Ahh, Paris! Day 1

The flight this morning to Paris was only about 2 hours, so much easier for the kids than yesterday. We arrived to sunny weather and about 17 degrees c. Very nice.

Leah took to this photo!

Riding horses!

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The hotel is swanky and our room is shoe-box sized. About what I expected. Dave ran off to his meetings and, once we had settled in our room, I dropped the kids in our stroller and headed out. Way too excited to see the city.

We stopped at an Italian cafe for lunch immediately. If I'm starved, I know the kids will be, too. Pizza and spaghetti. We all shared. I'm getting more bold about using my French. Merci!

I saw the Arc de Triomphe from the taxi to the hotel, so I headed in that direction. It wasn't far until we reached it and it's just as cool as it is in all the movies. Tourists were everywhere taking pictures at all angles. And I couldn't believe all the cars circling it. And with no lines to follow!
(And yes, I did mumble the movie quote: "I will triumph!" as I walked by.)

We headed down the Champs-Elysees for several blocks, though being in SoHo every day, this wasn't that big a deal. I had heard it was all "chain stores" but I didn't recognize that many. I had expected to see a Gap on every corner, like NYC, but saw none.

I spotted the Eiffel Tower in the distance, so that was my next destination. Pushing the kids was a good workout. And the Eiffel wasn't close. But we made it there. This was a pretty big deal to me. (It's bigger than I imagined!) The kids were semi-impressed but spotted the carousel in its shadow almost right away.

After going around in circles for a while, I found a playground they could run around in. There was a little girl making the kids on the slide pay her a "high 5" (however they say it in French) before they could go down. Leah and Alice were fascinated they couldn't understand her. But they eventually paid the toll.

Then it was a looong walk back to the hotel. Alice fell asleep with her face down on the tray. That got a lot of chuckles and comments from those who passed her. Yeah, I think she was impressed with her first day in Paris.