Summer in Paris & Berlin

By David Barclay | September 6, 2023

I like to share my family’s travels in my blog to highlight for clients that when we travel, we do so in the same manner as Barclay & Company Travel recommends for its clients’ trips.  We stay at the same luxury properties, use the same tour providers, and utilize the same transfers & transportation options.  This means that Barclay & Company Travel’s recommendations draw on personal travel experiences and our partners are vetted to ensure they will deliver the high level of service that our clients (and we) expect for our leisure travel. 

Today’s blog post recaps a trip to Paris & Berlin we took in June, right after school ended.  I hope it can give you a feeling for the type of family travel Barclay & Company Travel can plan.  Also, I provide a little insight into passports and the current passport renewal issues, a hot topic for travelers with passports expiring within the next year.

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In the weeks leading up to this trip I was a little nervous.  Not about flying to and traveling through Europe, as I’ve done that many times and even taken my children to Europe on several vacations.  The reason I was nervous was my children’s passports were close to expiring.  You may ask how I let this happen and I’ll tell you it was completely intentional.  My original plan had been to renew their passports after our return from our spring break trip.  I even had an appointment scheduled with the USPS for the Saturday after we returned from spring break.  But the day before our appointment, the U.S. Department of State updated its estimated renewal timing and increased the estimate to 7-9 weeks for expedited processing.  Add 2 weeks for the applications to reach the processing center and 2 weeks for the new passports to be mailed to us and we could be without passports for my kids for up to 13 weeks.  And that meant their new passports might not arrive until about a week AFTER we were scheduled to return from this trip.  So not a great situation to be in.

There are ways to get a passport faster.  If you are traveling within 14 days, you can call the Passport Agency’s urgent travel phone number and request an appointment at a passport agency office.  But just as there is high demand for passport renewals in general, there is high demand for these urgent appointments.  Even calling the moment appointments became available (14 days in advance of our departure date), I wasn’t guaranteed to get an appointment in Chicago.  I had one client do this for a trip this spring and the client (and her daughter) had to fly to Denver, CO, as that was the only facility that had an available appointment.  So I didn’t like our odds trying to get an urgent renewal appointment.  There are also companies that can get you through the renewal process in as little as a few days, but that comes with a large price tag.  I contacted one company and was told their price for a 2-week renewal (the “slowest” and least expensive option) was $700/passport.  Spending $2,100 for new passports also wasn’t something I looked forward to doing.

So what did I do.  I took a gamble that we would be okay.  Usually, the recommendation is to have 6 months remaining on your passport before traveling to another country.  That’s because the most stringent countries require 6 months of validity on arrival, so if you overstay your travel visa (which are typically no longer than 90 days) your passport will still be good and they can send you back home without a lot of fussing from the U.S. that you don’t have a valid passport.  But that’s the general recommendation and not the requirement of every country.  It turns out that for Schengen countries (the 27 countries in Europe that make up the Schengen area) the requirement is 3 months of validity after your scheduled departure.  It’s important to pay attention to these nuances as it can make a difference when your passport validity is running out.  We were traveling to Europe from June 9^th to the 19^th.  Their passports would expire on September 30^th.  The three-month limit would be reached on June 30^th, 11 days after we were scheduled to return to the U.S.  So assuming the passport control agents in Paris understood the rules, we’d be fine.  I also checked the policy of our airlines (in this case, American Airlines) as airlines can have their own rules.  Some impose the 6-month validity and won’t let customers fly if they have less validity remaining on their passports, even if the destination country has different requirements.  The reason is that airlines receive heavy fines if they let someone fly to a country without the right passport requirements and then have to fly that individual back home since they won’t be allowed entry into the destination country.  American Airlines had this 6-month requirement a few years ago, but luckily, they changed their stated policy to “Some countries require your passport to be issued at least 6 months before the day you arrive. Check your destination’s requirements if you’re unsure” which meant they followed the requirements for the destination country. 

Having confirmed we didn’t need to renew their passports before this trip, I kept my fingers crossed as we departed our home.  And what happened, you ask.  We had no issues checking in at the American Airlines counter and on arriving in Paris, no issues with the passport control agents.  In fact, the only issue we experienced had nothing to do with their passports, it had to do with the age of my youngest daughter.  She was only 9 and the automated passport control scanners (which use facial recognition) could only be used by those 12 years and older.  So, while the rest of my family breezed through passport control in only a few minutes, my daughter and I waited for over 30 minutes in line to see an actual agent.  Ah, the joys of international travel!

