Adventures and Outings: Ryder in Paris

During our Escapes month on AT:The Nursery, we are posting great photos and tips for traveling with children from our readers. Please check here for all the details. The first twenty submissions posted will receive the official AT bib. Hope to hear from you soon!

Bonjour, Ryder! Parents of two-year old Ryder and his 3-month old sister Willow were told they were crazy to travel from Australia to Paris for a family holiday, but they say it was a fantastic experience. Read on for travel tips and ideas for things kids will love in Paris.

This photo is our son Ryder under the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Paris is an amazing city for kids, but our favourite spot was the Luxembourg Gardens, a true wonderland for children! The playground in the Luxembourg Gardens is fantastic & there are pony rides, a Marionette Theatre, toy sailing boats for hire by the lake & our son's favourite- a vintage Carousel! More details on our family blog.

The best thing that we did was to rent an apartment in Paris, rather than staying at a hotel. With 2 young kids, it was nice not to have space to ourselves & to be able to cook at home rather than eating out for every meal. It also meant that we could pack less clothes as the apartment had a washer/dryer & we felt very much at home, once our son had spread his toys throughout the apartment!

The item that we could not live without was a portable DVD player for our 2 year old son. It is a long way from Melbourne to Paris & although the plane had a built-in entertainment system it was great to bring our son's favourite DVD's to watch on the plane. After a 12 hour flight with 2 small children one of the other passengers even complimented us on how well behaved our kids were!

On the plane I also found it was a really good idea to carry some big zip-lock bags for soiled baby clothes & also a stain stick to make washing a bit easier later on!

Did you like the apartment you rented? Can you provide a link? We are planning a trip to Paris, and I have been searching for a well-located family-friendly family. (Our 4 yr old is obsessed with going to Paree and seeing the Tour Eiffel).

My tip about the portable DVD player is that on our homeward bound journey the plug adapter broke (at the airport restaurant, while we were trying to recharge the battery), so always travel with a few of them. The flight on the way home without the DVD player was very long and tiring without it...

posted by mschatelaine on August 29th 2007 at 7:53am
view mschatelaine's profile

Sorry, I don't have a link to the apartment as it was actually a friend's. It was in the Marais (right on the #1 metro line) which is a great area to be in & I would highly recommend it.

Make sure you check out if they have stairs or lifts too!

posted by ChristieF on August 29th 2007 at 1:12pm
view ChristieF's profile

Thank you, your account has been registered.

We have sent an email to the address you registered with for verification purposes. Please use the link in the verification email to activate your account.