"A week's worth of Paris in 3 days with 2... " a Paris Travel Page by frenchderek

We arrived on Saturday, late morning, so just had time to leave our cases at the hotel (see my recommendation), then lunch two doors away.

I bought "Paris Visite" cards as soon as we arrived: 19 Euros for an adult, for the central zone (1-3) and 9.50 Euros for a child. These gave us free use of of all metro, RER and buses for the duration of our stay. (On sale in all metro, RER, SNCF stations, Orly & CDG airports - look for the RATP signs).

After lunch, a bus to Montmatre and the Sacre Cœur; then metro back to the hotel, to book in, before our advance on the Eiffel Tower. You can't book in advance, unless you have 20 others in your group, so it's a long, long queue. Well worth the wait.

Next day it was up early to catch the canal boat trip up the canal St Martin (see Things to do tips). Nice rest after the hectic first day! Afternoon just ran away with the kids at the Musée des Sciences (see Things to do tips again).

Last day it had to be Nôtre Dame. The obvious queue on arrival was to visit the interior only - well worthwhile but not what the kids had come for! The apparently shorter queue was the longest wait of all (fortunately enlivened by a street entertainer). This was for the Towers, with horrible gargoyles aplenty (which the kids loved) plus superb views of Paris - better than from the Eiffel Tower, I'd say. Note, 400 steps, up and down, no lifts: hard going for those who can manage it - but a must-do if you can.

After that, there was just time for lunch; then an ice-cream from Berthillon's on Ile St Louis (just across a bridge from the Ile de la Cité). The only place in the world where you can buy this superb ice-cream. Then it was collect our cases from the hotel and off to catch the train home.

The kids had vanilla + white chocolate, and straight vanilla. "Liked the vanilla but not the white chocolate". I had peach + mango: it was like eating a creamy mixture of crushed white peach and the finest quality crushed mango.