You're Darn Right We're Taking the Kids to Paris!: A Lengthy Trip Report
Feb 15th, 2009, 12:20 PM
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You're Darn Right We're Taking the Kids to Paris!: A Lengthy Trip Report
I can’t believe it’s been almost two months since we went to Paris. I’ve been meaning to edit the journal we kept, and since it’s a rainy Sunday, now’s as good a time as any. This is the story of our trip to Paris in late December, 2008. We are Dan, Deb, and our two children, CC (12 year old girl) and CJ (10 year old boy). And the title of this trip report is based on the first question so many asked us when we said we were going to Paris, namely: Are you taking the kids?
And I’m sorry for the length, but I’ve actually edited things down quite a bit. I’m not sure I fixed the tense everywhere, either, but here goes:
DAY 1: Christmas! That’s right, Christmas. See, we’re flying on miles, so we had no choice but to be a little flexible on the dates. And this is actually our second attempt at this trip. We had originally planned on going over Spring Break 2008, but my father-in-law fell gravely ill less than an hour before we were to leave for the airport, and we drove to be with him instead.
We got up around 3:00 a.m. for our 7:30 a.m. flight to CDG through Toronto. We woke the kids up around 3:30, and discovered that Santa had in fact come! He brought some much longed-for books, and MP3 speaker docks. The kids also got noise-canceling headphones from their grandma. We had all (yes, including Deb) packed the night before, so we were easily out the door within 10 minutes of my 4:30 ETD.
An easy, rainy drive to Park N Fly, where we were glad we had made reservations, because it was completely full. We parked in a teeny spot and got to the airport with time to spare. Hung out at the gate, the kids read their new books, Deb and I each had a leftover breakfast sausage, and I had a yogurt, and we boarded without incident. We had a 3/3 seating arrangement on the plane, so it went CC (window), then me, CJ, then across the aisle, Deb. We declined Air Canada’s generous offer of snacks for sale, and snacked on Grandma Bev’s excellent snack bags which she gave us for Christmas. I watched something so memorable I can’t even remember what it was, plus some episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Got to Toronto on time, went through customs smoothly, and arrived at our Gate 74 . . . 5 and ˝ hours before our next flight. Oh boy!
We were all pretty hungry, so we munched at Coyote Jack’s Grill. I think this is CJ’s part – food reviewer. So. . . here’s CJ!
Coyote Jack’s was a really good fast food place. The bacon cheddar burger, CC and I agree, was just about the best burger ever. The fries were amazing. They were fresh out of the frying things, so they were really hot and perfectly greasy. Dad says that the Caesar salad was great for a pre-packaged salad, and he gave it 7.5 out of 10. Mom gives it a 7. In all, I would give Coyote Jack’s 8.5 out of 10 stars.
Dad here. So now we only had 5 hours left in the Toronto airport instead of 5 and ˝. We decided to stay in the food court – type area to hang out, and just took turns wandering around the terminal for a few hours. We figured out the wi-fi (first time ever!), CC e-mailed her pals, and there was a creepy guy sitting at the table next to the kids, when Deb and I returned from what was maybe a 5 minute stroll. Gross. Then Deb noticed that the flight was now leaving at 9:55 instead of 9:10. Boo! It was only later that we noticed that they had changed the gate on us, and our flight was still leaving on time – just from a different gate. So we ambled on over to spend another 2 plus hours at a different gate, with a big TV overhead playing the same ads over and over. I will never get the 2 hands made out of phones wrestling out of my head again.
Our plane finally showed up, and things were moving smoothly, until someone realized they had not supplied the plane with pillows or blankets. Arggh! But we got out of Toronto within a half hour or so of the expected time, and we were finally on our way to Paris! Very cool, new 767, with subtle mood lighting. Dinner was served pretty quickly. Oh, that’s CJ’s area.
