Paris!

And we're back.

So we just spent a week in Paris… two adults, three kids ages six and under.  I admit it was kind of ambitious/borderline insane to attempt such a trip. But there is something so exciting and rejuvenating about traveling and the more I do it, the more I want to keep exploring, even if it means dragging the kids along.  They did pretty well all things considered… the following three pictures pretty accurately portray each child's experience:

Yeah, I would say four out of five of us had a great time.  



Caroline's woes were twofold… she missed her blanket and she missed the stroller, which we ditched because the metros do not have elevators.   C was NOT into walking everywhere.  The last morning she woke up and begged, "Please! I don't want to go anywhere today!"  

In all honesty, the trip had many trying and exhausting moments.  When we got back to our apartment at night I would face plant onto the bed and not budge until the next morning. More than once I asked myself,  "Is this worth it?  Is this worth it?  Is this worth it?"   But then on our last morning while we were packing out bags to go home, and I was reflecting back on the week, I thought to myself, "That was totally worth it."   You forget all the bad and only remember the good. The memories make it worth it.

When traveling I'm always in search for that perfect "Wow!" moment.  These moments occur when I walk into a beautiful park or awesome cathedral or happen upon a inspiring piece of art… or better yet, when I see the world rediscovered through my children's eyes… when I see them having those "wow!" moments it makes it all worthwhile.  You sure have to work for them though.  So while we did have our share of frustrations, (one day at 2:00 when it was pouring rain I asked Ben if we could just throw in the towel and go in for the day.  He refused.  All that army training makes him so hardcore)  we had lots of beautiful ones too. So I am going to share five of them with you.

1.  Climbing the 300+ steps to the dome of the Sacre Coeur and taking in the amazing panoramic views of the city. Our apartment was only a five minute walk away.  

She was excitedly pointing out the Eiffel Tower 

This kind Frenchman offered to help Caroline down the stairs, but she rejected his chivalrous offer. Sigh. 

2.  Walking through the Jardin de Tulieres.  We actually were trying to cruise through to make it to another destination, but we stopped dead in our tracks when we saw the beautiful lavender flowers.  That's the Louvre in the background. 

Relaxing along the way

3. Exploring the gardens at the Rodin Museum.  Even though it was rainy and wet, it was still fun.  The grounds were beautiful and free… we ate at a yummy cafe where Ben and I tagged out and went exploring while the girls sipped chocolat chaud.   

The famous Le Penseur or The Thinker.  Can you tell the girls are thinking?  Most likely about princesses.

Still thinking

HUGE fan of baguettes

The sculptures were depictions of characters from Dante's Inferno.  Nope, haven't read it, but Ben has so he enjoyed ogling over them all the more.  

4.  Climbing the Eiffel Tower, of course.  This was definitely the highlight for the girls.  There are three platforms… you can take the elevator to any of the three platforms, or you can take the stairs to the first and second.  Because it was cheaper and the line was shorter, we took the stairs.  Emily was very enthusiastic to count them (it helped that they were numbered by the tens).  669!  Wow.    Emily did awesome… she didn't even want to stop at the first platform… she just kept going!  Meanwhile, I hauled James in the carrier.  My energy level wasn't quite up to par.

After reaching the second platform, not even fazed by the climb

Wheeling and Dealing with one of the many MANY vendors

The girls were so pumped they scored some little pocket mirrors

5.  Visiting the Pont des Arts (art bridge)… 

Again, we were on the way to somewhere else, but took a little side trip to this charming (and touristy!) bridge.  As you can see, the bridge is covered in locks.  People come here to prove their love for each other by fastening a lock to the bridge, which seals their love for eternity.  

Admittedly, Ben and I got swept up in the romance of the whole idea and purchased a lock from an opportunistic vendor… we wrote our "code" initials (known only to us) and on the back wrote "ensemble a jamais" (together forever).  Then in a dramatic demonstration of my devotion to Ben I threw the keys off the bridge into the river.  But Ben kept a spare one.  Which kind of put me ill at ease.  Why would he ever want a spare key?  He says if one of us dies the other has to go back and find the lock.  The spare key is in our printer's drawer now.  

Ours is the one toward the bottom "BBL+PSL"

The girls were ENTHRALLED with the locks

And I tricked you!  There's actually six.  I couldn't figure which one to cut… 

6. Our last beautiful "Wow!" moment was at the Jardin de Luxembourg.  I loved this park… had never been to it before.  So relaxing and family friendly.  

They have these sailboats you can rent for 3 euros and the kids put them out on the fountain and chase them around.  Em was all over it.  So much fun!  I felt very Parisian as I watched her run around the fountain.  Yeah, I'm a wannabe.  

This is where the French senate meets!  During WWII it was the headquarters for the Luftwaffe

And so awesome… I met up with my dear friend Desiree and her husband.  Des is my friend from high school.  She happened to be visiting at the same time… so we hung out lots with them.

We LOVED this fountain

It depicts some Greek myth… Cyclops discovering his lover with another man or so says our guidebook 

The park also contained an awesome playground

I was wishing that we had just spent the entire day at the Jardin de Luxembourg.  That would have made for an easy relaxing day.  

And now for the bonus pics… because I don't think you've seen enough already ;)

**Please, if you feel you have seen enough pictures, please stop.  I just added these for our own little family's sake.  I don't expect the few people who actually check this blog to suffer through all of this.  Really.  You are excused ;)

Our apartment and neighborhood were awesome:

I love how even though Parisians live in a crowded city, they try and carve out their own little garden space.

 

This was like Ben's favorite discovery… he read in our guidebook that the founder of Paris was a bishop named St. Denis who came circa 200 A.D. and started converting Romans to Christianity.  Well, some officials didn't like that and they cut his head off… but according to legend he picked up his head and walked like four miles along this route, where he stopped and rinsed his head off in a fountain.  And this is THE fountain… just outside our apartment.  And this is St. Denis holding his head.  Then he continued on his journey where he finally came to some lady's house and collapsed.  Anyway, you can see why Ben really took to this story.  Right up his alley.

Sainte-Chapelle

At Napoleon's Tomb… totally P.O.ed that the guard lied and didn't let us in (long, frustrating story)

We spent A LOT of time in the metro

C nicknamed this guy "Scary Potato" and she made a game out of finding him at every metro stop… and he really was at almost every one.

At the Hotel des Invalides… cannons brought back from Austria during Napoleon's conquests or something like that.

An actual mud covered jacket from the trenches during WWI… at the military history museum

Admiring a Renoir at Musee de l'Orangerie

And that's a wrap.  Really.  I promise.