Our Week in Paris

Our week in Paris was foreign yet familiar from pre-children visits. The days were long and hot. We were told that summer arrived this past week and that the previous “bipolar”weather had put Parisians in a bad mood. The heat was exhausting for some of us and exhilarating for others.

The days reaching or nearing 30 degrees were limiting but I loved the warm evenings which called me out to wander the streets of our neighbourhood, soaking in the atmosphere of Paris. So some evenings we did this and others we stayed in our cute apartment situated above a little, traffic-quiet intersection of restaurants and bars. It was a fun little hub to be located in. The only drawback being that with the French dining around 9pm and us needing to have windows wide open, sleep didn’t come easy or early.

The apartment was located in the 19th arrondissement, about 4km from the Musee du Louvre and 7.5km from Tour Eiffel. After a day of settling in and familiarising ourselves with our immediate neighbourhood we ventured into the touristy areas to see some of the sights. A bit of research advised against tackling the metro with a buggy so we caught the bus alighting close to Cathedrale Notre-Dame. A brief stop outside to take photos, point out it’s significance and admire the architecture was all we had time for then it was on to do the same at the Musee du Louvre.

While walking to the Louvre we had this random encounter where we bumped into a family from Texas who we were sitting next to and chatting to on the Eurostar. A nice coincidence in amongst the impersonal tourist centre of Paris.

We located a playground in the Jardin des Tuileries, ate our picnic lunch and the kids had a short play. This could’ve been enough for the day but we wanted to find refuge from the heat so went to the nearby Musee de l’Orangerie, primarily to see Monet’s Water Lilies. None of us anticipated the scale of this series of paintings and naively thought they would be regular sized paintings in frames. What we saw instead were massive, wall-sized paintings displayed in a specially made oval exhibition rooms.

What we thought would be a straight forward trip back to the apartment became a bit of an ordeal with a long delay in the bus timetable. After standing in the stifling heat for about 30 minutes (buses meant to come every 8mins!) we decided to back track to find another bus route home. This wasn’t pleasant for any of us but the kids coped really well despite the heat and miles of walking. Lured on by the treat of an ice cream when we got “home” we finally made it back to our little sanctuary.

The 40 minute bus trip back to Parc des Buttes-Chaumont enabled the boys to have a bit of a nap but prior to this Daniel’s tired crying showed us via disapproving looks and the occasional “ooh la la” how the French seem to have little tolerance for disruptive children!

While it was amazing to see these iconic sights we didn’t feel compelled to prioritise visiting more in subsequent days. Some online searching of “what to do in Paris with kids” revealed the Jardin d’Acclimatation and I knew we had to go there the next day rather than see more of the traditional sights of Paris.

After the not so pleasant bus experience of the previous day (including Emily almost fainting on a hot, crowded bus at the start of the day!) we decided to try the metro instead. We packed up the

buggy in it’s travel bag and went on down. How efficient and smooth this day of travel across the city was in comparison.

We got off two stops before the park to view the Arc de Triomphe and marvel at it’s scale (50m high), detail of it’s design and watch the crazy traffic circling the Arc. Basically a massive roundabout where 12 major roads meet!

Then it was on to the Jardin d’Acclimatation which was created in 1860. It's a theme park, cultural centre and small zoo all set in park like surroundings were you’ll find classic rides, splash pads, puppet theatre, pony/donkey/camel rides and loads more. It was such a fun Paris activity and I’m sure it made much more of a positive impression upon the kids than would’ve standing in queues to see museums and climb a tower. (As much as I wanted to do these things!...)

We ended the day with another meal at Mon Oncle Le Vigneron across the road from the apartment, where they do a menu du jour with 2-3 courses. It is homely and personal, un-rushed and delicious. The owner has a four year old girl, Noisette who the boys happily

played with on the pavement outside after our meal.

Our final two days fell on the weekend so again we stayed in our corner of Paris to experience things there. Saturday morning we strolled down to a lovely French market to stock up on supplies- again very thankful for Alex’s ability to communicate for us.

Later in the day we wandered around the corner to check out Belleville Brulerie, the hipsterest coffee place this side of Paris where they do coffee cupping on a Saturday morning. A new concept to me, it’s like wine tasting for the coffee-obsessed. We didn't partake but instead stocked up on the best coffee beans we’ve ever had. A total indulgence but hey, we’re in Paris!!

The only way to escape the crowds on our final full day in Paris would’ve been in to stay in our apartment but with temps reaching 30 degrees that wasn’t an option. So it was off to the nearby Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, which is kind of like Western Springs but much larger (25 hectares) and originally a quarry. We found a shady spot and set up for a few hours while the boys played in the stream with other youngsters.

On the morning of our departure we had hoped to savour our final breakfast of warm croissants, pain au chocolat and baguettes with freshly brewed coffee but had to rush through breakfast as were being picked up by Paris Shuttle at 9am for our 11am Eurostar train back to England.

Pack up was made a bit harder by a late night the previous night watching the Euro 2016 Final between France and Portugal. While we felt sorry for France, I was selfishly relieved that it meant the bar below us cleared out quite promptly following the game and wasn’t followed by a night of celebrating!

Ten hours of travel- taxi, train, train, hire car took us from Paris to North Yorkshire. Alex’s Facebook post so accurately sums up this transition in our holiday, “Yesterday began with coffee and croissants, and ended with roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. Kind of surreal to go from vibrant, urban, multicultural Paris to tranquil, rural North Yorkshire in the space of one day. We're very blessed to be able to experience both places."