tips for upcoming easter weekend

Hi, we couple and nine year old son arrive the morning of Good Friday staying in apt. Rue du Temple in 4th/3rd for a week. Their first time, my third.

Any tips for what to do on first few days with holidays on etc. Just read on %26#39;wish you hadn%26#39;t done%26#39; topic someone wished they hadn%26#39;t gone to Notre Dame on Easter Sunday due to stampeding crowds. Hence this post as that was what I was planning on doing!

Are there special things on over Easter that will not involve huge crowds? I read somewhere there is some sort of parade. We like casual eating, shopping, watching, browsing and nine year old would like occasional opportunites to socialise with other English speaking kids too so thinking of one short tour perhaps maybe the bike one.

And what to do Good Friday? Are all the usual markets open over Easter?

Any suggestions welcome. Kate

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Good Friday is not a holiday in Paris, Easter Monday is.

Easter week end is always busy with tourists esp. Europeans who have a few days of. Paris is a large city however so if you stay away from Eiffel Tower, Place du Tertre and Notre Dame at rush hour (11 to 5)you should be ok. On Easter Sunday, take a cruise on river if weather is nice and visit the parks like Luxembourg Gardens and Tuileries.

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ooh thanks I thought good friday was a holiday for sure

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ooh thanks I thought good friday was a holiday for sure

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We went to Notre Dame on Easter Sunday in 2001. We started out by waiting in a line, but it turned into absolute chaos as we got closer to the entrance. We literally weren%26#39;t moving of our own free will, we were swept along by the crowds. My sister was 14 at the time, she%26#39;s a little on the small side, and she was scared. Add in umbrellas because it was raining, and it was really not a good scene. By the time I made it inside, I was so overwhelmed from the experience of getting in that all I wanted to do was leave. It%26#39;s much more enjoyable when you can walk inside normally.

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If you%26#39;re there for several days see if there are any special evening events going on at Notre Dame. When I was there during the day I picked up a flyer in the back of the cathedral (where there were annoucements about mass times, etc) for an evening performance that was going on a couple of days later.

My French is non-existent (I speak decent Spanish so can only sort-of read French) so I had no idea what the performance was about, but it was a totally different experience to be in the cathedral at night! Very beautiful!

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