By now we know we’re going to rely heavily on our previous experiences and on our favorite travel guide, Rick Steves, but it’s still important to a) get organized, and b) find new things you might want to try.
We checked out a few books at the library; a few on Paris and one on Loire Valley (we’ll cover our proposed day trip to Loire Valley in future posts).
One of the books, Paris with Kids, looked promising but was in fact not. We’ve found a lot of travel-with-kids books are rarely helpful. They tell you about the marquee museums, a few very obvious sights, and usually include zoos, toy shops, and other places you’d have at home. Nothing wrong with visiting the Rome zoo. It’s just a long way to travel to see a lion or monkeys, even if they might be fluent in Italian. There are more interesting things to do and see.
The Secrets of Paris book was slightly more helpful. It lists little know but sometimes interesting places by neighborhood (arrondissement). It has colorful images and uses pithy language to list many potential places of interest. It includes details of architecture and public artwork gone unnoticed, former homes and hangouts of literary giants, and other “fun fact” -style information. Of the 20+ we bookmarked, less than half will make it on our Google maps but even if we see one or two of the places it was worth skimming through in a couple hours.
Some early themes were considering on this trip are:
- Getting to better know French history
- Deeper appreciation for Parisian lifestyle (backstreet dining, exploring neighborhoods)
- Those that have come before (writers, artists, French and foreign)
- Including those Americans that traveled here before us
Looking forward to more Paris books on hold at the library then we’ll be ready to jump into the fire of purchasing flights!
Talk soon,
Dan & Betsy
Family conversation topic: Time for another family trip to the library?