Last year, we just went to Disneyland Paris, but this year, we decided to take a couple of days and show the kids Paris. Some of them had been once before, but they were so small, it didn't really count. Alexandra won't remember anything of this trip, either. But hey, it's Paris! We can probably stand to go again. 🙂
Anyway, Chris found this little hotel made up of all apartments. It was designed for people taking extended vacations in the area. It had a little kitchen/dining room, a living room with balcony, a bedroom with bunkbeds and a bathroom downstairs. Then upstairs there was another bathroom, a bedroom with a full-size bed and another balcony. It was kind of small, as in narrow stairs and hallway. But it was great for just a few days. When we first arrived we were a bit flummoxed as to where every one was going to sleep. It said it slept 6-7 but we only saw the bunk beds and the full-size bed. We quickly figured out that the two couches were probably meant to be slept on, but there were no sheets, blankets or normal pillows. We opened every closet we could find and looked under the couches as well. There we found a pull out bed made up with sheets and a blanket, but no pillow. So we were making progress, but still needed somewhere for one more person to sleep. Chris decided to go down and ask at the front desk.
The man who showed up was less than helpful. His English wasn't that good, and Chris does speak rudimentary French, but he certainly isn't fluent. So we are trying to ask him where the extra pillows and blankets are, and all he does is point to the two couches and one pull out bed. Yeah, we know those are meant to turn into beds, but how? With what? He just shrugged his shoulders and walked out. All righty, then. So back down Chris went and asked someone else at the front desk for an extra blanket, pillow, and sheet. The boys would just have to sleep without pillows. As we are pulling the back cushions off the couch, Chris notices something odd back there and pulls at the seat cover. It comes off in one whole swoop, and underneath is a ready made bed, complete with sheet and blanket. Why the guy didn't tell us or show us that when he was here, we don't know. Chris figured he was new and didn't know himself.
Anyway, we all got into bed after a delicious dinner of Chinese take out and pizza. (I know, I know. But different people wanted different things.) Funny story about the food, or rather the getting of the food. Around the corner from our previous hotel, there is a street full of little restaurants and shops. It is where we got the medicine for Sarah's fever and Noah's cough, and where we got pizza from our first night in Disneyland. So this night, we decided to go back there and get more pizza, as well as chinese from the restaurant two doors down. To save time, I would go order the Chinese, Chris the pizza. The kids would stay in the car in front of the pizza place so Chris could keep an eye on them through the glass window while waiting for the food. Apparently, that didn't go so well. When we both made it back to the car, Sophie informed us that she had been yelling for us, from inside the closed car mind you, because she had to go to the bathroom. When we didn't come, she just got out, went over to the grass, pulled down her pants, and took care of business herself. Unfortunately, being a girl, she got the back of her pants a bit wet, although not too bad. Also, she couldn't find any tissues to wipe herself with, and some old guy walking by may have seen her bare bum. How Chris could have missed all this while he was supposedly watching them from the window I don't know. But I was proud of the way she handled the situation. The kids were all laughing, not upset in any way. And the next day, as we walked down that same street, we fondly regarded the spot where Sophie peed. heehee
We hopped on the RER train that took us straight into Paris, and had our first encounter with Paris beggars. A man walked through the train passing out these little yellow cards that had the same message printed on both sides. One was in English, one was in French. Basically, he was homeless, had two children and was hoping for whatever coins we could spare. When he got to the end of the train, he came back the other direction picking up the cards and any money people gave him. The kids were very interested in what he was doing and were concerned that we weren't going to give him any money. So then I had to explain how for some people, begging is their job. He isn't really homeless, has no children, and makes quite a bit of money begging on the train. If he really needed help, France had lots of agencies set up to help him, just like we do in Switzerland.
This was good preparation for what we would encounter the rest of the day. There were people begging at several different places in the Metro stop we got off at, and on the sidewalk by the Arc de Triomphe. We talked about how they would put on their begging clothes and leave their apartments and come beg for a few hours in one spot, and then go some place else, and then go home, change clothes, and have dinner. Sounds pretty coldhearted, but I have seen too many undercover reports on this kind of stuff to fall for their sob stories. I also find it suspicious that they specifically target English speaking tourists. The French know it's a bunch of hooey, but they are counting on foreigners to be gullible and generous. We did, however, give money to the kid playing guitar in the Metro station. Alexandra and Noah were dancing to his music while Chris bought our tickets, so we gave him a few Euros. People who actually DO something to earn money, I have absolutely no problem with. In fact, I make it a point to give money to all street musicians and artists I see. We also saw one of those people who are live statues. They are pretty cool. But I was grateful for the opportunity to teach my kids the value of earning their money, and to point out all the ways we do help those who are truly less fortunate.