Also, an update as I’m finishing up this blog post.  I just checked the status of my children’s passports, and they are being printed and will be delivered around Sept 6^th (the day this blog post will be published).  We went to the USPS to apply on June 27^th and their applications were received by the Passport Agency on July 4^th.  Assuming we receive them this week, it took about 10 weeks total (and we did standard processing for them, not expedited, which had been 10-13 weeks excluding mailing time to/from the facility).  Renewal times can vary based on which processing center receives the application so there is wide variation in renewal times, but I have heard similar examples from some of my peers that indicated processing times are dropping and our renewals show that seems to be the case.

Paris

With that all behind us, we were on our way to enjoy our time in Paris.  I used two different local partners for this trip.  Yes, it would have been possible to use a single partner that covered both France and Germany, but my best partners for each country only covered that specific country.  A little more planning work for me, but I thought it would result in a better travel experience for my family.  For France I worked with We Travel France and for Germany I worked with Pure Germany.  But I wasn’t done adding complexity for this trip, as I didn’t use either partner for our accommodations.  We Travel France doesn’t handle accommodations (their focus is on private tours, transfers, and experiences) and Pure Germany doesn’t work with apartments, and we wanted apartments in each city.  Luckily, I have several very good partners that focus just on luxury apartment rentals.  Yes, it is possible to book apartments through Airbnb and a few other travel sites, but there’s always a risk as to what you will get because sites like Airbnb don’t send team members to personally inspect the apartments before representing the owners.  My partners do inspect the apartments, they will have personal knowledge of each apartment and guarantee the apartments meet their standards before agreeing to represent.  Also, I love that most of the apartments have their own names, it adds some character to where you stay.  In Paris, we stayed in the apartment “Let’s Rendezvous” which is a wonderful 3-bedroom apartment in the 2^nd arrondissement near the opera house. 

I also broke one of my cardinal rules, which is to not plan a private guided activity for the arrival day.  I do this because if a client’s flight is delayed on their travel day, they might miss their activity and that’s just money down the drain.  But we were scheduled to arrive at Charles de Gaulle at 11:55am on a direct flight from O’Hare so I felt comfortable planning an evening city tour by vintage Citroën (actually 2 Citroëns as the 5 of us would not fit into one).  This was a great option for somewhat weary travelers as we covered a lot of Paris and had a good orientation but didn’t have to do a lot of walking. 

Our next day started with a tour of The Ile de la Cité (the birthplace of Paris and the island on which Notre Dame was constructed).  An enjoyable stroll from our hotel, we passed through the neighborhood around the Louvre and down the Seine.  At Notre Dame, we saw the reconstruction efforts and our guide described the work that had been completed and what remained.  The entire roof and support structure needed to be rebuilt (having been made of timber and destroyed in the fire) and the decision was made to rebuild using the same construction techniques used in the original construction.  This required harvesting of over 1500 large oak trees and utilizing construction techniques not used in centuries.  The reconstruction leaders were also worried about the famous flying buttresses collapsing until Notre Dame was fully rebuilt, so they installed wooden supports that will remain until the reconstruction is completed.   

Next, we walked back to the Louvre for a roughly 2hr tour.  Although my wife and I have visited Paris before, we had never visited the Louvre and our son felt it was a “must see” site for his visit to Paris.  To keep things interesting for our kids, our guide led us through a “tour hunt” tour designed for families.  We did a similar tour in Venice when we took our kids there.  Our guide had various famous paintings, sculptures, and historical object that our kids had to find as we walked through the Louve, with the promise of a prize if they found a specified number of the “treasures” as we toured.   We saw many famous pieces of artwork, but it was also fascinating to walk through the building, which had been a palace of the French kings until it was turned into a museum after the French Revolution.  Originally a castle had sat on the site, and a relatively new area of the Louvre was opened when it was discovered that the base of a few castle walls and towers still remained under the existing buildings. 

