Home and Away: Springtime in Paris

My sister got married March 8th in Yorkshire, England. It was a bit of mad rush to get Harrison a passport in time, but at five weeks old, he took his first trip to Europe! Wedding photos will follow....

We decided to add on a week in Paris before the wedding. It sounds crazier than it was. With some planning, Paris is a great place to visit with small children, so long as you don't mind walking and using the bus system, and pre-planning taxi trips.

In all, we visited most of the places we wanted to see. Including;

Eiffel Tower

Pere LaChaise Cemetery

Bus 9 tour

Champ de Mars

Historic Walk

Museum of Natural History

Notre Dame

Sacre Couer and Montmarte

Arc de Triomphe

Tulieries Garden

Disneyland Paris

Deportation Memorial

Conciergerie

Catacombs (line too long!)

Luxembourg Garden

Left Bank Riverside

Rue Cler

Orsay

Pont de l'Alma

Champs Elysee

So excited to go see his British family!

Finley, enjoying some French toddler shows

Our apartment was very well located, a great size, fully equipped, and reasonably priced through airbnb.

Sleepy newborn selfie

Mary's first trip to Paris!

The weather was perfect. Mild days and only slightly chilly evenings.

Finn enjoyed the pigeons

We light candles for loved ones whenever we visit a cathedral. Mary lit a candle for grandad Tom.

Who forgets to bring his own jacket?

Getting our history on

We walked A LOT

My fave, moules frites

Lots of hobbit doors

I couldn't find genuine street waffles (like I used to get for breakfast on the way to work in Brussels, with the sugar chunks), but these street Nutella crepes kinda made up for that disappointment.

So much life going on down there.

I put my family on a little train with some vague idea of where they might end up. Then I walked around Montmarte with Harrison, looking for potential end points. Two hours later, we found each other.

There they are!! Oh no, different train....

We found each other on a random back street

A Chante!!

Sidenote hint: If you're desperate for internet access (e.g. you're lost and forgot how to read a paper map), but don't have much data on your international plan, just sidle up to a tour bus and log on. Most tour buses have free wifi and you can catch it up to 30 feet away. You're welcome.

Sidenote hint No. 2: There is really only one double stroller for European travel; the Britax B-Ready. Great maneuverability, easy to fold and pretty compact, comfortable ride for newborn/toddler, and the top/bottom configuration makes it narrow enough to fit through tight doorways and narrow pathways.

Photo taken moments before Finn threw Hop in the Seine

Early evening is the perfect time for a river cruise.

My third trip to Paris and I just noticed that the Eiffel Tower puts on a light show. Pretty!

Wearing Dada's booties

Locks of love

Mary, Andrew and Finn lined up for the Catacombs, while I waited with Harrison in the nearby park. After a long while we realized the wait would be too long for any of us to bear, so we moved on. Sidenote hint No. 3: pre-book this attraction, whatever the time of year.

Mary took a picture of me ordering food, trying to remember my French.

Sidenote hint No. 4: Spend some time re-learning your French. It might only come back to you by day five, by which time you've made an adequate fool of yourself.

Mary got lost on the way down the Eiffel Tower. It is by chance that I spotted her among the crowds. Parenting win.

Nothing-better-to-do-while-waiting selfies

Andrew found a cool bicycle shirt in this little store.

Looking for my awesome, childhood friend Ben, who was also in Paris, celebrating his 40th birthday.

Visiting Jim Morrison and some other gone folk.

We kinda spied on this neighbor.

His apartment was really neat and he appears to be a very learned fellow.

Disney Day!

This is the perfect time of year for a Disneyland visit. The crowds were very manageable and we got close up view of the parade.

One of my favorite highlights was the Orsay.

Awesome views up to Montmarte and Sacre Couer

We didn't go into the Louvre. I've already been there and we were museumed out at this point.

Also, some machete wielding assailant had been shot here just a month earlier so security seemed pretty heavy (which can be a pain with a laden stroller). We had fun running around the grounds and stopping for an outside lunch and coffee, however.