I'm going to tell you right now, when you are traveling with kids you have to just expect that about 70% of the day is going to be hard, and if you have 30% that is easy and/or fun, then you have a total win. The first half of the day was definitely HARD. This apartment has a very small kitchen, true Parisian style, so I opted to not even lug up our food bag, or go to the grocery store last night. Also, the five flights of stairs deterred me. It's a big commitment though to do this because it means we have to eat out...a LOT. So first thing this morning I started looking for places to eat breakfast because I could almost hear the kids in my ear, before they even got out of bed, complaining about how hungry they were. The problem is, Parisians each simple breakfasts, or they eat a brunch that looks more lunchish than my kids would be able to deal with AND they don't open until 10:00 a.m. which is not a problem for the teens, but the littles are up pretty early comparatively, and by 10:00 a.m. they are starving.
Suffice it to say, it took us awhile to walk to the first restaurant I found, which was packed and had at least a 30 minute wait (plus a menu that was way too sophisticated.) The second place was Soul Kitchen (I really like that name), and we ate there, but it was baguette, butter and jam....that's basically what they served other than a small selection of other delicious baked goods. Also, a magnificent coffee selection, which was perfect for me. What was NOT on the menu was bacon, pancakes, French toast, eggs, English muffins. Basically all the stuff that a starving kid would want.
So that was, well, NOT fun. I could have bought two loaves of baguette at the boulangerie, grabbed some OJ from the grocery and saved myself $40--I would have been in a better mental place.
We jumped on the Metro after that, and headed toward Jardin du Luxembourg. That's where we saw Ratatouille, the subway rat. The picture below is a blurry grey blob because I wasn't fast enough (or he was too fast), but that is in fact, a subway rat. Not quite as cute as the movie.
We stopped for picnic lunch stuff on the way to the park because by the time we actually got there it had been forever since the baguette breakfast (that was partly because I stopped almost a mile away from the park thinking there was a Farmer's Market there, but there wasn't and we then had to walk.) We sat in the beautiful park and ate lunch, and reminisced about how many times we'd been to the park before. I love how there are so many places to sit. They have these moveable green metal chairs everywhere that you can pull up in circles and it makes sitting with a group so easy and relaxing. There are a few places you can sit on the grass in the park, but most places are restricted (which keeps it looking so darn lovely), but pulling up the green chairs under the beautiful trees is the perfect alternative to a picnic blanket on grass.
We walked down to the "pay to play playground" and the little kids spent some time running around, while Ava and Lucia decided to walk to the nearest Apple Store because Ava's phone had officially become too "broken and glitchy" to use. She breaks more phones than anyone I've ever met and John has various insurance policies--Apple Care plus another one from Verizon, and somehow her carelessness manages to be covered most of the time. I can vaguely remember an emergency phone repair in Germany years ago similar to this. She needs a hefty drop proof phone case but according to her it ruins the esthetics. But I suppose that will be true until the insurance runs out.
Gia, Romeo and I stayed in the park, they went from the playground to the pay to swing area, and had fun on that for way too long. Then we all walked to the Seine, to go to the Shakespeare & Co. bookstore. I love this bookstore....super curated book collection and although it's mobbed with tourists, I still love it. I bought two really good looking books...and another for Lucia, which was really nice of me since she's been a 14 year old moody monster most of the day.
John took the train from the airport, and it was perfect timing, he met us at the bookstore and it was so good to breath a sigh of relief that the balance was about to be restored. We all walked to meet Ava and Lucia at the Apple Store, and that ridiculousness took FORever....and she ended up walking out with a phone replacement, courtesy of the Verizon insurance plan.
We ate dinner, and only because it was literally next door to the Apple Store, we had Chipotle. I know, crazy. I will admit though, it was pretty good. Five years ago there was only one Chipotle in the city, and it was in the 2nd Arrondisement, and we actually went there and they had definitely NOT figured out how to bring Chipotle as we know it in the U.S. to France. They've made progress though. The French aren't big on Mexican food in general.
Then we walked to the Pompidou, strolled around, watched street artists, ate crepes, had wine, and essentially goofed away the rest of the day until finally at 10:00 p.m. or so when we called an Uber van and went home (and only because the metro would take 38 minutes and the kids had officially reached their limit.)
We welcomed John to the endless flights of stairs and our little city apartment, and we sealed the second day in Paris. Tomorrow is Bastille Day, and tonight fireworks kept going off in prep for the celebrations to come.
Signed, ME {lv}
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