á Paris!
After settling in a few days to our new life in Aix-en-Provence, we headed north to Paris to meet Matt on Saturday morning. This was one of two trips that he was making to visit us in France. Months ago, I planned this trip and by the time the day arrived, I was grateful that Matt was on his way. We had so much to share with him already!
Matt flew direct to Charles DeGualle and arrived at 11:15am. Sadie, Brewster & I left our apartment early Saturday morning and walked to a bus station where we took a shuttle to the Aix TGV station. Thanks to our local bus passes, the kids rode free and my ticket was only a few euro. We arrived at the grand Aix-en-Provence TGV station to find a crowd of travelers. Some waited for a train to Zurich, some to Madrid. We were taking a train to Marne-la-valée-Chessy-Disnesyland . Months ago, I researched the TGV to Paris and found a discount train, Ouigo, that sold a cheaper tickets than SNCF which is the higher end TGV train. Our tickets were quite a deal! Sadie was only 5euro with the purchase of my adult ticket. However, maybe you get what you pay for and going through Disneyland turned out to be a hassle. We were delayed an hour and spent most of the ride listening to babies crying. Families packed the train. Our ticket checkers looked like they worked at Disney wearing goofy hats. Paris-chic it was not….
While we were stopped on the TGV, Matt texted that he had arrived in Paris. He headed to our Left Bank Airbnb. The Marne-la-valée-Chessy-Disnesyland station was packed. Fighting our way through the crowds, we lined up to buy metro tickets to Paris. Quick does not describe me at the ticket machine. After struggling with the French directions, I figured out how to buy our tickets as the line behind me grew. Nothing that screams “tourist” louder than a fumbling patron like me at a ticket machine.
The three of us unnecessarily ran for the RER train to Paris only to wait ten more minutes before departure.
En route, we realized that a few central Paris stations, including ours were under construction. We had to amend our travel plan. We mapped out an alternative Metro plan which was not nearly as direct. Somewhat exhausted, Brewster looked at me and said one word: “Uber?” Yes, this was indeed a time to Uber. We walked outside, ordered an uber and we were off headed through the streets of Paris.
Matt waited for us outside our apartment we reunited with big hugs on our 6éme street, Rue de Prince. Before we arrived, he ate an omelet at Rue de Racine across the street and had already fallen in love with our neighborhood. After dropping off our bags, we headed down towards Saint-Germain and stopped at a sidewalk cafe so the rest of us could eat. 
As we sat at the bustling cafe, it hit me that we were in Paris! Surround by beautiful old buildings dripping with flower-filled window boxes and French boutiques, I took a moment to soak it in. The kids happily ate a burger and chatted with Matt about their week in Aix. We were all trés content!
We walked a couple blocks to the Seine and marveled at the Parisian architecture. Every direction was a photo. Brewster captured his with his Fuji camera, Sadie with her iPhone. We crossed a bridge to i’ile del la Cité and walked past, Sainte-Chapelle and stopped at the Notre-Dame Cathedral. We photographed the outside and decided to go in. Surprisingly, the line to go inside moved very quickly. We took our time in the church, marveling at the stained glass windows and time-line of the building. We learned that it took over 1000 years to complete the Cathedral. Hard to imagine that anything like that would be built like it today.
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Saturated with Notre-Dame history and beauty we headed back to the Left Bank via a gourmet ice cream store, Grom. We took our cones to the magnificent Luxembourg Gardens. The Parisians take very good care of their flowers in this park. It is gorgeous! So many people were there like us, enjoying an August afternoon.
Matt was fading after his redeye and so we walked to our apartment through the Odeon Plaza. He tucked himself into bed and Brewster & I went out to window shop in our neighborhood. About 8pm, when the stores closed, we walked home and spent the rest of the evening relaxing.
Not surprisingly, Matt woke up before dawn. Four espressos later, at 7:15am, he was ready to explore. I hopped out of bed and joined him for an tranquil Sunday morning Parisian stroll. The city was asleep and it felt as if we had it all to ourselves. We walked across the Seine to the Tuileries Gardens adjacent to the Louvre. A few joggers passed us, but other than that we were alone in the meticulously manicured gardens. We meandered back to our apartment via a boulangerie to pick up some croissants. After waking the kids up, we packed up our cameras, maps and water bottles and left for the day.
We started with a metro ride up to Sacré-Cœur in the Montmartre District. The Catholic Church sits high above Paris so it was a nice vista to begin. Taking our time, we wandered around the stairs of the church and found a sidewalk cafe to lunch.
