Paris for Families (Family Travel Guides) [Paperback]

Larry Lain (Author), Michael Lain (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Paris for Families | Publication Date: September 2000

Of all the mountains, all the oceans, all the great cities of the world, no one place has been written about, sung about, celebrated in every possible way more than Paris. Everybody knows about the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, Napoleon, and the cafs of the Left Bank. But there are magnificent attractions for every member of your family in Paris. From the top of the Eiffel Tower to the creepy Catacombes below the city, the author of the highly acclaimed London for Families now delivers a comprehensive survey of Paris's main attractions, designed especially to help families plan a vacation that's fun and affordable. Delight in Montmartre and the merry-go-round at the base of the Sacr Coeur, or take a boatride on the Seine. Wander the Left Bank, the Latin Quarter, the fantastic flea markets, and the incredible array of beautiful parks full of sights and activities for all ages. Or how about a magnificent museum of dolls? A vast science museum? Or a 2,000 year old Roman arena where you can stand in the ring? And what kid can resist the most breathtaking tour in Europe: the Paris Sewers? Paris for Families explores the city's history and culture through walking tours that will keep the kids enthralled.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...replete with ready-to-use, simple-to-understand information garnered from years of personal experience." -- Foreword Magazine --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

Paris for Families is your guide for the most memorable family holiday of your life, everything you need to know about making the most of your money, finding a home away from home in the city, and putting together an itinerary that's both practical and fun. Even if you have never been to Paris before and don't speak a word of French, you can thrive in this city, making memories that will be part of your family forever. Larry Lain is Professor of Communication at the University of Dayton and co-author of London for Families and London for Lovers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 276 pages
• Publisher: Interlink Pub Group Inc (September 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566563607
• ISBN-13: 978-1566563604
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,575,558 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paris for Families, October 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Paris for Families (Family Travel Guides) (Paperback)

Paris for Families is the right guidebook for you if you can answer "YES" to at least one of the following questions:

I'm traveling with my children to Paris;

I want to see the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and someplace I never knew Paris could offer me;

I do not have $25,000 to spend on my vacation and/or I am Bill Gates and/or Bill Gates owes me $25,000.

Two things make this book better than the others however: 1) the book entertains you with suggestions on special places, odd museums you will otherwise stroll past and gives you the information you need to locate an apartment or smaller hotel that makes kid maintenance easier and 2) the author traveled over many years to many places with his own kids and wrote down stuff of use to the rest of us. Enough philosophy. On to the details.

Where to Stay The book sorts out the advantages and disadvantages to staying in a large hotel and recommends you book a short-term apartment instead. The author gives you specific addresses to write to and websites to look at to find the right place at the right price.

Then the author gives you fill-in-the-blank sample letters in French to FAX to the hotel to make reservations or get more info (for example, in French, "How much will ___ nights cost?", or, more to the point for parents, "Does the apartment face the street or a courtyard?", "How quiet is it?", "Does the apartment have laundry facilities?", "Are rollaway beds available for extra people?". Maybe your French is better than mine, but for me, the terms "ex. Laverie (self-serve launderette)" and "tarif reuit (reduced price)" are going to come in handy.

How to Get Around Lain again is ready with the details, including specific directions from the major airports and rail stations into/around the city, as well as a kids-in-mind look at using taxi versus the subway (Le Metro) versus buses versus trains versus walking. Is it better to go from Famous Place A to Famous Place B by taxi, or would a short walk take you by something interesting? If the route is long but scenic itself, maybe the bus would allow you a more interesting jaunt than the Metro?

The author also provides pages of detailed self-guided walking tours. Here's a sample:

�gStroll the Jardin des Tuileries (Ch. 14). There was once a royal palace here, too. Watch the children sailing boats in the fountains and walk all the way to the end of the gardens. The building at the end, on your left, is the Musée de l'Orangerie (Ch. 13), devoted to impressionist painting. If you go up the embankment here, you have a splendid view of the Place de la Concorde (Ch. 11) with the ancient Egyptian Obelisk in its center. From here you can look straight down the Champs Elyses (Ch. 16) to the Arc de Triomphe. We'll be there in a little while.

�gGo back down the embankment and into the Place de la Concorde. (Before you do, there are public toilets just inside the gate if anyone would like to stop a moment.) Turn left and walk toward the river and stroll along the quai.�h

(I gotta love the guy for mentioning the public toilets. Our first daughter was four when we first went to Paris and we ended up paying for an amazing number of tiny little cups of coffee at gigantic prices to buy our way into cafe toilets all over the city.)

What to See These eight chapters are the bulk of the book, and contain enough highlights of Paris to keep a family busy for several trips.

For those who prefer a fixed price set meal, Lain offers sample itineraries for a one and two week stays in Paris. He has a "Paris at Night" itinerary to offer and, Hello Parents! one just for rainy days.

For those who prefer their touring a la carte, Lain offers chapters of good stuff.

