Paris!
Last month, Karl and I jetted off to Paris for an amazing and rare trip without the kids. I was quite a Francophile in my pre-kid life and was terribly excited to be going back to France.
Carol and Dave were nice enough to come and hold down the fort while we were gone. We were nervous that the kids, especially Ingrid, would be weepy and anxious with us gone. And then Grandpa walked in the door, Ingrid claimed him as her own, and Karl and I were rendered totally superfluous from that moment on. When we left, Dave and Henry were wrestling on the floor while Ingrid hovered nearby, repeatedly asking, "You O.K., Gam-pa?" Carol did report that Henry told someone at the park, "I'm all alone. My parents have left me." But he obviously looked sufficiently well cared-for that no one was concerned.
Karl travels internationally for work all the time, leaving me alone with the children for days at a time. I finally got to cash in on my hazard pay for those trips -- using all those miles to fly business class to Europe!
We arrived very early on a Sunday morning, and since we couldn't check into the hotel yet, we dropped off our bags and walked across the street to the Tuileries gardens. It was a beautiful, warm day and, thanks to the early hour, we had the entire city to ourselves. Seeing the gardens and the Louvre courtyard without the usual hordes of tourists was extraordinary.
We continued our private sunrise tour of the city, walking several miles around Ile de la Cite and back along the Left Bank, reveling in the nice weather, empty city, and lack of small people demanding granola bars.
We had a short list of tourist activities that we wanted to do, and failed to do a single one of them. Not entirely due to our own laziness -- I really wanted to climb the towers at Notre Dame, but they were closed due to a pollution alert (but we did get free Metro for two days!), and we tried to do the d'Orsay and gave up upon seeing the mile-long line.
The Metro was plastered with advertisements for an exhibition of superhero art. How could we resist? So we trekked halfway across the city to get a poster for Henry, only to find that the exhibit was closed that day (ah, France). I even tried chatting up the security guard in French, hoping he'd let me take one of the posters from the outdoor display, but no dice. So Karl, because he is an awesome dad, went back across the city after his meetings and got Henry a souvenir.
That was the closest we got to a museum, but we did do every neighborhood tour in the Rick Steves guide. We particularly enjoyed seeing the "transitioning" Marais neighborhood, where the restaurants were new and the parks were filled with young families, much like our own neighborhood (but the French dress their children much cuter). It was fun to see where the French "us" lived and glimpse what our lives would be like in another country. We also really enjoyed the Rue Cler pedestrian area, where the streets are closed to traffic and the assorted shops and restaurants spill out into the street, a perfect little collection of everything the French do well -- flower shops, bakeries, pastries, pret-a-manger food, and wine.
We had four or five meals and two bottles of wine every day. One day we ate breakfast and lunch about half an hour apart because I simply wasn't willing to forgo one morning's worth of pastry. Dinners included one night of traditional French country fare, with the most incredible potato-cheese concoction ever, plus a vat of chocolate mousee; and a truly excellent meal of modern French food at a Michelin-starred restaurant. We also had one night of Vietnamese food, which was tasty but no different than American Vietnamese food (colonialism fail).
It was beyond awesome to get away with Karl, be grownups, see beautiful sights, and eat delicious food for a few days. We had only been discussing a trip to France together for about eleven years!
And a million thanks to Carol and Dave for taking care of the kids during this getaway!
Carol and Dave were nice enough to come and hold down the fort while we were gone. We were nervous that the kids, especially Ingrid, would be weepy and anxious with us gone. And then Grandpa walked in the door, Ingrid claimed him as her own, and Karl and I were rendered totally superfluous from that moment on. When we left, Dave and Henry were wrestling on the floor while Ingrid hovered nearby, repeatedly asking, "You O.K., Gam-pa?" Carol did report that Henry told someone at the park, "I'm all alone. My parents have left me." But he obviously looked sufficiently well cared-for that no one was concerned.
Karl travels internationally for work all the time, leaving me alone with the children for days at a time. I finally got to cash in on my hazard pay for those trips -- using all those miles to fly business class to Europe!
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| Can barely see my feet because they're so far away! |
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| Seat options include recline, lie flat, and third G&T. |
We arrived very early on a Sunday morning, and since we couldn't check into the hotel yet, we dropped off our bags and walked across the street to the Tuileries gardens. It was a beautiful, warm day and, thanks to the early hour, we had the entire city to ourselves. Seeing the gardens and the Louvre courtyard without the usual hordes of tourists was extraordinary.
We continued our private sunrise tour of the city, walking several miles around Ile de la Cite and back along the Left Bank, reveling in the nice weather, empty city, and lack of small people demanding granola bars.
We had a short list of tourist activities that we wanted to do, and failed to do a single one of them. Not entirely due to our own laziness -- I really wanted to climb the towers at Notre Dame, but they were closed due to a pollution alert (but we did get free Metro for two days!), and we tried to do the d'Orsay and gave up upon seeing the mile-long line.
The Metro was plastered with advertisements for an exhibition of superhero art. How could we resist? So we trekked halfway across the city to get a poster for Henry, only to find that the exhibit was closed that day (ah, France). I even tried chatting up the security guard in French, hoping he'd let me take one of the posters from the outdoor display, but no dice. So Karl, because he is an awesome dad, went back across the city after his meetings and got Henry a souvenir.
That was the closest we got to a museum, but we did do every neighborhood tour in the Rick Steves guide. We particularly enjoyed seeing the "transitioning" Marais neighborhood, where the restaurants were new and the parks were filled with young families, much like our own neighborhood (but the French dress their children much cuter). It was fun to see where the French "us" lived and glimpse what our lives would be like in another country. We also really enjoyed the Rue Cler pedestrian area, where the streets are closed to traffic and the assorted shops and restaurants spill out into the street, a perfect little collection of everything the French do well -- flower shops, bakeries, pastries, pret-a-manger food, and wine.
We had four or five meals and two bottles of wine every day. One day we ate breakfast and lunch about half an hour apart because I simply wasn't willing to forgo one morning's worth of pastry. Dinners included one night of traditional French country fare, with the most incredible potato-cheese concoction ever, plus a vat of chocolate mousee; and a truly excellent meal of modern French food at a Michelin-starred restaurant. We also had one night of Vietnamese food, which was tasty but no different than American Vietnamese food (colonialism fail).
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| Aligot |
And a million thanks to Carol and Dave for taking care of the kids during this getaway!
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