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[quote=Anonymous]Hi OP!

You travel at about the same pace as my family of four, driven by parental pacing preferences.  I think your itinerary goals are reasonable but your younger daughter will still complain.  Our two boys did at times, but oh well.  We saw what we planned and the parents enjoyed it all.

Here are some thoughts and recommendations.  I've been to London and Paris 3 times each.  Once as a kid, once as a young married adult, and once with my family.

1) Bus tour the first day...expect your kids to fall asleep on the bus.  Walking around can be a better way of staying awake when you need to.  How are you managing hotel check-in?

2) To make walking around and museumgoing less boring, consider walking tours/guided tours.  I recommend London Walks.

https://www.walks.com/

3) in Paris, we used the Bato Bus hop on hop off Seine tour bus.  We only made one circuit but it was worth the fare.  It kept us out of the rain on a day when the weather kept changing from sunny to cloudy to light rain.  And we got to see quite a bit without walking.

https://www.batobus.com/en

4) We chose not to go up in the Eiffel Tower.  We sailed by it, had a thrilling glimpse of it from our Metro train, and went at 8 PM one night to the plaza across the river where you can watch it sparkle on the hour.  That was plenty.   I went up in the Tower as a kid and thought the view was not so great.  I like seeing the Tower pop up unexpectedly in city views better.  I do wish I had time to go up in the Arc de Triomphe.  We visited only the base.

5) West End theater was a blow out, bucket list treat for us.  I highly recommend this...especially if it fills an evening that would be otherwise spent on a phone in a hotel room.  My kids and I went to the two-part Harry Potter play.  New York had already stopped running it.  We enjoyed it a lot.  We also finally saw Les Mis and although the plot was a hot mess, my kids enjoyed the music.  Others might like Six or The Play That Goes Wrong if those are available.

6) I recommend Pret a Manger in London for quick, affordable meals with kids.  A mash up of Panera and the old Au Bon Pain/Vie de France.

7) Two things we liked in Paris were a walk with a Paris Greeter (citizen volunteer) and a paid tour of a Marais bakery where we got to see bread being made and do a little finishing and baking of bread and pastries.  Unless you really love macarons, this experience might be more fun for your family.

https://greeters.paris/en/

https://www.getyourguide.com/paris-l16/paris-behind-the-scenes-french-baking-experience-t649804/

8) The big European art museums are pretty unpleasant now when they are crowded.  I have recent experiences with the Uffizi, Vatican, Orsay, Orangerie.  In the smartphone era, lots of people stop to photograph things they barely look at live. And it's hard to appreciate paintings when you don't have freedom of movement to get close to them and move far away and then move back.  This is just a caution to look for ways to go at emptier times, such as late nights, etc.

9) The Musee Carnavalet Paris city history museum in the Marais is interesting, free, and has decent bathrooms. Consider adding it to your Marais plans.

10) We liked the Notre Dame VR experience. Of course the cathedral is open again now, so might be less impactful.  I've never been up in the cathedral towers.  That might be worth it.

https://eternellenotredame.placeminute.com/event/musees-expositions-visites-guidees/eternelle-notre-dame-une-expedition-immersive-en-realite-virtuelle-sur-le-parvis-de-notre-dame,39035.html?sl=2994&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAiOa9BhBqEiwABCdG87HCh5BXwsLU6UJfzwEGhHZepXIzwcQoDRyY_JN7JGof2fDrJ8PEJBoCRV8QAvD_BwE

There's also an augmented reality experience like the above regarding the Lascaux caves at the prehistory museum in Paris.  I'd like to do that someday.

Have fun![/quote]

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