One word: Paris

Bon jour mon ami! It had been almost exactly 11 years since we were last in Paris. Brynn was 11 mos old and stayed in Colorado with Mike’s brother and family. Myla was 7 mos pregnant with Taryn. So Taryn has always said she can’t wait to go back to Paris. Well here you go!

The city still has all the charm and history that we remember. The beautiful architecture and impressive attention to detail on the doors, porches… lamp posts. Even the cobblestone streets have attractive curved patterns rather than a more practical (and boring) grid we’d see back home. And contrary to the city’s reputation, the people are warm, welcoming and friendly.

Upon coming up from the underground Metro, the first thing we saw in the distance was the Eiffel Tower. Only the top was visible above the trees and the kids went crazy. Their enthusiasm was hilarious – it was as if Taylor Swift was standing before us. We headed over to the Champs Elysees to grab fresh made crepes and sightsee before meeting friends at Eiffel. Not all tourist attractions are worth seeing, let alone waiting in line for. But this is one that lives up to the hype. When we saw it last time I remember being blown away at how massive it feels when standing underneath. That feeling hasn’t changed and it was great to see our children experience the same thing. And of course the view from the top is breathtaking.

We had an amazing dinner at a French restaurant, tucked away from the touristy hub-bub. The highlight being that everyone tried Escargot (snails). Mike remembers trying them when he was the kid’s age and having a sense of pride growing up for being so adventurous. Hopefully our kids will feel the same. We were joined by our Carlsbad friends, the Greenes, who we also met up with in London. So cool, hanging with good friends on another continent.

The next big attraction was the Louvre museum – one of the largest in the world, it holds 35,000 pieces of art. Although the Mona Lisa gets all the attention, other famous pieces include Venus de Milo, The Raft of Medusa, Winged Victory at Samosthrace and Vue d’intérieur . This visit also included amazing exhibits on Islamic and Egyptian art – including a mummy preserved for over 2000 years. We spent a good 4 hours there and the kids took it all in.

The remainder of the week was a mixture of sites including the massive Notre Dame cathedral, walks along the scenic Seine river and exploring the narrow but hopping streets (rues) and squares. We became very familiar with Paris’ Metro system – that’s Metro as in subway, not Metric – which is still a challenge. 🙂 Similar to London’s Tube, the maps are easy to navigate with bold colors, numeric routes and plenty of stops – graphic design at it’s finest. After London and Paris, the kids were definitely pros at traveling via underground train. In fact, there is no doubt the girls could’ve found there way back to our apartment from pretty much anywhere – it was impressive.