Paris (France) travel tips/suggestions... with kids

[MarkGrace]

Oops...double post.

[Portland Ute]

I really had no interest in going to France. It was way down my list.

Since joining CUF and reading all the posts about peoples' trips to France, it has moved way up the list.

These travel threads leave me seriously jealous, but they are very informative and fun to read.

[MarkGrace]

So we decided to wait out the ticket prices and pulled the trigger last night at 770. I feel we did ok since when we first started following flights they were running around 1K or more.

[MarkGrace]

Pretty much the greatest place ever.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Pretty much the greatest place ever.

Awesome, stop wasting time on CUF.

[MarkGrace]

Awesome, stop wasting time on CUF.

Slow time at work. Just reading a recent case to catch up on some stuff and posting intermittently.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Slow time at work. Just reading a recent case to catch up on some stuff and posting intermittently.

Are you working in Paris? Or did I misunderstand something?

[filsdepac]

Pretty much the greatest place ever.

Will you provide a post trip report?

[MarkGrace]

Will you provide a post trip report?

Hoping to. Just need to find enough time.

[MarkGrace]

Are you working in Paris? Or did I misunderstand something?

No, at my desk in Seattle!

[Moliere]

Pretty much the greatest place ever.

[MarkGrace]

So...where to start? I guess thanks to all in this thread, as I read back through it before we left and took up a lot of the recommendations. We ended up staying in a place through vacationinparis, a site that fils mentioned from his trip. It was quite a bit more affordable than renting a hotel, and we were in a nice location (the 7th) where we had convenient access to most of the city but weren't in a neighborhood with a lot of late night noise. We'd definitely do it this way again.

Some general thoughts on Paris is that it was a big different than I imagined. I guess I this is going to make me sound naive, but I always just pictured that French stereotype of a really laid back place where no one is in a rush and the pace of life is just different than what were used to here. But I was surprised how much more of a Manhattan feel it had to it than I expected. People hustling up and down sidewalks, running to metros, and constantly eating on the run. Which is not a bad thing -- I love that sort of big city buzz -- it was just not what I was anticipating when I pictured Paris.

My other thought is that the whole trip ended up being a bit more affordable than expected, and I think that makes the idea of a return visit more accessible than it seemed before. A big part of this was the museum pass, which has to be the best value of just about anything I've ever bought on a vacation. We bought the 6 day pass with a 5 day metro pass, and once we had those things in hand, basically our only other expenses for that 6 period was food, because we could keep ourselves entertained from sun up to sundown just doing stuff on that pass. The first day we walked up to the Louvre and saw a line a mile long in the courtyard, and we just went right up to the door, showed them the pass, and they let us through. I couldn't believe it. I sat there wondering how every tourist in Paris didn't have that thing. I would have paid $100 (the cost per person for a 6 day pass) just to see the Lourve and skip that line -- just an insane value for that thing and we actually ended up going back and getting another two day pass after our 6 were up.

We also felt very safe pretty much everywhere in the city. There was one area out on the north of town that we went for a flea market that was a bit sketchy (I swear I thought we were in Harlem), but not terribly uncomfortable during the day (though I probably wouldn't be hanging out there at night). Once we figured out the metro, were comfortable getting all around town with no problem. The metro is very convenient and takes you pretty much everywhere you want to go. We also took it back to the airport on our last day, which was nice because the cab ride into town was a total ripoff.

Food stuff:

Paris is the capital of cuisine, so I was obviously very excited to eat there. We found we could eat very well on the cheap for both breakfast and lunch. Pastries, crepes, sandwiches, etc., were all very delish and very inexpensive. Dinner was a bit tougher, as pretty much everything is relatively expensive there if you're going to sit down and eat. I'll also say that I sort of envisioned this Paris where no matter where you went the food was amazing, and that definitely wasn't true. We certainly had meals that weren't terribly great (I had probably three croque monsieurs while there, only one of which was better than any of about a half dozen places I could come up with in Seattle), and the boulangeries and pattisseries were somewhat hit or miss. Fortunately we had a great one at the end of our street where we ate breakfast about every morning.