The Louvre visit was also exciting because my older daughter had studied the Code of Hammurabi in school last year.  It wasn’t officially on our treasure hunt path, and in a completely different section of the Louvre, but my daughter very much wanted to see it in person.  Our wonderful guide was very adaptable and made sure we had a few minutes to stop and admire this important piece of history as we prepared to depart the Louvre (one of the benefits of a private tour with an expert guide).

For the rest of the day we were on our own to explore Paris, but I had asked We Travel France to pre-purchase lift tickets to the top of the Eiffel Tower for this afternoon.  Tickets sell out quickly, so it was helpful to have a local partner with access to secure tickets when they became available.  Access to the very top of the Eiffel Tower is weather dependent and as we started walking over to the Eiffel Tower, we heard thunder pealing in the distance.  When we arrived (a little early since entry is timed and if you show up late you don’t get to go up) we found out that the top had been closed to some of the prior entry times.  But luckily it opened back up for us and we swiftly ascended through the two separate elevator banks to get to the top.  The views from the top were incredible and included with our tickets were glasses of champagne (sodas for the kids) to toast our ascension!

Our third day was a day on our own.  We wandered the streets of Paris, found a wonderful bistro for lunch, went shopping (my wife found a store with her name which had lovely sneakers she purchased), and stopped at cafes for wife/sodas/snacks.

We also stopped at Sainte-Chapelle to marvel at the incredible quantity of stained glass.

Our 4^th day was an all-day trip out to Versailles.  This palace started as a hunting lodge, but continued to grow and for the last few French kings it was their main palace.  Both the palace and the grounds are breathtaking and enormous.  We only toured one wing of the palace but saw how the king and queen lived and many of the “new” technologies that the royalty used to impress their guests (and other royalty), such as the Hall of Mirrors.  The wall hangings for the Queen’s Apartment were recreated recently from the original plans, taking several years and several million dollars to recreate.  Although relatively warm that day, we found lots of shady spots as we walked the grounds and enjoyed the multitude of fountains sprinkled around the gardens. 

On returning to Paris, we discovered a wonderful pedestrian street which felt like the Paris we visited many years ago and had some of the best oysters we’ve ever had (we later learned the restaurant we ate at is one of the top places to get oysters in Paris)!    

Our last full day in Paris was mostly a day on our own, except for one more fun activity that we saved for the end.  My family loves to cook and during the pandemic I took up bread making (mostly sour dough like everyone else).  So when We Travel France proposed the idea of learning to make baguettes and croissants in a real boulangerie from a skilled boulangère, we jumped at the opportunity.  Our hands-on, private class allowed us to learn step by step how to make these two famous French bakery staples.   Our boulangère led us through the process of making the dough, forming/shaping our bakery items, and baking them.  All the while answering the numerous questions I peppered him with to make sure I learned all the “tricks of the trade” for making good baguettes and croissants.  I was jealous of his professional equipment (especially his multi-level oven) but our boulangère explained how we could still make great baked goods at home with conventional kitchen gear.  And after the class, we received an email with his detailed instructions for making baguettes and croissants at home. 

The next day we departed Paris, heading for Berlin.  We love to travel by train in Europe since it’s very efficient and provides good downtime to rest and recuperate after many days of exploring.  Our plan was to take two trains, one from Paris to Köln and then a second train from Köln to Berlin.  We had a scheduled 35 minute “layover” in the Köln train station, not enough time to go explore Köln but plenty of time to get from one track to the other (Köln’s train station is not very big).  However, our train out of Paris was severely delayed and we ended up arriving in Köln 2 minutes after our Berlin bound train left.  Thankfully, I had bought “flexible” fare tickets (and I always recommend this to my clients) which meant we could still use them on trains later that day.  The only downside was that for our scheduled train I had booked us all in first class in seats together.  When using the flex feature of the tickets, you can board any other train but don’t have an assigned seat.  Once on board, you can take any seat that is not already booked (digital signs above the seats tell you if they are free all the way to the final destination or if someone boarding at a later stop has the seat reserved).  This meant that we had to split up, as we found only 1 open seat in first class and 4 seats relatively close together in 2^nd class.  Not the experience we wanted but not the end of the world and it meant we arrived in Berlin only 2hrs later than planned.  It also gave us time to go out and see the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Köln, the most visited landmark in Germany.

