Hello Paris!

I guess the third time's the charm - we finally made it to Paris this weekend.  Our trip was cancelled last weekend - again - because of a sick child.  What started out as a bad cold given to Bo by Will developed into pneumonia.  After six hours in the E.R. last Friday night which lasted in to the wee hours of Saturday morning, we decided that a nice, quiet weekend was in order.  After a week of medicine and rest, Bo is back to his sweet, naughty self - which I'm very happy about!

A familiar sight last week - Bo sleeping with his 'uppy' (blanket)

So Saturday morning we took off for Paris for - as Scott and I referred to as - our 'trial run.'  After much debate we booked a hotel to the south of the city - for two reasons.  The first (and biggest) reason being it was a lot better for our bottom line, and second, we didn't want to be driving in the city of Paris itself, as we've heard parking/driving there is atrocious.  The trip got off to a hairy start as we realized our GPS in our car actually did not have a detailed map of streets outside of Belgium and the Netherlands.  As we were well on our way by this point, we basically had no choice but to wing it and rely on a map (gasp!).  However, as our map didn't have detailed streets listed around our hotel - as the hotel was south of the city - we decided to just park at a train station and use the metro.

Waiting for the train

We started out at the Louvre - Paris' most popular musum - and the one place in Paris I was most excited to return to.  The highlights, of course, are the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo (Aphrodite) - in my opinion, that is.  As we had two toddlers we were towing along we had to move pretty quickly and didn't get to see all that I would have liked, although one could probably spend a week going through and still not hit everything!

David vs Goliath

The Mona Lisa

Venus de Milo (Aphrodite)

The Great Sphynx

From there we walked around the grounds of the Louvre and throughout the Jardin de Tuileries (Tuileries Garden) - what used to be the royal garden of the Louvre Palace, all the way down the famous Avenue Champs-Elysees.  The Champs-Elysees is what I always think of when I think of Paris - sidewalk cafes, glitzy shops, lots of people.  Although it sprinkled on and off along the two miles toward the Arc de Triomphe, it was still an awesome walk down Paris' most famous boulevard.

Jardin de Tuileries

Obelisk of Luxor - spot where the guillotine stood  - where Louix XVI, Maria-Antoinette, and many others were executed

Champs-Elysses - very crowded!

The Arc de Triomphe is a magnificent arch that Napolean had commissioned to commemorate the victory at the battle of Ansterlitz. Although you can go into the interior of the arch and even climb the 284 steps to the observation deck, we choose not to, as it was dinnertime and the boys had enough sightseeing for one day.  We choose a cute little cafe on the Champs Elysees for dinner!

Arc de Triomphe

Dinner on the Champs Elysees

Arc de Triomphe at night

Althought it was getting late - and we didn't have a very clear picture as to how exactly get to our hotel - we decided to head to the Eiffel Tower to catch a view of it under the stars - and we weren't disappointed.  Beautiful!

By this time it was 9:30 and we decided we better be somewhat responsible parents and get the kiddos to bed - little did we know it'd take us 2+ hours to get there!  We decided to just leave our car at the train station we parked at ealier in the day, but had to go back first to grab our bags.  From here, we planned on just getting as close by train to our hotel as possible, then cab it the rest of the way.  FYI for all of you who plan on travelling to Paris some day - there is a different train system for travel outside the city itself - even if you're very close.  After lots of confusion, a three-year-old who insisted on wearing his Spiderman costume on the train (after insisting to bring it along for the trip in the first place), a very helpful Parisian stranger, transfers and a cab ride, we arrived at our hotel at about midnight.

Spiderman got a lot of laughs

Very sleepy

Needless to say, we had a ery sleepy/low-key morning (well, except for Bo, who, as per schedule, bounded out of bed at 7AM), and got the day started a little later than we would have liked, but well-rested.  We started at Notre Dame - which was as beautiful as I remember.  Afterwards, we hung around the grounds while Will rested, then headed back over to the Eiffel Tower to see it in the light of day.  As time was getting on, we decided not to go up the Eiffel Tower, as we were told to give the whole experience - including waiting in line - a good three hours.  We did promise Will that our next trip to Paris will include a birds-eye view of the it via the Eiffel Tower.  Instead we just hung out, played at a park, and took in the sights. 

Joan of Arc

St Denis 

Enjoying the fall day outside of Notre dame

Hitching a ride to the Eiffel Tower

Having a snack at the Eiffel Tower

After that we headed back to our car and out of the city - by the time we got back to our apartment it was after 11PM!  All in all a very good trip.  We left with lots of great memories - as well as a long list of things to see the next time we go - tour the Eiffel Tower, Versailles, the Bastille, back to the Louvre...the list goes on and on!

On a side note, the first thing we saw on the Internet when we get home - OK, second thing - Scott had to make sure the Broncos won first (they did) - was the increased travel advisory for Americans in Europe.  We did notice there was a shocking number of military personnel  - all with machine guns and the whole get-up, all over the place.  Here's hoping that can be down-graded soon:(

Have a great week!

Jackie