On the airplane, there were two choices of dinner-chicken in an orange sauce, or beef with vegetables. The chicken was not loved. Mom said it was greasy, and Dad said it was fishy. The average score for the chicken was 5 out of 10 stars. The beef however was pretty good. The beef was juicy and cooked to near perfection. The sauce wasn’t great though, and the vegetables were good. Also we got a cookie-a snickerdoodle shaped like a Christmas tree with sprinkles –that was great. Also, there was a wonderful beet salad. The food was given a 7.5, which I guess is good for airplane food.
A few hours later, we got breakfast on the plane. There were muffins, orange juice, and yogurt. The muffins were great. They were dense, moist, and coconutty. The orange juice was OK, and the yogurt was creamy in the French style. The yogurt was great. This breakfast was rated a 6.5, which is OK for airplane food.
Ok, Dad back here again. CJ’s rating system may require a quick explanation. He’s averaging everyone’s ratings. So the breakfast got a 5 from me, a 7.5 from CJ, and a 7 from Deb. (CC was in the shower when this particular poll was conducted and asleep for the others. We plan on including her in future food polls.)
I watched Tropic Thunder on the Paris flight, with CC craning her neck over to watch some of the bloodier parts. They turned the lights out, and CC and I both got at least a few hours of sleep. Which is more than I can say for Deb and CJ. Every time I woke up, they were both awake, though trying to get some shut-eye. They got a little, I am told, but later events would prove that they got very little.
As always, they turn on the lights too soon and serve breakfast 1-1/2 hours before landing, depriving you of at least 45 minutes of crucial rest, and pumping you up with caffeine, only to have to slog through the descent, customs and the taxi ride into Paris.
On the other hand, we were now in Paris! So we slogged through customs, where they actually stamped our passports (which they did in Canada as well, although we had to ask the Canadian guy, who was more than happy to do so) and got our bags at a strangely primitive conveyor area. We had a minor delay trying to figure out the French ATM, but got out without incident.
Out into the fresh, cold air for a taxi, which came quickly. I don’t remember the make of the taxi, but we had a quiet Algerian driver and a pretty small taxi. He got us into town quickly, and dropped us off in front of our apartment, right next to the Pub St. Germain. It was goose-bump city, as always, approaching the Seine and seeing all the familiar landmarks. Our apartment was Vacation in Paris #182, which we got for $165 a night, before it went up to $200 a night, $250 in high season. I love that they mail you the keys – no waiting around for someone to let you in. We had a code to get in the front door of the building, then a key to let us into the courtyard, then up some curly (and very slippery) steps to our landing, where a very strange looking key opens five bolts that lock our old door.
But I got the key to work, and we entered the apartment! Tiny, but it is great! A water closet on the left as you enter, then the shower room on the left, then the apartment itself, which is a kitchen/living room, and a separate bedroom. 30 square meters in all. We got set up, and then quickly made our first run to Champion Supermarche (around the corner, at Rues de Buci and Seine) for supplies. Bread, cheese, moutarde, ham, fruit, paper towels and toilet paper, pate, cereal, cornichons, tomato and vin rouge. Then back to the apartment for an apartment picnic, which I believe is CJ’s territory.
The apartment picnic was loved by all-except possibly the food might not have had the time of their lives. We got three cheeses: Saint Nectaire, Brie and Gouda. The cheese was fabulous of course, seeing as they were made with unpasteurized milk. That is why French cheese is so much better than other country’s cheese’s-it is made with unpasteurized milk. I didn’t love the brie, but other than that, all the cheeses were loved by everyone. We also got two kinds of baguette. One had a flakier crust and a looser middle, and the other had a moister, denser middle and a harder crust. They were equally liked. The pate, or mousse de foie, was absolutely amazing, possibly a 10. The rest of the family was also having cornichons (basiCJly like tiny pickles), mustard, and tomato. They say that these were perfect accompaniment to the bread and cheese. This picnic had a score of 9.75.
