BKP

My little family just returned from our week long visit to Paris. It was wonderful, absolutely wonderful. We were apprehensive about going with an 11 month old but our trip turned out to be better than we could have even imagined.
I underestimated the Parisians. I assumed they would see my baby as a minor inconvenience at best and an obnoxious monster at worst. The exact opposite was true. Everyone loved him. They all smiled and cooed at him, tugged on his hands and feet. At the Fete Au Pain in front of Notre Dame an elderly lady even stopped us to share her pain ou chocolate with us when he was fussy. I had read that there wouldn't be any high chairs and that was correct, I assumed it was because children weren't expected in restaurants -- but again, not the case. Waiters and owners had no problems rearranging furniture, bringing out bread quickly, all the while laughing and smiling during these inconveniences. I have to be honest, my baby is truly amazing and beautiful. Our experiences may be abnormal because he is so delightful! So, no promises if you have one of those "normal" babies .
As for logistics -- here is what we learned and would like to pass on:
The metro is terrible for strollers. Stairs everywhere. Learn to love to walk. Your baby will appreciate the vibrations of the cobblestone streets.
The only high chairs we found were at a Hippopatomus (sp) restaurant, the French version of Red Robin. It is not worth it. The appeal of a high chair does not outweigh the lack of appeal in food!
Renting an apartment was the best choice for us. We kept yogurt and cheese in the fridge. We were able to clean bottles. We had a separate room for him to sleep in while we unwound for the night.
We stuck to cafes and tried to eat outside whenever possible. This way we didn't have to rearrange too much furniture and our son could pass the time staring at the passer-bys.
We didn't buy him his own plane ticket. Again, this worked best for us. The flights were full from Seattle to NYC and NYC to CDG so we just made do. We brought an entire carry on of toys and used most of them. We brought Baby Einstein DVDs and watched them over and over. From CDG to Chicago we were given a whole row to ourselves and that was nice but I'm glad we didn't pay for it. Yes, the flight was pretty bad. But did I mention we took an 11 month old from Seattle to Paris and back? That's 15 hours or so of flying. He could have had his own cabin and it still would have been pretty bad. Still, it's the only way I know to get to Paris so . . .
Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. We went to Paris two years ago by ourselves, before the baby and honestly, we had a more enjoyable time with him. It was a different experience and in some ways it was more difficult but I loved every minute of it. For me, my son gives me a whole new perspective with which to view the world. I don't just see a Monet or a Degas, I find beauty in a world that isn't always beautiful and I want him to see it too. I don't just see Pont Neuf, I see hundreds of years and thousands of lives that are in no way insignifigant just because they are so many and I know that he is not insignifigant either. Excuse me if get a little sentimental but that's what having a baby has done to me.
Whew -- I didn't expect this post to get so long and I didn't even mention the shopping! I'll post again and share all that I learned about shopping and fashion in Paris! Thank you all for the information that you shared and the encouragement we received while planning this trip. We really couldn't have done it without Fodors!

Scarlett

Oh, you could go on longer!
I am so happy that your time in Paris with your baby was so wonderful..I look forward to hearing more

alya

BKP,

Don't be worried about being even slighly emotional that is what having children does - It opens up your world up to people who will smile and react to him if he's happy or even fretting, while without him they would have potentially ignored you

That's why you enjoyed Paris more this time - you probably had more interaction with people through your baby, there are the best language barrier.

It's always wondeful when people appreciate your children

CariMara

What a positive message you posted. I am a born traveler, and my husband and I plan on continuing our passion when we are blessed with children. Posts like yours give us hope that it IS possible!

5alive

Some great memories for you. Please post more details. I know I was looking for kid-posts before my own trip.

LoveItaly

Oh BKP, as a mother and a grandmother I do understand exactly how you feel and your emotions. I have often said that travels with children are the best trips of all. A common love that everyone in the world has it seems is babies,toddlers and little ones. Yes it does take a bit more work, yes you do need to pack more "stuff", but the joy of travelling with your little one so offsets any inconviences.

I so enjoyed your post and your emotions. It brought tears to my eyes to tell you the truth.

I wish you many beautiful trips with your baby..and your little one will always be your "baby" no matter how old he gets. And don't forget to remind him of that fact at least weekly, lol. My best wishes to you and your family.

john127

Thank you so much for posting, I LOVED your report. We're taking our 3 year old and our 1 year old to Paris in July and can't wait. Thanks for the practical tips (we'll be carrying our tiny portable high chair, which is the best product ever). We've run into people who think we're crazy for taking the kids to Europe but, other than the plane ride, it's just like being at home in terms of being out doing things, which we are all the time with both kids here in NYC.

Anyway, your post got us even more excited to go, thanks again!

John

laurenzo

what a lovely trip report to read this Sat. morning. You put a smile on my face as I read it. How nice you had such a wonderful time. Having children is such a blessing and it is even better when you have them travel with you . I wish you many more wonderful trips with your precious son!

Therese

Great trip report, BKP. Like you, I've found that my trips to Europe with my kids are actually better than those without them in every respect. As your gets older it will only get better.

Looking forward to shopping and fashion info.

tod

I thoroughly enjoyed your trip report and it related very closely with our travels 25 years ago with a two year old! Our son was amazing and only once in the early hours( at the Perryve Hotel in Paris) cried for "mongy" which we finally twigged was 'milk'!
I am extremely interested in those Einstein DVD's? I have heard that children under two years old should never watch TV? Please enlighten me!

crefloors

Lovely read this cold nasty morning. Yes, every where in the country it's nice and warm or hot and here? Snow flakes this morning. Wah!!!! But, back to the subject. Please come back with the shopping report. I spend entirely too much time shopping when I travel, but I love to shop, don't have time at home, so when on vacation I save for it and "cut loose"!!!!! Eagerly awaiting.

