Purely selfish motives here: we're finally going back after 7 years! Kids will be 9 and 11 (as opposed to 2 and 4), although DW and I will not have aged in that time, of course. We only get seven days, but are looking to make them count. Apartment hunting comes soon.

Anyway, looking for more than just the traditional suggestions - the kids are adventurous travelers and eaters. A day trip that's not Giverny, Versailles, or Disneyland. A walk that's not in the guidebooks. A real neighborhood restaurant with dishes we've never heard of. Our list of places to go and things to do looks so typical right now - help us spice it up and make it a truly memorable trip. Thanks!

Dan

Take the Metro to Peletier, go south on rue Faubourg Montmartre and right into Passage Verdeau. This leads into Passage Jouffroy and the Musee Grevin.

Right across the street, and inside the Passage des Panoramas, La Creperie serves delicious ice cream sundaes and parfaits:

http://photo.net/philg/digiphotos/200101-d30-paris/passage-creperie.half.jpg

My favorite shop is Detrolle on rue de Bc. Children love it and I like watching them choose their insects.

http://www.pbase.com/al309/paris1

I had this thread running about this very subject a while back. You should find some very useful information there. I got tons of great responses.

1A. Fossils in the limestone walls around the tiny park at the downstream end of the Isle St. Louis.

1B. (Fossils in the limestone walls around the tiny park at the downstream end of the Isle St. Louis.) Actually, many of the stones used in Paris have fossils. This place just has some of the best we've seen.

2. Paris' oldest bar: R'serve de Quasimodo, 4 rue de la Colombe (Dove Street). Also a neat little neighborhood to poke around in. Perhaps not the most appropriate site for kids, but interesting if approached from an historical point of view.

3. Paris' oldest trees.. This is the one in the Jardin des Plantes, itself a somewhat tourist-neglected but wonderful park. (The "oldest tree" is the one just in back of the upright tree.) Look for the tree just inside the entrance that's southwesternmost on Rue Buffon.

The entrance on the corner of Rue Buffon and Rue Geoffroy has a cool giant metal insect sculpture. Inside the Jardin, just north of the greenhouses, is a fun little hill surmounted by a labyrinth. Let the kids run up that while you wait at the bottom for them to come back down with their cell phone pictures. (It's not a maze, just a spiral path. No one can get lost!)

Supposedly the painter Rousseau used the greenhouses in the Jardin for his jungles.

4. The Arago medallions. The easiest to find are probably those in the Louvre courtyard. Look for them soon: they're disappearing fast.

(Lucille finds the first spotted.)

5. Harry Potter fans might be interested in trying to find "Nicholas Flamel's house." Note, in the interest of full disclosure, that the house discussed in the linked article was owned by NF, not occupied by him.

6. A day trip to the National Museum of Antiquities (Musée des Antiquités nationales) in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The moated chateau is itself cool, and the extensive formal garden/park has an interesting view back over the distant city.

Everyone who goes to France should go to this museum. Few do.

- yes the Arago medaillons. Bucky, you deliver again. Most locals don't even know these. There's also one in the Luxembourg garden and one in Notre Dame.

- Shop for food from a gourmet store (a "traiteur") on rue de Buci, then walk over to Pont des Arts to have your picnic dinner there. On a summer night the bridget is full of picnickers. Some even bring table cloth and flatware. Simply the picnic with the best views on earth - to one side it's the Louvre, another the Eiffel Tower and Orsay museum, another the Ile de la Cite and Pont Neuf...

- A visit to the incomparable Vaux le Vicomte castle, the prototype for Versailles. The kids will be delighted to find out it was the location for the legend (and book and movie) "Man with the Iron Mask".
When you buy the tickets, don't forget to ask for the game for kids to help them explore the castle and find hidden answers from every room.

Here is a list of castles offering games for children.
http://us.franceguide.com/what-to-do/arts-and-culture/M...ID=117&EditoID=38207

Try a picnic in the old Roman arena... get sandwiches etc at market on rue Mouffetard, then walk downhill on rue Monge. Just past rue Dena on your right, there is a passage between buildings for the Arene de Lutece...a Roman arena still in use by kids playing soccer, school groups, etc. I like to climb up on the stone seats and watch the neighborhood (or the world) go by while having my lunch.
You are then very near the Jardin des Plantes, mentioned above by Bucky, for an afternoon stroll.
Enjoy,
Karen

I love this website! Thanks for all the cool ideas! My boy is all over the fossils and Roman Arena.

