E-mail this page Printer-friendly version

by Dan Hallinan

A family travel professional acknowledges the appeal of Paris, the "City of Light," as an ideal city for adults.  It is full of great art, great architecture, and great food - none of which rates particularly high with children. On the other hand, it is an exciting city, full of little charms that do appeal to children. It is a city of fountains, of light, of grand boulevards and tiny alleys, of parks and playgrounds, of markets filled with birds and bric-a-brac - it is a home for real people and your children can help draw you into this world. There are so many obvious sights famed throughout the world that we will not discuss them in depth, but will focus on the aspects of the city that will be of particular interest to families traveling together.

Great Art

Any visitor to Paris will want to see at least some of the fabulous art that the city has to offer. If you hope to see these major works it is helpful to take a compromising approach with your children. You can offer them a deal - "Two hours in a museum for me and you get two hours in a park, a playground, etc." The Louvre (75058 Paris cedex 01, 01 40 205177) will quickly overwhelm a child - as it will an adult - and you will have to narrow your ambitions in this massive collection if you hope to keep your child happy.
 
The new glass pyramid entrance changes the approach to the museum, however, it does not speed up the process and in summer one often will find lines snaking for hundreds of yards approaching the ticket booth. For this reason it may be worth your while to purchase a Carte Intermusées, available at major Metro stations and museums. The card allows admission to all major monuments and museums and though the saving is not huge it allows one to skip the wait and go to the front of the line. Once inside, a brief trip to the gift shop to purchase post cards will allow your children to find some pieces that appeal to them. From there you can go to the galleries and search for the works that they have shown interest in.

The Mona Lisa is an obvious must if only to prompt the discussion of "Why is this the most famous painting in the world?" The huge 19th century canvasses of Delacroix, David and Ingres generally appeal to children with their dramatic emotions and easily accessible themes. The redesign of the museum has more than doubled the gallery space and exposed the foundations of the medieval palace of the French kings. An underground complex of museum shops and stores provides a cool respite from the museum itself and contains an excellent and economical "Food court" for dining - French and a variety of ethnic fast foods. 

Immediately outside the Louvre there are the Tuileries Gardens (Rue de Rivol between the Carrousel du Louvre and the place de la Concorde). This site of a former palace is a typical French park. It stretches from the newly cleaned and re-gilded Carousel Arch to the Concorde Square. Be sure to notice the alignment of the city through these monuments on to the Arc de Triomphe and finally to the gigantic, modern Grande Arc of La Defense, a classic example of urban planning. The Tuileries contain a small playground with a carousel and pony rides. Every summer there is a carnival with rides, games, etc. set up in the gardens. This generally includes an immense ferris wheel with views out over the entire city from the top. Near the Concorde end there is a pond where children sail their small boats. There are food stands and a cafés where you can sit as your children play. All in all, it is a perfect spot for unwinding from the immensity of the Louvre. 

Other art museums include the Musee d' Orsay (62, rue de Lille 75343 Cedex 07, 01 40 49 48 14) and the Pompidou/ Beauborg (Place Georges Pompidou 75004, 01 44 78 12 3 ).  The former, in a newly converted railway station, has the world's greatest collection of 19th century Impressionist and Expressionist art. Older children will immediately grasp these works and enjoy them. The Pompidou Center, in the heart of old Paris, is an architectural debate in itself. Huge pipes and wires painted in bright colors surround the building. Inside is the main collection of modern art that will be sure to dumbfound most children. On the top floor of the museum is a nice café with beautiful views out over the whole city. The area is full of excitement with musicians and street performers filling the square. Immediately outside the door is the wildest fountain in the city with abstract figures and water squirting every which way - your kids will love it. The Picasso Museum (Hôtel Salé 5, rue de Thorigny 75003, 01 42 71 25 21) in the same district has a wonderful selection of his work set in a fascinating chronological display along with those of his contemporaries and friends. It is small enough to be enjoyable by children. 

For more family-oriented museums try first the Science and Industry Museum (Cité des Sciences et de l'industrie 75930, 01 40 05 70 00) at Park La Villette (19th Arrondissement). This newly developed area in the Northeast part of the city is made for families. This is a new-style, hands-on museum like the Exploratorium in San Francisco. The first thing you will see is the Geode, a huge stainless steel ball, ten stories high, seemingly floating in a lake and reflecting the city about it. The main part of the museum consists of the Explora modules - four separate museums of different aspects of science with hundreds of exhibits to manipulate and explore. Everything is in French, but most of it is so graphic that it will make little difference and the museum is filled with multilingual guides. One of the best rooms is filled with Construx toys, like giant Legos, for the children to work with.  There is also an Omnimax theater with a 360 degree movie screen.

