Planning a trip to Paris in 2020

Next year my lovely daughter will have her sixteenth birthday. I want to do something really special with her to mark this milestone. We plan to take a girls’ trip to Paris. I last visited Paris as a teenager myself. My memories are sketchy ones of the Eiffel Tower and the Sacre-Couer. I should confess now that I missed out on Notre Dame completely leaving the teachers and heading for a market to buy cheap perfume. So as we are planning our trip to Paris, we are researching the places we would like to go on the Voyage Prive website and by reading various travel guides.

Notre-Dame

It seems only right that I finally enter Notre-Dame after all these years. I don’t think my late mum ever quite forgave me for favouring perfume over religion back in the day. I was in France when the Roman Catholic cathedral had the huge fire. I hope that by the time we go we can see some of the repair efforts. It is amazing how so much of the French Gothic architecture was saved. Our Lady has a long history and lives to act as a beacon of hope for another day. Apparently there are some great gargoyles to see which I might have noticed in my teenage years had I had any sense back then.

The Louvre

My daughter is an artist in her own right. She is never happier than when drawing or creating designs online. The Louvre is something I want to share with her to inspire her own efforts. After all the Louvre is the most visited art museum in the world. It is conveniently right in the centre of Paris. Apparently there are eight departments featuring paintings, sculpture and antiquities. I hope we give it enough time to do it justice.

Montmartre

Sadly when I visited the Sacred Heart as a teenager, we were not allowed to go an see the Square of Tertre. I don’t know when I first became aware of this place but even as a child I wanted to visit. The idea of artists with easels painting right there and me being able to buy an original artwork really appeals to me. I want to tell my daughter about the famous artists like Claude Monet and Pablo Picasso working there. She has a great knowledge of painters. Apparently there is a Salvador Dali museum in this area too to check out.

Versailles

Our next must-see location is the Château de Versailles. It is the most famous castle in France but more importantly it is about the only place in the world that my late Mum wanted to visit and never actually did. My mum despite or perhaps because of coming from very humble beginnings always had a taste for opulence. So Willow and I will head to this place if only for Grandma’s sake. We will both enjoy remembering a special woman and taking in a little history at the same time.

Cruise on the Seine

I have always had this daft fantasy of being in loving couple walking along the banks of the Seine. As this looks like it will never come true, I will be more than happy to settle for a cruise along this iconic river with my daughter. I like the idea of doing this at sunset and seeing famous sights such as the Eiffel Tower and the Notre Dame.

What would you advise us to think about as we are planning a trip to Paris? What other cities should we add to our Europe bucket list?