<p>I am so excited because I just received my tickets to see Wicked in London. Anyone else taking a grad trip with their daughter? We leave in 3 weeks! We are spending one week in Paris and one week in London. We have been planning this forever! I have anyway. Any tips, stories of past trips, or just chat about doing a mother-daughter trip.</p>
<p>oh how wonderful—don’t miss the musee d’orsay in paris–impressionist works not to miss. Guerlain in Paris for her first real perfume? boat ride on the Seine is beautiful…I took my daughter to nyc and we saw mamma mia, did central park carousel and picnic–stayed at funky hotel–she loved the chocolate covered strawberries they provided in our room. (wasn’t grad trip/younger)
London’s flea market is fun and can get lots of clothing finds on the cheap–purses etc esp for teenage girls…have a blast!</p>
<p>Loved the Orangerie Museum in Paris, near the Louvre. Smaller than d’Orsay, but wonderful Impressionist pictures, including water lillies. No Versailles on Sunday!</p>
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<p>Have you been there before? One week in each city should be a really good amount of time to really explore (beyond just the standard tourist trap sites) without having to rush too much. </p>
<p>I would recommend taking one day in each city and traveling out somewhere into the surrounding area. For London a really good day trip would be to take the train up to Cambridge (about 50 min or so) and have a walk around there. For Paris there are various little towns and villages in the surrounding areas that can make for a fun visit. </p>
<p>Also for London (assuming you’ll be using public transport a lot) look into getting an Oyster card which is a prepaid RFID card that replaces paper tickets on the tube (subway) and busses. Paying in cash (e.g. paper tickets) costs much more, sometimes 2-3 times as much, than using the Oyster card. The other nice feature is that since it’s all electronic you’ll always get charged the best rate (e.g. if you take enough single tube trips in a day such that it would have been cheaper to just buy a full day pass, the card will automatically just charge you up to the price of a day pass and then stop charging you for the rest of the day). You need to pay a deposit for the card (about $10) but you get it back if you return the card at the end of your trip. Certainly worth checking out… you can get one at any tube station.</p>
<p>Everything is really expensive over there at the moment (the weak dollar makes the already high prices seem almost silly) but I still think it’s well worth it.</p>
<p>It sounds absolutely lovely! (My son and I went to the UK together for two weeks years ago, when he was 12 – London, and then we drove to Bath – and he still talks about how much he loved it.) I’m actually taking a graduation trip with him to Rome for two weeks this summer, and we’re both very excited about it and very much looking forward to it. We may not be mother and daughter, but I’m not sure it makes a whole lot of difference given how close we are and how much I enjoy his company; hopefully, the feeling is mutual!</p>
<p>Donna</p>
<p>A couple of things to check out in Paris. Go to the flea market at Porte de Clignancourt. It is called Les Puces (very apropriate!!). This occurs every Saturday and there are wonderful antiques and memorabilia available. It is also a great way to mingle with Parisians. A couple of great restaurants to go to in the Latin Quarter are “Fish”. Great seafood restaurant owned by a guy from New Zealand. We also enjoyed La Jacobine which is off an alleyway off Carrefour al l’Odeon. Great food and not touristy like so many places in Latin Quarter. Great desserts. Call for reservations for both. I am sure your hotel will help you or you can find phone numbers on the Net. If you got to Versailles go early and do not get into the first line you see. Go around to the back where the lines are shorter. Ask your concierge at the hotel about this. We save at least an hour of waiting by do this. Have a great time.</p>
<p>Great day trip from London–Warwick Castle. You can take a regular train there, no need to pay for an excursion bus. A great day trip for anyone interested in history!</p>
<p>Candace, I am taking my D to Paris for 6 days and Rome for 5 days. We leave in about 2 1/2 weeks. My sister will accompany us, as she is single, an artist, and loves to travel. D and I have never been to Europe, sis has been to Spain a week and Paris a week. Can’t wait. We are staying in an apt on Ile St Louis for Paris and an apt overlooking Piazza Campo di Fiori in Rome.</p>
<p>Luckeeeeee! </p>
<p>We did do a family European trip when my older D graduated HS since we weren’t sure how many more opportunities we’d have as a family. Luckily, we ended up doing another family Euro trip last year as well while both Ds were in college.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for the great tips. My daughter has been to Europe before with a student group. I haven’t been to Paris and London since I was 12, so many moons ago. I don’t want to repeat all the places she has seen on her tours, but some places are a must see. I absolutely want to spend time in the Louvre. The flea markets in London and Paris sound great. And I never considered taking a train from London to Cambridge. I am not renting a car because I just don’t want to deal with driving, especially on the left side and all. We are staying in the Latin Quarter in Paris and near Kensington in London. We can walk to Notting Hill from our hotel. I should rent that movie. More restaurant ideas, especially places with pasta, would be great. My daughter doesn’t eat meat, but will always try something with pasta. And I think we will be eating falafel in Paris and fish and chips in London. I don’t want to spend alot of money on fine dining.</p>
<p>One of my fave spots in Paris is the Pompideu Museum and environs. It has wonderful modern art, very cool architecture, and is a hang-out for mimes and other performers. Lots of falafel and funky shops in the neighborhood, too. A few summers ago, I spent the summer living a few blocks away. What a wondrous time!</p>
<p>If you like to walk (I loved walking in Paris), you can walk there from the Latin Quarter. It’s on the right bank. </p>
<p>If you’re into history and great storytelling, there are some great and inexpensive neighborhood tours in English that are offered by, I think, “Paris Walks.”</p>
<p>I like this site for March</p>
<p>Pick things at the grocery stores and corner markets to make a picnic lunch. </p>
<p>If your daughter is outdoorsy, get out and walk the parks. We tried to see how many parks we could go through in London.</p>
