Taking the Kids: Touring Paris, and other cities, with those who live there

We've met at 5 p.m. to tour the Rue Montorgueill, the famous cobblestoned pedestrian street. It proves an especially good choice on this night because we're staying in an apartment near the Arc de Triomphe at the Hotel Majestic in the residential 16th arrondisement, a short walk from the Champs-Elysees, courtesy of Exclusive Resorts (www.exclusiveresorts.com), a private club for digs around the world.

The Exclusive Resorts concierge had offered us all kinds of restaurant suggestions before we even got to Paris, but after a week of multi-course meals on the Avalon River Cruise we'd taken to Normandy (www.avalonwaterways.com) -- more about that in another column -- we tell Morhange we want to shop for takeout for dinner. (Read my trip diaries from France at http://www.takingthekids.com/category/travel-diary/) He laughs and tells us we've come to the right place. Rue Montorgueill is one of Paris' most famous foodie streets where locals shop for their dinners -- so many kinds of cheese -- and enjoy an after-work glass of wine or coffee at the many cafes that line the street.

Morhange explains the Rue Montorgueill has historically been a foodie neighborhood because of the proximity of Les Halles, the traditional central market of Paris known, until it was demolished in 1971, as "The Belly of Paris." "The streets are just like they were in the 19th century," he said, though today they're packed with hip Parisians rather than those bringing food to sell at the market.

Morhange points out signs on the buildings, which date back more than a century -- one for a shop selling poultry and one for horsemeat. The oldest pastry shop in Paris is here -- Stohrer (http://www.stohrer.fr/). It was founded in 1730.

We stop at Eric Kayser (www.maison-kayser.com ) where Morhange buys his bread. There is a line out the door. Other shops offer everything from ducks (with their heads still on), hundreds of cheeses, delectable chocolates and macarons that come in a rainbow of colors also quiches and the best take-out salads I've ever seen.

We opt for rotisserie chicken and potatoes -- a typical, quick weekday dinner or Sunday lunch for Parisians, Morhange says.

We stop for a glass of wine at a small cafe called Le Couchon, decorated with painted tiles from the old Les Halles. At the next table, the two men are playing with their pooch -- very common in Paris.

We invite Morhange to visit us next time he is in New York; I promise to send his kids one of my city guides for kids.

We head "home" on the Metro clutching a baguette, our chicken and, of course, the eclairs.

Takeout never tasted so good.

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