50 euro to mail to California. So it's up to you.

Jan 1st is a very big holiday in France in terms of official closures. Most museums are closed that day (or monuments).

I don't know what I'd do with children on NY eve, but I hate it anyway. There will be people roaming the streets, drinking, and a lot of that kind of activity. Some minor dangers due to the drunks on the street usual things (ie, broken glass, etc., maybe a little trouble with the police here and there, watch out for firecrackers). A lot of people are on the streets in St Germain, the Latin Qtr, Champs Elysees (party central probably) and around the Bastille area. I don't really know what you do with kids at NY eve, I'll admit, so will leave that to others to suggest. There are no fireworks, in case people have told you that or you were hoping for it.

I suppose it will be a little like when I was in Marseille for National day (bastille day), when they did the fireworks at the port. So of course people were milling around there and putting off firecrackers, I try to avoid them but sometimes you can't. But lots of people were out with their kids for that, anyway (although there was a point to it, to see the fireworks). There isn't really a big point to roaming the streets on NY eve but drinking.

They should have a big ferris wheel in the Tuileries around Concorde metro stop, you can look for stuff around there. There may be ice skating at Hotel de Ville and at Montparnasse (in front of the train station).

I think the christmas markets which sell stuff last thrugh Jan. 2nd, at least some of them (some close after Christmas), like on the Champs-Elysees.
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Old Dec 13th, 2010, 04:18 PM
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Christina, Michel-Paris and wayfinder45,

Thank you for your input. I have to spend time looking at your recommendations.

True Jan 1st will be closed so We will not benefit from free museums.

Yes the plan os breakfast in the apartment and one big meal, I have a list of recommendations for restaurants but they r not with me now, will let you know later.

I will look some more into the museum pass, I guess the greatest benefit is to skip the huge lines to purchase them but If getting hem in advance at this time of year is that expensive we might be better off getting them there.

Michel Paris thank you for all the detailed information for the small boat on the Siene and the recommendation on the small museums. I will check the two tour companies because we want to go to the Loire Valley for a day with a private car and the two companies that I contacted are close for the holidays

Christina, thank you for your input on New Years, we thought there were fireworks by the Eiffel Tower!!!!!
We have some friends 20 min outside of Paris, near Versailles, that have invited us ti a Party, but we thought that we should stay in Paris...we don't like the drinking.....
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Old Dec 16th, 2010, 05:06 AM
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Hi Lunita,

My two sisters and I did the same thing you are doing back in 2008/2009. A word of caution though - the Metro on New Years Eve will be packed! The Champs Elysees was even closed off to traffic, so you could walk up/down the street. I would also highly recommend getting yourself a Navigo Decouvert while there to make accessing the Metro much easier.
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Old Dec 16th, 2010, 06:26 AM
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When we went to Paris, we got our Museum Passes at the airport - I bought the passes while my DH took the kids for a snack - literally took 2 minutes - then hopped in the cab to our apt.

Sounds like a wonderful trip!
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Old Dec 16th, 2010, 06:52 AM
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The metro is free from 17:00 on December 31st until 12:00 on January 1st.
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Old Dec 16th, 2010, 12:18 PM
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Hi
We to took our kids 2 years ago ove these same dates and their ages ran at the time from 5-17. So i have actual experience in this one. First of all since you dont have really little ones you should be great. The catacoombs my 12 year old says is a must. They liked the Louvre with the headset guided tour. Their is a famous hot chocolate restaurant acroos from the Tullieries, and it was divine. We had hot cocoa there severl times, but their is a line. At the end of our trip to reward good behavior we went to Disney for the day and my kids thought that was the bomb. Just because we always go in the states and their it was different. No churros, etc. It was such a culture shock and even though I scoughed at the trip to it, I ended up having a good time watching them.
The main advice I wanted to share is how super crowded it was!! Times ten. The whole city was crazy busy, and I have been there 4 times before and never saw a line in front of the Notre Dame that went around the block to get in before ever. I suggest buying tickets for places ahead of time and that will save you a ton of time. I thought with kids I could be more spur of the moment, but this was not so wise. I think if I had the tickets already to places I would not have been so frustrated with the lines. We went to the Eiffel tour 2 hours before they opened not only for tickets but to get in line for the elevator, those were the worst lines of all. Since the kids woke up extra early anyways this helped alot. We ended up only seeing 2 sites a day compared to 4 or 5 in a regualr long day any other time fo the year. We took a food tour and the older kids loved it. ANd so did us parents!! Yummy!

