My daughter and I were in Paris in mid-March for 6 nights. We had a fantastic time. Instead of a day-by-day recap, I am going to recount some of our favorite things:
Navigo Decouverte Pass -- One of the first things we did when we arrived in Paris was buy our one-week Metro/Bus passes. We arrived on a Tuesday and left on a Monday morning (by taxi), so the pass was perfect for us. We purchased it at the Metro station, but it is not the simplest thing to do for those (like us) who do not speak French. The agent at the window directed us to the machines (which do not take American credit cards so we had to pay with cash and we barely had enough euros with us). The menus on the machines are all in French. We had no idea how to use them. We went back to the agent, and she closed her window to come out to help us. It is a two-step process. First, you buy the card and then you load one week onto the card. We could never have done all this without help. We used our Metro pass all the time! We walked a lot in Paris, but we also took the Metro everywhere. If my daughter was tired of walking and we came upon a Metro station that would get us closer to our destination, we took it. We never had to worry about mingling used tickets with unused tickets. The pass was great!
Museums: We went to 5 museums. My daughter was intent on seeing the Mona Lisa, so we went to the Louvre. I%26#39;m glad we went, but the Louvre is a bit overwhelming (even when you only want to see the Mona Lisa). It is a fair bit of walking through the museum to get to the Mona Lisa, and it is a surprisingly small artwork (and the barricades keep you a distance from her; we really couldn%26#39;t see if she has eyebrows or not). After the Louvre, we went to the Musee les Arts Decoratif -- my daughter enjoyed the toy exhibit and the fashion exhibit (which was a temporary exhibit about Sonia Rykiel). The next day we went to the Musee Rodin and the Musee D%26#39;Orsay. The Musee D%26#39;Orsay was my favorite of all the museums we visited. This is art that I can recognize and enjoy. My daughter was looking forward to seeing Degas%26#39; famous ballerina painting, but we learned that it is not currently on display as it is on loan. We also went to the Shoah (Holocaust) Memorial. Since my daughter is just starting to learn about these atrocities, I was worried it might be too much for her. When I talked to her after our visit, I realized that she spent most of her time reading the descriptions at the exhibits and didn%26#39;t look at the photos too much (mostly because we were moving at my pace and I am a faster reader). I think this was probably for the best as while the images certainly tell the story, they are troubling. My daughter purchased the Diary of Anne Frank in French at the bookstore there (although she, of course, can%26#39;t read it since she doesn%26#39;t know French).
Portrait at Montmartre -- We had my daughter%26#39;s portrait done at Montmartre. We watched all the artists at work before we picked the one we liked best. He did a great job, and it is a very special souvenir.
Shopping -- My daughter%26#39;s favorite shops were Zara (which is from Spain), Lollipops, and Pylones. Although we have Zara in the United States, few of our stores sell children%26#39;s clothing. Zara has great fashions at reasonable prices. We also liked Lollipops (we went to the one in the Marais area). They sell accessories -- purses, wallets, jewelry, shoes -- and their designs are really cute! Pylones sells fun and unique housewares -- they recently opened in New York. We checked out the Monoprix, but didn%26#39;t find anything we liked there. We found Galerie Lafayettes to be somewhat of a shopping disappointment. We were there on a Saturday, and it was incredibly crowded. The store is having some re-modeling done and not all departments were in the areas that the store maps said they were.
Puces de Vanves -- We went to this flea market on Sunday. It was the perfect size for us. My daughter bought a darling teddy bear from the 1930s (about 30 euros). We also bought some fashion prints that were from a book from the 1880s. They were 10 euros each. We saw someone selling the entire book, but I believe that was about 600 euros. We also bought a couple of Beatles albums for about 10 euros each for my son.
Build-A-Bear -- We went to the Build-A-Bear at La Defense. My daughter loved this. She loved seeing the Build-A-Bear pledge written in French. She has a pig (Piggy) from Build-A-Bear that she loves and that she brought with her to Paris. Instead of buying a new stuffed animal, we had a voice box with French sayings put in Piggy. She loves that Piggy learned to speak French while in France! She also bought three shirts for Piggy (one that says Paris Girl and two that say Bisous).
Fabric Shopping in Montmartre -- My daughter loves to sew so we visited the fabric stores in the Montmartre area. The fabrics are definitely different than we would find in the United States, and we enjoyed browsing. We bought a few fabrics, but mostly just browsed.
Photos with Photographer/Guide -- There are a couple of photographer guides recommended on this forum. We had a 1/2 day tour with Linda on our first full day in Paris. It was a great way of getting oriented and of getting photos of us in front of a couple of the major Paris landmarks. Without the photos taken by Linda, all of our photos would have been of my daughter (and none of me).
Fragonard Musée du Parfum (near the Opera Garnier) --This exceeded my expectations. Upon arrival, we were paired with an English speaking guide who showed us the exhibits and explained the history of pefume making. At one point on the tour, we are given the opportunity to identify six scents (coffee, cocoa, lemon, etc), which was fun. The tour ends in the Fragonard store.
Wandering -- There is so much to see in Paris, and we enjoyed just wandering in various areas and taking it all in. We loved that we came upon a fashion shoot near the Seine. They were still setting up and the model took a photo with my daughter.
Blogging -- We had never blogged before, but I brought my mini-laptop with me for blogging (and to be able to plan out our next day each evening). We found blogging to be better than keeping a travel journal because it kept us in touch with our family and friends.
A mother-daughter trip -- I have three children -- two boys (ages 14 and 12) and my daughter. The opportunity to travel with just one of my kids was a luxury and a very special experience that we will both cherish forever.
All in all, it was a great trip. We definitely could have spent more time in Paris as there is so much to do. Now that we have been bitten by the travel bug, our big decision is whether we return to Paris to further explore or venture into uncharted (for us) territory like England, Italy or Spain.
Thanks to everyone on this forum who posted tips that helped me as I planned our trip.
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What a wonderful report, and also full of ideas for people traveling with younger children (love the French lessons for Piggy!). Thanks very much for taking the time to post.
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Very nice report. It will be helpful to other travelers with children.
I agree with BT, taking the piggy and loading it with French language is brilliant.
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thank you very much for the trip report, I am taking my 8 year old daughter to Paris in July for 6 nights and looking forward to doing many of the same things! Could you let me know who your photographer was, how you got the pics, rough cost?
Thanks!
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Former Milwaukeean here....Charming report, DLT5! Don%26#39;t think I would have had the patience to go to Paris with any of my four kids, even if I could have.
I, too, love that Piggy learned to speak French while in Paris! You are a very resourceful parent!
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Fabulous report! We will be taking our 2 very small daughters to Paris next week. Thank you for letting us know what the two of you enjoyed!
I too would like the name of your photographer. Also, would you mind sharing with me how much you paid for this service?
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Loved your report. What a gift to be able to share Paris with your daughter. You have created memories that will last a lifetime for both of you.
Thanks for taking the time to share them.
Jo
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Thank you for the great trip recap! So many good tips and a pleasure to read.
%26quot;Piggy learned to speak French%26quot; how sweet, what a charming girl.
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Thanks for your report.
I too, love that Piggy is now fluent in French.
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Nice to hear a different perspective. Also interesting that you did some less popular activities.
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Loved your comment about wandering. Paris is unique. The grass always looks greener on the horizon. You can%26#39;t wait to see what%26#39;s around the next corner. Good walking shoes are a necessity.
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