I almost missed a stroll down this famous boulevard Champs Élysées when I was recently in Paris. It was only a short trip and I had my two boys in tow (3yrs & 6yrs), not exactly how I dreamed of promenading around the city of love.
Not that I don’t love them, it’s just that they don’t share my love for certain Parisian experiences. Like shopping. Or any other quiet, civilised indoor activity.
Not to worry though. I have discovered that you can easily spend a few hours on the Champs Élysées without setting foot in a luxury boutique. The key, it turns out, is all the cool car showrooms, plus a visit to a patisserie or three
On this occasion we were lucky enough to have a local Parisian guide, our lovely au pair who spent 6 months with us in Brisbane last year, and she knew exactly where to go. As we had already spent an hour or so at the Arc de Triumphe and then had lunch in a delightful little Bistrot, the boys were well and truly ready to let off some steam.
Renault
A visit to the Renault showroom allowed them to sit in a race care and have their photos taken. There was also other non racing vehicles to sit in which provided some further entertainment and less of a queue. Toyota had a racing car on display which gained lots of exclamations of “cool” as well as non racing vehicles that, once again, you could sit in.
There is a racing simulator (over which we had tears because my boys were too little to partake) for which there was quite a wait for the slightly older kids (and the big kids amongst us!) could have been entertained for much longer. Racing car coloring in stations and some coaxing later we were able to extract ourselves from the experience but only with the promise of treats to come.
Laduree
There was some other window shopping along the way to the metro and I did pop in to Laduree to pick up a little something for later. Laduree being to macaroons what Louis Vuitton is to handbags. There might also have been a pig’s ear (pastry, of course) in there as well. Divine luxury indeed.
Would I Return?
Yes. This isn’t even a real question in regards to the Champs Élysées, although next time I’d like to think it could be sans children for a couple of hours. At least.