A family visit to Paris is made easier, cheaper and better by renting an apartment, former Otago Daily Times editor Robin Charteris discovers.
Taking children to Paris?
Wonderful idea - but make sure you rent an apartment.
Don't even consider a hotel for more than a night or two, unless you're a Lotto winner or mega-rich banker. Two-star hotels - cupboard rooms and single-midget lifts - currently cost from €100 ($NZ150) per room per night, breakfast €6-€8 per person extra; three-star are €300 ($NZ450) upwards. And extended stays in cheap hotels are not much fun for children.
Planning our 15th visit to Paris, this time with 10- and 8-year-old granddaughters plus their parents, Judi and I considered using our regular hotel, the centrally sited Republique, but only briefly. Two three-bedded rooms there would cost €240 ($NZ360) a night. We planned to stay a fortnight so the younger four, all first-timers to Paris, could fully appreciate the world's most beautiful city; the Republique would be far too expensive for us, and far too small.
Online, I found an apartment in our favourite area, Montmartre, that was just like a home - spacious, comfortable, fully equipped with lounge, kitchen, laundry, large bathroom, beds for all six, and space for the children to relax and play away from the adults. It cost €1600 for 14 nights, $NZ2400 all up, less than half the total cost of the two-star cupboard. And it was wonderful.
It meant we could relax as a family after a hard day's sightseeing; it gave us two oldies "downtime" from the boundless energy of the others; and it saved us a fortune on meals, and laundry and the like. It especially opened up home-dining opportunities based on local charcuteries, boulangeries, fromageries and marches. And we drank much more, and cheaper, wine than had we been hotel-domiciled.
For parents Chris and Kim, it also meant babysitters on tap for nocturnal outings, nearby Moulin Rouge and local cafe sessions included. And, very importantly for me, it meant eager young companions on my early-morning expeditions in search of breakfast baguettes and croissants.
For the first time, we started our Paris experience with a double-decker bus city tour. Great choice.
Judi and I saw Paris from some different angles; the other four instantly gained a perspective on what and where to follow up in depth. The Red Line bus passes were a saving on Metro and ordinary bus tickets by allowing us to hop on and hop off for two consecutive days.
Judi and I had done the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre several times before, so we left them to the others this time. Youngsters Tasman and River were so impressed by the tower they counted the steps - twice. "There are 1365," River proudly proclaimed. "The guide book says 1364 and it's wrong!" The four of them so enjoyed their daytime visit they returned at night - until midnight - to experience the tower and Paris under lights.
Nor did we oldies go to Versailles again, though the others went for a full day and marvelled at it, especially the wanton luxury of it all, and enjoyed their bicycle ride around the gardens that culminated in the "world's best" hot chocolate drinks after a sudden downpour.
Tassie took more than 100 photographs at the Louvre. Her parents couldn't get her away after six hours. Both girls loved getting hands and clothes dirty at La Villettes science museum, where friendly staff devoted an English-speaking expert solely to them for an archaeological "dig". And the modern art and architecture at the Pompidou Centre, that Judi and I have never really liked, blew them all away.
We grandparents couldn't get over the stamina and attention span of the others. Culture, art, architecture, sewers, catacombs, shops, cafes, people, grocery stores, the Metro, the nearby Montmartre cemetery, the artists atop La Butte, the cobbled streets, the tricky task of extracting un escargot from its tiny shell, the dog dirt on the footpaths, the choosing of which particular baguette or pain au chocolat: it was a continuous foray of fun and fascination.
We saved hundreds of dollars by using the apartment laundry and kitchen but also enjoyed our share of restaurant and cafe meals Parisian-style. A repeat favourite was an Italian place on the magical Champs Elysees; great food and only 6.99 for kids and 11.99 for adults, drinks included.
The shopping was a revelation, too. The grand marches, or major retailers such as Au Printemps and Galeries La Fayette, were great to marvel at; the second-hand clothing shops in the Marais, the Jewish quarter that remains open on Sundays, were a hit with all four young ones, while Judi's favourite, the Spanish clothing chain Zara, now has three more committed customers.
Highlighting it all, however, was the haven, familial and financial, of our Montmartre apartment, in real life, the Parisian home of a gracious and caring health professional who also owned a country retreat. It had taken me some time to identify and obtain the apartment online, given the number of sites and instances of non-notification of bookings of same apartments on other sites.
The time spent, though, had been, in the words of a certain credit card advertisement, "priceless".
Tasman and River's Parisian highlights
•Eiffel Tower (10/10
Awesome. Moves in the wind. Takes 17 months to paint. Even cooler at night with all the lights of Paris.
• Louvre (10/10)
Amazing sculptures and paintings.
Biggest museum you'll ever see. Not many toilets, so use them when you can.
• Arc de Triomphe (9/10)
High point so you can look down both ways to see Paris. Cool.
• Palace of Versailles (9/10)
Queen had a secret passage behind her bed for when palace was being attacked.
Sad to see such wealth and land owned by royalty when so many were so poor.
No wonder they had a revolution.
• Science Museum (8/10)
Great for kids of all ages. Lots of interactive hands-on. Did archaeological "dig" on the Gauls, just like Asterix comic stories.
• Pompidou Centre (8/10)
Fascinating mixture of art and things.
Wonderful displays and activity sessions.
• Artists at Montmartre (9/10)
Really cool place and people. Lots of tourists. Having our portraits drawn was really special.
• Food in Paris (10/10)
Baguettes and croissants were yummy! Crepes the best takeaway food, filled with nutella and sugar with lemon. Some weird food, like frogs legs and snails - not our favourites!
• Having an apartment (10/10)
Great home to come back to after long days out. Meant we could have a home or quiet day to rest from the busy schedule. And Fossie's (Grandma's) cooking.
Help
To find an apartment in Paris, simply type "paris apartments" into Google and sort through the hundreds of offerings.
They are available for stays of a week and longer.
