Three Days in Paris
When you are flying across the pond it only makes sense to get as much out of your trip as you can without going overboard. My plan for our family of four was to visit London, Paris and Brussels, each for four days. It would be easy since the EuroStar train makes a nice triangle between the three cities.
After some research, however, I discovered that it is not easy to book a single hotel room for four people in Europe. I had good luck with the Accor chain, specifically the Novotel Hotels in both London and Paris. There were no hotels that I could find in Brussels that allowed four guests in one room and I decided two cites and lot’s of walking would be perfect and not lead to an overall feeling of too much schleping around Europe for my not so travel friendly family.
The crux of our trip was to be to London, and Paris was really just an afterthought, though I know that makes some of you Francophiles shutter. I love London; I have been there twice and was thrilled to go back a third time to show my kids all the fabulous landmarks and try out some new places I did not tackle on my other trips. As for Paris, I had spent five days there at the end of my post-college backpacking trip and had a fine time. But Paris is big and I didn’t exactly “get it” as far as the layout and getting around. Case and point, my friend and I had booked a hotel called Hotel Notre Dame. We spent the better part of our first day in Paris trying to find the hotel in the vicinity of the Notre Dame Cathedral only to find out it was clear on the other side of Paris. Once finally acclimated and acquainted, we did have a nice time (though there was A LOT of arguing about which direction to head) exploring and seeing everything from Notre Dame, the Louvre, Montmartre, the Musee d’Orsay and even a trip to Versailles.
This time, I wanted to just have fun and not be too constrained. If all I did was eat French pastries for three days I think I would have been satisfied. But being that it was the girls first time to Paris we had to hit at least some of the highlights. I had planned an itinerary which we ultimately changed once we got to Paris. You should always have some flexibility when you travel and be open to what your fellow travelers would like to do and see!
Here is the itinerary I planned before we arrived in Paris:
Day 1
Arrive via Train from London
Check into the Hotel in Les Halles
Stroll through Tullieres Gardens and grab a bite at the outdoor cafe
Visit The Louvre
Day 2
Visit the Pantheon
Stroll Luxembourg Gardens
Lunch on the 9th Floor of Printemps
Visit the Musee D’Orsey
Notre Dame Cathedral
Walk the Trocodero and grab a light dinner and eat on the steps
The Eiffel Tower at dusk
Day 3
The Pomidou Center
Walk down the Champs d’Elysee
Walk under the Arch d’Triumph
Anything we missed on Day 2
Dinner Cruise on the Seine
And here is our actual Paris itinerary with the highlights!
Day 1
Arrive – settle into hotel -Novotel Les Halles – Stroll the Rue de Rivoli – Angelinas for lunch – Tullieres Gardens – The Louvre – Dinner at a local cafe
We took the EuroStar Train via the Chunnel from London to Paris. My kids noticed at the St. Pancras station, that not only were there trains to Paris but also to Euro Disney. I think that would be fun, but it was to be saved for another trip to France! We left London fairly early on a 9:17am train and arrived Paris at the Gare du Nord Station around 12 noon with the one hour time change. As I recall it was about a two and a half hour ride, and even my claustrophobic husband didn’t mind going through the Chunnel, which only took about twenty minutes under the English Sound. With all our luggage we thought it best to hop in a taxi to take us to our hotel – Novotel Les Halles which was way better than we expected. It’s got a really nice lobby, the room was very large with two queen sized beds and best of all the location was just steps off of Rue de Rivoli, one of the main thoroughfares in Paris with great shopping.
Once we got settled we headed down Rue de Rivoli toward The Louve, which we reached in just a ten minute walk, however, the entrance was about another MILE down! The Louvre is HUGE and goes on forever, so we decided we needed some lunch before we tackled one of the largest museums in the world! We strolled (OK more like stumbled, since we were pretty tired by this point in the day) down past the Louvre to Angelina’s Cafe, a fancy schmancy lunch place with the most alluring pastry case I have ever seen. The other draw here is the chocolate chaud – their hot chocolate is served more like espresso in tiny cups since it is basically pure melted chocolate. Perfect for a pick me up and one order was enough to share between the four of us since it is so intense (intensely delicious!) The prices here are similar to what you’d find at The Plaza in New York, about $30 for a grilled chicken caesar salad, which my husband and I split. However the ambiance and experience was definitely worth having lunch and checking it off our list.
After lunch we headed directly across the street and strolled up through Tuileries Gardens, which was pretty, but being that it was October, there was not much color. We saw lots of dogs on their afternoon walks and locals enjoying the park on our way back up to the Louvre. After waiting in a relatively short line we entered the Louvre under the glass pyramid. If you have read Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, you can pretend you are Tom Hanks. The Louvre is probably one of the most famous museums in the world with unbelievable works of art. It is so massive I can’t imagine seeing everything even if you spent two full days there. My tactic was to choose three or four highlights for our three hour visit.
Of course, you MUST see the Mona Lisa, and, for me, the second time seeing her, I had the same reaction as the first time I saw her. She is small, somewhat alluring, but I really can’t understand what the fuss is all about. (If you really want to be impressed with Leo, then go see David in Italy. He is the most beautiful sculpture I have ever seen.) There are so many OTHER amazing works at The Louvre that, to me, easily out shine Ms. Lisa. Nevertheless, you can line up and get a look at her so you can check it off your bucket list. More alluring to me is the over 2,000 year old Greek sculpture, winged victory or properly called, The Winged Victory of Samothrace.