Dad’s taking a break from writing, so I’m going to write about the walk we took together, right after the apartment picnic. CC and Mom were tired from the plane flight, so they stayed home. On the walk, Dad and I walked to the Seine river. We went down to the tiny walkway right at the level where the river usually is. But there had been a lot of rain lately, so the river was almost going over the railing on to the walkway. It was really cool. Also on the walk we went to Notre Dame. There was a line to go into the church, so we didn’t go into it, but we walked around the sides of it. There must be over 200 gargoyles.
Another thing we did on the walk was walk down the Rue St. Andre des Arts. There must have been at least 15 creperies on the street. Creperies are places that sell crepes (big surprise there). Also on that street, there was a game shop. There must have been over 500 board games, card games, and other games there. It was amazing. It was a really great walk.
Thanks, CJ. The walk was fantastic – I always love my first walk around in Paris, and it was a blast. We also checked out the Ile St. Louis and the Brasserie of the same name. They have Deb’s favorite, Coq au Riesling, on the menu, but the issue is that they often run out of it. So we’ll have to check in with them again soon. We also stopped at the little park in back of Notre Dame, where they now have a few playground items. CJ swung in the swing for a few minutes, but I think he was disappointed (he hid it well) to not check out the merry-go-round type spinning disc a couple of kids were having fun on. On the way back, we also poked our heads in to St. Severin – a really old church in the 5th. It was really cold, so we hurried back.
The girls were cozied up: Deb was napping and CC was reading one of her “Twilight” books Santa brought. They roused themselves and about 4:30 p.m., we headed out for our long walk. The route was: down rue Mazarine to the Seine, across the Pont des Arts, and into the Cour Caree of the Louvre. Then into the Pyramid courtyard, and into the public passage under the Richelieu wing, where you can see the sculpture gardens – beautiful. Then a u-turn to the place du Carousel and into the Jardin du Tuileries – but wait. It was really cold, so we decided to head down into the Carousel du Louvre – the underground shopping mall, where you can also see the old foundations of the Louvre. Amazing. I’m going to run out of adjectives, and it’s only the first day.
So we continued out of the Carousel and back into the Tuileries. The sun had set, but it was still light out, and we walked all the way through the Tuileries to the Place de la Concorde. It was really cold, as I may have said, and at some point I stopped being able to feel my face. So our plan is to go to the department stores and buy scarves and the like. We turned back at the Orangerie, by which point it was pretty much dark, and walked back down the river side of the Tuileries. Did I mention it was freezing? Oh. Then we walked along the Seine, and ran into the animalleries on the Quai de la Megisserie.
Wow! First off, from my point of view, it was great to get out of the cold, even if it was into a stinky, stuffy pet shop. Or rather, four or five pet shops, all with cute, very expensive doggies and kitties, along with other assorted beasts. I may let someone else describe some of the very cute guys in these stores, but the kids had a blast. We thought we could get as far as the Hotel de Ville (City Hall) and the ice rink there, but it was just too cold, so we turned right at the Pont Notre Dame and walked back across the Ile de la Cite, to St. Michel, then up rue St. Andres des Arts, for crepes! Uh oh – that’s a cue for the big guy.
CJ here. Crepes are pretty much the best food ever, and these crepes are probably the best crepes I’ve ever had. They had a score of 9 by my family. We have very high standards for crepes, but we loved these.
After that, we just went home. We stayed up until 11:00 to get rid of our jet-lag. I played a few levels of my favorite computer game (our apartment has Wi-Fi), then went to bed. Around 9:50 though, I fell asleep, and only half woke up when Mom and Dad told me to get in bed. I was half-asleep, and didn’t know where I was. I got all upset in my half-awake state because of this. It was really weird.
Quick note about the crepes. CJ got sucre, CC got Nutella, and Deb and I got fromage. Monsieur was very generous with his toppings, and asked Deb and I if we wanted sal ou pouvre. I said both, and Deb said no, which she instantly regretted. I may have eaten mine in about 38 seconds. I laughed when Deb said she was thinking about waiting until we got back to the apartment to eat hers, and she quickly saw the light. This was a creperie close to Place St. Andre des Arts, on the right as you walk toward Buci. We’ll get the name of it on one of our walks.
