PARIS for the Petite

For my husband’s birthday this spring, I decided to take him to Paris. It would be my first chance to experience the city of which he has been enamored for years. Well, not really my first chance; in a way, I had been there many times before.

I grew up reading Ludwig Bemelmans’ classic children’s book “Madeline.” Bemelmans’ charming illustrations and his tale of Madeline’s adventures defined my image of Paris. When our daughter was born, we named her after Bemelmans’ feisty heroine. Our Madeline, too, loves the book and knows almost every line of the video by heart.

I wondered how much the city had changed since 1939, when Bemelmans began to sketch his book on the back of a menu. The answer, our little girl would tell you, is: Not much.

Although our Maddie is only 2 1/2 and does not have red hair like her fictional namesake, she has the spunk and love of adventure that Madeline demonstrates in Bemelmans’ six-book series.

There was no question that Maddie would come along with Tony and me. Having the use of a friend’s apartment for our three weeks in Paris helped us feel right at home.

We were in the 15th arrondissement, a residential quarter of apartment buildings and large private homes not far from the Eiffel Tower. Maddie instantly recognized the tower and the Seine River and talked of Madeline everywhere we went. Her curiosity drew us into a Paris of surprises, the biggest one being the discovery that this is a great city for children.

Everything that children love, Paris has. Paris has carousels on what seems like almost every other block. Paris has beautifully maintained parks throughout the city, a reprieve from the busy streets. Paris has fountains everywhere, and children love to play with water. In Paris, dogs are allowed in restaurants, often the most boring place for kids; there is no better entertainment for a child than being under a table with a chien. Best of all, Parisians love children, so we felt welcome almost everywhere.

We wanted to do things in Paris that we would all enjoy as a family, so we ruled out the typical kid-oriented excursions like amusement parks, zoos and Disneyland Paris. A friend advised us to call Travels With Soha, a San Francisco-based travel agency run by Soha Yamin, who specializes in organizing itineraries for families in Paris. She put together a great list for us that would take many trips to Paris to fulfill, and recommended a fine bilingual baby-sitter so that Tony and I could enjoy some time on our own.

Our first morning in Paris was a Saturday, and a Parisian friend who’s a great shopper took us to what she claims is the antique dealers’ favorite flea market at the Porte de Vanves, in the 15th arrondissement. Unlike the better-known flea market in Porte de Clignancourt, this one was not overwhelming in size, covering only two streets. Maddie led us through the stalls, calling out “Come, come,” pointing at costume jewelry she wanted to try on. We stopped for sugar-and-butter crepes at a stand, and a street performer played a song on his piano while she danced.

On Sunday we walked around the Marais district and stopped for tea at Mariage Freres. It was quite crowded, so we checked out the tea museum upstairs while we waited for a table. Afterward we looked into the shop next door, Virus, and admired hundreds of handmade kites.

On our walk through the Marais, we turned a corner and found ourselves in the Place des Vosges, a jewel box of a park bordered on all four sides by almost identical 17th century townhouses. Maddie romped with the Parisian children, all in their Sunday best. She seesawed and slid down slides and threw white pebbles from the paths into the fountains. I thought if I could go to this park every day with Maddie, I would be in heaven.

It seems all French children dress well, in traditional styles that would be familiar to “Madeline” and her cohorts: girls in hats, ruffled socks and smocked dresses, and boys in short pants and collared, short-sleeved “dress” shirts. Stores selling children’s clothes were everywhere. Prices for a little Parisian outfit ranged from a shocking $200 to a reasonable $15.

At Petit Faune on the Left Bank, we bought moderately priced smocked dresses and more costly hand-knitted sweaters. We had fun looking at the classical linen dresses, tops and pants at Bonpoint on the Left Bank, but chose to buy the bargains at Bonpoint Soldes, the still-pricey outlet for last year’s collection. We also bought some colorful, inexpensive jumpers and dresses at Dipaki, on the Right Bank, but the real bargain hunters go to Du Pareil au Me^me, on the Left Bank, where I had to search through racks of clothes to find the right size. My favorite was Monoprix, a chain of department stores with Sears prices and Saks quality. Even the necessities, like pajamas, underwear and bathing suits, had a fine touch that spelled style a la Parisienne.

One of the most-visited sites in Paris is the elegant Luxembourg Gardens, which friends recommended as a favorite with Parisian children. Maddie immediately recognized the toy sailboat pond from “Madeline.” She insisted that we sail a boat, so we rented No. 25, a red wooden sloop that came with a stick to guide it. We pushed off No. 25 from the edge of the shallow basin and watched it sail across the water. Then we ran to the other side to push it back, colliding into French families chasing their own boats.

It wouldn’t be a trip to the park without a pony ride. As with so many things, this was different from the pony-in-a-circle back home. The Luxembourg Gardens ponies were hitched together side by side, five to a row, making a stately parade down the avenue beneath chestnut trees in bloom.

The day ended with a ride on the carousel, where an attendant held up the rings for the kids to skewer with their sticks; in America, he would have been a machine.

