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Dea Birkett's Destination of the Month: Paris

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We like two-centre holidays. I don’t mean the sort where you spend a week lying on a beach and a week hiking in the mountains or being cultural in the capital city. Our two-centre holidays are far simpler. We stay in the same place, but change our accommodation and what we’re doing. So we’ve just spent a few days in Paris slap-bang in the middle of town, surrounded by patisseries and galleries. Then we headed out to Disneyland, to scream and scoff frites.

We couldn’t do one without the other; the three kids can only tolerate so much Titian, and us two adults can only take so much Mickey Mouse. And I’m far too timid even to go on the Pirates of the Carribean, the most gentle of rides.

In town, we stayed at the Victoria Palace, sitting very comfortably on the legendary Left Bank. It’s a splendidly old-fashioned hotel, which manages to do Parisian chic and family-friendly at the same time. It was also James Joyce’s favourite 6th arrondissement haunt. ‘James who,’ sneered my 14-year-old. It does good value packages that include entry to the latest exhibition at the Musee de Luxembourg, just a brisk walk away. Now there’s a Guiseppe Arcimboldo exhibition (the kids loved the artist’s name at least), a pre-surrealist Italian painter. ‘A what?’ sneered the 14-year-old, praying we’d leave for Big Thunder Mountain soon.

Sated with obscure cultural references and soupe d’oignon, we took a short train ride – less than half an hour – out to Disneyland. So now we’re enjoying the brash, busy and not at all cultural section of our two-centre experience. The six-year-old twins have been swirling around on the brand new Crush’s Coaster, inspired by Finding Nemo. I loved the film, but the just the thought of meeting Bruce the shark made me search out the Sauvignon Blanc. Thankfully – unlike its American counterparts - Disneyland Paris has some restaurants vaguely resembling real French bistros, like The Steakhouse, where we ate more fine frites.

We’d arrived at the Gare du Nord on the Eurostar. We’ll leave on the same train, but direct from Disneyland. We’ve done two-centre in other capitals, but it works far best in Paris where you can vive la difference just a short rail ride away.

Next stop: Krakow

Dea Birkett
November 2007

Useful information about Paris:

Dea Birkett's family stayed at the The Victoria Palace Hotel, Paris

The Birketts packed The Mini Rough Guide to Paris (small enough to pop in a pocket).

See Take the Family's Paris destination guide.