Some brief (yeah, sure. . .) notes about the day and apartment. First, we can’t get the TV to work, and frankly don’t care! We have it set up so the kids are in the bedroom, and we sleep on the sofabed, which lets us stay up later and have a nightcap. J We quickly adjusted to the size – for much of our down time CC would be on the bed reading Twilight, CJ would be on a barstool writing his food reviews or playing a computer game, while we would be looking at guidebooks or rummaging around. Very cozy, and I’d recommend it for the family that is used to spending time together in small places, or for a couple.
All in all, a perfect first day, exceeding all expectations!
And I’m sorry for the length, but I’ve actually edited things down quite a bit. I’m not sure I fixed the tense everywhere, either, but here goes:
DAY 1: Christmas! That’s right, Christmas. See, we’re flying on miles, so we had no choice but to be a little flexible on the dates. And this is actually our second attempt at this trip. We had originally planned on going over Spring Break 2008, but my father-in-law fell gravely ill less than an hour before we were to leave for the airport, and we drove to be with him instead.
We got up around 3:00 a.m. for our 7:30 a.m. flight to CDG through Toronto. We woke the kids up around 3:30, and discovered that Santa had in fact come! He brought some much longed-for books, and MP3 speaker docks. The kids also got noise-canceling headphones from their grandma. We had all (yes, including Deb) packed the night before, so we were easily out the door within 10 minutes of my 4:30 ETD.
An easy, rainy drive to Park N Fly, where we were glad we had made reservations, because it was completely full. We parked in a teeny spot and got to the airport with time to spare. Hung out at the gate, the kids read their new books, Deb and I each had a leftover breakfast sausage, and I had a yogurt, and we boarded without incident. We had a 3/3 seating arrangement on the plane, so it went CC (window), then me, CJ, then across the aisle, Deb. We declined Air Canada’s generous offer of snacks for sale, and snacked on Grandma Bev’s excellent snack bags which she gave us for Christmas. I watched something so memorable I can’t even remember what it was, plus some episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Got to Toronto on time, went through customs smoothly, and arrived at our Gate 74 . . . 5 and ˝ hours before our next flight. Oh boy!
We were all pretty hungry, so we munched at Coyote Jack’s Grill. I think this is CJ’s part – food reviewer. So. . . here’s CJ!
Coyote Jack’s was a really good fast food place. The bacon cheddar burger, CC and I agree, was just about the best burger ever. The fries were amazing. They were fresh out of the frying things, so they were really hot and perfectly greasy. Dad says that the Caesar salad was great for a pre-packaged salad, and he gave it 7.5 out of 10. Mom gives it a 7. In all, I would give Coyote Jack’s 8.5 out of 10 stars.
Dad here. So now we only had 5 hours left in the Toronto airport instead of 5 and ˝. We decided to stay in the food court – type area to hang out, and just took turns wandering around the terminal for a few hours. We figured out the wi-fi (first time ever!), CC e-mailed her pals, and there was a creepy guy sitting at the table next to the kids, when Deb and I returned from what was maybe a 5 minute stroll. Gross. Then Deb noticed that the flight was now leaving at 9:55 instead of 9:10. Boo! It was only later that we noticed that they had changed the gate on us, and our flight was still leaving on time – just from a different gate. So we ambled on over to spend another 2 plus hours at a different gate, with a big TV overhead playing the same ads over and over. I will never get the 2 hands made out of phones wrestling out of my head again.
Our plane finally showed up, and things were moving smoothly, until someone realized they had not supplied the plane with pillows or blankets. Arggh! But we got out of Toronto within a half hour or so of the expected time, and we were finally on our way to Paris! Very cool, new 767, with subtle mood lighting. Dinner was served pretty quickly. Oh, that’s CJ’s area.