New Years eve near the Tilleries where it is the open area I cant think of it right now down from the louvre, is where all the parisians went. Ask anyone they will know, I just cant recall the large area with tons of traffic and crazy. We to tried to make it special and was dissapointed to hear that the french president had cancelled firewroks that year. It was fun to be out there with all the other parisians and my kids will never forget it.

Get a tour guide we did twice after checking on the Fodors site we found a great one. He really had fun with the kids, and we learned alot to. They saw the Paris Opera house and the booth they save for the "Phantom". The guides will cater the tour for you. He told them stories, and took us to many places, it was the high light of our trip. And well worth the money.

Also we had heard when we were their that they have Segway and bike tour that are very popular with families. By the time we found out they were sold out and it was very cold also.

Hope any of this info helped you out, sorry I cant remember details as it is finals week for me and I am burnt out.
Bonjour!
Momof5
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Old Dec 16th, 2010, 01:48 PM
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When I was a teen and visited Paris in the winter, I loved:

catacombs tour
sewer tour (had just read Les Mis- abridged version!)
getting nutella crepes on the street
getting hot chestnuts on the street
looking at the holiday displays in the department store windows
going up into Notre Dame in the cramped stone staircase and looking out from the top past all the gargoyles (much cooler to me than the Eiffel Tower for some reason)
chocolate croissants
soup a L'ognion which I ate at almost every meal
croque monsieurs which I discovered to be the best grilled ham and cheese ever and ate at all the other meals
Musee Marmottan and the round room full of Monets in the basement
the Egyptian section of the Louvre
the Pompidou Center
shopping at Benetton (hey- I was a teenaged girl!)
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Old Dec 16th, 2010, 08:09 PM
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Fodors Friends, this is a lot of great information, I will read it, research it and respond tomorrow.

Thank you, Lunita
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Old Dec 17th, 2010, 04:06 AM
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The "hot chocolate" place is Angelina's, very famous for chocolate and well worth it to sit with the "ladies who lunch" and pour it from a little pitcher into your cup!

BlueSwimmer, your experience as a teen sounds much like mine - right down to shopping at Benetton LOL - though my teenage years were quite a long time ago. (If I'm not mistaken, the Monets have been moved back to L'Orangerie now that it's reopened.)

There are great views of Paris from other locations too: the Tour Montparnasse in the south, the steps of Sacre Coeur in the north (if you've seen the movie Amelie, the scene at the end takes place here).

Go inside the grands magazins to ooh and ahh over their beaux arts architecture and the couture.
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Old Dec 19th, 2010, 01:01 PM
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sorry I have been out of touch...no need to purchse a museum pass in advance...I just go to a smaller museum that is part of the program to buy it...late in the day is good so there aren't lines

Cafe Constant also has superb hot chocolate

I leave tomorrow!
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Old Dec 19th, 2010, 08:06 PM
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Safe travels, denisea! I hope the weather cooperates for you. I'm following behind you in a couple of days!
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Old Dec 20th, 2010, 05:13 PM
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Thanks for all your recommendations....

We've lost a dear friend this weekend and have been totally disconnected...thanks for all the tips, denise a save travels.....

Our trip continues.

Thank you.....Lunita
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Old Dec 20th, 2010, 09:29 PM
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Weather permitting (not looking too good at the moment), I highly recommend a Fat Bike tour. My son and I enjoyed it so much last summer; lots of good info while stopping at a number of Paris sites, good companionship, great guide, and lunch in the Tulleries. Meeting place is near the Eiffel Tower so you can combine both.
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