Because we live in New York City, we tend to avoid city vacations as a family.  We want to spend as much of our free time in nature as possible. However, there are some cities we can’t resist and Paris is one of them.  This city has a tremendous amount of beautiful outdoor venues for children.  We also found the Parisians to be very friendly to our little ones, which was also a surprise.

Carousels

We have two favorite carousels in Paris.  One is at the bottom of the hill at Sacre Coeur in Montmartre where the street performers are fun to watch.  The other is at the Luxembourg Gardens where there is a water basin for children to sail boats and plenty of space to run around.  Additionally, there are puppet shows at Wednesdays and Saturdays at 4p and on Sundays at 11a and 4p.

Notre Dame

Upon a friend’s recommendation we watched Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame before our trip and on the plane; this was a great way to introduce our toddler to this famous Paris landmark.  She loved seeing Notre Dame in person after seeing it in the movies.

Louvre

Exploring the Louvre Museum is daunting with young children.  To make our visit as a family more fun, I designed a treasure hunt through the museum ahead of time; I marked up an online map with a “treasure” to find in each area we would explore.   At the end of the hunt, I brought a little wrapped gift as a reward and placed it under a bench while she wasn’t looking for her to discover.

Musee de la Poupee

Our museum excursion went so well that we decided to give the doll museum, Musee de la Poupee, a try.  It has 300 French dolls dating as far back as 1850 displayed in beautiful French scenery.  They offer fun educational tours, as well as a look at the doll workshop.  Our daughter and her friends loved this place!

French Pastries and Breads

Although there are many restaurants that are not kid-friendly in Paris, eating out is still a fun experience with children.  Our kids love all the French pastries and breads and it was fun to explore all the different, delicious options throughout the city.

Once we arrived home, my husband and I agreed that nature trips can be overrated compared to this!

Relevant Links:

Favorite Toddler-Friendly Parks in Paris

Favorite Kid-Friendly Dining in Paris

Museums and Kids – A Great Combination!

The best places to stay in France with kids

Singles, couples, kids, dogs … they’re all welcome at Solage Calistoga.  This fantastic getaway in Napa Valley is the subject of this week’s Photo Friday post and the venue for our latest giveaway.  The complete Ciao Bambino review is online, but here are some photos of my favorite features.

The food. The quality of the food at Solbar, the in-house restaurant, is exceptional.  They have one of the few kid’s menus I’ve seen with a true range of options (see my blog post Looking for Healthy Food on Kid’s Menus), as well as delicious and creative cuisine.  The large outdoor patio is an optimal spot to dine with kids.

Bocce. The bocce court provides hours of entertainment and it’s an activity many families do together.  It is also located close enough to the bar and restaurant to be an ideal outlet for mealtime distractions.

Setting and grounds. The setting and grounds are gorgeous.  The developers and designers did a wonderful job of integrating the buildings into the natural beauty of this area.

Adult pool. The adult swimming pool is absolutely spectacular.  It’s one of the most appealing swimming pools I’ve seen anywhere in the world.  Here’s the bad news … if you are there with kids, you have to split up to enjoy it and might stare longingly at it from the adjacent family pool.

Family pool. The good news is that there is a family pool; this is really the key amenity that enables the hotel to successfully cater to kids, as well as those seeking adult-focused relaxation.  Pool toys are on hand and although it’s not as striking as the adult pool, this is still a lovely place to hang out.

I don’t have a picture of the spa and fitness center, but they are both very nice as well.  The property is a short distance from the town of Calistoga, a fun place to stroll.  Although Napa Valley is most famous for wine tasting, there are things to do with kids in the area—see my post on 5 Kid-Friendly Activities in Napa Valley.

If this sounds all sounds appealing, now’s your chance to check out Solage for free—enter to win our latest giveaway, a 3-night stay for a family of 4 and 2 mudslide spa treatments for Mom and Dad!

For more this weeks Photo Friday posts, visit Delicious Baby.

Spread the word … we have a new and very exciting giveaway! Enter our latest drawing to win a 3-night stay for a family of 4 at Solage Calistoga in Napa Valley.  The giveaway also includes 2 mudslide spa treatments for Mom and Dad.

Solage is one of our favorite California wine country getaways for families.  The property and setting is gorgeous with amenities for kids and adults alike.  Read the complete family-friendly review.

The drawing will be held on Friday, July 17, 2009. As usual, any emails collected for the drawing will not be used for any other marketing purposes, i.e. don’t worry, we won’t spam you.

Click here to enter the giveaway!

I asked a “Dad” friend of mine to share his description of a somewhat ill-fated (yet fun) road trip he did last summer with his girlfriend and two boys, ages 4 and 9.  When they first explained that they were going to drive 14 hours (each way) to go camping around Boise, Idaho from San Francisco, “absolutely nuts” crossed my mind more than once.

In the end, the trip was a good example of the fact that when you are traveling with kids, all bets are off on how all will go.  The best part is that the Dad and his girlfriend are uber-planners.  They had very specific goals in mind at the start … with an unanticipated outcome.

The Plan:

Leave late in the day so we can drive all night and boys will sleep the entire way.