Not terribly off the beaten path, but my boys really loved Les Egouts--the Paris Sewers Museum. The displays on the physical history of Paris are quite interesting.

If you have a morning to spare, visit Pere-Lachaise Cemetery Very easy to get to on the Metro and a wonderfully peaceful place. Many famous people are buried there - Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Colette, Jim Morrison, to name but a few.

However, DON'T go into the office there expecting to get any information from the staff and certainly do not dare to speak English to them....or even French. They are the rudest people I have ever had the misfortune to come across and even a polite enquiry (in French) was met with arrogance and unhelpfulness. I was looking for the grave of an Irish great great uncle who fought with Napoleon and got absolutely NO help or interest in helping locate the grave. Eventually after 2 hours searching in many acres and amongst thousands of graves, armed only with a photograph of it, I found it! They do have free maps on a stand there,though, but remember the staff are not there to help! Letter to Mairie winging its way.....

quote:

Originally posted by kfrer:
Try a picnic in the old Roman arena... get sandwiches etc at market on rue Mouffetard, then walk downhill on rue Monge. Just past rue Dena on your right, there is a passage between buildings for the Arene de Lutece...a Roman arena still in use by kids playing soccer, school groups, etc. I like to climb up on the stone seats and watch the neighborhood (or the world) go by while having my lunch.
You are then very near the Jardin des Plantes, mentioned above by Bucky, for an afternoon stroll.
Enjoy,
Karen

What a delightful coincidence. I'm in the process of finalizing a (last minute) reservation for an apartment on rue Monge that looks out over the Arènes de Lutèce on one side of the apartment (the other side faces rue Monge). I was already looking forward to visiting the Roman arena and the Jardin des Plantes, but this thread has got me even more psyched. Thanks all for the momentum builder!

quote:

the kids are adventurous travelers and eaters.

Then why not the jardin d'acclimatation, where there is go-kart grand prix rides; my kids favorites.
Or the GEODE at the la Cité de Sciences and see their site in english
http://www.lageode.fr/NEW_UK/index.html
a visit to Cluny museum will have interesting aspects of roman time Paris too.

have a great time in Paris!

Fauchon is what brings most visitors to Place Madeleine. For foodies looking for gifts, I would recommend the Maille Mustard shop at the opposite end of the place. For an unusual attraction I recommend the underground public restrooms accessed from a small traffic island. They are an art deco delight. Beautifully tiled featuring skylights and acented with polished hardwood. The attendants keep the space immaculate and even have a display f postcards and other memorobilia from around the world.

Among many Art Neuveau attractions to be found in Paris, I particularly like the facade of the building at 29 Avenue Rapp.

quote:

For an unusual attraction I recommend the underground public restrooms accessed from a small traffic island. They are an art deco delight.

Are these also next to la Madeleine? I think I've heard of these bathrooms before.

Perhaps the most offbeat Paris guided tour is all-night, conducted irregularly by volunteers, a group of Metro fans called Ademas, on rails of the Paris Metro system. Hours: midnight to 5 a.m. One visits old stations long closed and "new" stations never opened. On some trips, there's a stop for Champagne!

Here's a link:

http://ademas.assoc.free.fr/pdf/une_nuit_en_metro.pdf

In French, of course.

Dave

quote:

Originally posted by JiminSF:
Fauchon is what brings most visitors to Place Madeleine. For foodies looking for gifts, I would recommend the Maille Mustard shop at the opposite end of the place.

For an offbeat must do, I was going to suggest a 'hunt for the best mustard.'

We searched all the street markets and shops, and Kim finally found her favorite curry mustard (in Reims). MY favorite turned out to be the Chardonnay mustard from Maille. Amazingly good! (And I don't even like Chardonnay wine.)

Yes, Daniel, the public lav is right by the church. When standing in front, facing the church look to your right and you can't miss the stairwell.