Great Monuments, Parks and Public Spaces

Children enjoy physical activity and excitement and many Paris' monuments are ideal: from the Eiffel Tower (5 avenue Anatole Champ de Mars,75007 01 44 11 23 23)  with its diagonal elevators and dizzying height, to the Arc de Triomphe (Place Charles de Gaulle 75008) You can take an elevator to the top of this giant arch or, for the energetic; you can climb the stairway and look out over the city. Notre Dame (6 Parvis Notre-Dame - Place Jean-Paul II 75004, 01 42 34 56 10) is not very interesting to most children for its architecture, but you can climb a stairway in the north side to the base of the great towers. Here are where the hideous chimeras and gargoyles, delightful in their frightening aspects, peer down upon the city below. To continue in a ghoulish theme, one can visit the Catacombs of Paris (1, avenue of Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy 75014, 01 43 22 47 63). Open Tuesday through Sunday these are a truly hideous experience. Two hundred years ago as the city grew, the old graveyards were stripped, the bodies dug up and moved to this location. Passing through a portal marked "Stop! Here is Death's Empire" one descends into another world. Here bones and skulls are neatly stacked from floor to ceiling and room to room. A bizarre outing and obviously not for the very little ones.  During the winter months it is possible to go ice-skating in front of the Hotel de Ville where you only have to pay a skate rental fee. 

Paris is a city that is full of parks, an important break from all your touring. Sometimes Parisian parks can combine pleasures for all members of the family. The Jardin des Plantes (Quai St. Bernard, 5th Arrondissement, 01 40 79 56 01 / 54 79), located on the Left Bank, is a good example. The park is the location of the Natural History Museum (17, place du Trocadéro 75116, 01 44 05 72 72). There are also the Botanical Gardens which contain a Maze, more commonly found in Britain. Immediately adjoining the park, along the banks of the river, you will find a sculpture garden with some very nice modern works - space for your children, art for you. Paris has two well known zoos.  The zoo at the Jardin des Plantes in the Latin Quarter is the world's oldest museum.  The other, the Parc Zoologique de Paris (53, avenue de Saint-Maurice 75012, 01 44 75 20 00) has over 600 different types of animals and is located in the Bois de Vincennes. 

The Bois de Boulogne (beyond the 16th Arrondisement) is located at the western end of the city. This huge park is the largest open space in the city. It is filled with race courses, small palaces, walking paths and many pleasurable sites. The Jardin d' Acclimatation (Bois de Boulogne 75116, 01 40 67 90 82) at the north end is a prime destination. It contains a small zoo, a playground, a cafe, rollercoaster, train and Punch and Judy show. More centrally located is the Luxembourg Gardens (6th Arrondissement). On the Left Bank, it is on the site of the former Luxembourg Palace. At first glance, this park appears to be extremely rigid with sculpted hedges and flower beds, but proceed to the back end of the park where you will find a playground, marionette theater (331.43.26.46.47), rides and a carousel where children can spear the brass ring with a stick. The Jeux Verts is a popular destination, and although there is a tiny fee, the playground will keep children of all ages endlessly entertained. 

This raises an interesting point - the French love carousels. They call them manége and there are many throughout the city. Probably the most obvious are at the foot of the Eiffel Tower on either end of the bridge across the Seine.  There are carousels at the foot of the huge stairway leading up to Sacré Coeur (18th Arrondissement) and, around the Christmas holidays, in the Place de Batignolles (17th Arrondissement). In the Butte de Chaumont (19th Arrondissement) there is an antique carousel along with a wonderful park containing a lake, a waterfall and a playground. Finally, the Parc Monceau, at the border of the 8th and the 17th Arrondissement, contains another carousel, a playground, a river, grottos and a wonderful ruin. 

Great Shops and Markets

Paris is a city for shoppers, too. Though most children will not be interested in high fashion or perfume there are some things that will appeal to them. The city still functions with a series of markets, some of them hundreds of years old, scattered throughout the city. The largest is the Marche aux Puces (140 rue des Rosiers 93400 Saint-Ouen, 01 40 12 32 58) literally the "Flea Market." This is a giant, overwhelming collection of every imaginable item from antiques to junk, animals, toys, clothes - the contents of the closets of France. Just wandering the aisles of this huge street fair will fascinate anyone. It is open Saturday through Monday. On Sundays on the Ile de la Cité there is a weekly Bird Market with thousands of canaries, parrots and other exotica for sale. Any day of the week the bank of the Seine from the Pont Neuf to the Chatelet is lined with pet markets.  Dogs, cats, birds, snakes, monkeys of all sorts spill onto the sidewalks from dozens of small shops.

