Paris: NOT Overrated

My husband has been into cycling and the Tour de France as long as I've known him. I used to join him to watch it on TV every year when we were newlyweds. Then, life got a little busier and I haven't been a regular viewer. But for three weeks in July, it's playing in the background somewhere in the house when he gets home from work and on the weekends. The years I watched it with Adam, we got the English commentators. Then we quit cable and I think all he could find online were French (or a variety of language speaking) commentators. We've been along for the "ride" (heh) as Lance Armstrong dazzled the world then fell from grace; I watched Floyd Landis win, then have his title taken away. Then Alberto Contador won and ... you guessed it, his title was stripped. It's a fascinating international sport full of competitiveness, fanfare, intrigue and cheating. Adam loves it because he loves cycling himself. I loved watching it because of the literal tour through France. The scenery was so spectacular it seemed unreal to me. 

When we moved to Europe, we figured we'd wait until next year to plan a trip to Paris to see the final stage of the race. But then we decided to just go this year. With not much planning, we went. And it was wonderful!

On Saturday morning, we left at 7 am and drove the three and a half hours to Paris. This was a picture I took of the countryside on the way there. It was rainy and gloomy most of the trip.

 A week or so ago I found a listing on Homeaway.com for 100 euros for a night. It's a small apartment in the 17th arrondissement that slept four. Good enough! Here's the place.

 We were an hour late (half of which was the time it took us to find parking on the street) but the owner was nice to meet us, say bonjour, give us the key and say au revoir. He said he was "headed to the sea." I spent the rest of the time in his home wondering what kind of person he is and what kind of adventure he was embarking on. He told me I was lucky to book that night in his place because the rest of the nights until September were booked.

 We took a breather for a bit then headed out to see the city.

 

The apartment was on the fifth floor (the fourth by European standards because the ground level is considered zero) and there were lots of stairs. We were mesmerized by the never-ending spiral.

 

The apartment door.

 

The most exciting part for the kids by far: all the "train" riding.

 I didn't do much planning, but I did know I wanted to see the most iconic structure in the city. I mean obviously. So, that's where we started.
(I'm glad one of the kids got this shot of a random woman.)

 

After a couple pictures by a fellow tourist who couldn't get the shot quite right for me, I bought a selfie stick.  That's when things got exciting.

 

Noah's face on this one seals the deal for me: it's my favorite shot.

 

 

 

I was astounded by the size of the Eiffel Tower. It always looks so pretty and dainty in pictures, but in truth it is formidable.

 Our loose plan for the day was to walk to the Louvre and see what there was to see along the way. I had low, low expectations because our kids have not been known to love walking or site-seeing. But I had a backpack full of snacks, an Eiffel Tower key chain toy for each of them to carry for Tower Power to keep them strong, and ahead we ambled.

 We walked along the Seine (while debating how it is pronounced) and stopped wherever we wanted to stop. Stopping at every bridge was a top priority for the kids and they were riveted by the locket thing.

  

 It was neat to see how to city pans out, and try to map the locations of all these famous places I've only heard about from other people and read about in books. The way I imagined Paris before I came was as one big courtyard where Ernest Hemingway and Julia Child used to live and dine and hob nob. You know? The place is infinitely more large than I could have comprehended.

 We walked for probably two or three hours and stopped at the Jardin des Tuileries. I'm glad a friend told us about this because I would have walked right past it. The bathroom situation was not weird at all...

 I worried about Noah's leg power the most but he surprised me. And he was even still happy after all that walking! I was very proud of him.

 The kids loved chasing the pigeons.

We stopped for dinner and it took so long we decided we were done for the night. The kids were total troopers the whole day, I gotta hand it to them.

 I think Paris cast a magical spell over all of us.

 My burger was a little too rare for my taste, but after all that walking I was happy for anything.

 After food, we walked around the carnival and found a playground and let the kids loose until bedtime.

Bath time was fun with the addition of a mirror.

And when all was quiet at the apartment, I got all starry-eyed while gazing out the window, wondering what the people under the blue canopy were up to. When in Paris, right? #perfectday

In the morning I took on the very serious task of finding a croissant.   

I hopped in line with the other neighbor peeps and pretended I was one of them. Hee. It was exhilarating.  And then I spoke English and the ruse was up.

 Oh well, I left with half a baguette, two regular croissants and an almond croissant.

 Even before I bit into them, my life was complete.

 Then I wandered some more and took more pictures and after that I knew I could die happy on the spot. Who knew I'd love Paris so much? (Answer: Everyone.)

 

 

Last stop before heading home to feed the hungry chickens, I stopped at the tiniest corner store for milk for the kids' cereal.

  

The Parisian croissant did not disappoint. And I could definitely become a baguette person. The pretty factor alone!  It was Sunday morning and I wanted to see a church. So, it turns out, did everyone under the sun who's ever lived! The Notre Dame Cathedral was amazing and even though the line to get in was long, it moved super fast, and we were inside before we knew it! 

 We observed a bit of mass, but mostly just walked around the building, observed what we could, and went right back out. It was a lovely place to be and the kids really loved that loud organ music!

 

We had a bit of time before Adam wanted to head to the race area, so we took the metro to the Louvre. I knew I'd love the architecture even if we didn't go inside. It was a masterpiece of course and I did love it.

 Selfie-stick fail. I figured out later how to adjust it so we didn't look like 100% dorks with the stick in our picture.

 

The rest of the day was devoted to waiting for the cyclists to come in. Adam entertained the kids while I staked out a spot.

 

I waited right here for an hour. I took a picture of the freaking awesome police person outfits. THE HAT ALONE! 

 

It rained and I was freezing. This ridiculous parasol we bought thinking it was a large umbrella for the whole family kept me dry-ish.  I passed time talked to the Scottish couple on my left.

 Adam showed up with some drowned-rat-looking kids and we were both concerned we wouldn't have the staying power to see it through. It was so rainy and we were all wearing the wrong clothes. I took a shift with the kids while he waited for another hour. We went to Zara and dried off for a bit under the stair case. When they got restless I took them to McDonald's.  
The place was an absolute zoo but I have never been more glad to spend an hour or two in a McDonald's! It was dry and warm! Adam met up with his friend from business school, Jesse, who lives in France and works as a bike tour guide, and came and found me. I took the kids and waited in line for the bathroom for a really long time. Then we got hot chocolate and headed back out to the barricade just as the riders were coming through.

 The Arc de Triomphe. So fabulous! So huge!

There are many things we'll do differently next year including staying near the Arc where the big screens give you a great shot of the action that you can't see from the ground.

We didn't stay as long as Adam wanted to but we did see the riders and I guess that's the best we could do that day. We were lucky the kids hung on as long as they did because it was a very cold, rainy day.
By 7 pm we were back to our car and headed home to Luxembourg. All in all, a wonderful two days! Here's to many more jam-packed weekends in Paris!