Paris: Day III

On our last morning in Paris Anne met us at our hotel for a cozy breakfast and then rode with us on the metro for a bit before we said our "Au revoirs" and parted ways. We were off to catch our train to Germany but at the last minute took a detour back to Notre Dame. We had gained confidence in our metro skills and even though we were carrying all of our luggage and were on the clock we decided we could swing it. You see, one of the compromises of traveling with children is that sometimes you have to look at the site in front of you now and then read the guidebook entry later. (Yes, it would have been much better to read the entire guidebook ahead of time.) Anyway I wanted to see the "center of France" or "point zero," a plaque in front of Notre Dame that designates the point from which all distances are measured. We sped to the square, snapped this family portrait,



and started searching for the plaque. It felt a little Dan Brown-esque but we were having fun. There was a moment of panic when we noticed the giant Christmas tree being erected in what looked to us to be a plaque-tastic spot front and center.



But with just a couple of meters to spare (we're in metric here folks, this is Europe) we found it!





Then it was a quick trot across the bridge to snag a couple of souvenirs for our wall and we hopped back on the metro in time to make our train.









Here is our tasty train meal.



Paris really wore Isla out!

Paris: Day II

On the second day of our Paris trip we visited the palace of Versailles.





Here we are touring around upstairs. Brennan is gazing out of Louis' bedroom window and we are gawking at the hall of mirrors.



Our group has to eat at regular intervals to avoid getting snippy, so here we are taking a break for lunch in the palace.



Next we wandered around outside, exploring a little bit while we waited for the tram to take us to Marie Antoinette's hamlet.







Brennan was very excited about riding the tram and made friends with a little French girl who sat in front of us. They practiced counting with each other in 3 languages and managed to communicate important information such as their ages and birthdays.

The hamlet was my favorite part of our entire trip. It was a combination of beautiful weather and the ability to let the kids romp around without worrying about how much noise they were making or whether they could injure themselves or break any priceless works of art. Also the village was beautiful and charming, as it was obviously intended to be. I sort of felt like we were in Tolkien's Shire.

































We had planned to try to meet up with Anne again after Versailles, but due to a long wait for a return tram, a ticket mix-up at the train station, a broken train and a stressful but eventually successful search for a taxi, we were lucky to make it back to our hotel in time for a late dinner and bed.

Paris: Day I

We recently took a trip to visit the city of Paris and my old college friend, Anne, who lives there. We took the train and then used the metro to get around once we were in town.

These are my kids.



These are my kids after five hours of public transportation. I think that it's normally about a 4 hour trip but we had a tough time getting through the main station in Paris. Surprisingly, the French people provided the silver lining to our stressful situation as there were 4 or 5 separate instances of perfect strangers approaching us to offer unsolicited help in finding our way... in English. Thank you Parisians!



After a good night's sleep we got up bright and early to explore. Obviously the Eiffel tower was tops on our list. We had gorgeous fall weather the entire weekend, which we never stopped appreciating.





Time for a photo shoot!





One of Patrick's famous self-portraits.



I was pretty proud of the camera platform I rigged using only a tree, toddler jacket, and wallet. You may call me "MacGyver".



Photo courtesy of MacGyver.











Photo courtesy of Brennan.



Time to chase some pigeons.



Brennan was so happy to be running around in the fresh air.



"But wait, what's this on my shoe? And how can I possibly get it off? Perhaps it's from that gross mud puddle that my parents told me not to step in. Hmm."



Looking up the tower (and our noses).



The Seine.



Brennan was pretty excited about his obligatory Eiffel tower souvenir. Here we are on the way to meet Anne at Notre Dame.



Isla conveniently fell asleep upon arrival, so she ended up missing this statue of Charlemagne and the famous rose window.





We came outside to meet Anne, who we hadn't seen in about two and a half years. It was so good to see her again and introduce her to Isla!





Anne took us to see the "love locks." Couples in love come to this bridge to permanently attach padlocks with their names or initials as symbols of their eternal love.



Our next stop was lunch and it was a huge relief to allow Anne to deal with our waiter in her wonderful French.



She pointed us in the direction of the best ice cream in Paris (or was it the world?) and it did not disappoint! We enjoyed it while listening to a street brass band comprised of elderly men.



We strolled along, pausing to admire street art and to beg a pizza place to let our child use their restroom.



Anne led us to the spectacular Luxembourg Gardens, which featured the famous Le Corbusier chairs and beautiful hanging chrysanthemums. We had lured Brennan along with promises of a huge playground, which was unfortunately closing right as we arrived at 5pm. We managed to distract him with a (possibly illicit) romp through the grass and another photo shoot.



Anne was gracious enough to photograph our family (this is holiday card season after all). It took a little bit of wrangling...



But she caught some very sweet moments.



Thank you Anne!



We hopped on the metro and headed toward the Arc de Triomphe. Here is Anne with her smartphone, morphing into the perfect tourguide and effortlessly ushering us from one point to the next.



We exited the metro to this view of the Arc de Triomphe at night.



After stopping to watch some breakdancers we walked down the Champs Elysees. We had done a ton of walking and some people were reaching the ends of their ropes. Here is Patrick carrying most of our family.



But Anne had a plan and she managed to get us to this scenic viewpoint just in time to watch the Eiffel tower twinkle for it's hourly 5 minutes. It was beautiful!







We parted ways in the metro (here are pictures we took of each other from opposite sides of the tracks) and went back to enjoy a hotel picnic and crash.