An American in Paris

One reason I have such a crush on Paris is that three movies from my Top 10 Favorite Movies of All Time list take place in Paris. One of them, I quoted earlier. And today, I happened upon this store...

Jesse and Celine Reconnect

In case you missed the film reference, Shakespeare and Company (or City Lights) is used in the movie "Before Sunset" -- the sequel to "After Sunset" with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. I'm not one to seek out movie sets, but this one was exciting to see. I took a moment and daydreamed about the film. 

"Amelie," which usually tops my Top 10 list, is the one exception. I would love to go to Montmarte and see a few of the landmarks in the film. But that area is all hills! And did I mention my stroller is the Heaviest of All Time? Not this trip. 

A New Day, A New Video of a Playground

Day two video and another playground. The second of the day was in the Etoile neighborhood near Rue Brunel.

Alice needed to eat (surprise!), so Leah ran around and acted like she owned the place. Paris agrees with them.

Paris Day 2: Where I Take a Wrong Turn

We started the day a bit late thanks to hotel blackout shades and an ounce of jet lag, but got underway around 10:30. 

The first challenge of the day was getting onto a Metro and off to City Island, home of Notre Dame. This Metro isn't quite as user friendly at first pass. I'm hoping to make peace with it on subsequent trips. Long story short: it took about an hour to get tickets and onto a train. 

Just Hanging Out

After hauling up the Heaviest Stroller on Earth two flights of stairs at the Hotel de Ville stop, I looked around and without much to guide me, started walking in a direction that looked interesting and was hopefully toward Ile de la Cite and Notre Dame. I was wrong, of course, but didn't figure that out for about an hour. On the brightside, we found another playground. So, while I studied the map and reoriented myself, the kids played and bullied French kids.

Not Exactly the 1st
Picture of Notre Dame

Notre Dame sure is something!! What I like best about it is that it's surrounded by other equally old and beautiful buildings. Not like in NY where St. Paul's Cathedral (for example) is next to a windowed high-rise and a department store. Everything in this neighborhood matched. I gawked for awhile, while Alice shooed pigeons and Leah had a minor meltdown. Good times. 

We hit a souvenir shop then walked to a corner take-away place for lunch. Hot dog and frites. (Because in France, it would be redundant to call them French fries. Har har!) We found a bench with a view of the Conciergerie, with its beautiful golden gate, for our lunch a la fresco. Everyone was much happier after a meal. 

Then I decided, as I usually do in a city, that I needed to walk, so we spent about the next hour on the road from Ile de la Cite to the Musee d'Orsay. It was a lovely stroll on the river overlooking ornate building after ornate building. Catching all the detail on the buildings is almost tiring. 

The Musee d'Orsay is one of my top places to visit, but it was getting late so I had to resign myself to looking at it from the outside and changing Alice's diaper in an inconspicuous spot. (Maybe I shouldn't have confessed that.) 

Look!  A Paris Leaf!

Then, back down the stairs hauling the World's Heaviest Stroller, onto a train and back to the hotel where, in route, we found yet another playground. More playing, a little less bullying -- clearly, they were losing steam.

Realization For the Day: Must return to this Paris without kids (or when kids are older) so I can actually enter a building.

Motto For the Day: Think of how big my arms will be from hauling the World's Heaviest Stroller up and down Metro stairs!

The Paris Playground Tour - Day 1

More than anything, I think I'll be seeing a lot of the Paris playground. Here's a video of the one by the Eiffel Tower. Sorry for the shakiness!

I'll try to capture video of something other than a playground tomorrow.

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.

Put My Money Where My Mouth Is

Which reminds me ... holy cow was I scared getting into the car and leaving the house with 5 suitcases, three carry-ons and the two most precious things I have -- Leah and Alice. (And David, too!)

It has always been a dream of mine to live in Europe. It's was an ambition Dave and I shared but never thought we'd do.

And now, here I was dragging my kids away from their routines, cousins, beloved grandparents, toys (!) and taking them on this adventure that they might not want. Might not even enjoy. Not to mention the worries over safety. Comfort. Natural disasters! Oye!

But now it was time. The opportunity was there. And we jumped. Put my money where my mouth is. I've always wanted this, so suck it up, right?

Then, as we were pulling out of the driveway and I felt near vomiting, I looked at this incredibly huge smile on Leah's face. "I'm so excited, Mommy!"

Yeah, she's my kid alright!

We've Landed!

I have to pinch myself, because I can't believe I'm here! After so many months of planning...

The journey wasn't a total nightmare, but it did have plenty of tantrums and challenges. We left at 5:55pm, and arrived at around 1:30am -- 7:30am local time. So we were hoping to sleep on the flight. Leah struggled but fell asleep pretty quickly. Alice circled around her seat for almost an hour. She was desperate for sleep, so it was almost painful to watch her many attempts to get comfortable. And then, when she did fall asleep, it was a restless sleep.  I was constantly catching her before she fell off the front of seat, or slid under the armrest to the aisle. So, it wasn't the relaxing flight I had hoped for. On the brightside, no one cried and woke up half the plan.

View from the Living Room window

Our apartment on the top floor of the building - 9th! Five rooms off a main hallway. The kitchen is adorable - very European-like. And tall wardrobes in all the rooms. Everything is clean and new-looking. Very functional.

We all took long naps once we were unpacked and comfortable. Then, we loaded up the stroller and took a walk around the neighborhood. We're in a very residential part of the city. And there are several embassys nearby. Lots of grocery stores that we checked out. And a gigantic park we'll be sure to return to.

We got sandwiches for dinner, chicken and eggs. And some kind of sausage on a roll. I practiced my German! Danku!

The weather is fall-like. Warm sun and cool breeze. It was a bit rainy today -- just like home.

I better get back to packing for Paris. And get the kids to bed -- even though it's 1:51pm their time!