Top tips on Paris with kids

[foothesnoo]

Thinking of doing two nights in Paris with les enfants over the summer, en route to main holiday destination. I haven't been to paris since I was twenty (ie quite a while ago) and can't really remember where would be a good area to stay in. I don't want to spend too much on accomodation.

Also any tips on good things to do with the kids/ places to eat? Children are 9 and 5 - good at walking and younger one expecting it to be like Ratatouille!

TIA

le bump

Let them watch Hunchback of Notre Dame, Madeline, and Lady and the Tramp, and they will spend the whole trip pointing at recognizable landmarks. There are also some great books where a little girl called Katie steps into various paintings (Katie meets the Impressionists, Katie and the Sunflowers, Katie and the Mona Lisa) and has adventures, which make a visit to the Musee d'Orsay or Louvre fun. And if they like Madeline, the Luxembourg gardens are great in real life too.

I took ds (13) in April. He enjoyed the bateau bus, which is a glassed in boat which you hop on and off throughout the day to stop at Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, etc etc, but the highlight for him was a day at Disneyland Paris. It was really good, and if you get the free fastpack ticket you don't have to queue for more than 10 mins or so.

We stayed at a very basic, cheap hotel within 200 yards of the Louvre. Will rack my brains to think of the name & come back to you

We took dd (9 today!) last July and are going back on Saturday for 5 days. We stayed at a small but very well located hotel (Hotel de St Germain, Rue du Four, in St Germain-des-Pres), and went to the Jardin du Luxembourg several times (do the little sailing boat thing, kids love it), the Louvres, the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame. You're also near the Bon Marche for retail therapy, Les Deux Magots for people watching, a couple of Laduree shops for over-the-top cake and macaron eating. We missed out on the Musee du Quai Branly, which I desperately want to go to this time. We walked everywhere, only took a couple of taxis when it rained....
Have fun!

Frog princess that sounds fantastic. Will have a look at that hotel.

Mumble am sure DCs would love Disneyland but don't really want to do that at height of school hols. I remember going on the bateau bus when I first went to Paris aged 8 or so.

Jan - great idea re: cultural stuff.

Any more suggestions?