To think Paris is rubbish for the day out with 20mth old and me heavily pregnant?

[Ditablue]

We're hoping to go to France for a week to visit the inlaws in Burgundy in June. The week we want to go I will be 33 weeks pregnant and the trip door to door including a ferry ride is 10 hours!!! We can only really afford to take the ferry as Eurostar is ridiculously expensive.

I have suggested to DH that we can spend the day in Paris so that DD can expend a little energy and my poor back can have a break from being stuck in a car for so long. We can then drive onto Burgundy that same day but later on so baby can sleep on the way down.

AIBU to think that Paris has NO obvious attractions for a 20mth old? I think Eurodisney and the usual sites (Eiffel Tower, Louvre etc) will go right over her head...any suggestions?

Paris has some of the best parks. Also even just dandering around is brilliant although not at 33 weeks preg i imagine! Have a look here for some inspiration

There are beautiful parks (the Jardin du Luxembourg is beautiful with a huge pond where you can hire boats to float with sticks), Bercy village is great too (park with ponds, picnic areas, cineplex, craft/toy shops), the zoo in the Bois de Vicennes, the Cite des Enfants in the Cite des Sciences (maybe a bit too old for her but it's kid-friendly), sit outside a cafe with a macaroon and people-watch...

Agree with parks and just pottering. You don't need mega-big attractions to entertain a 20 mo.

Does it have to be Paris? I've never done it but imagine driving into the city could be very time consuming and a little stressful. A smaller town or city on the route would most likely provide you with a nice park for leg stretching and a decent place to eat.

Which ferry port are you going into?

p.s I did a weekend in Paris at 33 weeks too. I had been crippled with SPD but it magically went when I got there. I walked for miles!

Thanks - no it doesn't need to be Paris anywhere enroute and roughly halfway will be fine. cory I don't WANT mega-big attractions - that's my point I think it will be lost on a 20 mth old...just something to occupy our time where I won't have to do a lot of walking and we can get a bite to eat. Bercy Village and the Zoo sound great thanks marmalade.

Paris is quite out of your way to get to Burgundy. My parents have a house down there and a detour to Paris would add around 2-3 hours driving to the trip.

There are some lovely places on route - Champagne region is beautiful, and there are some nature reserves etc around Troyes which would be lovely for a day stretching your legs and giving you all a break from the car.

Bercy Village guide :)

Agree thefurryone.

Driving into Paris, parking, doing some sight seeing, finding car, driving out ... seems very time consuming, stressful and for what you'll get out of it. You'd only have a couple of hours? I'd prefer to go with finding a village on the way.

Or Versailles? That'd be a bit easier to stop off at. I seem to remember the area around Fontainebleau as being very nice. However it's not a huge drive from Calais, so you may want to keep going and take a couple of long breaks at the French service stations or aires (some have a toilet and nothing else). Many have outdoor play areas.

Or after work take a later ferry, and book a room in one of the cheap hotel chains, in Calais or an hour down the road.

I love Paris, but I wouldn't visit it for the day with a 20 month-old and 33 weeks pregnant myself. It won't be any fun. It will be hot. I would agree with stopping off somewhere else, staying in a premiere classe (or the like) and just looking around the local area.

We go camping in France every year and stop off at a campsite overnight when the fit takes us. We have always found some beautiful places to see.

Again I would agree Paris takes you a lot out of your way as the most direct route is via St Omer, Arras and Reims. Arras is very nice to stop in and bizarrely The Vimy ridge memorial is a lovely place to take small ones there is lots of space to run around and it is very beautiful. Epernay is also lovely my DD loved the train ride in the cellars of Mercier at a similar age and it is beautifully cool there, there is also a lovely playground right in the middle of Epernay no grass, but soft play surface.

agree it will probably be swelteringly hot there

If I was going to Paris with kids, and I was knackered: I'd either hit the parks, OR do a river tour/cruise. I must say that I think you're quite brave. If you need a stopover for a break enroute, I wouldn't pick Paris. Find a quiet B+B in the countryside, near/in a big chateaux.

Oh I recommend Reims. Pommery do an amazing champagne cave tour, and there are nice parks. A quick "stop over" in Paris will add about 5 hours driving....

I agree with Lizcat about Arras and Vimy Ridge. Also Troyes. Depends how far you want to go on the first leg. What about Compiegne? How long are you planning to hang around, just an afternoon or a whole day?

A problem I see with being with a 20-mth old and heavily pregnant in Paris is that it can be very difficult to convince parisian shopkeepers and restaranteurs to let you use their toilet.

in truth, i lived in paris while heavily pregnant and it is quite shit for parents and toddlers / pregnant mums if you are not a native. there are no baby changes for a start, so you have to have a wait to change the baby on the stinking toilet floor in restaurants which is as big as about an A3 sheet of paper and usually is down a nasty fiddly flight of stairs.

personally, if I had to do it again with a toddler or baby, I'd avoid paris and go somewhere else.

yikes micro thanks for the heads up!!! My wonderful FIL has offered to splash out on eurostar and TGV tickets for us after taking pity on me!!! But thanks for all the advice will store it away for future trips!!

I went to Paris at 33 weeks in June with my 3 year old. He's a bit older but we also went year before. You can go to Jardin Des Plants, there's a great menagerie that he loved.
Also at the jardin de tuilleries there's a little pond where a man rents out little sailing boats that you kind of push with a long stick across the pond. My DS LOVED it, and spent good couple of hours there.
Jardin De Luxembourg is great...they have a couple of briliant playgrounds and a sand garden.
Also the Parc Du Champs Des Mars ( where the Eiffel Tower is), they have a fab playground....I'm envious.
Yes it was hot and I felt a bit tired, but I went off and had a pedicure!

Wouldn't recommend Paris being that pregnant with a little one in tow but if you ever are, I can highly recommend the Paris Aquarium. It's probably the best aquarium I've ever been to, our DD1 loved it when she was 3 - it's between Trocadero and Champ de Mars / Eiffel Tower, it's underground and very cool in summer.

ooh, actually the zoo in jardin des plantes is quite cool. no big animals (it is too small), but it's quite sweet and relaxing. i forgot about that, and i have visited it at least 5 times.