Ideas for side trips from Paris with a rental car

- Giverney (Monet)

- Reims (Champagne)

- Versailles (heard there are lines, consider VIP tix, wait for kids to be older, 3 is probably too young)

Here we all are, partying at 2:08 am.

Got home at 9:30.  So tired that I actually fell asleep in the driveway. It was 5:30 am in Paris, and we woke the previous day at 6, so it had been 24 hours that we'd been awake and traveling.  

I feel like I could sleep for a century.

But here we are, after 4 hours of sleep, whooping it up like its the middle of the day.

After that, we all sat down at the table for a bowl of cereal... A cup of decaf... And got in Skype with Australia!

Just landed in ELP

Still have to get bags and drive home

This trip ain't over yet.

Exhausted

Air sick

Lots of details about a rough return trip, starting with leaving the hotel this am

Will post later

Made it to Dallas!

That's all for now!

10.5 hours in a plane with 2 kids who will be awake

It's 8:30 pm Paris time. We left Chantal's today at 10 am. Chantal made crepes for dessert last night, breakfast this morning, sent us off with crepes she made this morning to snack on today.  She was an overly generous hostess and we're going to be indebted to Tata Chantal for a very long time!

We drove straight through other than an hour lunch, and got to the hotel around 5.  Paris traffic was pretty crazy.  A 4.5 hour drive (per GPS) that took 7 hours... 

When G left us to return the rental car, Louis slammed Marcelles fingers in the bathroom door.  That was fun running to the ice machine with my hotel ice bucket to deal with that. All is fine. But there is never ever ever a dull moment.  (Wouldn't  dull be divine?) 

We did the math on our flight tomorrow.  Our flight takes off at 11:30 am Paris Time, which is 4:30 am CST.  We land at 3 pm CST which is 10 pm Paris Time.  

Think about it for a second:

By our body clocks, we take of at 11:30 am and land at 10 pm.  The flight over was 7.5 hours in the middle of the night, so L slept a good 4 hours, and M slept more.  This flight is three hours longer AND the kids are going to be fully awake like it's daytime. Oh. My. God.  All I can think about is that flight to Philly that was so awful because the kids were awake... And it was only 3 hours long... 

Help!

Please.

Pray for us. Do a rain dance. Send us good vibes. Talk to the good flight gods. We are going to need all the help we can get.

We are heading to the airport 3 Hours before our flight time tomorrow.  We realized when you arrived 2 Hours Before, the kids spend the whole 2 hours sitting because you're at the ticket counter, going through security, getting to the gate, then flights board 30 mins early (domestic) or 45 - 60 mins early (international).  They're already sitting for 2 hours (plus drive time) before you board.  I'm hoping 3 hours early should give us an hour to run around Charles De Gualle and play before we are cooped up on a plane for an entire day (following a full day of driving). 

I'm also worried Marcelle and I are coming down with a sore throat. I really would have preferred to run this marathon at my best.

Once we get to Dallas, we just have to make it back to ELP under the state of complete exhaustion of being awake with 2 kids on a plane all day and it being like 5 am or something crazy. I don't want to do the math on that one. 

Wish us luck! Bonne nuit!

Day 16: Paris or bust!

Today is the 4.5 hour drive back to Paris. No Loire Valley (as much as we loved it) because it added 4 hours to the trip down (2 hours visit, 1 hour driving, separate hour stop for lunch), and Marcelle was totally melting down and wanting dinner when we rolled into Longeville at 8 pm-ish. So we decided today our best bet is:

- Get on the road ASAP.

- Power through to Paris.

- Plan a midway stop which is also lunch and a place where the kids can run around while we eat. Feed the kids first, the let them run.

- this prevents us from driving into Paris during evening rush hour traffic.

- Run the kids around at the hotel or elsewhere to burn off energy before tomorrow.

In Paris, G drops us at the airport

Hotel, then drops the rental car at the airport, then takes the hotel shuttle back to the airport.  

