Paris for Thanksgiving - side trips?

I love Colmar, but 7 days isn't as long as you think.

The standard easy "day trips" from Paris are Versailles and Reims/Champagne. Versailles only really takes a half day so you don't have to include that as a day trip and could just consider it part of Paris, and Champagne seems like a waste of time with kids (although the cathedral is very nice).

Suggestions already in this thread are good.

I 2nd Bayeux. Stayed there 3 nights. It was much cheaper than Paris and the full day DDay tours were awesome. The tapestry was a cool visit to burn a few hours. It’s in the middle of town.

If the fam can put up with it, head east to Verdun and the Somme. Paris is kind of F-ed out, but better than London. I'd suggest anywhere in the country as others have over Paris. Paris is checking a box, if you have a daughter, that's what she's going to mention to her pals, not the magnificent stuff she ate near Champagne, etc.

Especially in the winter, you need to find an excuse (if you have any interest in military history at all) to understand why near Champagne, Bastogne, etc., when they said planes are grounded, what that actually meant. I've never gone from "just fine" to "ooooooh Farks" after crossing a hill in terms of visibility as I did on my way from Paris to Bastogne.

Everything you're going to see in the Louvre or other art museums is online. Take a boat trip down the Seine, and pretty much leave Paris. Beware, not all unattended gas pumps sell fuel, even if you have a card. I found that out the hard way.

If you have at least one boy, the Musee de Armee in Paris is stupendous. 16" cannons with golden dragons carved all 'round? Yes please.

I 100% agree with you, the country is where it's at. That's where people talk to you, and you exchange interesting stories, which is what everyone remembers, right? I was in Manchester last week and of course, the people I talked to were... Irish. Not shocked.

As far as looking at things besides Normandy, I would base it off of high speed train routes. Not train routes, high speed routes. It'll take you longer to get to Normandy beaches than it will take you to get to Marseilles. I drug my 6/8 year olds from Paris to Marseilles to Barcelona, no issues. The train from Marseilles to Barca I'm pretty sure took longer than the TGV from Gare du Nord to Marseilles. Shout out to my boy who trucked 12+ miles in Paris and just wanted a double burger at the end. Sniff.