On the airplane, there were two choices of dinner-chicken in an orange sauce, or beef with vegetables. The chicken was not loved. Mom said it was greasy, and Dad said it was fishy. The average score for the chicken was 5 out of 10 stars. The beef however was pretty good. The beef was juicy and cooked to near perfection. The sauce wasn’t great though, and the vegetables were good. Also we got a cookie-a snickerdoodle shaped like a Christmas tree with sprinkles –that was great. Also, there was a wonderful beet salad. The food was given a 7.5, which I guess is good for airplane food.
A few hours later, we got breakfast on the plane. There were muffins, orange juice, and yogurt. The muffins were great. They were dense, moist, and coconutty. The orange juice was OK, and the yogurt was creamy in the French style. The yogurt was great. This breakfast was rated a 6.5, which is OK for airplane food.
Ok, Dad back here again. CJ’s rating system may require a quick explanation. He’s averaging everyone’s ratings. So the breakfast got a 5 from me, a 7.5 from CJ, and a 7 from Deb. (CC was in the shower when this particular poll was conducted and asleep for the others. We plan on including her in future food polls.)
I watched Tropic Thunder on the Paris flight, with CC craning her neck over to watch some of the bloodier parts. They turned the lights out, and CC and I both got at least a few hours of sleep. Which is more than I can say for Deb and CJ. Every time I woke up, they were both awake, though trying to get some shut-eye. They got a little, I am told, but later events would prove that they got very little.
As always, they turn on the lights too soon and serve breakfast 1-1/2 hours before landing, depriving you of at least 45 minutes of crucial rest, and pumping you up with caffeine, only to have to slog through the descent, customs and the taxi ride into Paris.
On the other hand, we were now in Paris! So we slogged through customs, where they actually stamped our passports (which they did in Canada as well, although we had to ask the Canadian guy, who was more than happy to do so) and got our bags at a strangely primitive conveyor area. We had a minor delay trying to figure out the French ATM, but got out without incident.
Out into the fresh, cold air for a taxi, which came quickly. I don’t remember the make of the taxi, but we had a quiet Algerian driver and a pretty small taxi. He got us into town quickly, and dropped us off in front of our apartment, right next to the Pub St. Germain. It was goose-bump city, as always, approaching the Seine and seeing all the familiar landmarks. Our apartment was Vacation in Paris #182, which we got for $165 a night, before it went up to $200 a night, $250 in high season. I love that they mail you the keys – no waiting around for someone to let you in. We had a code to get in the front door of the building, then a key to let us into the courtyard, then up some curly (and very slippery) steps to our landing, where a very strange looking key opens five bolts that lock our old door.
But I got the key to work, and we entered the apartment! Tiny, but it is great! A water closet on the left as you enter, then the shower room on the left, then the apartment itself, which is a kitchen/living room, and a separate bedroom. 30 square meters in all. We got set up, and then quickly made our first run to Champion Supermarche (around the corner, at Rues de Buci and Seine) for supplies. Bread, cheese, moutarde, ham, fruit, paper towels and toilet paper, pate, cereal, cornichons, tomato and vin rouge. Then back to the apartment for an apartment picnic, which I believe is CJ’s territory.
The apartment picnic was loved by all-except possibly the food might not have had the time of their lives. We got three cheeses: Saint Nectaire, Brie and Gouda. The cheese was fabulous of course, seeing as they were made with unpasteurized milk. That is why French cheese is so much better than other country’s cheese’s-it is made with unpasteurized milk. I didn’t love the brie, but other than that, all the cheeses were loved by everyone. We also got two kinds of baguette. One had a flakier crust and a looser middle, and the other had a moister, denser middle and a harder crust. They were equally liked. The pate, or mousse de foie, was absolutely amazing, possibly a 10. The rest of the family was also having cornichons (basiCJly like tiny pickles), mustard, and tomato. They say that these were perfect accompaniment to the bread and cheese. This picnic had a score of 9.75.