Berlin

Our first full day in Berlin started with a half-day highlights tour of the city.  We met our guide, Manfred, outside our apartment that morning.  Manfred would be our guide for our 3 days in Berlin, which ensured we didn’t duplicate anything during our time in Berlin.  He was also shocked to learn that all three of our children studied German in school, and then proceeded to tell every German citizen we met that our American children spoke German! 

Our highlights tour was on foot, but we also made use of the very efficient Berlin subway system (U-Bahn) and Manfred provided us with a good overview of how to navigate the system.  We learned that each station has a different color tile, so even if you don’t quickly spot the station name, we could easily spot the tile of our “home” station near our apartment.  After using the U-Bahn for several days, we longed for Chicago to have a system even half as efficient! 

Our tour included many of the famous sites in Berlin, including the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the marker where the Berlin Wall once stood, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the location of Hitler’s bunker, a section of remaining wall, and Checkpoint Charlie.  There were a few historical sites which Manfred purposely left for our last day of touring, but he had informed us that morning before starting out what we’d see on our first day and what he was saving for our last day.

Manfred took us to a wonderful German restaurant for lunch and then departed for the day, leaving us time to explore on our own.  We did some shopping (with a must do stop at the Ampelmann store) and visited the German Spy Museum where we learned more about the creation of the Berlin wall and many of the attempts by East Germans to get over/under/through the wall.  It was fascinating to see all of the creative methods employed, from cars with hidden compartments, to cars armored to punch through the wall, to a tunnel dug completely by hand under the wall. 

Our next day was a combined Graffiti Class and Food Hall Tour.  Manfred picked us up that morning with a driver (although the U-Bahn is efficient, it wasn’t the best way to travel for our 2^nd and 3^rd day of tours).  We started our day visiting a famous section of the Berlin Wall where the most famous graffiti artwork was commissioned by the city after the wall fell.  Then, we traveled to a graffiti workshop and learned about the art of graffiti in Germany from a skilled artist.  Next, it was our turn to try our hand at graffiti art.  We spent time brainstorming a theme for our work of art, eventually deciding on a design that combined our home city of Chicago and the two cities we visited on this trip.  Then, with instruction from our resident artist, we began the process of taking it from concept to finished work of art! 

After finishing our artwork, we headed to the famous Markthalle 9 for lunch and to explore the goods sold to tourists and locals alike.

Our third and last day in Berlin was a customized tour created just for us.  My wife had studied mid-20^th century Germany in college and wanted a tour that covered Berlin’s history from the rise of fascism through the reunification of east and west Berlin.  After providing a detailed “tour brief” on what we wanted, Pure Germany went to work pulling together a very customized tour for us.  Our tour covered the rise of the Nazi’s, the destruction in WWII, the post-war rebuild, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and finally the work to reconnect both halves of the city.  While we visited many incredible sites on this tour, here are a few of my favorites.  My top favorite stop was a visit to a “ghost station”. Several U-Bahn lines operated by the west crossed under East Berlin. The East Berlin government sealed off the stations to those lines, allowing West Berlin trains to run through the tunnels but preventing East Berliners from using the stations/tunnels to escape to the west.  We later learned that our home station (Rosenthaler Strasse) had been one of these ghost stations.  Another interesting stop, we visited the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church which was mostly destroyed in WWII.  However, the church was such a meaningful part of Berlin that the city decided to keep its destroyed remains rather than demolish and rebuild.  Our last stop of the day was at the Tempelhof Airport and the nearby memorial to the Berlin airlift.  The Tempelhof Airport was built by the Nazis and at the time was not only the largest airport in Europe, but the terminal was also the largest building in Europe.  About a block away, the Berlin Airlift Memorial pays tribute to the pilots and crew who died during the 322 days that Berlin was blockaded by land and sea and the only way to bring in supplies was by air.  For almost a year, every two to three minutes an aircraft landed at Tempelhof Airport with supplies.  Needless to say, those tight landings resulting in several accidents and seventy-nine airlift personnel died to keep supplies flowing to Berlin.

With our time in Berlin over, we packed up our bags and headed home, with many fond memories of our time in these two great cities.