BKP

Tod -- Baby Einstein is a company that makes many products; toys, books, CDs, and DVDs etc catered to babies. The ones we show our son are movies that are set to Mozart or Bach while showing various images -- fruit, bubbles, toys, animals, etc. I guess I justify them by liking the fact that we're exposing him to classical music. I find it very interesting that now whenever my son hears classical music, not even just the Mozart and the Bach that he has listened to, but pretty much anything like it, he gets very excited. On the plane numerous passengers commented on them and on my son's good behavior and apparently long attention span for a child his age. I agree that a baby shouldn't be watching a lot of t.v. but I'll be honest and tell you that I have turned on a DVD to get a moment or two for myself. Please don't judge. I'm a stay at home Mom that wouldn't trade my life for anything, but even I could use a little bit of help every now and then.
Incidentally, while I was pregnant I strapped a little machine to my belly that played a series of rhythmic drumbeats for my baby. There were lots of theories and promises behind it and I thought it sounded like fun. Anyway, now his favorite music to calm down to is rap! I never would have imagined but parenting is nothing if not a series of suprises!

francophile03

I'm glad you had a great experience. Your child is truly amazing. My son would not have behaved as well. My cousin and her husband brought their year old son with them for two weeks in Paris last year. They had a great time and they rented an apartment too. Their son remembers their trip amazingly and wants to return to Paris! His mother reads him a "Ciao Bambino" book and now he wants to go to Italy. Well, he's also influenced by his parents who have the travel sickness.

tod

BKP - Thanks a bunch for your explanation re Baby Einstein DVD's!
There always seems to be new theories on child rearing these days and I will be honest and tell you 27 years ago television was in it's infancy in this country(South Africa) and we were all(baby too) glued to everything and anything that came onto the box!
My son hasn't turned out too badly for all his video watching - Admittedly not a lot in his high school years as he was at boarding school. (I definitely think the latter "TV non-watching" was more important).
Keep up the good but very tiring job in raising your baby. I wish I could send you a nanny as we have thousands wanting employment.

Timlin

BKP I say if people were reacting to your baby and enjoying him with you then you are conciderate parents who have a baby who's well behaved. (Just getting the apartment and saying he had a room of his own so you could enjoy each other shows your doing a terrific job with this parenting! Congratulations to you!)

I remember when we took a trip by ourselves one summer.....we cut our trip short and came home vowing never to go without the kids again and we never did until our youngest was 16 and she stayed with her Grandmother for 4 days while we celebrated our 25th anniversary. All the time we were gone we regretted leaving her behind, she would have loved our trip but as it was she grew a closeness with her Gramma that lasted the rest of Gramma's life so it was a good thing!

I'm so happy to read your report....it sounds so perfect to me. I hope you'll post more and do tell me about shopping in Paris.....I hope to be there again soon with time to shop this trip.

eraybkln

BKP - Thank you for such a great report on your trip to Paris. It was very helpful and reassuring. We are planning a trip to Paris next April with our son who will be 13 months old. Can you please share any information you have on finding an apartment for rent. The bottle washing and snack possibilities makes that sound like the best option. Also any other tidbits with toddlers that worked for you would be great.

Thank you in advance.

Squiggy

Hi, BKP. Dying to know how your shopping went in Paris? I'm leaving for Paris the end of next month and would love to hear of your experience.

Squiggy

BKP

Hi eraybkln
Finding an apartment wasn't difficult -- finding the perfect one was excruciating! We spent a lot of time online pouring over photographs and reviews. We looked at www.vrbo.com www.parisapartmenttours.com www.vacationinparis.com and http://www.private-paris.com/index.htm among others. We ended up choosing http://www.parisapartmenttours.com/s...mp;mode=search. It was perfect. We posted here to see if anyone had used this company and no one had. Someone even commented on the lack of personality in this apartment. But for us, "personality" and a 1 year old don't mix well. That all seemed like more things for him to hurt himself with, break or just cause a mess. We also avoided carpet because the idea of him crawling on it also creeped me out! Location was very imortant to us as well. I know the Metro is amazing but it isn't stroller friendly. We brought our giant peg perego but I would reccoment a maclaren or a smaller umbrella stroller -- less storage but less hassle. I hope stroller envy isn't a problem for you because there were bugaboos everywhere!

BKP

Sorry -- touchy trigger finger -- I wasn't quite finished. Anyway -- I think choosing an apartment takes a lot of research, a little faith and a big sense of humor once you get there. And enough room on a credit card so you can run somewhere else if you need to! I hope this helps, if you have any more questions let me know. I love talking about our trip and I think everywhere back home is getting sick of listening. By the way -- in case you don't hear it enough over the next year I think you are incredibly brave and probably a really great parent if you are planning on taking this trip. I know people will say that your baby won't even remember it and it's a waste of $$. I definitely disagree. I think children understand a lot more than we give them credit for. If nothing else when you're child is old enough he will get to see the photos and know that his parents felt it was important to bring him along. It will definitely turn it into a different kind of adventure -- but a better one in my opinion

laartista

Great report. Thanks for posting it. I laughed out loud with your "normal babies" comment. That is too funny. Glad you had such a great time.