Dad’s taking a break from writing, so I’m going to write about the walk we took together, right after the apartment picnic. CC and Mom were tired from the plane flight, so they stayed home. On the walk, Dad and I walked to the Seine river. We went down to the tiny walkway right at the level where the river usually is. But there had been a lot of rain lately, so the river was almost going over the railing on to the walkway. It was really cool. Also on the walk we went to Notre Dame. There was a line to go into the church, so we didn’t go into it, but we walked around the sides of it. There must be over 200 gargoyles.
Another thing we did on the walk was walk down the Rue St. Andre des Arts. There must have been at least 15 creperies on the street. Creperies are places that sell crepes (big surprise there). Also on that street, there was a game shop. There must have been over 500 board games, card games, and other games there. It was amazing. It was a really great walk.
Thanks, CJ. The walk was fantastic – I always love my first walk around in Paris, and it was a blast. We also checked out the Ile St. Louis and the Brasserie of the same name. They have Deb’s favorite, Coq au Riesling, on the menu, but the issue is that they often run out of it. So we’ll have to check in with them again soon. We also stopped at the little park in back of Notre Dame, where they now have a few playground items. CJ swung in the swing for a few minutes, but I think he was disappointed (he hid it well) to not check out the merry-go-round type spinning disc a couple of kids were having fun on. On the way back, we also poked our heads in to St. Severin – a really old church in the 5th. It was really cold, so we hurried back.
The girls were cozied up: Deb was napping and CC was reading one of her “Twilight” books Santa brought. They roused themselves and about 4:30 p.m., we headed out for our long walk. The route was: down rue Mazarine to the Seine, across the Pont des Arts, and into the Cour Caree of the Louvre. Then into the Pyramid courtyard, and into the public passage under the Richelieu wing, where you can see the sculpture gardens – beautiful. Then a u-turn to the place du Carousel and into the Jardin du Tuileries – but wait. It was really cold, so we decided to head down into the Carousel du Louvre – the underground shopping mall, where you can also see the old foundations of the Louvre. Amazing. I’m going to run out of adjectives, and it’s only the first day.
So we continued out of the Carousel and back into the Tuileries. The sun had set, but it was still light out, and we walked all the way through the Tuileries to the Place de la Concorde. It was really cold, as I may have said, and at some point I stopped being able to feel my face. So our plan is to go to the department stores and buy scarves and the like. We turned back at the Orangerie, by which point it was pretty much dark, and walked back down the river side of the Tuileries. Did I mention it was freezing? Oh. Then we walked along the Seine, and ran into the animalleries on the Quai de la Megisserie.
Wow! First off, from my point of view, it was great to get out of the cold, even if it was into a stinky, stuffy pet shop. Or rather, four or five pet shops, all with cute, very expensive doggies and kitties, along with other assorted beasts. I may let someone else describe some of the very cute guys in these stores, but the kids had a blast. We thought we could get as far as the Hotel de Ville (City Hall) and the ice rink there, but it was just too cold, so we turned right at the Pont Notre Dame and walked back across the Ile de la Cite, to St. Michel, then up rue St. Andres des Arts, for crepes! Uh oh – that’s a cue for the big guy.
CJ here. Crepes are pretty much the best food ever, and these crepes are probably the best crepes I’ve ever had. They had a score of 9 by my family. We have very high standards for crepes, but we loved these.
After that, we just went home. We stayed up until 11:00 to get rid of our jet-lag. I played a few levels of my favorite computer game (our apartment has Wi-Fi), then went to bed. Around 9:50 though, I fell asleep, and only half woke up when Mom and Dad told me to get in bed. I was half-asleep, and didn’t know where I was. I got all upset in my half-awake state because of this. It was really weird.
Quick note about the crepes. CJ got sucre, CC got Nutella, and Deb and I got fromage. Monsieur was very generous with his toppings, and asked Deb and I if we wanted sal ou pouvre. I said both, and Deb said no, which she instantly regretted. I may have eaten mine in about 38 seconds. I laughed when Deb said she was thinking about waiting until we got back to the apartment to eat hers, and she quickly saw the light. This was a creperie close to Place St. Andre des Arts, on the right as you walk toward Buci. We’ll get the name of it on one of our walks.