It was a gorgeous sunny day. Perfect for looking at the views from the top of the Arc de Triomphe. In order to get up there, you had to climb a bunch of stairs. But we had our stroller with us, so they let us use the elevator for wheelchairs. There was a very nice display inside about the history of the Arc and the kids enjoyed the little movie clips on how it was built. There was also a very nice gift shop with a chess set using Napolean Bonaparte and the French army against the Duke of Wellington and the English army. We told Nick that for his 16 birthday, if he still really liked chess, we would get it for him. (I want it myself, truth be told.) Alexandra fell asleep in her stroller, so Chris took Sarah up to the very top, while I stayed in the museum part with baby and the other kids. Then he came back down, and Sarah said that Nick just had to go up. "It was so cool!"
He has a height phobia, and was very worried that he might fall off/over if he went up there. But we assured him that there was no way that was possible. Finally, I was able to convince him to come, so all the kids went back up with me. The view was spectacular. All the major streets lead right to the Arc in a spokewheel pattern and you feel like you are at the center of the world. We could see the Eiffel tower, as well, which made the kids antsy to get over there and finally see it up close. I didn't point it out to the ki
ds at the time, but I noticed the guards patrolling for any potential trouble makers/jumpers as well. There was a set of stairs to go up and a set of stairs for going down. They were rather narrow and looked pretty old and dirty. I don't know if they are original to the Arc or not, but it definitely seemed like they could have been. Especially since it was designed for parties up top from the beginning.
We went back down the elevator and walked over to the Metro. Chris did a fantastic job navigating our whole trip on the Metro and train. We didn't get lost once! The girls were completely besides themselves with excitement as we came up out of the Metro and rounded the corner so that they could see the Eiffel Tower peeking up from behind the lower buildings. They had been imagining they could see it since we left the house on Monday. Every radio/cell phone tower they saw became the Eiffel Tower. It was, however, not anticlimatic to finally see the real thing. They were smiling and giggling the whole time. I wish they were always so easy to please.
Remember how I mentioned it was a gorgeous, sunny blue sky kind of day? It was perfect for scenic views from the top, which is apparently, what the 500 other people who were there thought as well. The line was loooonnnngggg to get up to the top. Had they not been working on the elevator on the other side, it wouldn't have been near as bad and we probably would have gone up. As it was, our kids were not excited enough to wait in line and were content to just stand underneath it and take pictures. Then we walked across the street and took a ride on the carousel and had some lunch.
Afterwards, we were ready for our boat tour along the Seine. This happened to be conveniently located at the bottom of the stairs right next to the carousel. We had promised the kids hardly any walking on this day since they had gotten quite a bit of that at Disneyland. I think we came through. :) My favorite part of the whole thing was just being on the water. I miss the sensation of being on a boat, and every time I have the opportunity it instantly takes me back to sailing with Grandpa Lasko in Coronado Bay. Seeing the bridges from the water was also much prettier and grandiose than simply walking across them. (Although we did that, too.)
The commentary was on these little phone things you held up to your ear. There were about 6 different languages to choose from, German being the last. This was a phenomenon we encountered everywhere in France. Translations into several different languages printed on posters, signs, whatever. German was ALWAYS last, and the translation was often much different in tone from the English. The gist of the message was the same, of course, but the way it was worded was amusing to us. For example, at our hotel, when you came down for breakfast, they wanted you to wait to be seated. In English, it said, "Dear Guests, please wait here until one of our staff can direct you to your table." In German, it said, "Please wait here for your table." Our impression overall was that they weren't really concerned about being overly polite to their German guests, or cared what they thought in general. Who says the war is over?
The highlights we learned from our little tour were these: Someone once parachuted off of the Eiffel Tower and died of fright before he hit the ground, some can-can dancer died doing the splits (we still can't figure that one out), the beautiful obselisk was erected on the spot where the guillotine used to be, and the dungeon where Marie Antoinette was held before her execution is actually quite beautiful (on the outside anyway).
After that, we called it a day, hopped on the train and headed back to our little apartment for dinner and bed. We had a lot of walking to do the next day and wanted the kids well rested for it.