Grandma Belle and Paris - Part 2

Day 3 in Paris began with a trip to a local farmer's market on Rue Poncelot.  It was a nice little market with some fabulous seafood and produce.  We bought some cherries and raspberries and ate them along the way.  Stopped in a couple shops and also had some chocolate croissants for breakfast.

Rue Poncelot

Market Seafood

Ratatouille

After the market we took the metro over the Bois de Boulogne.  Napoleon founded this park and wanted it to be modeled after Hyde Park in London.  It's a huge park and was rumored to have some fun stuff for the kids - more rides, a petting zoo and a lake you could rent boats on.  Apparently I picked a horrible metro stop because none of that stuff was in sight.  After asking a police officer for directions we made our way to the lake (the zoo, etc. was on the other side of the park so that idea got scratched).  We rented a row boat and floated around for about an hour and then walked back to the metro and went home to the apartment.  

Bois de Boulogne

After lunch and a rest we jumped back on the Metro to visit  Monmarte and Sacre Coeur.  The neighborhood is an artsy little area up on a hill with street musicians and artists selling their paintings that I thought would be fun for the kids.  It was packed and the art turned out to be mostly caricatures and portraits, but Haaken got to dance to the street musicians and we grabbed some dinner.  We walked back down the hill and then Grandma went home to bed and we attempted to do the #1 thing on the girls list - ride to the top of the Eiffel Tower.  

Sacré-Cœur Basilica

Shopping for art

Dinner (Haaken is sporting his new French jersey)

We took the metro to the closest stop and hoofed it to the base of the tower.  It took us a little time to figure out which was the correct line but we found it.  We had probably stood in line for about 15 minutes when I noticed that the digital signs were saying that the top of the tower was closed (apparently they close at 9:30pm).  The kids wouldn't settle for the 2nd floor so we walked back to the metro and went home.

The next morning we got up and headed straight for the Eiffel Tower.  Grandma wasn't interested so she headed off to another museum and we made plans to meet at the Louvre after lunch.  When we got to the tower we decided not to push the kids to climb all the steps and paid for the elevator ride instead.  The kids were super excited and had a great time.

In line on the 2nd floor

At the top

Next stop was the Louvre, although it proved to be a short one.  After 3 days of walking all over Paris and late nights Haaken wasn't in the mood to see art, and Lydia was beginning to break down.  We had lunch and pretty much made a beeline for the Mona Lisa (along with everyone else apparently) and then decided maybe the kids would be into the Egyptian relics which brought us right by the Venus de Milo.  We cruised the the Egyptian section, snapped a few pictures and headed home for naps.

Outside the Louvre

Someone please tell me what I'm doing here.

The girls with Venus

That night Grandma had offered to watch the kids so we could have a date night.  On Sunday I had spotted a couple Indian restaurants on the Left Bank so we headed over there and enjoyed a delicious meal.  We strolled down Boulevard St. Germain and then walked over to check out Grandma's favorite part of the city, IIe Saint-Louis.   We probably walked around for 10 minutes and it started to pour, so we walked to the metro and headed to back to the Louvre.

At the Louvre we got a couple audio guides and started a tour of the French collection.  After about an hour we ditched the tour because the museum was closing and walked through Napoleon III's apartments (the closest exhibit) and then headed back home.

Our last day we took the train out to Versailles, again without Grandma as she had scheduled a WWII walking tour.  Versailles was a zoo but we toured the castle and then walked out to the gardens for a little lunch.  At this point we were all running out of gas (except Elise) so Carissa presented 4 choices - 1.) walk 30 minutes to the Trianon (Elise's choice), 2.) explore the gardens, (Lydia's), walk 5 minutes to the canal (Dad's), or go home (Haaken).  After I explained that my choice included a soda, we found a spot by the canal and relaxed for about an hour before heading back to Paris.

Versailles

At the gate

Hall of Mirrors

Louis XIV's backyard

Taking time to smell the roses

Relaxing by the canal

Another view of the backyard

Dad's had enough

That night we ate at an Italian place close to home and got everyone to bed early (10pm).

Friday our train didn't leave until 1pm so we had some crepes at a cafe before heading to the train station.  The kids did great on the train and we got back home to Graf at about 10:30.