Also turns out it damn near impossible to get reservations at some of the places where I wanted to eat dinner. I had four on my list (Le Chateaubriand, Spring, Frenchie and L'Astrance for lunch) and was hoping to make two of that group. For a period of weeks I woke up every morning here in the states and called them, and almost never got anyone to answer the phone, or when I did get through they didn't have any availability. I ended up lucking out at Spring as I called the day before we arrived and they had a cancellation for the first night we were getting there. So that was cool, since the couple next to us had been on a waitlist for three months. Anyway, great meal at a place that has had major buzz since it opened just over a year ago. They have a 5 course (though the appetizer and dessert courses were broken up into 3 amuse bouches) prix fixe menu that they don’t allow any substitutions on. Mrs. Grace was a bit nervous (eating that way is not really her thing, she wants some control over what she’s getting), but everything was pretty great and not out of her comfort zone.

We also made it to Le Chateaubriand, which did push her out of her comfort zone. This place is like food nerd capital of the world right now, and pretty controversial in food circles. The old guard of Paris chefs and food writers hate what the approach to food that is being used here, while the new guard absolutely worships the place. Needless to say, I was psyched out of my mind excited to eat here. They also did a 5 course prix fixe with no substitutions, but this place is known for being very experimental so there are some hits and misses along the way. Biggest miss was a duck dish (and I love duck), but other than that it was just an enormously exciting meal for me where I tasted flavors unlike any I had ever had before. Anyway, I made a few more comments on these places here: http://cougaruteforum.com/showthread.php?t=23414&page=2

Outside of those two places, we didn’t spend a lot of time going out of our way for food. We did eat at some of the following and have had some good stuff…

Le Relais de l'Entrecôte – this is a pretty well known tourist spot, but it was fun. They only serve one thing there: steak frites. They come to your table and ask you how you want your meat cooked, and that’s about it. It’s a small chain with I think three locations in the city.

Le Comtoir du Relais – this is a three star Michelin place in the Latin Quarter, and right next door they have a more casual café (and next door to that a street food stand). We came here because someone turned us onto their croque monsieur as being the best in town – it did not disappoint. Perfectly toasted bread, and comte cheese melted all over smoked salmon and bits of caviar. We also had a great stew made there made with beef cheeks. Yum.

Al Taglio – pizza place opened by a guy from Rome where we actually went twice. The majority of the pizzas are solid, but the truffle and potato pizza was spectacular. Yukon gold potatoes, a great truffle cream sauce, and bubbly brown cheese all over the top. The second night we went and ordered just this.

Laduree and Pierre Herme – apparently this is like the Ginger v. Marry Anne debate of Paris in terms of Macaron supmremacy. However, for us it was more Beatles vs. Stones, as in we weren’t sure why the debate even existed, because we preferred Pierre Herme by a solid margin. A bit softer on the outside, a little chewier in the middle, and all cream-based on the interior instead of some jellies like Laduree. We spent a number of afternoons sitting by the reflecting pool in the Jardin de Tuileries downing these beauties.

Berthillon – an enormously popular ice cream place on the little island behind Notre Dame. My initial thought was how different could it taste than ice cream from home? Turns out pretty different. You can grab a cone here and then go hang your feet off the wall above the Siene.

Amarino – an enormously popular gelato place with a number of locations around Paris. It was definitely good, but nothing to write home about.

More to come…

[MarkGrace]

Park Stuff:

Just a ton of incredible parks around town. As mentioned above, we spent a couple afternoons in the Jardin de Tulieres, and it's just incredibly beautiful. We always enjoyed the parks (or at least green space area) on the Champs Elysees and had some nice walks through there in the evening. We checked out Luxembourg Gardens as well, and had a nice lunch there one afternoon. I really, really wanted to make the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, but unfortunately didn’t get there as it was a bit out of the way and really anything else we were trying to visit. Maybe on the next trip! We also hit that great cemetery where Morrison is buried (that’s going in parks since I’m not doing a cemeteries section!), which was very cool. Really pretty and these great tree-lined streets almost like it’s own mini-neighborhood. I was really surprised by the number of people at Morrison’s grave, as I expected to see just a handful of people and mostly Americans. But there were a ton of people there, probably more than at any other gravesite in the whole place. Kind of surprised by that.

