We left Barcelona at 12:35pm, so we headed to the airport that morning for our flight to Paris. The Barcelona airport, at least the new terminal, is lovely, with lots of great shopping and stores I could spend a long time wandering around. Which is a good thing, because they also do not post the gates for individual flights more than a half hour before the flight actually takes off, so there's no sitting around waiting at the gate for you; you MUST enjoy the beautiful shopping! We got on the plane early because of the kids, so we got settled and ready for our short flight to Paris.
Once in Paris, we got our travel passes and train tickets and made our way to the train station for the 40 minute ride downtown. Our Airbnb host had given us fairly good directions to her house, so it didn't take us too long to find it, which was good. We also realized that our apartment was right next to both a mall and a playground, as well as off of a cute pedestrianized street with lots of restaurants and food vendors, which was nice to see.
After we met our host, got the run down on the apartment (my mother was concerned that I would have a hard time with the stove, but it was very similar to mine in Qatar, thank goodness, though the washer/dryer combo as another story entirely) and took a little break, we headed out for dinner and to buy groceries for breakfast and lunch the next day. We went to be early that day so we were ready to head out the next morning.
Now for my one big confession: we did not buy the Paris Museum pass and that as a mistake. First, originally I was thinking that since we weren't going to very many museums and the boys were free for all of them, it didn't make sense to get this pass. This was sound thinking but I neglected to realize two important points: one, many more places in Paris than the museums are included in the pass and EVERYWHERE charges an entrance fee (ok, not Notre Dame, but everywhere else), and, two, more valuable than all that is the fact that the pass gets you "priority access" everywhere, meaning you skip the lines, or at least your lines are much, much shorter. In the end, we should have gotten it for our first two days. But, we didn't. So when we arrived at the Musee d'Orsay that morning, the lines were insanely long, Disneyland long (because the Louvre was closed). We decided to head to the playground in the Jardin des Tuileries next door and reassess our plan for the day. In the end, all was not lost: we played at the playground and rode the carousel and then walked back up the Seine to Saint Chapelle (short-ish line) and the Conciergerie (no line). The boys liked both places, though the stained glass in Saint Chapelle wasn't as compelling to them as the stained glass in the Sagrada Familia. The prison, however, was a big hit, as was its very well-stocked bookstore with tons of kids' books about prisons and castles and dragons and such.
After that, we headed to Notre Dame, which was also a hit, though more with the husband than the boys. The line to go up to the towers was soooo long, so we skipped it in favor of going to get something to eat. It was by now after 3pm and our brought-from-home stores were depleted, so we walked into the Latin Quarter to find some food. Unfortunately, lunch in Paris is from 1-3pm and usually the restaurants are completely wiped out at that point since they make everything fresh, as several places told us. Luckily, at one such place, one of the last diners told us she would call the restaurant where she worked, right around the corner, to see if they had anything left. Which is how we ended up dining at a vegan place in Paris! We had these huge plates mounded with raw and cooked vegetables and various combinations of cooked grains (brown rice, quinoa, lentils, etc), some gilled salmon, a pan-fried tofu concoction of some kind, some quiche, and cheesecake and pudding for dessert. Everything came with this amazing sauce to pour over it, and everything tasted really good, considering how bizarre it all was. E ended up devouring the raw grated beets and all the quiche, I really like the cooked veggies, J was happy with the salmon, and the husband was hungry enough to clean his plate. Odd, but good!
After lunch/dinner, we returned to Notre Dame to see if the line for the towers was shorter and play in the large sandbox right next door. No such luck wit the towers, but the boys made some friends with another expat family who live in London and all were very happy to play together and chill out for a while. A little time and gelato later, we decided to head to the Sacre Couer and take the funicular to the top (because that's what we do, we ride funiculars!). The views from the bottom and the top of the hill were amazing and the boys and I were quite content to sit in the cathedral and listen to and sing along with the nuns while the husband wandered around taking pictures. It really was a very peaceful, moving end to a long day. On our way back down, we stopped in at a small chocolate "museum" which had sculptures of Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower in chocolate that impressed the kids almost as much as the cathedral behind them!
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| It's a math game--we both learn a lot when we play it! |
After we met our host, got the run down on the apartment (my mother was concerned that I would have a hard time with the stove, but it was very similar to mine in Qatar, thank goodness, though the washer/dryer combo as another story entirely) and took a little break, we headed out for dinner and to buy groceries for breakfast and lunch the next day. We went to be early that day so we were ready to head out the next morning.
Now for my one big confession: we did not buy the Paris Museum pass and that as a mistake. First, originally I was thinking that since we weren't going to very many museums and the boys were free for all of them, it didn't make sense to get this pass. This was sound thinking but I neglected to realize two important points: one, many more places in Paris than the museums are included in the pass and EVERYWHERE charges an entrance fee (ok, not Notre Dame, but everywhere else), and, two, more valuable than all that is the fact that the pass gets you "priority access" everywhere, meaning you skip the lines, or at least your lines are much, much shorter. In the end, we should have gotten it for our first two days. But, we didn't. So when we arrived at the Musee d'Orsay that morning, the lines were insanely long, Disneyland long (because the Louvre was closed). We decided to head to the playground in the Jardin des Tuileries next door and reassess our plan for the day. In the end, all was not lost: we played at the playground and rode the carousel and then walked back up the Seine to Saint Chapelle (short-ish line) and the Conciergerie (no line). The boys liked both places, though the stained glass in Saint Chapelle wasn't as compelling to them as the stained glass in the Sagrada Familia. The prison, however, was a big hit, as was its very well-stocked bookstore with tons of kids' books about prisons and castles and dragons and such.
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| In front of one of many "love lock" bridges! |
After that, we headed to Notre Dame, which was also a hit, though more with the husband than the boys. The line to go up to the towers was soooo long, so we skipped it in favor of going to get something to eat. It was by now after 3pm and our brought-from-home stores were depleted, so we walked into the Latin Quarter to find some food. Unfortunately, lunch in Paris is from 1-3pm and usually the restaurants are completely wiped out at that point since they make everything fresh, as several places told us. Luckily, at one such place, one of the last diners told us she would call the restaurant where she worked, right around the corner, to see if they had anything left. Which is how we ended up dining at a vegan place in Paris! We had these huge plates mounded with raw and cooked vegetables and various combinations of cooked grains (brown rice, quinoa, lentils, etc), some gilled salmon, a pan-fried tofu concoction of some kind, some quiche, and cheesecake and pudding for dessert. Everything came with this amazing sauce to pour over it, and everything tasted really good, considering how bizarre it all was. E ended up devouring the raw grated beets and all the quiche, I really like the cooked veggies, J was happy with the salmon, and the husband was hungry enough to clean his plate. Odd, but good!
After lunch/dinner, we returned to Notre Dame to see if the line for the towers was shorter and play in the large sandbox right next door. No such luck wit the towers, but the boys made some friends with another expat family who live in London and all were very happy to play together and chill out for a while. A little time and gelato later, we decided to head to the Sacre Couer and take the funicular to the top (because that's what we do, we ride funiculars!). The views from the bottom and the top of the hill were amazing and the boys and I were quite content to sit in the cathedral and listen to and sing along with the nuns while the husband wandered around taking pictures. It really was a very peaceful, moving end to a long day. On our way back down, we stopped in at a small chocolate "museum" which had sculptures of Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower in chocolate that impressed the kids almost as much as the cathedral behind them!
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