We take off tomorrow at 11 am, which means we have to be to the airport by 9. It also means that the kids are going to be awake the entire time, other than their naps. I have no idea how we're going to survive this flight.  I'm sure booze & Benedryl will be involved. 

Day 13: Soiree 2 of 2

We went back to Chantal's. For the first time the whole trip, we had both kids in bed by 8 and were able to have an adult dinner.

We were joined by Manoelle & Regis, Julien, Marie & Stefan, Anais, Chantal, Clement, Hugo, Maude.

We started with a yummy sardine "dip" Chantal made and a cold dish with mussels and pickled onions (that I really like and we had a few other times. They said they eat this all summer, need both recipes), as well as salami, radishes, cherry tomatoes, olives.  

For dinner, Regis made a delicious stew with chicken that fell off the bone.  The entree and fromage were served with nice red wines from Saint Emilion (Bordeaux), then ice cream for dessert, and Bundy Royal with Milk for a nightcap.

We sat down at 8 or 8:30 and left the table at 1 am.  We had a great time, but were exhausted by the end and had plans to be at another party at 10 am the next day!

Photos on the big camera.

Day 15: Happy 3rd birthday, Louis!

Louis had a wonderful 3rd birthday!  We were a little worried about not having our own kitchen (heck the ingredient over here aren't even the same. Try to buy flour in France...) to bake a cake or be able to run to Party City for helium balloons, but we did lots of special things we could not have done at home.

Louis started the day by running to the boulangerie with Daddy for pain au chocolate. When Daddy tried to pick up the cake he ordered, they said they didn't have it (turned out he was at the

Other bakery in town) so he let Louis get the treat of his choice. G said there was a huge display case but L went right for the chocolate eclair.  And we let him eat it for breakfast. Chocolate icing and chocolate filling.

We stopped by the grocery store for some party plates and balloons.

Then we went off to this beautiful Chateau that's been turned into an educational adventureland for kids.  

We started with a picnic with quiche and sandwiches from the boulangerie. 

We all had a perfect day at the Adveture Chateau.

Then back to Chantal's for a

Fraiser (strawberry cake) with Great Grandma "Mami Marcelle."

We all felt pretty sad to say goodbye to her today. 

After cake, we want to the beach.

Oh yeah: Marcelle decided she really needed to step up her game on the cute factor since Louis was the star of the show. So she took her first few steps this morning!

Then back for dinner, Louis finished off the last slice of cake. Here's the birthday boy playing with the train that was Gwenael's when he was little and living in France.  It's Louis's favorite. 

and Mom & Dad had oysters, asparagus with yummy sauce, and crepes with Chantal and Anais.  A good birthday indeed!

Driving back to Paris tomorrow!

Day 14: More Soirees

La Fete de Mere at Jacques & Katjia's.  

It was a really nice party, but it's really hard on the kids when G & I are at the table for hours on end.

Also saw Clelia and Baby Kayhla.

Photos on the big camera.  

Day 13: Soiree 1 of 2

For lunch, we went to a party at Chez Mami (Mami Marcelle's house), hosted by  TaTa Rosline, Tonton Pierre, and Mami.  We had an aperitif of l'original triple sec with sparkling wine (need to try this at home), jambon sec et melon, veal with potatoes, haricot vert, et salad; chèvre, Comte, et Brie; rhubarb crumble et glacé vanille.  Rosline's eldest daughter Marie came with her husband Stefan, and children, Clement (14), Hugo (11), & Mano (7).  Louis and Marcelle had an absolute ball playing with their second cousins!  And we had a ball watching the kids have so much fun! 

Here is a picture that Mami showed me of Papi Andre when he was young.  She thinks Louis looks like him in the eyebrows.  I think I see the resemblance.  Do you see it? 

Another photo of Papi Andre when he was young (back row). 