Some brief (yeah, sure. . .) notes about the day and apartment. First, we can’t get the TV to work, and frankly don’t care! We have it set up so the kids are in the bedroom, and we sleep on the sofabed, which lets us stay up later and have a nightcap. J We quickly adjusted to the size – for much of our down time CC would be on the bed reading Twilight, CJ would be on a barstool writing his food reviews or playing a computer game, while we would be looking at guidebooks or rummaging around. Very cozy, and I’d recommend it for the family that is used to spending time together in small places, or for a couple.
All in all, a perfect first day, exceeding all expectations!
Feb 15th, 2009, 12:49 PM
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What a great trip this must have been for your family--and a great TR, too--like your style! I look forward to hearing more.
I'm going to Paris in April with my daughter and 6 yr old granddaughter, so I am especially interested in what your children enjoyed even though they are older than my petite-fille. We're staying in an apt., too, in the 6th, although a bit southwest of where you were, I believe. I may post again to ask you some questions!
I'm going to Paris in April with my daughter and 6 yr old granddaughter, so I am especially interested in what your children enjoyed even though they are older than my petite-fille. We're staying in an apt., too, in the 6th, although a bit southwest of where you were, I believe. I may post again to ask you some questions!
Feb 15th, 2009, 01:06 PM
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Keep the words coming. I will be in France for 2 months this summer and am getting more anxious by the day ready your families post. Sounds like you all had a great time. I look forward to reading more.... Thanks
Feb 15th, 2009, 01:46 PM
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Wow, thanks for all the kind words! The title sums up our attitude, obviously: Paris is a great city for kids, and we didn't even avail ourselves of a fraction of what's out there for kids.
By the way, you'll see that my boy starts passing on some of the food reviews, but he had fun doing it the first few days. Anyway, here comes Saturday the 27th.
By the way, you'll see that my boy starts passing on some of the food reviews, but he had fun doing it the first few days. Anyway, here comes Saturday the 27th.
Feb 15th, 2009, 01:46 PM
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Saturday, December 27, 2008 DAY 2
CJ and I got up around 7:00 – well, actually, about 6:30, and out the door at 7 – and went for a walk that was longer than CJ wanted but shorter than I wanted, which worked out just right. We cruised around our neighborhood – rue de Buci and rue de Seine - then down St. Germain to Rue de Four, saw where our apartment would have been last spring, then meandered down to St. Sulpice. CJ said it was creepy, and it actually was a little spooky in the still dark of night, even though it was 7:30 by now. St. Sulpice is under major construction, so we couldn’t go in. Or so we thought. Around the side was a little sign that said Entrée, so we went in, and boy was it amazing. So big, so beautiful, and a little eerie, since we didn’t see another soul in the entire church. I’d really like to hear the organ concert on Sunday – those pipes are huge.
We then had a hard time finding our way out, but did, [I, CJ knew where the exit was the whole time] and walked back to our neighborhood, but not without checking out Gerard Mulot Patisserie, which wasn’t quite open yet, although there were 7 or 8 young women furiously filling up the shelves. Very fancy, lots of amazing looking desserts and sweets, including macarons, which I’ve never tried, but promise to on this trip. The only place open this early on a Saturday was Carton, a patisserie and boulangerie on Rue de Buci, so we stopped and got some chausson aux pommes, croissants, pain au chocolates, and one apricot pastry that CJ had. I had one of the croissants, and yow – I’m not sure why they can’t make croissants like this in the EEUU (United States), but they can’t, and even if they could, not for 95 Eurocents.
