We left for Paris late in the evening of Friday June 28 and attempted to get some sleep on the plane! I think even Blaine managed to get a little. When we arrived in Paris it was after lunch time so we checked into our hotel and then went down to the corner boulangerie for a bite to eat. This was Sarah’s first actual French baguette and her life will never be the same.
Our one plan for Saturday was to see the Eiffel Tower so we took the metro from our neighborhood (11th Arrondissement near Place de la Republique). Blaine was happy to see there would be American ketchup in Paris…
The metro took us somewhat close to the Tower but we still had to cross the Seine, and we got to see this flame which is a duplicate of the one at the Statue of Liberty.
It was neat to see the preparations for the Olympics from the top of the Tower.
We took a cab back to the hotel for some rest and then went out to dinner nearby at an Alsatian restaurant– yum!
We had no idea that the Pride celebration was going on that day and the parade ended at Place de la Republique! So we got to see all the festivities going to and from dinner.
On Sunday morning we started the day with the yummy hotel breakfast — I particularly enjoyed that our hotel had a self-serve espresso machine at all hours of the day, and a water dispenser for cold, hot and sparkling filtered water. Then we went to the Church of Saint-Sulpice to hear some organ music on the Great Organ, which wikipedia calls one of the most significant organs in the world.
Then we went to the Rodin Museum, which had an excellent audio guide for kids.
Bonus van Gogh painting of Pere Tanguy!
There was an exhibition in the gardens of some more modern works and we also stopped for a snack in the beautiful garden cafe.
After Rodin we headed over to Les Invalides to see the military exhibits and Napoleon’s tomb.
We had a nice lunch in the cafe and saw another exhibit on dueling!
To end the day we went over to the Arc de Triomphe and climbed the 284 steps to the top.
At some point I took this pic of a street sign with video game mosaics — we were seeing them all over the city and I never figured out why!
Wikipedia tells me it’s a French street artist named Invader.
We went back to our hotel and stopped for some ice cream and wine at a popular spot called Folderol. It was a great concept serving only wine (with wines for sale) and homemade ice creams. Though it was mostly a crowd of hip-looking young adults; I think our kids were the only kids there.
Back to our hotel for some rest and then dinner nearby, followed by a chocolate eclair we’d purchased earlier in the day.
On Monday we had planned on a trip to the Orangerie to see the Monet water lilies followed by lunch in the Tuileries and an afternoon at the Louvre. But the Olympic preparations meant that some of the metro stops and streets were already closed in that area so we decided to change our morning plans. We went to Sainte Chapelle to try to see the stained glass but found a huge line and we didn’t have timed tickets. So we ended up going next door to the Conciergerie, a museum we had never heard of. Luckily it ended up being the perfect activity for our kids, they enjoyed it so much, more than they would have enjoyed our alternatives.
The Conciergerie is a medieval royal palace that was also used as a prison, and the main draw is that it was the place of Marie Antoinette’s final imprisonment before her beheading. It had a very modern audio guide on tablets that the kids loved!
After that we went for lunch and then on to the Louvre!
Why is that lady holding a scorpion?
And why is that lady smiling? 🙂
We’d reached the part of the day when Blaine and Sarah were searching every room for a bench.
So a quick detour through the Egypt section and then we bid the Louvre au revoir.
We went for ice cream and also got supplies for a macaron face-off between Laduree and Pierre Herme. (Laduree won!)
That night we had a wonderful sitter at the hotel so Andrew and I could go out to an excellent Michelin-star dinner at FIEF (stands for Fait ici en France). It was amazing!! I took a pic of this dish which was a play on pad thai using some kind of fish as the noodles. So delicious.
On Tuesday we picked up our rental car and drove out to see Versailles.
The Hall of Mirrors
The Queen’s bedroom
The Gardens — with a stop for a simple lunch in one of the garden cafes.
And then on to Normandy!