Monuments and Chapels:

We hit most of the big stuff: Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Sacre Couer, the Pantheon, etc. Just incredible, incredible stuff that blew me away at every turn. We also did the classical concert thing at St. Chapelle, which we really enjoyed. The concert was kind of short, which is exactly how long I want a classical concert to be.

We had a great view of the Eiffel Tower from our deck and would watch it every night. Also spent several nights walking over there (it was about a 5 min walk from our place) and just hanging around the Champs de Mars and stuff. We never got over how great it was standing under that thing when it was start twinkling and the crowd would let out an audible gasp and rounds of cheers. One cool thing we noticed. It lights up at night and does the twinkles thing every hour on the hour, but on the last twinkling of the night (at 1am), the lights behind it shut off and only you see the twinkling lights portion. Pretty cool. This is my last vision of Paris as we watched, hit the hay, and then had to get up for our flight the next morning.

[MarkGrace]

Museum Stuff:

As mentioned, the museum pass was just an insane deal and we hit a bunch of places. The Louvre was absolutely incredible and I’ll never forget the feeling of finally standing under that glass pyramid and looking up through it. And seeing the Mona Lisa was incredible. I’ve heard from others that they were disappointed when they finally saw it, but for me it was probably the highlight of the trip. The most famous piece of art in the world, and a virtual culture unto itself. To stand there at stare it in the eyes was just an overwhelming experience for me akin to a game at LES or a Radiohead show the only reaction I could really muster was to fight back tears. So cool.

And even outside of the art, the Louvre is just amazing. I could have walked through that place for days just looking at the doors, columns, ceilings, etc. An unbelievable experience all around. We also hit the D’Orsay, L’Orangerie, the Rodin Museum (the grounds here were really cool), the Pompidou Center (I completely don’t get modern art, but the building was really impressive and fun to walk through), and Invalides. Invalides was not something at the top of our list, but it ended up probably being my second favorite next to the Louvre. Really cool museum with a lot of war history from the different periods in France’s history. Also home to Napoleon’s tomb, etc. The last wing is WWI and WWII, and it takes you through the wars by years and battles. The last rooms have footage from Normandy and the victory celebrations on the streets of Paris with French, English and American soldier. Completely overwhelming to watch.

We also made it out to Versailles and it was just pissing down rain. By the time we made it into the chateau, we looked like we had jumped in a pool. And because nobody was going outside, the halls of the palace were just packed with people. So it started out as kind of a bummer, but as the weather broke and people started making their way outside, it got better. We had hoped to rent some bikes and spend the entire day down there, but it didn’t work out because of the weather. We ended up renting a golf cart for an hour and cruising around the grounds and checking out the estates behind the main place. We ate lunch in the dining room there, which Mrs. Grace just loved it. Got some drinking chocolate, onion soup, a quiche and salad, a cheese plate, and had a great time eating there.

[MarkGrace]

Neighborhood stuff:

We hung out around the Marais, Latin Quarter, St. Germain, etc. Montmartre was definitely the highlight in terms of neighborhoods though. Just a really neat place that was kind of exactly the Paris I pictured in my head (minus the thousands of tourists ). We walked around there a bit and checked out the little artists stuff there. Tried to make the Dali museum but it was getting a bit late and we wanted to see the Moulin Rouge before it got too late. We walked down through the red light district (Pigalle, I think?) and over to the Moulin Rouge. Satine apparently wasn't dancing there that night.

Anyway, great neighborhoods with a lots to see, eat, buy and do. Rue Cler was located in our neighborhood, and we walked over there one day to check out the morning market. Cheese, meat, flowers, bakeries, produce shops, etc., all on this little row. Pretty fun.