Here are some photos from the party at lunchtime.

There was a cute story they shared about Hugo: When he went back to school in the fall, they had to tell the class what they did on summer break. Everyone had gone on exotic vacations, but he hadn't. So he made up a story that he went to visit his cousins in the United States.  His teacher verified the story with Clement's teacher, who asked Clement about their USA trip, and found out it wasn't true.  Poor Hugo had to tell his whole class that the story was made up!

Day 11: Le Plage and Les Trois Marcelles

This morning we walked to the beach from Chantal's with cousin Anais. Burrrrr! It was so cold that I couldn't feel my fingers.  But the kids has a blast. 

Then Chantal prepared a beautiful lunch (fish en papillote with a bit of fennel and curry - yum!) on the patio that we enjoyed with Mami Marcelle, Maud, Anais, & Arsene.

We were paid an afternoon visit by Tata Marcelle and Tonton Bernard.  We got a lovely photo of the 3 Marcelles.  

Day 8: A visit from Alain & Sophie

We rested after our big outing to Paris yesterday.  I had read about a good carousel at an art installation community center called the 104 on the outskirts of Paris on a blog called Oh Happy Day! that sounded cool, but we had too many other responsibilities. Maybe another trip, or maybe one of you will go and tell me about it! 

We had a relaxing day.  Baby M got to have 2 naps for a change. We got to catch up with our cousin Alain and Sophie who we haven't seen since their visit Stateside in October.  Sophie filled me in on some great Paris apps which I'll post soon! 

We enjoyed a nice long lunch and playing  "What time is it, Mr. Wolf?" with Louis in the garden under trees with peaches and cherries, running past the raspberries and strawberries, the potatoes and lettuce, the cucumber and zucchini, rhubarb and tomatoes, the poppies and lilies of the valley and roses and irises, all in Abel's beautiful garden. 

Then G was off on another business trip to Munich, and Abel and Lucette were left wondering what to do without a translator and 3 English speakers in their home! 

Photos soon!

Day 7: Paris!

We This post is incomplete. Posting early for my sister!!!!

The perfect day in Paris!

We left the house around 11:30 am.  The weather outside was perfect -- warm

Enough to leave the

Jackets at home but cool enough that we didn't sweat on the 20 minute walk to the train station.  Somewhere in the 60s and expected to reach a high of 72.  The sun felt good! It was such a nice chance from Brussels, where it was 10 degrees cooler.

First stop: L & M's first train ride! 

Here's L on the platform and then in the train.  

He was in complete awe of the train. G & I could not hear what we was saying,

but he was talking the entire way downabout  the train,  how it was working, where is was going, and who knows what else.  Sometimes we would hear him say, "Bye bye, Station," and see him waving, and then, "Here we go!"  G & I were looking at each other laughing the whole time.

We needed to change trains to get to the Eiffel Tower. Since we had the stroller, we took the elevator up to change trains. Or so we thought.  When the elevator door opened, it wasn't sunlight and fresh air.  We had accidentally taken the elevator out of the Metro. Gwenael was upset we'd have to find out way down again. But then we looked straight ahead and saw Notre Dame, and her bells were ringing. What a happy accident! 

It was already 1, and we were all hungry. Luckily, Abel & Lucette had insisted we pack a picnic, so we are our sandwiches on the benches in front of Notre Dame alongside the well-fed pigeons of Paris.  

Louis had fun throwing the crusts of his bread to the pigeons.  He saw of the other tourists holding out food to get their pigeons in their hands Snow-White-style for a photo, so L started chasing the pigeons and got a thrill when he touched one (which G said was more like a slap upside the head). 

I had imagined that we'd walk in Notre Dame, but I forgot about all the lines.  It was way too long so we skipped going in. Louis was disappointed until we found the playground next to the church. 

Here we are on the love lock bridge behind Notre Dame. (There are love lock bridges all over Paris now.  There is one just behind Notre Dame if you're looking to do this. We opted out, since we know they just cut all the locks off anyway!)