Chapter 11, entitled "Graves, Ghosts, and Ruins", starts you underground, in the Catacombs. As a parent I can read the descriptions and know that the Catacombs would be perfect for my mystery-loving, Goosebumps-reading eight year old and absolutely wrong for my still frightened at lots of stuff five year old. For example:

�gArees de Lute is a Roman theatre almost 2000 years old. If there are ghosts anywhere, there must be some around the Arees de Lute. If you have an imagination and any sort of interest in history, this is a place that ought to put them both into overdrive. Because the arena just sits in the middle of the park, it's always free and open to the public during the daylight hours Talk about what it might have been like to live in earlier times: Roman Paris, medieval Paris, and revolutionary times. It helps make places come alive for kids and will help them make the same sorts of connections in school.�h

The rest of the book is equally full of good stuff: A whole chapter on the Notre Dame Cathedral (Chapter 12), one on the art of Paris (Chapter 13), a section on Parks and Diversions (Chapter 14, to include a nice section on the Bateaux-Mouches, glass enclosed sightseeing river boats that pass up and down the Seine.)

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Needs serious reorganization, August 3, 2003

By 

Jennifer L. Metcalf (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paris for Families (Family Travel Guides) (Paperback)

This book holds some useful information for families traveling to Paris. However, the presentation of the book holds little promise of finding that information quickly. There is no index, so it is extremely difficult to look up specific subjects. Although I certainly appreciate books with a biting attitude and strong opinions, unfortunately, this book contained a lot of platitudes that simply took space where more valuable information could have gone. With all due respect to the author, his quips weren't humorous and only made it more difficult to find the helpful information that is all-too-often buried. I think he was trying to combine a reference book with a narrative style, but the result would have been more successful concentrating on one over the other.

Information is too scattered. In chapter two (Coming Home to Paris), there is a great suggestion of renting an apartment (which I've done and highly recommend), yet only in another section of the book does it gives suggestions on where to look for that apartment. After conducting a great deal of research on this topic myself, I will say that the author's suggestions on rental agencies are some of the more expensive options. Personally, I found the best deals when dealing with owners directly, thus bypassing all commissions.

It's rather surprising that a book on Paris for families contained nothing about finding temporary childcare for a parents' night out. Although this is not applicable or important for every family, a book on families traveling to Paris should have some mention of childcare, which this did not (unless it were somehow missed -- yet it cannot be easily found without an index). There was also no mention of where one can find items that travelers with children may need: diapering supplies, medicine, and any special foods.

Also surprising is the fact that the author strongly discouraged bringing any electrical equipment. Any frequent traveler knows that a small adapter on a hair dryer which converts to 220v power is really no big deal at all, and personally I've found that hair dryers are invaluable for helping to dry underwear or other clothing that may still be a bit damp from the previous night's laundering.

The book recommends taking traveler's checks to Paris and also converting US cash to Euros before the trip. I could not disagree more. It is expensive to cash traveler's checks in Paris, that is, when one can even find a bank that will cash them; many will not. Also, I've found that it is usually more expensive to pay for Euros in the States than simply using an ATM machine in Paris.

The books also warns of the long lines at the Tour Eiffel but gives no ways to avoid them, which I found disappointing. My solutions: pay for a moderately inexpensive city tour of 2 hours which includes the Tour Eiffel - the tour guide leads you past hordes of tourists who have been waiting for hours while you walk right past them and up the tower. Another way is to go late in the day. Not only do you get in much quicker, but the Tour Eiffel at night is absolutely magnificent.

The book did contain some valuable information, including informing readers that when they emerge from the depths of the Catacombs, they are on a completely different street from the entrance! It is easy to get lost, but the book gave easy directions to find the way back to the Metro.

As one who has traveled to Paris numerous times (twice with children), I simply can't recommend this as a reference book at all because of its organization and complete lack of index. But if you sit down and read it cover to cover and make lots of notes, then the book may be useful in planning a trip to Paris with the children. However, I would highly recommend reading one of the major travel guides (personally, I prefer Time Out, Lonely Planet, DK, and Let's Go) in addition to this book, as there is much information that is simply not included that a traveler needs to know before arriving in Paris.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The 2000 First Edition has NO INDEX !!!!!!, March 29, 2003

By 

D. Walker (Williamsburg, VA, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paris for Families (Family Travel Guides) (Paperback)

(This review is for the 2000 first edition.) London for Families (Family Travel Guides)

THIS PARIS GUIDE BOOK HAS NO INDEX. Unless you ALREADY KNOW Paris, you won't be able to use this book to quickly look up areas, suggested sights to see, nor any other specific travel information that you may need. Family trip planning NEEDS indices to make both the planning and the travel easier.

Our family used the Lains' "London For Families" book extensively, both when planning and later as an important and useful reference tool when actually traveling in London. (I failed to pack our "London For Families" book for the trip and ended up purchasing a second copy while in London to use as a primary family-travel reference guide. It was that indispensable!)

I was really excited to learn that the Lains were publishing a Paris Guide for families. I was counting on its being as useful to our family as the 'London' book was. It was very disappointing to find that an index wasn't provided. It reduced the usefulness of the book to a 2 star. Perhaps the second edition will correct this flaw!