We returned to the Luxembourg Gardens for the Wednesday afternoon puppet show. The French are known for their marionettes, and this show should not be missed. An elderly woman seated everyone, served snacks at intermission and coached the kids on when to shout. Once the red curtain parted, all the squirming French children fell silent. We were in a beautiful forest filled with trees. The bunnies came out and danced, a green frog croaked, the butterflies fluttered. This was “Little Red Riding Hood,” and when the little girl in a red cape appeared, Maddie’s reaction would tell you French was not required to enjoy it.

One morning we went to Angelinas for hot chocolate and eggs. It is a grand tearoom on the colonnaded Rue de Rivoli across from the Louvre, with large mirrors and creamy yellow walls. The scrambled eggs were whipped and light as air, and the hot chocolate was superb. My husband and daughter were becoming connoisseurs of great hot chocolate, and Angelina’s got a rave.

One day, while Madeline and I window-shopped on the Rue St. Honore--the height of children’s couture must be the Baby Tuileries store--Tony discovered a great toy shop nearby. Au Nain Bleu, which boasts it’s the oldest in Paris, has three floors filled with whimsical, well-crafted toys.

The fictional Madeline goes with her 11 schoolmates in “two straight lines” all over Paris, but not, to my recollection, to the Palais-Royal. We might not have either if Maddie hadn’t spotted a look-alike of Madeline’s dog, Genevieve, on Rue St. Honore. We followed it into a passage that opened onto a garden surrounded by the old palace, now housing mostly government offices. We lost Genevieve but found an outdoor exhibition of modern sculpture from all over the world, which Maddie loved. She danced with the shadow of a 20-foot-tall sculpture of a shapely woman, then wandered over to the central fountain where people sat in wrought-iron chairs reading the paper and playing chess.

Our favorite section of Paris for food, adventure and shopping was St. Germain des Pres on the Left Bank. Maddie was welcomed from the highest-end restaurants to the simplest cafes. She particularly enjoyed Cafe de Flore, on Boulevard St. Germain, content to nibble on the free hard-boiled eggs while watching the action reflected in the mirrors lining the walls.

The fictional Madeline, who is not afraid of mice and says “Pooh-pooh” to the tiger in the zoo, apparently never ventured into Deyrolle, the 170-year-old taxidermy shop on the Left Bank’s Rue du Bac, where every imaginable animal has been stuffed in some active pose. Maddie went eyeball-to-eyeball with a charging rhinoceros, a snapping alligator and a swooping hawk. But she seemed most interested in the butterfly and insect collections.

On our last evening in Paris we had the most touristy outing of all, a boat ride on the Seine--and we loved it. We left the dock at dusk, went up the river and back down, and saw all the major sites--the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower--from a different perspective. We stood in the bow for most of the ride and waved at passing barges that tooted back at us.

As the city lights winked on, Maddie remembered one of Madeline’s scariest adventures: She was balancing on the ledge of a bridge when she fell into the river and was saved by Genevieve. The reflection of the Eiffel Tower, wrapped in flashing white lights to celebrate the new century, shimmered in the water ahead of us. Maddie, transfixed, called out to Madeline and, as we slipped beneath another bridge, blew her a kiss.

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GUIDEBOOK

A Child’s Paris

Children’s clothing: Bonpoint, very expensive; linen dresses were about $200. 67 Rue de l’Universite, 7th arrondissement (and other locations). Local telephone 01-4317-3000.

Bonpoint Soldes (outlet), “bargains”; last season’s dresses $50 to $75. 82 Rue de Grenelle, 7th arrondissement. Tel. 01-4439-0495.

Baby Tuileries, expensive; dresses $65 to $100, boys’ and girls’ hand-knit sweaters around $85. 326 Rue St. Honore, 1st arrondissement. Tel. 01-4260-4259.

Petit Faune, expensive; but we found smocked dresses for $45. 33 Rue Jacob, 6th arrondissement. Tel. 01-4260-8072.

Dipaki, affordable; jumpers and dresses, $25 to $35. 18 Rue Vignon, 9th arrondissement (and other locations). Tel. 01-4266-2474.

Du Pareil au Me^me, bargains; dresses, boys’ and girls’ pants and shirts, $10 to $20. 7-14 Rue St. Placide, 6th arrondissement (and other locations). Tel. 01-4544-0440.

Monoprix, 71 Rue St. Antoine, 4th arrondissement (and other locations). Tel. 01-4274-1373.

Fun and games: Luxembourg Gardens, Rue de Vaugirard and Rue Guynemer, 6th arrondissement; Metro stop Notre Dame des Champs or St. Placide; puppet shows Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, 3 p.m. and 4:15 p.m.; $4.

Angelina, for hot chocolate, 226 Rue de Rivoli, 1st arrondissement. Tel. 01-4260-8200.

Au Nain Bleu, toys, 406-10 Rue du Faubourg St. Honore, 8th arrondissement. Tel. 01-4260-3901.

Deyrolle taxidermy shop, 46 Rue du Bac, 6th arrondissement. Tel. 01-4222-3007.

Flea market at Porte de Vanves, Rue Marc Sangnier and Avenue George Lafenestre, 14th arrondissement. Metro: Porte de Vanves. Saturday and Sunday mornings, starting at 7.