Here is a short list of stuff for kids within a short distance from our apartment
- Toy store (!) at the end of rue Cassette and the rue de Rennes.
- Carrousel in the Square Boucicault in front of the Bon Marche.
- 55th Floor observation deck at the tour Montparnasse. Not really a haunt of many US tourists, but the best view of all of Paris.
- Sailboating at the main fountain at the Jardins de Luxembourg. Note: you can rent sailboats only on weekends and holidays. The toystore on the rue Cassette sells them, handmade from Brittany.
- Kids park at the Jardin de Luxembourg. This is just a big playground with a few extra slides and a tie-line, but, warning: there is a 2 Euro entry charge (more if you want to go in and supervise). There is also an old carrousel for little kids (1.4 E), poney rides, and the famous marionette theatre, which kids love even if they don’t speak French.
- Deyrolle outdoors store (46, rue du Bac, and rue de l’Universite) covers the outdoor life including butterfly-collecting and taxidermy. The attraction for kids is the many many life-sized (literally) stuffed real animals including a tiger, elephant, and giraffe.
- Seine boat ride at the Vedettes de Paris – Quai at the Pont Henri IV.
- Bon Marché toy store (basement level)
- Montparnasse Cemetery – This nearby cemetery is a fun walk for kids with the final resting places of Charles Baudelaire, Eugene Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, Jean-Paul Sartre, Man Ray, Simone de Beauvoir, and Tristan Tzara, among many others. (Map in book in our apartment or available at Edgar Quinet entrance.)
- Jardin des Plantes – Especially, la Grande Gallerie de l’Evolution with it’s stuffed huge animals on display walking almost among us, is fascinating for little kids. There is a small zoo in the this park as well.
- Amorino gelato both on the rue de Buci and nearby on the rue Vavin (convenient to a Jardin de Luxembourg entrance). This is superior to Berthillon in our opinion and not yet a tourist cliché.