Here we are taking a potty break at a cafe. 

Then, right at the base Notre Dame on the Seine is the Batobus.  Batobus is a hop-on hop-off boat that goes to about 8 major tourist sites in Paris.  (Translates to boat-bus.) The line for Batobus was long. We had to wait one or two boats before we could get on.  They were really nice about helping us carry the stroller on and off.  What we liked about Batobus was that it was Louis's first boat ride, it was easier than navigating the metro (let alone with a stroller), and kept you oriented by allowing you so stay above ground and see where you were.  We were happy to be on it, and the kids had a good time.  But it was not an efficient way to get around, and it was also not an efficient way to see the Seine with all the stopping and going.  If you want to see the Seine and do other things too, you are probably better off taking the classic Bateux Mouchee boat ride. Their boats had plenty of seats and room to spare, plus you get a voiceover history. The whole thing is done in about an hour.  If you are not in a hurry and don't mind the tourist crowds and waiting in line every time you want to get on, then the Batobus is an okay way to combine transportation and sightseeing. 

We took the Batobus to the base of the Eiffel Tower.  We had to walk quite a way to find a ramp for the stroller and, in the end, just ended up carrying it up the steps anyway.  

Louis saw all the tourists eating ice cream, so he had to have one.  He requested chocolate.  Boy was that a big mistake. Ha ha. 

And look at our girl standing!

The L got involved in a multi-national game of soccer under the Eiffel Tower, and had the time of his life. We stayed quite a while letting him run and chase the ball with the little boys.  He was screaming and yelling and having so much fun.  When we got in bed that night, we agreed that watching Louis play soccer under the Eiffel Tower was the highlight of our day.  It had nothing to do with the famous Paris landmark (although it was a lovely backdrop) and everything to do with the joy on our little boy's face.  

One last stop before we headed back: the carousel under the Eiffel Tower.  Louis picked the boat to ride on.

 

I left Paris feeling like we had the perfect day.  You can't ask for much more than that on an international trip with 2 young children.

When I was putting L to bed that night, I said, "What was your favorite part of Paris today?  Was it the train or the pigeons or the playground or the boat ride or playing soccer or the carousel?" 

And he said, "I like staying at Abel and Lucette's. Their house is really cool."

I said, "You do? What do you like about it?" 

He said, "I like all her special things."  

A lucky little boy to already know that the true beauty of Paris is her people and their way of life.  

❤️

Takeaways for the Traveling Mom in Paris:

- With kids, your time is limited by naps/energy levels, moods, hunger, finding potties and waiting in the line to use them, and traveling only as fast and far as little legs can go. If you want to go in Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower or the Lourve, buy VIP passes or tour packages that allow you to skip the lines.  It will be well-worth your money.

- There is a small playground on the East side of Notre Dame for ages 2 to 6 with a sandbox and some ride-on toys.  

- Pickpockets target tourist in train/Metro stations and at big tourist attractions like Notre Dame and Eiffel Tower. The pickpockets are those you least expect like 14-year-old girls or the young boy who asked us to sign a petition for deaf children under the Eiffel Tower.  Tourists distracted with children are easy targets. Be aware. Keep track of your bag. Consider minimal jewelry.And don't be afraid to wear a money belt. 

- Potties in Paris - This could be a blog in its own rite.  What an ordeal! The best way to go is to go a block off from the tourist attractions (to avoid tourist crowds and prices), sit down in a cafe, have a drink and use the bathroom. You can eat too, but just be prepared to sit for a while if you order food.  Eating in Paris is not something that happens quickly or with a sense of urgency.  When we had to go potty, we stopped at a cafe for drinks. Then we went across the street to a Carrefour for baguette sandwiches that we could eat on the go. We saved ourselves quite a bit of time and money by doing that.  We put L in pull-ups to avoid accidents.  I also threw the potette in my Longchamp bag so he could go anywhere he needed, as well as to have a clean place to sit when we were at a potty.  We were only in Paris for a day. Honestly, if u was going to be in Paris for a week, I might map out all of the Starbucks locations as a larger stroller friendly space to use the restrooms and buy a bottle of water.  We made the mistake once of getting in a short toilet line, but realized that the toilets were 1 person in and out, and they toilet would self clean after each use. It took forever!

