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| | Paris | |||
| Marais – Bastille | |||
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Centre Pompidou – The Centre Pompidou houses the National Museum of Modern Art, Children's Gallery, movie theaters, cafes. The building alone is worth a visit for kids, all metal and bright colors inside and out. Ride the exterior tube-like escalators to the top floor – there's a panoramic view of the Marais. Kids will get a kick out of the early 20th century modern art – Miro, Matisse, Mondrian, Dubuffet, in the museum. On ground level is the Children's Gallery (Galerie des enfants) there are small exhibit just for kids, e.g. artworks with heads in all shapes and sizes. In the plaza in front of the Centre Pompidou there's always something going on – mimes, buskers, marching bands and other street performers. Tip: Free with the Paris Museum Pass | |
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Museum of Dolls (Musee de la Poupee) – Paris is practically synonymous with fashion, and this is a great way for kids to see French fashion from the the 19th century to the present. The doll museum has a collection of porcelain dolls, displayed in settings from different time periods. |
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Museum of Fans (Musee de l’Eventail) – Think of all those 18th century French aristocrats, snapping their fans open and shut. The fan museum collection of fans goes back 200 years, to the present. |
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Musee des Arts et Metiers – This renovated museum of science on rue Reaumur is where you can see Bleriot's airplane (flight from France to England in 1909) and other great inventions including Foucault's pendulum, Lavoisier's chemist laboratory, collections of clocks and mechanical toys (automata). | ||
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Canal St. Martin – In the 19th century, canals were dug to improve transportation of goods around the city. Canal St. Martin is still in operation, leisure boats passing through the locks on their way to Parc de la Villette. The best place to visit the canal is Quai de Valmy, at rue Lucien Sampaix (Metro Jaques Bonsergent), next to the Jardin Villemin. Lined with wide sidewalks, shade trees and footbridges over the canal, the canal is a cool place to explore. Kids will be fascinated by the locks opening and closing as boats pass through. |
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 Jardin
Villemin has large grassy areas (perfect for flying kites or kicking
around a soccer ball), a very nice playground with a huge ship climbing
structure, and the park is filled with French families on summer days. |
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Pere-Lachaise Cemetery – If you're traveling with teens, a trip to Pere-Lachaise is a must, not because it's the cemetery for tons of famous French painters, musicians, writers, statesmen, but Jim Morrison, the musician who checked out in 1971 is buried here also. It's easy to find Jim Morrison's spot, just follow the bunches of people headed that way. But close by, don't miss the tomb of Heloise and Abelard, a beautiful Gothic style sarcophagus with both figures chastely laid out next to to each other. In itself, this cemetery is boggling, just because it's so densely packed with tombs and statues in all shapes and sizes, and filled with crypts where family members, "Famille Deville," "Famille Robilliard," "Famille Poupinelle," are buried together – it's very homey. |
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Walk the Arts Viaduct (Bastille) – When the Eiffel Tower was closed (on strike), we took this walk instead. This is a raised aqueduct that once brought water to the city, but now it is a beautifully planted walkway above the streets in the Bastille area. Hop the Metro to Bastille (or Gare du Lyon). The Arts Viaduct starts at boulevard Diderot and avenue Daumesnil, where you can find stairs going up. | |
| The viaduct goes from some distance, ending at the Jardin de Reuilly, which is also a great playground. |
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