On Sunday, after two days at Disneyland and one day at Fontainebleu, we journeyed into Paris for quick whirlwind of adventure. We compared prices for a journey on the train and it was going to be close to a $100 for the whole family, so we decided to book a parking space at a hotel near the Eiffel tower for $20 and drove the 45 minutes straight in. Since it was Sunday, there wasn't any traffic at all and it worked out like a champ.
We got a quick glimpse of the tower before booking it by foot to meet our Fat Tire Bike Tour about 15 minutes away. We were put on a tour with about 15 other folks and began our leisurely and informative bike ride through the city.
We rented two tandem bikes, but uniquely they had a tricycle-like attachment at the back for the kids to ride on that was very stable. The kids had a great time pedaling when they wanted to and coasting and looking around the rest of the time.
We passed down quiet Sunday morning boulevards and would stop about every 10 minutes to hear our guide discuss the architecture or history of the buildings we were passing.
We passed by the Eiffel Tower and Ecole Militaire (where Tyler spent a week during his school year) and then past Les Invalides before crossing the Seine and stopping at the Luxembourg Gardens outside the Louvre for a bit of lunch. It was sunny and beautiful and couldn't have been nicer.
After lunch in the gardens, we dodged pedestrians as we looped through the Louvre's enormous courtyard and pedaled along the Seine at river level before popping back up and making our way back to the cycle shop. Along the way we stopped for a great photo with the Eiffel Tower as a family.
From there, took the metro across town to Notre Dame. As we exited the station, we found ourselves in a large pet market with hundreds of colourful birds. The kids enjoyed perusing the stalls and looking at all the pretty birds. We then sauntered over to Notre Dame and enjoyed gazing at the beautiful façade in the late afternoon sunshine. We had a bit of snack as we sat on a bench talking about the church and all the sculptures on it.
We then lined up in the queue and entered the church, awe inspiring as always. The kids especially liked the nativity story carved into the back side of the choir. There was also a very informative set of panels showcasing the construction and evolution of the church through the ages.
After touring the cathedral, we walked around the church and found a little playground on the east side of the building. Callum made friends with a gang of French boys and had hilarious interactions with them as they tried to communicate. One French boy had a basic command of English and translated as they all sat atop a spinning disk and spun themselves silly.
We then crossed the river back to the Latin Quarter and found a place to eat with a window view on the bell towers. Tyler ordered escargot on a whim and convinced both kids to try it. We were very proud of our adventurous eaters! We then cruised a couple of back streets in the quarter and bought a Nutella crepe and a cone of gelato before riding the metro back to the Eiffel Tower to start heading home. On an elevated section of the metro, we caught sight of the tower sparkling with hundreds of white stobes on the hour. We made it home around 930 with an exhausted but happy crew.
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