Tuesday was our first full day in Paris, and while fun, it had its moments that reminded you that traveling with 4 kids isn't always easy. We all woke up around 8am and had to be out the door by 9:00am to get breakfast and walk to the Eiffel Tower by our 10:30am ticket time. We made a few wrong turns and had trouble finding an open bakery for breakfast but eventually found one and bought croissants, which we ate in front of the tower in the sunshine, even though by that point, Piper and Deke were already cranky.
After eating, we went through security at the tower (which yay! had a special line for strollers), and rode the elevator to the second floor. The kids loved it although Deke was quickly over it. We had tickets to go all the way to the very top but the line for the elevator had a 1-hour wait, plus a wait to get back down, and we knew the kids wouldn't make it.
We rode back down to the ground and ate ice cream, and the kids watched the ducks and coy in the ponds, and chased pigeons, all right under the tower, in the amazing Parisian weather. We played there for about 90 minutes, and then left and walked along the Champs de Mars. We stopped at a cafe for lunch, although t was hard finding food the kids would eat other than bread. But, eating outside was fun and so French.
After lunch, we attempted to walk to Les Invalides to see where Napoleon was buried. We got there but it was 12 euros per person to go inside and the kids were DONE, DONE, DONE. Piper was so tired of walking that she was nearly in tears.
We were only about a mile from the hotel, but I took a taxi back with the big kids (we all couldn't fit in one taxi), and Eric walked back while Jasper slept in the stroller. At the hotel, we had some downtime, napping and hanging out at the hotel until about 5:30pm, and then went to a little playground across the street. One of the highlights of the vacation was seeing Fletch, who speaks no French, make buddies with some kids and join a soccer (football) game with them.
Around 6:30pm, the kids were hungry so we walked to the Monoprix grocery store and picked up food for dinner (and made a pit stop at a toy store). At the hotel, we just ate dinner and Jasper went to bed early, while the big kids watched a movie and stayed up to see the 10pm Eiffel Tower light show, which Deke, be still my heart, declared the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. I'll never forget snuggling with them on the bed and just watching the lights and see it all through their eyes. Amazing.
Wednesday was our second and last full day in Paris and one of the most magical days of the entire vacation. We all got up around 8am, ate chocolate croissants in the hotel room overlooking the Eiffel Tower, and then were out the door by 915am. We found two taxis and took them to the Louvre, got there right around 10am for our ticket time.
There was a HUGE line to get in...HUGE, even with our tickets. I walked up to a guard to make sure we were getting in the right line, and they saw our stroller, opened up the rope, and took us right to the front through security. We didn't wait a single second. Then, we followed the crowd to the Mona Lisa room, which recently was placed in a much smaller space because it's typical area is under renovation. There was also a huge line there. However, miraculously, as soon as they saw the stroller, the guard opened up the rope and let us go not just ahead of the line but in front of the entire crowd of hundreds of people taking pictures, and right up to the painting. Everyone else had had to stand a good 15 feet away. We didn't see them let anyone else do this. It was 100% amazing. They let people take one picture and then whisk you to the side, but they let us hang out and take lots of pics. I have no idea how we got so lucky.
After that, we walked around the museum for about 2 hours, at times dragging the kids, and other times they were really interested, especially Fletch. He wanted to read the signs on every painting. We saw all the things we wanted--Vermeer paintings (Eric's favorite), Winged Victory statue, Botticelli paintings, Venus de Milo, etc. By about 1230pm, they kids had enough so we stopped at one of the museum cafes for ice cream and lunch, and then left.
The museum exits right onto the Jardin Tuileries, which I had read was good for kids. The kids ran around and looked at the statues, we did the sticks and sailboats for a half hour, found a playground for them to run around (where Fletch joined another soccer game), looked at ducks, and did the trampolines. All that time, the weather was so gorgeous, warm but not hot.
We left the park around 3:30pm, determined to walk back the 2.5 miles to the hotel, along the river. We coaxed the kids with more ice cream, and took it slow and made it around 5pm, stopping for ice cream, to watch people fish in the river, and a few other places along the way. The last half mile was practically dragging Deke but we made it.
We got back to the hotel, and relaxed, and then I went to the Monoprix to buy food for dinner and breakfast. The kids ate, and then the big kids took showers. Everyone got in their jammies and hung out until it was time for the magical light show again.
We all had so much fun together. There were a few rough patches, but I was really proud of the kids for toughing it out and enjoying it. Jasper was terrific all day, and without him, we would have spent a long time waiting in lines.
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| Deke's favorite painting. |
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