- I did not do this, but there must be a list of handicapped accessible Metro stations in Paris. We were in one station that did not have an elevator, so they are not all handicapped accessible. (In this station, I carried M and walked L down about 50 stairs. G carried the stroller.  I could not have done this if I had been alone.) If I was going to stay longer in Paris or be alone with 2 kids, I would look up a list of stations that are handicapped accessible in Paris. 

- Right next to the Batobus stop under Notre Dame, there was a parked boat restaurant. I saw several local looking families with very happy children leaving as we walked past.  It looked like a great place to dine with kids.  It also had American stand up comedy on Saturday nights.  Looked like a good place worth checking out. 

- Carry cash! Many places all over France don't accept MasterCard and only accept Carte blue (a French card).  We ran into this all day long.  We need to look into a better Card to carry internationally.

- I looked all over online for the Paris puppet shows and found nothing... But one message board said times and details are listed in the Pariscope, so I'd check there.

- one message board said that the Marionettes in Champs du Mars (park under / at Eiffel Tower) are between Avenue Risler and Avenue Motte Piquet, close to the children's playgrounds, at 3:15 and 4:15 on Weds, Sat, Sun and during school holidays. Entry is 3.50 Euros (in 2012), only cash accepted, 

Day 12: L'isle de Nantes

As a special treat for Louis, we decided to visit L'isle de Nantes. It is a display of working mechanical animals that is part art installation, part engineering.  Since G is very creative and also an engineer, and L is very mechanical, I thought this would be a hit.  The highlight would be the ride on the mechanical elephant, as an early birthday treat for Louis.  

I was glad I looked at the website ahead of time for hours and information about buying elephant ride tickets in advance online.  What I didn't see online was that you have to buy tickets at the counter for either the gallery or elephant, and then after you do that, then you can go back to the counter to buy tickets for the other.      I would recommend other visitors buy elephant tickets in advance online and the  arrive early enough to tour the gallery first.  Note: The gallery is a guided tour as all parts are interactive. 

The elephant ride was pretty cool! I wasn't sure what to expect. I imagined you might be strapped into a 5-point harness like a Six Flags ride.  So we only bought tickets for G & L.  When we saw it, we got tickets for M & Me to join.  You board through the elephant's belly, and can ride inside the belly, outside next to his belly, and on top.  I was a little worried after I boarded that the walking legs would really jostle us around on top, and I was holding Marcelle.  I was relieved when the movement was completely even and flat.  The legs moved, but only for viewing from the side.  The forward movement was powered by a motor and wheels.  

Here we are at the start of the elephant ride. 

Marcelle was not afraid to go right up to the sides!

And here we are at the end.  You can see the scale of how big the elephant was!

Louis was so pooped, he fell asleep in the car with his straw still in his mouth and two Madelines in his hand.

And we arrived back with visitors waiting!  Marie-Ange and Denis ,and Guiguite & Roger.  

They brought nice gifts for the kids.  Louis got a little Lego rabbit farm with a sunflower - tres Vendee! 

It's 9:45 pm and the sun is still shining.  Our little boy enjoyed his elephant ride today.  Tonight, I say "Bonne Nuit" from Chez Chantal with a glass of blackberry liqueur in my hand...

Takeaways for the Traceling mom at isle de Nantes: 

- For someone else visiting, I'd recommend seeing the gallery first, then doing the elephant ride, which has very limited times. 

- there's a good parking garage for L'isle.

- more later