stut

So the temperature gauge is falling every time I look. What was a dusting of snow at 1°C is now decent coating at -4.

​​​​​​Now, I love Paris in the the Snow as much as Paris in the the Spring, but this time, we will have a 1-year-old with us. We're staying near Beaubourg (which is an obvious place to start, even if the childrens' gallery is a little old for him).

Any top tips for preserving his warmth and our sanity? We will have a day and a half free, and the rest of the time with friends.

bodory

I would say museums: Carnavalet, Nissim de Camondo, Jacquemart André, Picasso to name of few I enjoy very much.

Nissim de Camondo and Jacquemart André have small gardens which should be very nice to see under the snow from behind the windows!

BadgerBoi

Nissim de Camondo has the advantage of being much less crowded than Jacquemart André, and its kitchen area on the lower floor might be interesting for a child. I don't know that the Picasso would hold the interest of a one year old for very long.

ng1265

what about la Villette?

Giggleswick

Unfortunately, the Carnavalet is closed for renovations.
For a few museums that may not have occurred to you: Maybe go to the Grande Galerie de l’Évolution in the Jardin des Plantes (don't worry, the Galerie is indoors) and/or the greenhouses at the same Jardin.
The Musée du Quai Branly (non-European civilizations), near the Eiffel Tower, is full of all kinds of interesting and unusual things to look at, but as I recall it can be a bit dark (literally) and atmospheric in places--though I could be misremembering--so I don't know if that might freak out the little one.

Hoyaheel

What about a canal cruise? We don't have kids, but my (almost 50yr old) husband has a love of locks leftover from his childhood (well, pretty much anything mechanical - we also loved the sewer museum ;-) We did a canal cruise in Nov a few years back - picked up a picnic (including wine ;-) at the Bastille market and enjoyed a ~2 hour cruise. It was rainy & somewhat cold on our trip and we enjoyed our picnic inside the boat....We also love shopping in hardware stores (we spent quite a while in Leroy Merlin across from Beaubourg, and some time in the basement of Le BHV - we rented an apartment nearby in the Marais).

I mean, on our first date, my husband and I went to Home Depot (in the US) so I acknowledge we're odd, but we really do love to see what is for sale in hardware and drug stores in other countries :-)

MSPeconomist

Age one might be too young, but there's a good science museum (plus a submarine) in northeastern Paris (becoming trendy). There's a gem museum with limited hours inside Ecole des Mines next to Luxembourg Gardens.

Think of art museums with lots of color, large scale pieces, or installations: Picasso, Rodin, Orsay, Pompideau Center, wherever the Monet water lilies are now.

stut

Well, there's quite a lot closed today! Come on Paris, you're even worse than London at dealing with light snow

In the end, we went to the aquarium in the Palais Chaillot. Way overpriced and not especially Parisian, but he adores watching fish, and we could look at that tower thing in the snow, so all was good.

Did seriously consider the Grande Galerie de l'Evolution as an alternative, but the jardin des plantes was closed (would like to have gone there too) so will save that and the IMA for another trip. La Villette is a place I like too, but feel that'll be good for him in a year's time or so (we'll be here a fair amount, we have friends nearby).

In the meantime, we are enjoying the Marais. As the weather has eased off, we're going to wander down to Beaubourg and the Stravinsky fountain, and the islands.

Thanks all for the advice, will squirrel away for future trips!