Paris, France: Part 2
Posted on December 15, 2023 • 13 minutes • 2584 words
Not huge plans today, but did want to make it to the Sacre-Coeur. We hopped the subway and these cars had doors that you could open yourself, EVEN before the train was fully stopped! Kids loved it so much!
At one point, Ben and Sam stood at different doors and opened them for everyone. The Metro dumped us out a few blocks from the base and we had to walk through shops and shops of souvenir stores, where the kids wanted to stop every 3 seconds. I did buckle, as I wanted to get something for Elena. Kids picked out a Van Gogh bag for her and bracelets for themselves. I figured one small souvenir wouldn’t break the suitcase capacity. Finally, we reached the base where you stand and stare up! Kids saw the funicular, but we are Hohenshelt/Aukeses…we always take the stairs.
Kids also saw the double decker carousel and the park. I told them not before seeing the Sacre-Coeur and climbing to the top…the thing that Mom really wanted to do. Climbing the stairs as it gets bigger and bigger is an impressive feeling. No arguments, it’s beautiful. The shape, the color, the location. I’m not a big fan of the inside, but I really appreciate the outside. We did the inside loop (no photos allowed) and then to the “line” for climbing to the top. I say “line” as there were 3 people ahead of us. Another Yay for no people! We started up the very tight circular staircase.
After a bit, we popped outside for a couple flights, more spiral and we were there.
Not as blocked in as the Eiffel tower, and low walls at points, I was a bit more on edge. We looked out for a bit, pointing out things we recognized…basically, the Eiffel tower, the Parris Wheel and the Louvre. Beautiful views and some blue sky even poked through a bit.
The way down was a bit dizzying, with the tight spirals and you just go faster on the way down. I survived; kids were un-phased. When we finished, Sam wanted a photo with the Christmas Tree, or the New Year’s Tree as we have been jokingly calling them.
Kids really wanted to take the funicular and I had no objections for the way down.
We found these little while ‘berries’ on bushed growing at the bottom of the funicular. Never seen anything like it!
They really couldn’t have been better, so when the inevitable question of ‘can we do the carousel?’ came up, it was an easy ‘yes’…and letting them do something simple like this and seeing them SO excited is SO worth it. I mean, they really loved it. Max was grinning ear to ear as he climbed down…and being 4, I didn’t have to be on it with him. Good thing Ben was there to boost him up to the horse he picked.
Right on the other side of the road from the park and carousel was a crepe shop and I was really craving one. Turns out they also had food. Ben picked a ham and cheese baguette, no surprise, and Sa picked a giant baguette with a hot dog inside and covered in cheese. It was huge (turns out numerous hot dogs were inside) and Max wanted to share. That worked out well and I got my Nutella with banana crepe. It was connected to a café, so I got the kids sitting at the Paris style table and chairs…all facing out…as I went in to get a coffee. The bar tender/barista said they’d bring it out. We sat and ate with an amazing view. Yes, Ben is double fisting in this photo.
Even better, when the kids finished, I told them they could play at the park, as I had a full view and I still had 2/3 of my cappuccino left. It was glorious.
I finally pulled myself away, went to get Max to do a bathroom run and got another Nutella with banana crepe. It was just one of those days that was going so well, that called for another one. :) It went pretty fast and was just as delicious as could be.
Kids were right back to playing after polishing off the crepe. They created some game and were all fully onboard to work together to do whatever was required in the game.
Maybe I sat for too long, but I all of a sudden got quite cold and gave the kids a 10-minute warning. Easy walk back to the metro and easy trip to the apartment, with a quick stop at the market for food.
A bit of down time, some schooling and some Harry Potter reading.
Sam still has these weird dots on him and a few were looking worse, so Angelique got us an appointment that day at 4pm. We headed out for the walk, and ended up taking the metro one stop just to help us along. Nothing to worry about I was told and got a prescription for some ointment to help his body along getting rid of them. I told the kids we’d go the park after, so they were thrilled when this one was open. Happiness didn’t last long, as 5 minutes after we were there, a security woman came through with her whistle and everyone started evacuating. WTF? Kids were not happy with me, I was not happy with Paris, but what can you do? I convinced them we should go to the middle of the bridge, look at the Eiffel tower and I’d read Harry. Sam begrudgingly agreed.
As the watched people set up for wedding photos, I fed them cucumber and baguette, dipped in hummus. Sam was engrossed watching them for probably 20 minutes…with short breaks to climb on the bench to check out the Eiffel Tower. I was able to have their attention for about 10 minutes to read before heading to a bakery for food to bring to Angelique’s.
The soup we got was amazing, but the kids weren’t fans. They ate the other stuff a bit, but really I think they were pretty full on the giant cucumber and baguette we finished off. These things were so delicious.
It was a bit of a crazy evening with wired kids on, tired parents, but still so good to see friends. We decided to save the desserts for the next night and just snack on a very buttery cookie thing, but not a cookie at all.
I needed to hop on a meeting when we got back (saw the notification for recently suggest I attend on the walk home) and didn’t have time to get them to bed. I told them they could go straight to the bedroom and turn on a show. Music to their ears…and this time I could do the meeting from the couch, not the kitchen floor. When it ended and I went into the bedroom, they were all cuddled in bed, happy as clams to be staying up late AND watching a show.
Quick bedtime and not much energy on my end to stay up and work. Ben’s turn to sleep with me, so I did read to him a bit.
Our last full day in Paris and we had planned to meet Angelique and family at the aquarium. We were up at out by 8:30am and on our way to get some pastries. We tried some new ones, but the consensus was that Max’s was the best and really a huge hit!