Arrive in the morning and wake up refreshed and happy.

Enjoy a great week outdoors in the wilderness of Idaho.

What happened:

4-year-old old begins to feel sick and has fever 2 hours into the drive.

It’s 800 degrees outside.

Eat at crappy diner in Truckee.

Get out into the middle of the Nevada desert and spend 40 frantic minutes discussing emergency plan because we are running out of gas … send girlfriend out into the night by herself or let her wait roadside with a sick 4-year-old until some axe murderer comes by to get them.

Finally find gas and coast the “minivan” into the station.

Nearly fall asleep a million times on the mind numbing trip.

Have great time camping in Idaho with outdoorsy Uncle.   Highlights include rattlesnake on the trail (outdoorsy Uncle created lasting memories when he gouged the head off a rattlesnake with a stick found nearby, while holding it down with another stick, also found nearby) and gunfire in the campsite (outdoorsy Uncle was shooting at critters and other campers joined the fun).

All the events that happen with kids on the road is what make trips with them memorable and much more exciting than those boring and predictable adult-only excursions.

I’ve never been a big user of online magazines.  The biggest reason is time, but a contributing factor is definitely that many of them feel cluttered and relevant information is hard to access.

One exception is Divine Caroline.  It’s easy to find current stories of interest from their homepage and the user experience is crisp and efficient (plus, the site is pleasant to look at).  Parenting is a primary category of interest, but it is not the only category profiled … I like that.   Travel is one of the big subjects they cover, with a special section on Family Travel.  I wrote an article in the spring for them about Tips for Traveling to Europe with Young Children and plan to write more.

The volume of content in any one area is somewhat limited, but what they have is higher-than-average quality.  The result is that you can find articles of interest in any one of their categories—a bit like shopping in a favorite boutique vs. going to Nordstrom.

I spent some time perusing the site this morning and enjoyed this article about Five Good Things About Hard Times.   There is an upside to our tough year and it’s nice to get some positive perspective.   Looking for easy treats to make with kids? I also liked this article, Hello Summer: Ten Really Cool Popsicles from Scratch.

Do you have other favorite websites to share that include Family Travel-related content?  Please email recommendations to info@ciaobambino.com.

New Zealand was the best part of our recent trip down under … Photo Friday is the perfect way to share some of my favorite photos.

We only visited the South Island and our home-base was Queenstown.  Given that our timing was late fall in the Southern Hemisphere, part of my love was due to the fact that I was able to experience fall leaves all over again … plus, we were extremely lucky and got crisp, clear weather every day.

I have to admit, I can’t say that bringing young kids to this part of the South Island would be a priority for me given the travel distance and the fact that much of appeal is somewhat to very strenuous outdoor activities.  It would, however, be an amazing destination with teenagers.

One incredible aspect of Queenstown is the sunset over the mountains.  Each night we were treated to a different color alpenglow—the whole sky seemed to light up and reflect off of the peaks.  Fantastic!

We took a trip out to Paradise Valley—a desolate but spectacular place where The Lord of the Rings and many other movies have been filmed. Eye-popping scenery to say the least.

We braved a VSP (very scary plane) ride to access the Southwest part of the island.

Fortunately, the outbound and return flights were smooth and the reward was that we were literally eye level with the peaks.  An unforgettable experience.  We were amused to learn after the return flight that our pilot had only flown our specific route one other time this year—I’m happy I didn’t know that ahead of time!

The point of the flight was to get us closer to Doubtful Sound (larger and less visited than the famed Milford Sound).  This experience did not disappoint.  We went through an amazing tropical forest and then were treated to an infinite number of towering cliffs around us for our ferry ride through the sound to the ocean.  We saw one other boat in 3 hours—utter peace and natural beauty is plentiful here.

New Zealand is one of the world’s magical places and should be on every traveler’s “must see” list.

For more of this week’s Photo Friday posts, visit Delicious Baby.

Relevant Links

Our only New Zealand review at this point is in a different part of the South Island, the Arthur’s Pass area.  Arthur’s Pass Wilderness Lodge is an active farm and the reviewer recommends it for young children too.

One of our clients traveled through Italy two years ago for 3 weeks—at the time their kids were 6 and 8.  They loved their experience so much that they are doing it all over again this year—this time for 7 weeks!  Lucky people …

I thought it would be fun to interview the kids on their experience and what they are looking forward to for this trip.  Kids experience travel differently than we do … their answers are fun and telling.

Bios from Mom

Annabelle, almost 10, loves Italy and everything about it and she has been looking forward to going back this entire school year. She loves to travel in general. She also plays the clarinet, does karate, and loves all kinds of art – she even held her own art show last winter (in our home . When she grows up, Annabelle would like to be a good drawer and have a farm in Italy or Cape Cod.

Trebor, age 8, also loves Italy and it’s the only place he likes fruit. Treb likes to explore new places, but prefer just to be there already and not have to travel to get there. At home, Trebor loves sports, especially soccer, baseball, and karate. He also has quite an imagination and can come up with some great stories. When he grows up, Trebor would like to be an inventor.

What was your favorite part of the trip and why?

