We decided that it was time to leave the UK for another trip, next stop, Paris!
We took the Eurostar train from London to Paris. The train travels at a top speed of over 300 km/h. To make the trip by car would take about 5 hours including the ferry across the English Channel; the train cuts this duration down to just a little over 2 hours. It's shorter travel time, more convenient and much cheaper than flying! PLUS, did I mention it goes really really fast!
The kids enjoyed the ride but you had to be quick to spot the baa-baa's and cows flying by!
The train station in Paris was like something out of an old movie, all that was missing were the old style engines and puffing thick black smoke.
This was our home for the next 8 days. We rented a third floor apartment with two bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom and living room, all within approximately 600 sqft. It was half the cost of a hotel for the same amount of time with ten times the convenience, including not having to go to sleep at 8 when the kids do! I'd like to say we had a balcony with an amazing view the but truth is we had an inside appartment that looked into a small (unattractive) courtyard (type thing). Mostly we saw the wall on the other side of the courtyard! But the flat was right in the centre of everything, just off Rue de Rivoli, about 5 minutes walk from the Louvre and Pont Neuf.
Love the Art Nuveau entrances! Our local metro station entrance, Chatelet.
The first thing we did when we arrived was ditch the luggage and go for a walk. Pretty quickly we happened upon a beautiful cathedral called Église Saint-Eustache but all the kids could see was the playground across the street.
No matter where you take the kids, all they want to do is go to the playground! Gotta love it! I don't think I've ever taken a picture of Carter at the playground with anything so majestic in the background through!
Day two included a very busy morning. We walked through the grounds of the Louvre past the glass pyramid and then straight up the Ave Des Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. Carter and I climbed the 400+ stairs to the top of the Arc. The view of the city was really amazing (sorry, we forgot our camera).
Later that day (after a well deserved nap) we walked south from our apartment to Pont Neuf and enjoyed the river.
There we also got our first glimpse of Notre Dame Cathedral.
Most of the time the kids travelled around in the stroller, but sometimes we let them out to stretch their legs and burn off some energy. They had a lot of fun running around on the streets of Paris (sidewalks of course).
The next day we set out early to take in the Louvre! Forget the art, the building is beautiful!
See, we were there!
Although I understand the glass pyramid is hated by most Parisians I think it is a nice contrast to the main building. It's beautiful in its own way without trying to "fit in" with the old building. Considering the surroundings I don't think any design for the new entrance to the Louvre would have gotten any better reviews from the locals.
Some funny art under the glass pyramid. Our budding artist Carter liked this one. He also was proud to take his dragons to the Louvre (look close, they got top billing in the photo).
Two cool things happened because we had a stroller; one, we didn't have to wait in the long line outside to get in; we got to go through the handicapped/stroller line, and two, we got to ride on the very cool elevator that flys up through the staircase. It's a bit hard to explain but in the photo the cylinder with the staircase wrapped around it is the elevator, but you don't travel up and down in the cylinder, you travel on top of it. At the top of the pyramid you go through an opening in the glass railing and step onto the elevator (which has its own glass railing). Then the entire cylinder lowers (with the cylinder disappearing deep into the floor) and then you just walk off at the lobby level! It was fun!
Of course we took care of the compulsory business first and went straight to Mona. There she is. No I'm not far away, the painting is only like 6" x 6" (well maybe a bit bigger but surprisingly small).
The inside of the Louvre is as impressive as the exterior.
Jenn was looking forward to seeing Winged Victory of Samothrace which is a marble sculpture of the Greek Godess Nike created in the 2nd century BC! Carter wanted to know where her head was.
This is the only photo I could find to talk about the strange phenomenon we experienced all through our Paris adventure; Chinese tourists taking photos of our children! Throughout the entire trip we would cross paths with large groups of Chinese tourists and without fail some and sometimes ALL of them would take pictures of the kids, and in particular Averie. The kids wouldn't even be doing anything interesting most of the time. There are a large number of Chinese people with photos of Averie just sitting in the stroller. Since we got back to the UK we have learned that this is somewhat related to their blonde hair. The real issue was how uncomfortable the strange attention made Averie feel. Carter doesn't appear to be noticing while he runs wildly in the Louvre (he's probably wondering where the playground is in the giant pyramid).
I can see why they want pictures of this little angel!
Not sure about this crazy Canadian though!
After the Louvre we walked 4km along the Seine to meet Jenn's cousin Katherine below the Eiffel Tower. On our way we crossed a pedestrian bridge that was full of locks. It wasn't until later that we found out from a tour guide that the locks are a symbol of romance in Paris. Couples write their name on the lock, attach it to the bridge and throw the key in the river. It's meant to represent an eternal commitment. The tour guide went on to tell me a laugh that the city cuts the locks every 6 months, so really the relationships are only guaranteed of up to 6 months!
Le Grand Palais; built in 1900 and has the largest glass roof in europe.
Église Saint-Louis-des-Invalides. Napoleon is buried directly below the dome.
A beautiful sculpture on the Pont Alexandre III.
On our way to the Eiffel Tower the kids found another playground.
Looks like Jenn wanted to play too!
Averie was wearing her Parisian strips that day. The Grand Palais in the distance; we're almost at the Tower.
There it is! It really is a beautiful structure. And the scale of it is impressive when you stand in the space below.
As if in a movie we had arranged to meet Jenn's cousin "below the tower". It was a fun place to connect!
There were vender everywhere (legal and illegal) selling small versions of the Eiffel Tower and the kids just had to have one. Carter got a green and Averie a pink (look closely at the white pieces of paper on the ground). I pleaded with them to look up at the real tower but they liked the toys better I think!
After we connected with Katherine we all took a boat tour down the Seine. It travelled from the Eiffel Tower to Notre Dame Cathedral and back.
Katherine and Averie!
Carter is still focused on his diamond studded Eiffel Tower (meant to sparkle the way the LED lights make the tower sparkle at night).
After the boat tower we made our way to the north side of the river to catch the Metro. The kids (and parents and cousin) took a ride on a carousal at the base of the stairs below the Esplanade du Trocadero.
It was a great day!
Mike
