Paris

After spending 7 days walking around, riding metros, visiting historical monuments and lifting a stroller up and down staircases, we decided that our next trip would be one of total relaxation on a beach of some sort. I am not complaining in any way about our trip to Paris, but in a city where there is SO much to see and with limited time, you end up wearing yourself out trying to see it all.

Paris is amazing, and in the 7 days we were there I felt like there were a number of things that I had never seen before; and I lived there for almost 4 months! Next time we visit, it should be sans kids. Eleanor was such a champ on the entire trip and I couldn't have asked for her to be any better, but it was a little restricting traveling around with a baby. My family was great in offering to either push her stroller (it ended up being a glorified purse carrier, coat rack and beverage holder), hold her or entertain her. We really did have a lot of fun and it was exciting to see how Ben enjoyed the city that I have longed to visit again for the last 8 years.

Alright, so on to the pictures. It was unbelievably hard to narrow down the pictures, so I only put up close to 10 % of the pictures we took...which is still more than 80. But since this is more for our records than for your convenience, I have decided not to feel guilty for overindulging with the amount of photos.

Day 1: We had an overnight flight that left from DC and had a layover in Montreal. On the flight to Paris, Eleanor slept about 95% of the time and woke up right before we landed. It was great, since Ben and I got to enjoy the in flight entertainment and watch 2 movies each! We arrived in Paris around 9 am and met up with my brother, Jordan, at the airport. We took the train to our hotel and took a nap before heading back into the city. We got out right in front of the Notre Dame and walked around the île de la cité for a little bit, ate some crêpes, got some gelato at my favorite place (Amorino's) and took the metro over to the Eiffel Tower to take some pictures.

Notre Dame

Eleanor finally got to sport the onesie I made her

How cute is she on the Champs de Mars?

Day 2: Checked out of our hotel, and met up with my parents in the Latin Quarter where our apartment was located. The apartment was awesome! Great location, cozy, big comfy beds and best of all there was laundry there (an essential with a baby like Eleanor who spits up so much). The natural history museum was close by with its gardens so we decided to stroll around there for a little bit. After a delicious lunch we headed to the Champs Élysées to take a stroll down the street, check out the shops and stop at the Arc de Triomphe. We ate gyros that night in the Latin Quarter and headed back to the apartment.

The street the apartment was on

The Champs Élysées

Arc de Triomphe

Sunset on the Seine with the Conciergerie

Eleanor on Point Zero in front of the Notre Dame

Day 3: Natalie arrived in Paris that morning and we headed back to the Notre Dame to board a double-decker tour bus to get a view of the city. We got front row seats and rode the bus almost the entire route. We stopped at the Louvre to buy our museum passes where we were given royal treatment for having a baby. We skipped the lines, and had to take a special elevator. They love babies around there. We checked out some of the classics in the museum and Napoleon III's apartment before getting back on the tour bus. That night we had dinner at a restaurant close to our apartment that had delicious French food.

A view of the Eiffel Tower from the Trocadero

At the Louvre

McDonalds in the Louvre (cheapest option)

The crowd in front of the Mona Lisa

Eleanor by a famous Delacroix painting

A view from Napoleon III's apartment inside the Louvre

Day 4: We started the day off by heading to the Musée D'Orsay where we once again skipped the long line out the door because we had Eleanor. They have changed the museum a lot since the last time I was there and I feel like half of the collections were on tour. Anyway, afterward we went to the Tuileries where we went to the Musée de l'Orangerie which has a private art collection and 8 of Monet's water lily paintings. They were huge! Afterward we took the double-decker tour bus up to Montmartre, and then came back to the Île de la cité to see Sainte-Chapelle (one of my favorites). Since our bus tour included a river tour on the Seine, we hopped on the boat close to the Notre Dame. We grabbed dinner in St. Germain and once again got gelato at Amorino's.

One of Monet's water lily paintings

Walking around Place de la Concorde

Sainte-Chapelle

First taste of baguette

Bath time in the sink at the apartment

Day 5: We made the trek out to Versailles for the day and it was an all day excursion. The lines were ridiculously long (at least an hour and a half) and having a baby didn't get us out of waiting in line. Apparently Sundays are their busiest day and because they were turning on the fountains, they didn't have trams running to Marie Antoinette's hamlet like they used to. We made the hike out to the hamlet but were so exhausted by the end that we paid to have the tram take us back to the chateau.

My Dad getting up close and personal with a door in Versailles

Beautiful gardens at Château de Versailles

Day 6: We went the flea market which was open, yet not super busy since it wasn't the weekend. Since it was the last day with our museum passes we wanted to go up the towers of Notre Dame, but the line was incredibly long. So we ended up going inside the Notre Dame. Afterward we went to a delicious crêperie in St. Germain and then it was on to the Conciergerie. We were going to do the sewer tour, but since it was getting late and it was closed for the day we decided to go up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. Once again, having a baby paid off because we got an elevator up to the top rather than having to take the huge spiral staircase to the top. On the way back to the apartment Ben almost got pick-pocketed by some teenager and an undercover police officer nabbed the girl and had Ben give a deposition so that she could be arrested. That night we left Eleanor with my Mom and Jordan and the rest of us took the metro back in to see the Eiffel Tower lit up. We had a side view right next to the Seine where no one was around. It was awesome.

Feeding Eleanor by the filth at the flea market

The St. Michel fountain in St. Germain

Inside the Conciergerie

Day 7: Our last day we dilly-dallied around since we didn't have our museum passes anymore. We started at Les Halles right by St. Eustache where we found the giant head and hand sculpture that I had taken a picture on almost 8 years ago. We strolled around the Marais district where we came upon some beautiful buildings with gardens and after a delicious lunch we headed down to Place des Vosges, where Victor Hugo used to live. Later that night we went back to Montmartre to meet up with a lady who had known my Dad's family when she did a exchange student program in San Diego over 40 years ago. She's a foreign correspondent for a news organization in Paris and was very interesting. We enjoyed dinner with them until Eleanor started to get really tired and we had to leave before dinner was over. We went home, packed and got ready for our flight the next morning.






Our flight home was uneventful other than Eleanor puking on me about an hour or two before we landed. It seems like she caught some bug while we were in Paris, but it never really seemed to phase her and she was such a trooper though I'm sure she was feeling miserable. You could never tell by her expression in all the pictures. After a week apart, It was great to see Ethan again and he was equally as excited to see us. He had a great time with his Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Mary and cousins and apparently did really well with us being away.