<p>In Paris we gave the teenagers a chocolate scavenger hunt that I had purchased online. It was from Children’s Concierge and which probably is still around. They had a great time buying one bonbon at each place.</p>
<p>Do you have any of the Rick Steves books? That helps for finding cheap eats. Another of his books “Mona Winks” is very useful for going to museums - tips for when to go, how to find the highlights, why a particular piece is important.</p>
<p>If the weather is nice, you can rent bikes at Versailles.</p>
<p>I love all these great ideas. I wish that my daughter was outdorsy but that would be me. I can’t convince her to rent bikes. We will stick to walking. The park idea sounds fun.</p>
<p>When we went to Paris on a girl scout trip we did an evening Segway tour - it was a blast and the guide pointed out some places to go to that we would not have thought of. We also did a bike tour to Versailles. Took the bikes on the train to Versailles - went to a wonderful market to buy picnic food for lunch then toured Versailles. </p>
<p>If you have a free day in London consider a coach trip that includes Stonehenge. We did one that went to Bath and arrived at Stonehenge for sunset and was one of the few tour companies allowed behind the rope barrier. Lots of time for photos of the sunset. It was magical - one of the standouts for the teenage girls on the trip.</p>
<p>My mom and I took a mother-daughter cruise over winter break. It was wonderful. My piece of advice would be don’t be afraid to take some time apart if you need to. As much as I love my mom, spending that amount of time together can wear on both of us. Even if your daughter just goes shopping for a little nearby or explores the block while you read a book in your room, some alone time can be nice. Make sure she knows you don’t mind if she wants some time to herself.</p>
<p>If you want to go to Cambridge, the station to go to is Kings Cross. London doesn’t have one station, it has about 10. Note the Cambridge trains also go from platforms 9 or 10. The Harry Potter moment cannot be missed (but I’m not going to tell you what this is because it will spoil the surprise). </p>
<p>I don’t know which London ‘flea market’ the above posters are referring to because there are actually dozens of markets in London. The weird and random stuff tends to be in Camden. Covent Garden market is more upmarket and the setting is great, with lots of street theatre. Some markets sell different things on different days.</p>
<p>Stonehenge is being excavated big time at the moment. So you won’t be able to get all that close right now. Don’t know how long this is going on for.</p>
<p>If you go to Bath I’d highly recommend NOT going on any tour. Bus trips turn up and whip round in an hour in the most crowded part of town, so you hardly see anything. Then shoot back to London. But it’s a wonderful place and they never seen the best bits. Take a day or too to explore at leisure and don’t forget to swim in the baths. It costs £20 for 2 hours but is so well worth it (and for the UK that’s actually pretty cheap). It also has an amazing view from the roof top pool (see link below)</p>
<p>[Thermae</a> Bath Spa, Britain’s only natural thermal spa](<a href=“http://www.thermaebathspa.com/]Thermae”>http://www.thermaebathspa.com/)</p>
<p>Warwick castle is like medieval Disney. It is a real castle, but it has a crowd of actors working there dresses as knights/maids/jailers etc etc. </p>
<p>[lastminute.com:</a> hotels, holidays, flights, travel and entertainment at the last minute.](<a href=“http://www.lastminute.com%5Dlastminute.com:”>http://www.lastminute.com)
This web-site has lots of UK discounts, including many 2 for 1 offers.
Also some places you can get into for half price if you have travelled there by train, especially in London (to encourage use of public transport) so keep your train tickets. current list linked below.</p>
<p>[Days</a> Out Guide - London attractions with train tickets | London trains | trains to London](<a href=“http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/]Days”>http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/)</p>
<p>If we go to Cambridge can we walk to places from the train station?</p>
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<p>Well unfortunately Cambridge train station is really far away from the centre (because the university wouldn’t allow it to be built on their land, to try and prevent the students from going off to London). It would take 20-30 mins to walk. So when you get there, you can either get a bus into the town centre (number 3, but just follow everyone else) or you can get a day pass for the bright red tour bus, which you can hop on and off all day and which has commentary about places of interest. I did this with my parents and it stops at the station and many other places of interest. If you are American this is extra interesting because the tour bus goes to the American cemetary just outside of town. This is a peaceful WW2 cemetary (Christian and Jewish combined) and you MUST visit the chapel. The ceiling is amazing. It is a mosaic showing planes flying across the sky and they turn into angels. Hard to describe, but impressive. You can’t get here without the tour bus or a taxi as it is outside the city.</p>
<p>US (and UK) servicemen stationed in Cambridge wrote their names on the ceiling of the Eagle pub (this is also the place where the Watson and Crick announced they had discovered the structure of DNA and will no doubt be pointed out to you because of this) before they left. Lots of families and friends come to find the names of their loved ones, and there are many photos on the walls and information about the history of the people who were stationed there. </p>
<p>The centre of Cambridge, once you get there, is teeny tiny and mostly pedestrianised anyway (watch out for the magic rising bollards! they automatically drop down into the ground if they detect amubulances/police cars/taxis. No point in hiring a car because there is no parking at all). Easily walkable, but many people like to explore by boat, as this is where you get the best view of the collages. You can hire a punt, which is basically a rustic gondala (like Venice) from several places. It is strongly adviseable to go on a punt tour in which you just sit there and someone punt for you. If you attempt to punt yourself there is a risk you will fall in. The river cam is only about 4ft deep but as black as tar and you really don’t want to spend the rest of the day wet and smelling like bog water.</p>
<p>thanks cupcake, Cambridge sounds fun. It sounds like we can get around without a car. Maybe I will check out a tour. Can you walk on campus without a tour?</p>