Positioned at the top of a staircase, this work is commanding and it is truly exciting to see this detailed sculpture with her dress flying in the wind. Another work not to miss is the Venus de Milo. We also chose to take a look at the impressive recreation of Napoleans’ apartment and that was really opulent and beautiful as well. Check out the Hammurabi Code which is a series of tablets dating to the 12th century B.C. and inscribed with laws established under the reign of the Babylonian king, Hammurabi. Along the way to all these pieces we were able to take in many other exhibits as well. My suggestion is to pick your highlights and then map out the best way to see them. After a few hours, I think most people (especially kids) will have sensory overload!
We spent about three hours at The Louvre and then headed back to Les Halles for a light dinner in a local cafe just steps from our hotel.
Day 2
Notre Dame – The Pantheon – Luxembourg Garden – Shopping on Saint Germain – Dinner in Les Halles
It was about a fifteen minute walk over to Notre Dame from our hotel in Les Halles, stopping at the local Starbucks on the way. (Sorry, but it was convenient and it was an experience unto itself as they had items not normally found in stateside Starbucks.) Even though we arrived on the early side of the morning, it was still quite crowded, and the line to get to the top viewing area was well over an hour. So instead we decided to just take in the cathedral from the 
ground floor which was quite impressive. I thought the most interesting thing about Notre Dame were all the carvings on the outside of the building, but the inside was equally dramatic as well. There is so much history behind this church, it’s worth taking your time and taking in all the information and people who are entombed in this most famous basilica.
Our next stop was the Pantheon in the Latin Quarter, so we continued to the Left Bank over the Siene up Rue de Saint Michel, stopping for some (sadly) mediocre macaroons on the way. We were surprised and thought maybe we just didn’t have the knack for finding great food in Paris, though the few times we hit it right, the food was transcendent.
We drifted through the Latin Quarter and arrived at the Pantheon which was commissioned by Louis XV and built by Soufflot and his colleague, Rondelet. The architecture is certainly of note, but my favorite thing about the Pantheon is that it hold’s at it’s center Foucault’s Pendulum which, if you are a science nerd like me, was fascinating. Do not miss going down into the crypt – where famous and historically significant French people are entombed. As far a crypts go, it’s actually the least creepy one I’ve been to! Among the many notables, fans of Les Miserables (the book or the musical!) can visit author Victor Hugo here.
Just steps outside the Pantheon are many restaurant options and we choose one where we could sit and dine al fresco on the beautiful fall day. It felt very Parisian. After lunch we wandered over to Luxembourg Gardens which was very beautiful and relaxing and the perfect place to go after visiting Victor Hugo because this is where Marius and Cosette meet in Les Miserables. We finished off our day by heading over to Saint Germain for some afternoon shopping. We had a nice dinner in a local bistro in Les Halles and found some gelato for dessert.
Day 3
The Eiffel Tower – The Arc de Triomphe – Champs-Elysees- Batobus – Dinner in Le Marais
We started off via the Chatelet-Les Halles Metro to the Eiffel Tower. The walk up to the tower is really exciting, however being that is was Sunday, there was a foot race that day and we had to walk quite a ways around the race course. I do think going up the Eiffel Tower was the highlight for all of us, especially my 10 year old who literally RAN up the steps to the main level! 
Do plan ahead; we opted to walk up the tower which was a shorter wait than via elevator, but we still waited over an hour until we were able to begin our assent. Once we took in all the amazing views of Paris, we headed down and walked over toward the Arc d’ Triomphe however I think we took the long way and we weaved through lots of side streets to get there. Luckily, sometimes getting off the beaten path leads you to amazing discoveries and ours was the MOST wonderful, gorgeous and delicious any of us have EVER tasted in our lives! All I can remember is that this shop was about a five minute walk from the Arch d’ Triumph on a corner in a quiet neighborhood. I’d hunt for it again the next time I am in Paris!
We found a bench and enjoyed the pastries while gazing at the Arc d’ Triomphe and then made our way over to the famous monument. The girls liked learning about this famous arch and it’s history as a monument to France’s soldiers dating back to the early 1800’s. We spent the remainder of the afternoon wandering up the Champs-Elysees, akin to New York’s Fifth Avenue only on a grander scale. It was a lot of fun wandering in and out of the many amazing upscale shops including car showrooms, and some high tech stores. By the time we reached the end of the long avenue we were pretty tired from all the day’s walking so we hopped on the Batobus, the hop on-hop off water taxi that gave us a great tour of Paris from the vantage point of the River Siene and took us just past Les Halles to Le Marais, an historic neighborhood filled with eclectic shops, boutiques and art galleries. This section of Paris is the true old section of Paris that remained largely in tact and survived the revolution and the wars that followed in the twentieth century. This is also the Jewish Quarter and some of that culture still remains in this area with amazing deli’s and bakeries. That evening we found what felt like a “locals” type restaurant and finally had the best French Onion Soup ever! It was a perfect way to spend our last evening in Paris!
The next morning we took a taxi from our hotel in Les Halles to Charles De’Gaulle Airport, which took about an hour.
HUNGRY FOR MORE?
If you have more time in Paris I’d suggest these add-on days.
Day 4 – Head out to Versailles via train. It’s about an hour each way and once you arrive, you need a full day to take it all in!
Day 5 – The Musee D’Orsay is one of my favorite museums with it’s light airy feel and the plethora of impressionist artists. Unlike it’s cousin across the Siene, you can enjoy this museum in it’s entirety in just a few hours.
Montmartre – check out this funky and historic area of Paris with the famous Basilica Sacre-Couer and the infamous Moulin Rouge. Wander the coblestone streets, and try not to fall for too many tourist traps!
If you find you have even more time in Paris you will never be bored, there are endless palaces, museums, and churches, not to mention bistros and pastry shops to fill your days and your belly!
Au Revoir!
Jill
