Paris

We headed to Paris for a few days for the half term break in February. We visited when Nolan was 5 and Liana was almost 1, so we figured we would show Liana and Colin a few sites.

We flew in Saturday around lunch and took a taxi to our apartment. We stayed next to the Strasbourg - Saint Denis metro stop. This stop has 3 big metro lines so it made getting around very easy. We only pre-planned a couple things and had some other things to book in last minute. We walked around our apartment first and ate some crepes and pizza. I also bought a couple pastries for the morning. Then we headed to Champs Elysees and hit a few shops, including Laudree for a few macarons. We ate some Italian food and walked to Arc de Triomphe to view it at night.

The next day we had a 1:30 entry to the Orsay Museum (which we entered about 25 minutes early). We took the metro to Concord plaza and walked to the museum from there. We spent a good amount of time on the 5th floor looking at some art from Van Gogh and Monet. I then took the kids for a snack at the basement level cafe. We then spent some time wandering around the open air area of rooms, art, and sculptures. We left around 4:30 and took a taxi toward the Eiffel Tower to just walk around the park and base. We had tickets to go up our last day. There are only 2 places to enter through security now. We bought a couple snacks and walked around a while. We decided to find dinner in the area and afterward catch the 8pm light show. We struck out at a couple places but ended up back at Italian food. We walked toward Trocadero along the Seine and realized our view from the river walk was pretty good. So we stayed there and enjoyed the 8pm light show. We then tried to take the metro back to the apartment but our line was down for repair so we took an uber.

The next morning I once again tried for tickets to Notre Dame (it is hard now) and got some! So instead of waiting in a huge queue we showed up at 10:15 and walked right in. It was great to see how much work was done the past 5 years since the fire. We slowly walked the clockwise loop. We next walked north toward some food and shops. Liana found a beret and Nolan found a baguette to eat. Kacey hit a leather shop while I took the kids to the Lego Store. We enjoyed gazing at the custom Parisian structures that had been created. We then met Kacey for lunch at le Paris Halles. While this felt like a touristy area, we had good food. Next up was the Louvre. We walked 20 minutes and were also seeking some ice cream on the way. We only found Haagen Dazs which worked for the kids. I ate a crepe along the way.

We started by recreating a photo of Nolan from 2013 on the pillars in front of the pyramid. We also took photos of each kid. We had a 2:30 entry time and there was a very long queue for the 2:30 entry crowd, but it moved fairly fast. We were in and on our way (after checking coats and a bag) by 3pm. We walked toward Mona Lisa first to show the kids. Next we went toward the French crown jewels. We then started walking toward and through the Egyptian area. While the kids took a break and slowly walked through more Egyptian stuff, I ran over to view Napolean's apartment. We met back up (after figuring out how to get through due to closed hallways) and walked toward Venus de Milo. It was almost 5:30 at this point and the announcements started as the museum was closing for the day. We debated between uber and metro and since the queue to buy metro tickets was quite long, we just called an uber back to the apartment.

Tuesday was our day to visit Versailles Palace. We had never visited before. We arrived in the village a little early and bought some lunch sandwiches and snacks at a grocery store and ate them outside.  We had 12:30 entry time. The queue was quite long but once it started moving it didn't take too long. While the palace is huge, not all of it is open to the public. We walked through the open areas, many of which have no furniture, just art. By 2:30 we headed out for the gardens. The kids ran around a lot and we walked toward the canal by the shop for snacks and a restroom. By 3:45 we started making our way out back to the train station. We were back in the city by 5:30 and found a place to eat (Au Metro) where Colin tried escargot with me. It was good!

Wednesday morning we checked out and dropped our bags near the Eiffel Tower so we could all make our way up. Kacey and Liana only went to the restaurant level, but I took the boys to the top. We bought a couple snacks and Liana and Nolan did a special exhibit, walking across the expanse at the restaurant level called "Le Vertige de la Tour". There was a 40m long net bridge across the expanse, 60 meters high.

We found some food nearby for late lunch before taking our uber to the airport. Some simple pizza, hotdog, and sandwiches (and crepes) suited just fine. 

Orly airport is nice looking, but their people management and line process is terrible.