We decided at the spur of the moment last week that we wanted to go to Paris. Take the plunge, get out of backwards country and head to the romantic city of Paris. The kids in tow should have given us ample warning that the city of romance would be more like the city of misery...but we're truly optimists at heart, I swear. And, looking back...it wasn't THAT bad.
We hopped on the Eurostar at o-dark-thirty Saturday morning...arrived on time, didn't forget any major must-have items and overall were excited for our adventure. The trip was quick and the girls were dreamy. Once we arrived in the Gare du Nord train station things went a little askew. For some reason we thought that Paris was going to be as self-explanatory as London and c'mon...I'd been there before. (14 years ago mind you but who was counting?) We finally figure out where we're going and with my spotty french, we were able to get a taxi to our hotel. Well, that's not quite true. I got him to take us to the train station NEAR our hotel...he let us off and because I had no clue how to say "Excuse me sir, I must have spoke incorrectly...we need to get to the HOTEL...not the METRO", all I could muster was "Merci beaucoup [thanks alot]" with a big smile on my face. He drove away and Matt just shook his head. After rummaging through my "Teach yourself French" book I managed to find out where our hotel truly was.
The hotel was awesome! Checking in was interesting but we figured out quickly that if we just said "Parlez-vous Anglais [do you speak English]?" they almost always said "Yes" and we were free to ramble on with our questions. I know...we're wusses. Ah well. It was off to Chez McDonalds for us...truly we were venturing out of our comfort zone!
So there are a few things we've learned about Paris and well, travelling with children in general. Don't ever think for one second that you will get to really do the things you want to do. Don't buy into the fact that you'll eat at all the local places. And finally forget about learning about the place you're visiting. For us this time, it was more about how could we NOT get kicked out of certain places and how will we time the day so we don't have a major Sloane meltdown in the midst of lots of foreign company. By the end of the trip we still didn't have it all figured out. But we did see quite a few amazing things and we're pretty damn proud of ourselves for sucking it up and pushing through...meltdown or not.
We were able to visit Notre Dame which was incredible. Avery was amazed at all the windows and faces in the facade...she was also curious as to why one gentleman had his head in his hands...literally.
Avery even wrote in the Book of Life what she wanted to ask of God and here is what she wrote.
And here's the only shot of the entire family that actually came out.
After Notre Dame we were heading to the Louvre but decided to take a Bateau Mouche ride down the Seine River. It was nice and warm on the boat and we were able to learn quite a bit about the city while chasing the girls around the boat. After the ride we started off to the Louvre but were sidetracked by an incredible downpour that came from nowhere! We were DRENCHED and could not for the life of us find a cab. You can't just hail a cab in Paris...you have to go to a Taxi stand and wait for one but unfortunately the ones we were finding had taxis waiting with no drivers. Lovely. So...we got a crepe and got out of the rain for a bit. It was about that time to go back to the room...we were drenched, cold and downright miserable at this point. So we headed back to the hotel for a nap and then we were heading back out to the Louvre. Needless to say, we got nowhere and fast. We managed to get to a Pizza Roma restuarant after our quick and painful naps. Thankfully it was close to the hotel and we were able to use a little French while ordering so we didn't get the nasty looks like our English neighbors at the next table. Sloane was having none of sitting down to dinner therefore she and Matt spent most of the evening outside. Family bonding at it's best.
Sunday morning promised to be a better and sunnier day so we headed out and immediately found ourselves waiting in a long line for Le Tour Eiffel. But boy was it cold and windy! Avery couldn't believe that she was actually standing next to it and boy was it H-U-G-E!!
Check out the Arc de Triumph....of which we didn't get to see up close but that's okay...we liked this view anyhow.
Finally after checking out the city from far above, we managed to get ourselves over the Louvre and there wasn't nearly the lines that we were told there would be. It was fabulous!! We quickly headed up to see the Mona Lisa and then off to see Nike and then we managed to get to the Venus de Milo. Avery wondered if we got to all the rooms and all we could do was giggle simply because we managed NOT to see 99% of the museum. C'est la vie!
But when we get down to it, all we really wanted was the pictures of Avery and Sloane in front of these unforgettable landmarks. So they could, one day, say I was there! I saw that! Even if they don't really remember it. In the end it wasn't about learning or teaching history to us or our girls...it was about experiencing it. Experiencing and making our own history. Experiencing it in the midst of beautiful surroundings and among things that most people never get close to in their lifetime.
And for that...despite the language barrier, the horrible luck in finding a taxi, the pouring down rain, the McDonalds food and the Sloaney-Baloney meltdowns...we are thankful.
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