We took the high-speed train non-stop from Stuttgart on the Friday before Memorial Day in the morning, getting into Paris in the early afternoon. It still amazes me how many places are accessible to us by train and how easy it is!
A quick hop on the (very crowded) Metro and we were dropping off our bags at the hotel. After lunch (croque monsieurs and salads all around) we made the 15-minute walk to none other the the Eiffel Tower! Ellie's reaction to seeing it live and in-person was priceless. She immediately clapped her hands over her eyes, then peeked through her fingers as if she couldn't believe she was actually there!
Ellie was so excited about the grassy Champs de Mar garden -- she ran and ran (warning: gratuitous Eiffel Tower pictures ahead!).
Pointing out the Eiffel Tower.
Then she wanted us to see that she was the Eiffel Tower.
I'd say the weekend was off to a good start.
And I promise that there are pictures of Paris sights other than the Eiffel Tower... but that was our first stop the following morning. After a pastry breakfast of course.
It sort of blew Ellie's mind when we told her we were actually going to go up into the Eiffel Tower.
My awesome planner of a husband put the date on the calendar in April when we needed to reserve our tickets, which saved us a good hour or two of waiting in line -- not something that would have worked with a three-year-old. Before we knew it, we were in the elevator and making our way up to the top!
The views were great and we were lucky to have a bright, sunny morning to enjoy them! Since we were one of the first groups up, we stuck around for a while soak it all in!
If you noticed the ball looking thing hanging from the middle of the Eiffel Tower in previous pictures, it's actually a huge tennis ball to celebrate the French Open, which began that weekend -- we saw the tennis court was all prepped!
Eventually, it was time to go and we took the Metro to the Place de Charles de Gualle. In the center stands the Arc de Triomphe, which Ellie still calls it the "Arc de of Triomphe" and I just haven't brought myself to correct her.
It started sprinkling so we found a little restaurant on the Champs-Élysées to have lunch, then rode the metro to the Luxembourg Gardens.
We wanted to try and sail the old-fashioned toy boats on the fountain there but it started to rain again -- and our umbrella decided to turn inside out. Brian chucked it into a nearby garbage can and now we can't help but laugh whenever we see another umbrella that's met the same fate when we're out and about in rainy weather. The rain did let up after about 10 minutes and we found a old-time carousel for Ellie to ride.
And on the way out of the gardens ran into this familiar-looking lady (much smaller than her American counterpart!).
Next stop: the Louvre!
While we saw a lot of famous sights in Paris during this trip, we truly only skimmed the surface. It was sort of a drive-by experience because honestly, who wants to take a three-year-old into a museum as big as the Louvre? Maybe if she was a little older we would have made an attempt but at this point I don't think it would have been remotely enjoyable for her (maybe I'm not giving her enough credit) and besides, she had just as much fun twirling around in front of the big glass pyramids anyway. :)
We were all pretty spent after a long day with lots of walking so we made dinner easy on ourselves and just picked up some fruit, veggies, cheese and a (when in France!) baguette on our way back to the hotel and ate a picnic in our room. Unbeknownst to Ellie, we bought her an Eiffel Tower keychain earlier in the morning and surprised her with it before bed. She was beyond excited and insisted that she keep it on the nightstand next to her while she slept. It's taken a similar spot here at home.
All rested up, we started our second and last full day in Paris at Notre Dame. First though, a stop at Pont de l'Archeveche, aka the love lock bridge.
Beautiful Notre Dame!
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To her credit, Ellie behaved very well even though she had a few restless moments. In fact, an older couple from Florida who sat behind us complimented us on Ellie's behavior, so I'll take it!
Another hop on the Metro...
... and we were in the Montmartre disctrict, most famous for the Sacre Coeur!
That was a very quick stop because the area itself was probably my least favorite. It was very crowded and touristy, with a lot of scam artists around (just google "Paris String Trick"). A quick glance at Sacre Coeur, a few minutes at the adjacent playground for Ellie and we were off in search of lunch, which we found in the form of a delicious ham and cheese crepe!
For my Moulin Rouge ladies (Lauranell, Jackie and Adrienne) -- look where I made it to! I did not break into dance right there but trust me, I was in my head! :)
Since it warmed up and was sunny, we went back to the Champs-Élysées to walk down the famous boulevard in the nice weather.
The morning of our return trip we bucked French tradition and found a diner that served American-style breakfast, where I devoured the best pancakes I've had since leaving the States. It was delicious and something I had been craving for a while-- sometimes you just have to listen to those cravings! Our long weekend in Paris proved to be a great trip and probably our best so far with Ellie. She walked everywhere, didn't complain much about it and best of all there was no fuss at bedtime. We would tell her it was time to roll over and go to sleep... and she did! It was like a miracle!
Our Paris trip favorites:
Ellie: Non other than the Eiffel Tower! And chocolate croissants.
Brian: The Eiffel Tower!
Liesel: Make it three -- also watching Ellie's reaction to seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time.
Til next time, Paris!
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