Pigalle was our next metro stop located down the street from the Moulin Rouge. The Montmartre neighborhood is Paris’s red light district and the Sex shops did not go unnoticed by our kids. Sadie giggled at the shops while Brewster looked straight ahead. Matt and I thought it was funny, and were glad our Airbnb was not in that seedy hood.
We metro-ed to the Musée D’Orsay and waited in a short line to buy our tickets. Straight up to the 5th floor we went to see some of the world’s finest Impressionist paintings and sculptures. I loved them all! Monet, Rodin, Degas, Renoir, Pissarro, VanGough, Picasso and so many more. I was pleased with kids art history knowledge thanks to EVA: their elementary visual arts program (shout out to PCEF for funding art in the Park City Elementary schools and Stefanie Kimche & Molly Pennell for teaching) . Sadie’s favorite was Vincent VanGough and seeing his paintings live excited her. I loved the open feel of the Mussée D’Orsay, an old train station as much as the art. It is Paris’s finest.
We needed to go home for a siesta as we had 9:30pm tickets to ride up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Matt napped while the three of us chilled out. And about 7pm we headed out to the 7éme by metro. When we arrived at St-Michel, our stop, it was closed due to the same construction we encountered on Friday. We started walking along the Seine and remembered reading that bus 69 went to the Eiffel tower. How lucky that one was coming our way! We hopped on the local bus and got off at Parc du Champ de Mars. We enjoyed dinner under the Eiffel tower. The view was better than the food but we didn’t really care. Walking over towards the Eiffel tower, the lights started blinking. Every five minutes at the top of the hour, the lights flash. We were excited.
We all took several photos and headed to the tower.
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Our trip up the to the top took nearly two hours. There were long long lines even with our reserved tickets that I secured months in advance. However, being up close inside the massive metal structure kept our attention and spirits high. By about 10:45pm, it was our turn to go up the elevator to the top. Matt joked that the elevator could stop “anytime now”. It took us higher and higher and higher. Finally, we were at the top! Wind whipped through the observation deck and we joined in with the crowd of visitors taking photos. We passed on the 20 euro glass of champagne, but appreciated the romance of being at the top of the Eiffel Tower at night. It was a moment to remember!
We opted to take the stairs down over waiting for the lift. Outside the Eiffel Tower, desperate for a taxi, I waved one down. I started talking and clearly he did not understand me. “Brewster, I need you!” I called out.
Brewster began talking and next thing I know, we were piling in headed to our apartment. The taxi driver talked the whole ride and both Brewster and Sadie chimed in. I later asked what he was talking about and he told us that Paris is the best without the Parisians. He said they were all are all out of town on their August holiday so there is no traffic. He thought this was the best week to visit. He also told the kids that there are over 200 museums in Paris! OhLaLa!
Our last day in Paris was way more chill. Everyone woke up late with sore feet and stiff legs. Regardless, I planned the day starting at the Musée de L’Organgerie. I wanted to see Monet’s Water Lilies. WOWzah. They are the most beautiful serene paintings I have ever seen. Monet painted these pieces during the War so people could sit with them and feel calm while they lived in the hectic violent world. They took sixteen years to paint. I loved, loved, loved each and every painting.
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We walked out of the Museum and strolled through the middle of the Champs D’Élyses to the Arc de Triumph stopping at a few stores. Brewster bought some sweat pants in anticipation to our trip to Chamonix. He left Aix-en-Provence with only shorts. I asked him to indulge me and they were amazingly different and cool because they were not only French but from the most expensive Adias store in the Northern Hemphisphere.
After our walk, we took the metro back to our apartment to relax and have a snack. Later, Matt and I took two cans of beer and strolled back to Luxembourg Gardens to put our feet up on the garden’s green metal chairs . We sat and watched the children play with the sailboats in the pond. Sadie called and wanted to come to the park. Matt gave her directions and ten minutes later she appeared feeling very proud of herself for navigating a few Paris blocks on her own.
Just as we were leaving, I took one more sip of my can of beer and OUCH, a bee stung my lip. It swelled up and hurt me significantly. My family found my pouty lip funny. I laughed with them. Since no one felt like venturing far for dinner, we walked next door to the local sushi restaurant. It was delicious as was the ice cream that we enjoyed at our nearby ice cream parlor: Il Gelato Del Marchese. They made a few flavors we had never seen before: Parmesan, Avocado and Iranian Pistachio to name a few. I stuck with Carmel.
We all slept well and the next morning, we were packed our roller bags and took a direct bus to Gare De Lyon. We arrived with plenty of time to catch our TGV to Chamonix, the second stop on this forever summer holiday.