I suggest that you consider the hop on, hop off open bus tour if the weather is good!

For little ones there are always loads of McDonalds, but if you want to try French food, many restaurants have children's menus (Menu Enfant) of the slice of ham, chicken nuggets, omelette, the local equivalent of fish fingers all served with chips, an ice cream and a soft drink.

You might like to introduce them to the delights of Orangina (the fizzy orange) or the French kids' favourite, lemonade with grenadine fruit syrup (a diabolo grenadine).

Berthillon's ice cream kiosk and shop near Notre Dame cathedral is absolutely wonderful!

Besides the parks in central Paris (Luxembourg Gardens, Tuileries) where they can let off steam, you could also take them on a boat trip (Bateau Mouche) which lasts approx 1 hour.

Hope this helps .... but I believe that there are books on 'Paris for kids', so a trip to the local bookshop might help ..... or google Paris for Kids and see what comes up. Hope you have a really good time.

Hi again Alsacienne,
My son's off on the return leg of his Paris journey on Wednesday. This time he's taking the car back to Paris, staying in an hotel on the outskirts and will have all day free in the city before taking an evening flight back to Cardiff. I'm hoping that the journey will go to plan (as it did 2 weeks ago). This time I@m after some sugestions on what to do to fill in the few hours free time. The open top bus tour sounds excellent. Any idea how much it costs. Also, where would be the best place for him to ask the Taxi driver to drop him off (are the sights close together, Eiffel Tower, Notre Damme, Louvre, Mon martre etc). Where would the best place be to start the bus tour. My inexperienced traveller son would probably just jump in a taxi and ask for "Paris please"
Thanks for any advice

Hi Shirley! Nice to see you on the board again! I think you'll find all the answers you need to know on this site http://www.cityrama.fr/en/paris_open_tour. And it's in English too!

The open top bus tours are very nice during spring and fall when the weather is comfortable, otherwise the covered double decker busses are fun. There are 4 tour routes, and you can take them all for one ticket.

Thanks for the replies. My son likes the idea of seeing all the sites without having to get taxis everywhere. He's going to try and do the bus tour. He's much braver than I am. I'd hate to be all on my own in Paris. I've never known him to be so adventurous - he's showing me a completely different side to his personality. I'm still a worried mum though and won't relax until he's safely back home.

Any idea what would be the best way for him to get a Taxi from the middle of the city to CDG airport. How long a journey is it and how will he know where to get a taxi from. He will have booked out of his hotel before hitting the sites so he won't be able to book one from there. Also, remember he can't speak French. Thanks again.

He might prefer to get a bus from the Porte Maillot to CDG airport (much cheaper and regular runs), or take the RER.

Thanks to all who've helped keep my stress levels down. Just to say that my son arrived home from Paris "safe and sound" last night. Been quite a stressful time for me as he got lost driving around the city. His Sat Nav didn't work properly once in Paris itself although it was fine until he hit the city.
He ended up being too stressed to see the sites and once his works "mission" was complete, headed straight to the airport where he chilled out. One consolation, he took photos of Concorde which was on display in CDG.
He also brought me home a pressie for causing me so much stress - eye anti wrinkle cream to combat the signs of stress

Oh bless him Shirley.

Am glad he is home safe and sound.

Kathx