It was a sort of flakey flat-ish cinnamon roll. Sam’s had chocolate and some pudding/cream, which he didn’t love, but I respect the wanting to try something new…especially as I got a traditional croissant. Ben went the safe route too with a pan au chocolat.
All sugared up, we went to catch a quick peak at the French Statue of Liberty. I actually have no idea what it’s called, but it’s the same as the NY one, just MUCH smaller.
It’s in on a small strip of land in the middle of the river. We were all cold and the sun was just barely out to warm us up. Ben wasn’t thrilled with the situation, but right by the statue was a work out area, so they warmed up doing exercises.
With some blood running in their veins a bit, we walked in the middle of the river to the next bridge, continued down the Seine, another view of the Eiffel Tower (can you ever see it TOO much?) and to the aquarium.
It wasn’t the biggest aquarium we’ve been to, but it worked for that cold day. There was a sort of route you took through and we started on that. There was a show (in French) but my kids seemed to like it just as much as the rest. We continued along the route with the kids running ahead, staying behind and pointing out all the cool things. I was pretty sure sea worms/snakes were the grossest, but that was only until we saw about 10 moray eels. Ugh. We did some coloring and touched some fish.
After about an hour, Angelique and family needed to leave for nap time. We did the whole route again and were pretty much done by then, but really, we needed food.
Right outside was a little mini-Christmas market. It had food and the smell was amazing. We got sausages, fries and soup. And once again, Heinz ketchup!
With the sun out, it felt so nice and we basked in the sun a bit. We finished every last bite (probably thanks to the endless supply of Heinz) and headed home to try to get a couple naps out of kids. On the walk, we passed the Eiffel Tower yet again and found some street corn. 3€…quite a markup from the Turkish corn we were used to for less than $1.
And you can never have enough photos with the Eiffel Tower in the background.
Back at the place, it wasn’t easy to convince Max to try to sleep, but once I got him in the bed, it was easy to get him to pass out…for 3 hours!
Lots of reading and chill time with the kids. I even let them watch a show as long as they didn’t talk about it when Max got up. When Max did finally get up, we put our warm clothes back on to go see Santa. We were going to take a taxi but walking was only a difference of 5 minutes due to traffic.
When we got there, Angelique and family were just taking a photo and with no line to see Santa, we were done in minutes. Kids climbed right up and Max was thrilled to get chocolate and stuffed it right in his mouth.
He was right outside my favorite kids store, that I had planned to do some warm clothes shopping for the kids. Some quick trying on, holding up to the kids’ legs and Ben and Sam got some good clothes. It was needed as Ben and Sam both had 2 long sleeve shirts and zero sweaters.
Found some live piano music and the kids were enthralled watching the man play.
Kids were loving holding hands as they walked.
We all bundled up and headed out fo the mall, with more cuteness for little kids holding hands.
To make the night go a bit faster and less chaotic, we decided to head to a restaurant that Angelique frequents with the kids. No big deal, just a train of 1 adult and 4 kids!
We were quite a sight walking in…3 adults, 5 kids and a double stroller. Got a circular booth, food ordered and some games of telephone to keep the kids occupied. Good food, but dinner didn’t last long as I think we were all tired. Another walk home, using the bike ramps as slides now, across our bridge and a good night sleep.
Packing was pretty easy in the morning and there was plenty of time with waking up early. All packed and headed to get breakfast to bring over to Angelique’s. More bike ramps as slides.
At the bakery, got lots of pastries and some extra baguettes for the train too.
It was kind of a fast breakfast, but we all got to see each other one last time and the kids really wanted to see them that morning. Yummy croissants as usual, lots of hugs, attempted a full group photo with everyone smiling and we headed out together…us to our place to get the suitcases and them to the train.
Max got to walk holding Gigi’s hand one more time.
We basically went into our place, used the bathroom, brushed teeth, grabbed suitcases and walked out to get a cab to the train station. We had the time to take the Metro, but with no escalators or elevators at our station, I just couldn’t…plus the 10-minute walk to the station since the one right outside was out of commission.
As we were about to get out of the taxi, our taxi driver reminded us to be aware of pickpockets. He’s unloading our stuff with us from the trunk and a guy reaches over the driver seat to grab money (there was change) near the center console. Our driver grabs him, slams him on the side of the car (the thief wasn’t moving quickly and seemed a bit out of it) and is yelling at him. He then pushed him off and now 3 policemen are walking over asking. The thief is strolling off very slowly and shuffling a bit. Police head after the guy, our taxi guy locks the car and sprints after the thief, who is now running. Glad I paid before we got out of the car, so we could double check we had everything and head into the station…a bit shaken up. I set the kids by the door to a small grocery as I grabbed us a couple things. Selection was terrible so we actually left the station to go to a better one 1 block away. We had so much time that we almost needed something to do.
Back at the station we killed some time with snacking and going to the bathroom. 5 minutes after all that, our platform was up and we went to our train.
We were in the front car (after the engine) and the front of that car, where there were only 2 rows of seats and then a door to close off the compartment. We had 3 of the 4 seats around the table on the right and another family was on the left. We also had seat 55 somewhere else on the train. I asked him if he minded switching, still a window seat and he seemed thrilled to not be in a compartment with 5 children. Then the other family left and it was JUST US!
The kids were begging to read Harry so they could watch more of the movie. We got to the end of the sorting hat and I said they could start it from the beginning. We all watch it, as we didn’t need headphones being by ourselves.
In Brussels we were joined by 3 others in our area, so we did reading and drawing for the last 45 minutes to Liege. Managed all our stuff off the train and after a few text messages found Elena!