Staying in the 6th w/my college age niece over Thanksgiving weekend whose priority seems to be partying. Nothing wrong w/that but we%26#39;re too old to go clubbing. Any ideas for fun bars w/ dancing? I am making a distinction between %26quot;clubs%26quot; and fun bars that have good music %26amp; dancing to eliminate super-loud house, techno or trance music. We don%26#39;t need to stay in the 6th for nightlife, but anything walking distance would be helpful since it%26#39;s impossible to get a taxi late night. Also looked for alternate entertainment such as a movie at the Rex, but nothing appropriate that week. Live music at the Olympia, also nothing. Walking tour-too cold to walk for 3 hours in late November. Bateau mouches-not so exciting for a 20 year old-afterward there would still be lots of time left in the night. She won%26#39;t be ready to appreciate the Opera or the Ballet for another 15 years, not to mention we don%26#39;t feel like spending hundreds of euros for cultural events that aren%26#39;t going to be met enthusiastically. Sorry to sound cheap, we%26#39;re willing to spend some money on nightlife, but already spending gobs on accomodations, meals, transportation, etc. so hoping to find budget friendly ideas. We%26#39;ve plenty of youngster-friendly daytime ideas: Montmartre visit followed by crepes, walking from Isle St. Louis to Notre Dame w/stop at Berthillon, two-hour ninja attack on the Louvre w/the obvious highlights, daytrip to Reims for a champagne tasting at Veuve or Taittinger, photo opportunity at the Trocadero followed by walk across the Pont to the Eiffel Tower %26amp; up to the top, tour of the Opera Garnier followed by cocoa %26amp; pastries at Laduree %26amp; anything else we can think of that will enable us to sneak in cultural %26amp; historic sites with a spoonful of (sometimes literally) sugar. All these are fun, but those hours between the end of dinner and 3:00 a.m. are hard to fill so I was hoping to find some reasonably fun spots where the crowd is young enough to be interesting to her %26amp; old enough that we don%26#39;t feel out of place. Help?!
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Do you know directly from your niece that she%26#39;s %26quot;not ready to appreciate%26quot; the opera or ballet? If not, ask her. My daughters all loved both, along with various other cultural events, before they got were old enough for high school, and continue to love both, to this day.
I%26#39;m always in favour of handing a younger person a guide book and asking for a wish list. It%26#39;s much the easiest way of finding out what would be of interest, and you may be surprised at what she finds intriguing. Additionally, she may not be so interested in late, late nights after having walked all over Paris all day before hand, so I don%26#39;t think you need loads of ideas. A couple will probably suffice. Consider a jazz club while you%26#39;re doing your research. Paris has always had several good ones.
BTW, the staff/bar tender at any club will happily telephone a cab for you at any hour.
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I have not taken my daughter to the opera, but she does like the ballet and symphony. She likes plays too, but probably not so much in French. She will be 12 next month, so I certainly don%26#39;t think your niece is too young. Perhaps she is not interested, but I wouldn%26#39;t blame it on her age. Also, probably her idea of partying is not with her aunt/uncle (I don%26#39;t know this for sure of course, but am just judging from my college years.) I know I could not have stayed up until 3AM after walking all over Paris all day, and my daughter did not argue at all about going to bed around 10:00 or 11:00 (we went in the summer and that was when it got dark), sometimes she even went to bed earlier on her own:)
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If you are planning to cram all those daytime activities into one weekend, she will probably be exhausted long before 3am!
I have %26#39;kids%26#39; in this age group/a little younger and what they like doing in Paris at night is: seeing the Eiffel Tower lit up, watching street performers, visiting the car showrooms on the Champs Elysees, visiting the Tour Montparnasse, sitting in a cafe and watching the world go by, walking by the river....all the usual touristy stuff, but lit up at night. They would not want to be cooped up in a cinema/concert/theatre whilst in Paris, those are activities to do back home in the UK.
At 20, she is old enough(and some!) to ask her what she wants to do.
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http://www.chez-felix.com/index2.html
This place might meet your criteria. Hard to find a place for opera loving aunt and a partying loving niece to both have fun in.
There are tons of 20 year olds out partying on this street at night.
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You might be surprised to find that a walking tour might not be bad at all in late November. Our weather is similar to that of DC this time of year...
It will be chilly, but probably not snow...and walking keeps you pretty warm.
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I fervently hope that you are underestimating your 20 year old college student niece. Perhaps you could give her a couple of guidebooks (I would suggest the DK Eyewitness Guide and at least one of Access, Lonely Planet, Let%26#39;s Go or Michelin) and ask her to come up with a list of places she would like to go and things she would like to see. Invite her to go online and research all the special events that will be taking place in Paris while you are there, in addition to the same old top ten %26quot;must sees%26quot; in Paris. Give her a deadline — perhaps a week — and if she can%26#39;t come up with a better list than yours in that time you might seriously consider leaving her at home where she would apparently be happier in any case. Why spend %26quot;gobs%26quot; of money taking your niece to Paris if the only thing she is going to show any interest in is where she can party until 3 a.m.?
(Am I the only one who is appalled that you should be willing to provide or your niece should expect to receive regular bribes (of sugar yet!!!) to persuade her to put up with the pain of spending a vacation in Paris? She%26#39;s an adult woman for Pete%26#39;s sake, not a 5 year old child who needs to be rewarded for being brave when she got her flu shot...)