The opposite side of the street along the river is lined with book and magazine sellers. Though many are, of course, in French, children will love poring through the piles looking for thirty year old Superman comic books or forty year old Life magazines. Paris has some great department stores for children's clothes and toys. Chief among these are Galleries Lafayettes, with its beautiful stained glass dome, and Aux Printemps (64, boulevard Haussmann  75009, 01 42 82 57 87).  For a major toy extravaganza go to Au Nain Bleu, (48 rue St. Honoré, 1st Arrrondisement, 01 42 65 20 20) the largest toy store in Paris, in the middle of the haute shopping section of the city. 

Great Waterplay 

Paris is a city in love with water. A walk down the Champs Elysees is a stroll from fountain to fountain, something any child will love, particularly the youngest. The Seine curves through and determines the lay of the city.  Take a ride on a Bateaux Mouches. These tour boats run night and day. You can take a dinner cruise - a little questionable with children - or a night cruise to see the city at its lighted best. In the heat of summer, when you wish you had chosen the beach instead, you can visit one of Paris' many pools. At Forum des Halles (10 Place le Rotonde, 1st Arrondissement, 01 44 76 96 56), a large mall built on the ruins of the city's former slaughterhouses and Red Light district, there is an immense underground pool with special areas for children and for serious swimmers. This is also the site of the Jacques Cousteau Museum of underwater exploration. At Aquaboulevard (4-6 rue Louis-Armand, 15th Arrondissement) there is Paris' largest water park with waterslides, wave pools and all the other accoutrements of this newest form of recreation.

Great Dining

Finally, when in Paris, eat. Obviously, three-star Michelin meals will not appeal to children nor will you relish spending more than $150 on a finicky eater. Paris restaurants are not as immediately appealing as those in Italy with their familiar ingredients. Strangely enough, Paris is filled with fast food, from Burger King on the Champs Elysees to McDonald's on Saint Germain. This is always one approach, but you may prefer to try what French children eat. Crepes are one of France's favorite snack foods. Small stands are everywhere cooking them on the spot on strange round griddles designed for the purpose. You order a filling from a list that may range from simple sugar to elaborate sauces. They are folded in quarters and eaten on the go. Croque Monsieur and Croque Madame are toasted ham and cheese sandwiches, often dipped in egg batter and fried ala "French toast." Of course, France produces some of the world's best "French fries." Known as pommes frites they are everything these favorites should be - light, thin and crispy. Every afternoon bakeries - patisseries - prepare chocolate filled croissant for school children on their way home. At three o'clock you will smell the characteristic odor and see the lines of children streaming into store fronts for their pain au chocolat. One of the most common sweet snacks is cotton candy. Here it is white instead of the typical pink of the American variety and known as Barbe au Papa, or "Papa's beard".

Paris Accommodations

Paris can be a difficult city to find accommodations for a family. French policies - variously attributed to "insurance", "safety codes," etc. - mean that very few hotels will allow more than 3 people in a room. The French chain Novotel is a rare exception. Their policy is that two children under the age of sixteen are allowed in a room with their parents at no extra cost. Novotels tend to be large and modern and lack the Parisian charm of the Left Bank, but they are clean and comfortable and well run. One of the main properties in Paris is the Novotel Les Halles in the middle of the fascinating, redeveloped section referred to above, with access to the heart of Paris. 

Another option for families in Paris is to rent an apartment. These are generally competitive with the two hotel rooms that one would otherwise need for a family. The atmosphere of some of these far outweighs what one would get in a hotel. Many are in the Left Bank in classic Parisian apartment houses - lofts under the eaves, small garden apartments, etc. There are even barges - peniches - anchored in the Seine that one can rent for a very special stay. Most require a stay of 3 nights or more. There are drawbacks to apartment dwelling - no maid service, cooks, etc - but the involvement in the life of the city will leave you with some very special memories of Paris. 

Dan Hallinan, a retired travel agent and author, is the father of three.

If you visit Notre Dame, be sure to stop at the Berthillon Cafe and ice cream shop nearby, which serves ice cream flavors that are out of this world.

Posted Wed Oct 4, 2006 1:59pm by lauras

News and Deals   Book this trip