234 330
TRAVEL
234
January14
I
have been conducting a long love
affair. With a city; the city of Paris. I
can track our relationship through
my choice of accessories. When it
started, I was carrying all my belongings
in a backpack. Later, we would snatch
some brief moments while I was toting
a briefcase between appointments.
In more recent rendezvous, I’ve had a
designer weekend bag.
In the latest reunion with my beloved
city, I was to be accompanied by my
favourite accessories: my husband
and our ten- and six-year-old sons. Our
boys have been lucky enough to visit
Paris before; when they were younger
and easier to keep amused with short,
frequent stops at parks and bribes of
beautiful French toys.
Keeping kids engaged and enthused
is a challenge on any city break. Could
Paris woo and bond with my older
children? Would my city and I still be
able to spend some valuable “alone”
time together? As the French like to say:
it is possible. Here’s how.
What to do
It is almost mandated by international
travel conventions that any Paris itinerary
will include a visit to at least one of its
173 museums. Tragically, this pastime is
not high on the radar of young boys who
have been hanging virtual masterpieces
in their own Minecraft galleries for years.
What does interest them, however, is
another quaint activity – a treasure hunt.
So, on Day One of our Paris tour,
we adopt our best Indiana Jones
expressions and strut past the long
entrance queue at Musée d’Orsay
flashing tickets purchased online. We
report to the gift shop to collect our
clues (also known as art postcards) and
begin the hunt for the precious artworks
depicted, transforming the old train
station frommuseum to adventure park.
The only intrusion on this happy scene
is my six-year-old’s disgruntlement that
he isn’t able to photograph the “real”
artworks on his iPod.
The iPods do come in handy the next
day, when French socialism collides with
tourism. After being reprimanded by ten-
year-old Olivier for neglecting the Eiffel
Tower during a previous visit, we dedicate
a morning to the iconic monument, only
to find it closed by a strike.
Fortunately, technology eases some
of the disappointment. Taking some
striking Instagram shots ensures that
the visit receives an “awesome” rating
by Olivier. The discovery of a large