A kind family in Kansas was nice enough to send along this account of their trip. Thank You!
| We just
returned from Paris last week (mid-January 2002), and having read Paris
for Families and looked at the website, we wanted to thank you and tell
you a little about our trip. My husband and I have been to Paris before
and have wanted to show it to our children before they grew up, so when
we saw some drastically reduced plane fares, we bought the tickets and
grabbed our passports. We have three children, 16, 14, and 11, who were
variously excited about different aspects of the trip. We were pleased
that all found things to like that they had not expected (such as the
Museum du Moyen Age, which fascinated our 11-year-old son and inspired
him to purchase a small knight and working catapult at the gift shop,
our favorite souvenirs).
We found a good hotel in the Montparnasse area (by searching the internet) which had off-season rates. We stayed in the Hotel Unic St. Germain, on a quiet side street, with everything we needed, including a wonderful breakfast. We also got the museum passes for the adults and were delighted that the children were free. The Paris Visite pass for the Metro were terrific for us -- with midweek unlimited travel for five days and extra deals on the pass (such as the tower of Montparnasse which gave us two for one tickets and an outstanding view of the whole city). My husband is an excellent train schedule reader, so we used our passes a lot -- several times a day which along with some nice walks, allowed us to visit almost all of the spots you mentioned in your book, from Notre Dame to Luxembourg Gardens to Sacre Coeur to the Louvre and to the Montparnasse cemetery. Note: We did not find any irregularities in the train station markings or any closed stations, contrary to a note on your website. We also were disappointed that Musee l'Orangerie was not open, and was being remodeled, with a sign that said it would not open til 2004! January in Paris is chilly but not unbearable-in the 40-50 degrees range. Prices are good off-season rates, and lines are very short for just about everything (though the Eiffel Tower on a Saturday was still a long wait). So our budget was very reasonable. The Parisians were generally quite friendly and most waiters and service people assumed with a glance that we were Americans and gave us their best English. We did manage some French, of course, especially the words of politeness which are the most important ones. Our meals were fine though they varied quite a bit in quality and in price, but we wanted to mention that the least enjoyable ones were those that tried to serve American food. Steaks, hamburgers and tacos in Paris were NOT like home; they were tough, odd flavored and blandly seasoned. The French and Italian places we found -- and the sandwich shops open to the street-pleased us the most. We also liked to shop for fresh fruit and snacks at the well-equipped store on the same street as our hotel. Of course, we have many other wonderful memories and loads of pictures and slides, but just wanted to give you a few highlights. Thanks again for a terrific book; it was perfect for us. A Kansas Family
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