Trebor: Gelato! and our hotel in Milan (Hyatt). I love seeing what our rooms look like. I also liked playing at the beach in Cinque Terre and seeing the Mummies in Rome (Vatican Museum). The food is so much yummier in Italy. In one word: Everything.

Annabelle: The food! It’s so yummy especially the fruit and gelato. I also liked meeting new friends in Cinque Terre and playing with them at the beach. My favorite sites were the Colosseum and walking on the roof of that church (the Duomo in Milan).

Your Mom worked really hard to put to the trip together – did you participate in the planning too?  How?

Trebor: Yes, sometimes. My mom would sometimes offer 2 choices and we’d get to choose what to do. We did like looking at the map my mom labeled with our trip. I looked at that a lot.

Annabelle: I don’t know. Does what Trebor said really count?

Are there things you didn’t like and that you hope will be different for the trip this year?

Trebor: The hotel that smelled like smoke (Verona at Hotel Gabbia d’Oro – they moved us immediately). I can’t think of anything else.

Annabelle: I hope we don’t go in the boring museums.

What are some things you learned traveling that really stand out for you?

Trebor: That Rome was burned to the ground and that Ceasar was killed.

Annabelle: That’s hard to answer. I don’t remember a lot because it was 2 years ago, but I remember the gladiators the most. I thought their costumes were interesting especially that funny hat they wore with the fluffy red thing on top. I know I liked noticing the differences in things there compared to home.

What are you most excited about for the trip this year?

Trebor: Going on a the trains and new hotels in Italy – I can’t wait to see Italy again: eating, swimming, walking and seeing everything. I am so excited that we’re staying at the same hotel in Cinque Terre – I love the beach and playground there.

Annabelle: The food! I’m also excited to go to Sorrento. I’m also hoping I’ll get to see if Julia will be at Cinque Terre again (an Italian friend made on the trip).

What items do you bring with you when you go on trips that you find most valuable?

Trebor: Cheese Sandwich (stuff dog), binoculars (bought last time in Verona), jump rope.

Annabelle: Hootenanny and Douglas (2 stuffed lovies), my iPhone so I can watch movies and play games while we travel around, lots of pennies for the fountains!

Relevant Links:

Our list of the best places to stay in Italy with kids

Rome: Top 5 Family-Friendly Excursions

Family Travel in Tuscany – Agriturismo LIving

I stumbled on a cute guide to Rome for kids on Twitter today.  The website (I’m not clear on the name) is run by the Tourist Office for Rome and introduces Rome through cartoon wolf twins Gigi and Lella.  It outlines a bit of history and highlights the main tourist attractions in a kid-friendly way—easy on serious details with fun factoids.  It includes a resource and guide list, and links to a nice little map of Rome on the main tourist office website.

A few people recently have mentioned to me that one of their favorite vacations in Europe was spent renting a canal boat and floating down one of the many scenic waterways. Popular places to do this include France, Belgium, the Netherlands, England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.

I can’t say I’d want to be stuck on a cramped boat with a toddler (not to mention the water hazard), but this would be an amazing option with older kids.  One thing I like about it is the opportunity to still see “nooks and crannies” in a wider geographic area, while benefiting from not having to pack and repack. Plus, it’s nice to do something unique to Europe vs. sitting in the car.

The July/August editon of National Geographic Traveler has an article dedicated canal boating and outlines average week-long pricing that runs from $2,490-$4,465.  Rental resources listed in the article include Canal Junction, Le Boat, and Locaboat Holidays. I didn’t see an electronic version of the article available yet, but the National Geographic Traveler URL is traveler.nationalgeographic.com.

Here’s the typical breakdown of Mother’s Day vs. Father’s Day: Mom gets breakfast in bed on her day and Dad gets to grill something on the barbecue on his day. Why not reverse the traditions? I don’t know a man who wouldn’t love a tray laden with food coming through his bedroom door the morning of Sunday, June 21.

It shoudn’t be something delicate, like a scone and strawberries and a vase of flowers, but it shouldn’t be a knife-and-fork affair like steak and eggs, either. Recently I posted a recipe on my site that strikes the perfect balance. Scrambled eggs mixed with green onions and cheese for a little heft, scooped onto a toasted slice of good bread and topped with roasted asparagus. Tasteful, stylish, original (just like him?).

It’s also a dish that small hands can help make. The bread and asparagus have to be brushed with oil, so that appeals to the painter in the family. The eggs have to be gently pushed around in the pan and any age can do that. And arranging it on the plate is no harder than playing with blocks: bread first, then eggs, then asparagus. Creative types could stack those spears Pick-Up-Sticks–style. Add a few sliced peaches and a cup of really good coffee and it’s a darn healthy meal. Now, whether or not Mom is willing to grill on her day next year is something that remains to be seen.

Link to recipe for Scrambled Eggs & Asparagus on Toast

Tori Ritchie is a San Francisco–based cooking teacher and cookbook author whose website tuesdayrecipe.com features a new recipe sent to your inbox every week. On Father’s Day this year, she’ll be teaching an Italian cooking class in San Francisco. Hopefully there will be some dads and sons or daughters there.