We learned a lot, that's for sure... Like going for a weekend in Paris with a 10 month old baby (who isn't a fan of sitting still) probably isn't the best idea!! To give James credit... he was pretty well behaved overall. On the train ride home he sat in our laps for 2+ hours reading his books, playing with his new toys, looking out of the window, and eating his lunch. He was a model passenger.
He also did okay when we ate out at restaurants... we brought a travel high chair, which was great because none of the restaurants had baby seats. And a friend of ours recommended the squeezable baby food from Ella's, which worked like a charm! You just squeeze right onto the spoon from the package, no need to heat it up and no mess! James loved them, they're all organic, and the ingredients only include "real" things... potatoes, squash, chicken, corn, milk, thyme, rosemary, etc. We would use these every day but they were perfect for traveling or if you ever need to do a quick meal on the go. While we ate our meals, we fed James, gave him some bread pieces to eat, and gave him sips of water from our "grown up cups" - all of which kept him more than entertained.
We also stayed at a great hotel - it had a kitchen, bedroom and living room, so James's cot could be in a separate room from where we slept. This was really convenient not only at night, but also when he was napping during the day (we could be awake and not worry about disturbing him). The biggest challenges or "lessons learned" where that a weekend is just too short for a trip like this. After all the packing and travel time, we really only had one full day in Paris. We also stayed in a neighborhood that before James was perfect - St. Germain is bustling, has small little cobblestone streets, lots of cafes, etc. But with a baby and a stroller the crowds weren't quite as charming and the narrow sidewalks proved difficult to maneuver.
Because we hadn't traveled with James in a while, we weren't sure what to expect, so we ended up not planning anything at all. As a result, we wandered around the same few streets and felt like we didn't really see anything new or different... now that we know what it's like, we can hopefully do a better job of planning activities and meals in advance so that we're able to take better advantage of the city that we've traveled to. I also think that when his naps are shorter and he only does one a day, we'll have more time to explore our destination. On this trip we'd pop out for a quick walk or lunch, then have to be back for his nap time.
Next time we go to Paris, we'll definitely stay for much longer (a week minimum I think!), we'll rent an apartment from a site like this: http://www.chezvous.com (which aren't any more expensive than the hotel we stayed in) and we'll find a quieter neighborhood with a few shops, markets and restaurants that we can easily walk to. Or, we'll just go back to Italy where they love babies so much that it doesn't matter when and where you take them!
One side note... for anyone traveling with babies/kids, this site has some good recommendations. It's a little bit geared towards older kids, but worth a read: http://www.deliciousbaby.com/
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