Paris, France Saturday June 3- Tuesday June 6th
Since we found out about our trip to Europe only a few months before actually arriving, we didn't have a lot of time to put into planning what we wanted to do after Pearce finished school. We love Paris and since it is an easy train ride from Maastricht we settled on that. Ok, maybe we underestimated how easy trains would be with two smalls kids, four adults and all our baggage, but we made it through a few transfers and one train station car pickup (a brilliant idea from Andy).
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| El Jefe |
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| Take Me to Paris |
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| Chow Time |
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| And Done (Pearce Note: there should be a series of theses) |
We arrived at our cute little Parisian apartment near the Luxembourg Gardens in the afternoon. We got our stuff somewhat settled and headed out for a bit of sightseeing. The view from our place was like out of a movie. Even Lucille agreed, having seen Ratatouille.
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| View out of the apartment window |
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| Other window |
Since we were so centrally located we decided to head out to check out some of the Parisian classics.
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| Invader Street Art made of tiles...recently a few of these were stolen off the wall. |
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| The Seine |
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| The Red Doors of Notre Dame |
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| Headed down the Seine |
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| Getting some exercise done |
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| Loving Paris life |
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| Lourve |
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| This is how kids do the Lourve |
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| Silly Daddy |
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| H was not happy about leaving this fountain |
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| Or this one... |
Unfortunately it started raining. We hid out in the Lourve's covered walkways for a bit hoping it would ease up. After much running, and spinning and fun, we decided to make the 30 minute trek home in the rain. The kids and I dried out a bit while the Korb's headed out to secure some dinner- enjoying some beers along the way.
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| Goofball |
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| Right before I banged Hendryx's head into a vent sticking out of the wall |
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| A Votre Sante |
The next day we woke up to blue skies and cool air. We headed out in the morning on a super long walk (sorry Korb Grands) to see the Eiffel Tower with a few stops along the way. The highlight was a lucky-chance tour through the Prime Minister's grounds on one of only three days it is open to the public a year.
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| Prime Minister's Mansion - Not too shabby |
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| Oh lalala |
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| Paris Playground |
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| Disney Approved? |
Based on a great tip from Susan, we grabbed lunch on Rue Cler near the Eiffel Tower. It is a pedestrian only(ish) street full of cafes, shops, and small markets. It was nice to sit in the sun, eat some great french food and people watch.
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| H housing some bread |
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| Yum! |
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| Please buy us some chocolates! |
We finally made it to the Eiffel Tower after lunch. Lucille was especially excited it for the first time! She had been pointing it out from every place we toured in and so was happy to see it up close and personal.
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| She finally got to see it! |
Per usual, we found a little playground nearby so the kids could run off some steam and others of us could rest up a bit. Pearce and I took advantage of having the Grands watch the kiddos so we could go get a closer look.
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Afternoon break (Pearce Note - this is not a train Andy!)
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| A happy return - after over 10 years ago |
The walk along the river home was so full of life- lots of people out walking, biking, eating and drinking. We took our time enjoying the site and appreciating the relaxed Parisian lifestyle. It was a wonderful way to spend the day, although I am pretty sure all our feet were killing us!
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| Nerd! (Pearce Note: Stalker!) |
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| There are all kinds of activities along the Seine- we grabbed a crepe |
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| Watching the boats go by |
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| Ubiquitous art and book stalls |
A few of the evenings in Paris, Susan and Andy watched the kids while we hit the town. Pearce planned the first night which ended up being a hysterical evening that I'll let him describe.
Pearce: note - this story deserves so much care in the telling that for the sake of getting the blog out there had to be saved for a separate post still in production. Stay tuned...
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| Notre Dame in the evening |
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| a peaceful Seine |
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| Love locks |
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| Off to dinner |
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| We made it out alive (See Paris Soiree post separately for the tale) |
The next day we decided to give our poor feet some rest so we took the bus tour around the city. While listening to the audio tour is a bit challenging with two small kiddos, seeing all the beautiful buildings and watching the bustle of the city in the sunshine was lovely. We headed up to Montmartre, an area we all loved. Our timing wasn't the best though because we were visiting on a Parisian holiday and half the inhabitants of Paris were there as well. We did a quick walk around looking at the street art while pushing our way through the crowds. We worked our way back down to the bottom of the steps where L was able to ride the most charming antique carousel.
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| Double Decker Carousel |
That night was the date night planned. I reserved Verjus, a restaurant that came recommended by a friend who had gone in the spring. It did not disappoint. The coursed menu was a modernized version of traditional French cooking and everything was delicious. Word must have gotten out in the States thought because we found ourselves sitting next to couples from, Denver, Ponte Vedra, and California. Although the food was good, the night before will go down in our family history (see separate post).
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| On the way to dinner |
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| Almost had a great shot, Pearce |
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| Verjus - Starters |
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| Ah, Paris |
Our last full day in Paris we finally walked over to the Luxemburg Gardens nearby our apartment. The Gardens were built by Queen Marie de Medici including a palace, French and British gardens, and orangerie and more. Today the French senate takes place in the palace and the grounds are open to the public for all kinds of outdoor activities. We had read that it was especially good for children, with playgrounds, puppets, pony rides, carousel and places you could go rent boats.
We didn't have the best weather (like a lot of our days in Paris), but we suited the kids up in their rain gear and tracked down the playground. To get into the playground, you pay a nominal fee and your kids are unleashed into a fenced in area with the best playground equipment you could imagine. I think they could have happily played there all day despite the cold.
While the grands watched the kids, (do you sense a theme) Pearce and I hit up our one and only museum experience during our stay.
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| Susan on safety patrol |
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| He really enjoyed the Parisian parks |
The Luxembourg Garden Museum was the first museum to open to the public in 1750 and now only hosts two exhibits a year. We caught Pissaro in Eragny (an area of France). It was a small, but well done museum and we both enjoyed learning more about the impressionist, turned pointillist, turned back impressionist.
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| His poinilist phase |
We strolled around some more of the Gardens taking in some stautes on the way to our next stop, the boat rental.
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| The model used to create the US Statue of Liberty |
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| Ready to Launch |
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| The calm before the storm |
We had all of 10 minutes of sailing before a huge storm rolled in. We did our best to make it back to our apartment, but we got caught in the rain. We ended up going to an amazing restaurant rec (thanks Eric!) right down the road from our place, Polidor. We had the best French pub food while escaping the storm. We headed back to the apartment full satiated and started to pack for our early departure the next morning.
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| I had been waiting all trip to eat escargo- they didn't disappoint |
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