Trip to Paris

For the bank holiday weekend right before school started back, we took a quick trip to Paris.  We took the Eurostar, which was SO much better than flying!!  And the kids were so excited that we were  going under the sea to get to Paris.  (Thankfully the tube strike they had predicted was called off for that weekend, so we took the tube to St. Pancras.)  Lauren was not feeling great when we left, but she was quite a trooper with the waiting and traveling.

Once we got to Paris, it was quite busy at Gare Du Nord, and the Metro tickets are quite different than the Tube.  It was our first time traveling to a place where English is not the national language, which made things somewhat challenging.

We finally figured out how to purchase our train tickets, and we were off to find our Airbnb place.  As soon as we got into the place around 4:45, Lauren fell asleep!!  The flat was perfect, 2 bedrooms, but the kids' bedroom had a bunk bed with a trundle so each kid had their own bed for sleeping!  The only thing that was a little odd was that there was two showers, and one toilet but the toilet was not in the same place as a shower.

Drew and Alison had a great time playing with the microphone

and several of the other toys in the flat.  I went out to get some groceries for dinner and breakfast.  When I got back, we ate dinner, Lauren woke up with a fever.  I had one does of Nurofen, so I ended up walking for quite a ways to buy some more because the pharmacies close by closed at 8.  And the guy at the pharmacy was very perturbed with me because I didn't have cash for a 3 Euro purchase....oops.    I enjoyed the walk; it was a nice night and people were out around the Bastille where I found the pharmacy.

Saturday, Lauren ended up sleeping in pretty late and still was little feverish when she got up.  I got up early and went for a run past Notre Dame, which was awesome as no tourists yet!  I stopped to get some croissants which were AMAZING!!!

 We headed out via the Metro, and walked down the Champs Elysses for a little ways and spotted the Arc de Triumphe and the kids were SO excited once we spotted the Eiffel Tower.  We walked down this super posh street, Avenue Montaigne, that was like 5th Avenue in NYC.  Each shop had a security guard standing right at the door.

We decided to stop and have a bite to eat for lunch before going up in the tower; we stopped at Bistro not far from the foot of the Eiffel Tower.  We informed the waiter of the food allergies and ordered a grilled cheese sandwich for Alison and a hot dog for Drew.  Lauren had pasta.  Drew had the best time playing a game with the knife and fork, and Alison was entertaining herself with hew new Eiffel Tower she picked out as her souvenir.  Alison took one bite of her sandwich and immediately said that her stomach hurt, so we rushed to the toilet.  She never got sick, but I did have to give her a Benadryl.  Turns out the sandwich had an egg wash on it.  And I asked the waiter specifically if it was ok for the eggs.  And Drew's hot dog was covered in cheese, so he didn't eat a single bite.  But Brad and I did have a glass of wine with our meals!

Then we were off to the Eiffel Tower.  It was quite busy, but we had booked tickets in advance, which was a good thing.  We took the lift to the middle of the tower and took in the amazing views of Paris! and then we walked down to the first floor, where there are glass floors that you can see down to the ground.  All of the kids thought that was pretty cool.  Drew was scared to step on it at first; he was afraid he was going to fall.  It was pretty far up there!

After the Eiffel Tower, we headed over to take our boat tour down the Seine River.  We sat inside the boat because it was SO hot, so it was hard to see some of the buildings, but the tour was very informative about the history of Paris as well as the buildings that we saw.

By that time, Lauren was not feeling so well again, so we headed back to the flat.  Lauren went to bed again, and I went to get some food for dinner.  After dinner, we played monopoly in French (thank goodness for Google translate, although some of the translations for the Chance cards were still difficult to determine!)  Brad and I enjoyed some macaroons from the same patisserie, YUM!!!

Sunday, Lauren was feeling a little better and no fever, so we headed up to Notre Dame.  We were able to go inside.  It is amazing the amount of stained glass and beautiful carvings inside there.  And it was PACKED!!  Afterwards, we were walking around the garden along the side and kids came across a sand pit.  They made friends with a one year old, Nikita and were playing with her in the sand pit.  She didn't speak much English (her mom is Greek and her dad is Italian/American.), but they were able to communicate pretty well despite that fact.  Brad was visiting with her dad and it turns out he is some pretty well-know concert pianist!

The Eiffel Tower from the window of the
kids'  bedroom in the flat.

We had lunch at a little bistro where the only thing Drew and Alison could eat was french fries (we thought a pizza place would be a good choice, but the crust had eggs).  The kids were fascinated by the cow's head on the wall!  It was pretty funny!!

We went back to the flat and picked up our luggage and we were on our way back to London.

A short trip, but we got to see the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and ride on the Seine.  It's so easy to get to, I would love to go back with Brad just for the day sometime.

A few observations:
~French people smoke A LOT
~Paris is not super allergy friendly
~Yummy, yummy pastries!
~the Metro is quite different from the tube as the lines are numbered, the trains share lines going opposite directions
~travelling to a place where you don't speak the language can be somewhat challenging