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News
About Town
The
Musée de L'Orangerie, Place
de la Concorde, has re-opened after 10 years refurbishing. It has
Impressionistic paintings from Matisse, Douanier Rousseau, Utrillo,
Soutine, Renoir and many others.
The
Quai de Branly museum, art from Polynesia, Asia, the
Americas and Africa opened this July 2006.
Also
the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 107 rue
de Rivoli, has just re-opened the 15th
of September, 2006 after a 10 year absence.
Cooking in Paris
Want
to learn how to cook a French dish that you can make back at home?
Muriel Marguerite will show you how and you can eat the result of
your cooking right at her house. Muriel-Marguerite's
Web site
Planning a trip to New York City?
You
might want to hook up with A Friend in New York. We have very similar
services and they know what to see there. A
Friend in New York's Web site
Small
clients and their families
I have
collected information about Paris and what there is to do there
if you have brought your children with you. You may just want to
visit some museums and the children WILL appreciate some places
anyway. In fact, I believe that if you take children to chateaux
and museums when they are young, not only will they like it but
they will come back as adults.
Have a look at my article that was just published below.
Favorite
Things to Do with the Grandkids in Paris
I used to think that you couldn't take small tykes out anywhere
except to public parks but lately I've changed my way of thinking.
Maybe because I took on my grandson, Robin, age 4, for about ten
days during Easter holiday when his parents were away in Tahiti.
I live in Paris which is a mighty big city. And ten days is a long
time if you are just taking the little ones to public parks: even
you will get tired of it fast. What kinds of things could I do with
him that he would be interested in, I wondered. Of course there
were the classics like the zoo. Why not start with the zoo?
So as I had promised to take Robin to the big Zoo in Vincennes,
I did. I even found myself enjoying it. We went at 10:30 am during
the week before the crowds got there and left before they got too
big at around 1:30 pm. This is a good time to go places as young
children get tired at around 2 pm.
He wanted to have his picture taken in front of many of the animals
so I took some of him. For some strange reason, he really liked
the flamingos.
So I took a picture of him just glowing in front of their pool.
Nevertheless he was fascinated by the polar bear who was swimming
incessantly and "tossing" a bowling ball around (I did
a double take when it was brought to my attention by another child).
Those balls are heavy!
We were looking at the elephants when one of them let it fly. "Oh
look Grandmommy, look at the big poop!".
At about noon, we were hungry so we had a picnic lunch in an special
area right in front of the giraffes, slightly more discreet animals
they. Giraffes are colorful, luminous animals but somewhat aloof
(wonder why)? We brought our own picnic but there is also a little
stand nearby where you could buy sandwiches. I found that Robin
preferred picnics to eating in a restaurant. He would not usually
eat much in a restaurant but if he could decide on what to take
on a picnic, he'd eat it.
The next day I decided to take him to the gardens of Luxembourg
built for Marie de Medicis. Those were some of the first public
gardens in Paris (they were private to begin with). I guess the
main attraction for Robin was the big pond on which they rent miniature
sailboats just like Stuart Little's. So we rented one and I wonder
of the two of us, who had the most fun running around the pond chasing
after the sailboat.
The decor couldn't be more historical with the 1620 palace modeled
on the Pitti Palace in Florence right there in front of us. There
are also pony rides and an antique merry-go-round as other fun things
to do. If you are hungry, there are a couple of café-terraces under
the trees. You would think you just stepped into the early 1900s.
Don't count on anything to give away the fact that you really are
in the 21st century.
Now I am becoming bolder as the days go by and
I see that Robin likes to do things for a number of hours
The third day, I took my swashbuckling Robin Hood to see an authentic
medieval castle: the Château de Vincennes, the "Versailles
of the Middle Ages" started by Philippe VI de Valois and finished
in 1369 by Charles V.
I happened to know that he was really interested in medieval castles
(even at that tender age) so...that turned out to be a good choice.
Furthermore, he got to ride there on the Metro which is a thilling
thing for a little boy of 4 years old.
We were able to visit the walls and go down into the moats mostly
outside.
Under the guide's vivid recount, the whole castle came alive for
us and we could almost see Napoleon ordering soldiers around in
later years in the arsenal he made it into. The imposing 14th century
Donjon 170 feet high was quite a sight for Robin. I had to give
in and get him a miniature knight on horseback to remember the castle
by.
For the record: All of these places have toilets but don't wait
until the last minute to locate them since they may be far away
and it might be urgent!
The fourth day I decided to take him to Versailles. By now I’m really
getting daring.
The thing to know there is that you can go straight through to the
gardens and pay there without having to stand in line for 40 minutes
at the main doorway. That's what I'll do the next time. Robin was
running out of patience, with good reason, by the time I got through.
Thank goodness we had the picnic that we whipped out the minute
we got in and plopped right down to eat at the top of the steps
of the gardens.
Once we had had lunch, we went down through the gardens by Le Nôtre
until we got to the boat landing on the Grand Canal. You can rent
a boat for half an hour and they will rent it with life jackets
for the kids. Or you can rent a bicycle. It's a fabulous outing
for the whole family. If you need to run off some energy, this is
the place. You can also have lunch or a snack at a restaurant down
there for a reasonable sum.
After spending some time flopping in the sun and watching the boats
go by, we decided to go back up to the top and see the inside of
the château. I knew I didn't have much time to loll around once
I got in there, so I needed to plan everything very carefully. First
we decided to take the little train back up, since as you can see,
it is quite a hike. Besides, you want to make it as easy as possible
on the little ones. Robin was delighted to take the "Little
Train" back up and it was only 2 Euros and well worth it. I
didn't really want to walk back up either.
We were happy campers.
When we got to the top, it was time for me to act fast as I was
running out of time. By the way, make sure you have plenty of water
to drink because we all get thirsty and the more time you can save
standing in line, the better.
Now for the château. It was built by Louis XIV in 1668 and was the
envy of the rest of the world forever. Robin says Louis XIV was
the King of the World (and he might just have been back then). So
it is definitely something to be seen. I wanted Robin to see the
Hall of Mirrors so we did. But on the way, he spied the Chapelle
Royale and immediately rushed in there even though there was a rope
cordoning it off from the rest of us. You see, he can go under the
rope with no problem. He had seen an accompanied tour group go in
there so he figured that if they could go in, he could too.
Now he's posing for me, "You can take my picture now".
He needed a quick drink right before we went into the State Apartments,
so I asked the guard if that was OK and she said yes. It is interesting
to know that the guards are on your side when you have little children
with you. They are most helpful as long as the children are well
behaved. I can't tell you how many state rooms we went through before
we got to the Hall of Mirrors but they were big and there were a
lot of people.
So here he is in the Hall of Mirrors (by Le Vau) holding up the
brochure of the château and he is still smiling.
He was moderately impressed with this but meanwhile, you the parents
get to see it too. Somehow I believe that if you take children to
see fabulous places and you tell them a minimum about it, they are
going to come back later on in life. And if you take a picture of
them there, they'll "remember" it much better.
So "Farewell to Versailles", says Robin. "You come
see it too!"
It is 2:30 pm and he is still smiling.
This is certainly proof that you can take youngsters to see Versailles.
I never would have thought that was true. And they enjoy it too.
We all do. What are you waiting for?
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Pat McClelland
Young
Robin in the Chapelle Royale of Versailles
Delightful peonies
in an open market
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