We ate, had some coffee (the kids did not want to try the shelf stable milk we bought yesterday, even though it was now cold), showered, and got out the door by 11:00 a.m. or so, bound for Galleries LaFayette for some shopping. Our first Metro trip! We had a little hitch in our giddy-up at the St. Germain station, trying to figure out how to get 2 carnets (one adult, one “tarif reduit”) from the machine, since the woman at the counter insisted we use the machine. And she was right, once I stopped trying to use our silly American credit cards and saw where the machine accepted paper Euros. I just couldn’t see how a machine could read those squarish, different sized notes, even though BART machines in the Bay Area easily read U.S. money. But it did, and we were on our way, transferring at Chatelet, which think I said was the biggest underground station in the world 3 or 4 times. What a trek – up, down, sideways on moving walkways, past a very good band and some fruit stands, and finally to our platform and off to the Opera Station, mainly to see the Garnier Opera House on our way to the store.
Galeries LaFayette is really big, and it was decked out for Christmas with a ginormous Christmas tree and giant ornaments up in the dome, which must be 15 stories high, with stained glass. Just beautiful, and CC got some excellent pictures of it. (We also looked at some of the pictures she took on the first day, and they are very good.) We wandered around for a while, kind of looking for a scarf and hat for CC, and maybe something for Deb, and then the boys split up and looked at DVDs and books while the girls shopped. We were supposed to meet at the “upscalator” at 12:55, and unfortunately there are two (at least) on the basement level, so we didn’t actually find each other for another 20 minutes or so. But CC got a pretty scarf and wool cap, and she looks beautiful in them – tres Parisienne!
We then walked a half-mile or so up (down?) Boulevard Haussmann to Chartier restaurant, which was our destination. It’s off Haussmann on Fauborg-Montmarte, then down a little passage into a courtyard. We waited in line outside, but it moved quickly, and we were at the doorman within 20 minutes or so. He escorted Deb in and said something to her, and we followed her into the restaurant, around a corner, and up some stairs to a balcony where we were one of 3 parties standing around waiting for a table. So I asked Deb, what did the maitre’d tell you? She said he patted her arm a few times, pushed her toward the back of the restaurant and said, “premier etage,” and gestured around and up. Then Deb, feeling her oats, asked one of the waiters upstairs, “C’est le premiere etage ici?” He said “oui,” and she was very pleased with herself indeed! We were seated pretty quickly, and this is CJ’s part, but I’ll just say, I loved this place. The waiter could not have been more gracious, and at the end when he was supposed to add up what we ordered (they write the order down on your table paper and then add up the price right there), he asked CJ if he wanted to add it. He got it right, by the way.
CJ: Chartier was a great restaurant. After looking at the menu for a while, I got an appetizer of ham and sausage, and a main course of steak frites. Dad got a terrine and sauerkraut with assorted meats. Mom and CC got the same thing as each other-a salad each and a piece of chicken with frites each. Everyone except me loved their appetizer. Mine was too dry and chewy.
Everyone really liked their dinner. Mom and CC’s chicken looked really juicy and good. The frite were great-not too crispy but not too doughy. The lamb chops were great also.
For dessert, CC and I got the same thing-profiteroles au chocolat chaude. They were absolutely amazing. The ice cream inside was great, and the hot fudge sauce was great. Dad got a kind of goat cheese, and Mom got just coffee. Chartier had an overall rating of 8.75 stars.
Dad: I had been craving choucroute and pork products, and was not disappointed! And the chevre was delicious and the single biggest pice of goat cheese I’ve ever seen intended for one person. The girls’ salads were frisee and lardons – fantastic. And le damage, including a carafe of vin rouge, was 78.70 Euro! Afterwards, feeling full and happy, we decided to walk back home, down Rue Montmarte, which runs smack into St. Eustache, yet another huge, old cathedral. In fact, we saw a list of head priests inside which goes back to 1213! CJ keeps asking, and I can’t give a good answer, how did they build these things?
CJ: We got kinda lost in St Eustache, and we had to ask a lady there where the exit is. But in the end, we got out, into an amazing courtyard. There was a giant statue of a head next to a giant statue of a hand. We got to stand on top of the hand. There was giant, long, fountain thing at the end of the courtyard. It was really cool.
Then, we went to Zara but we didn’t get anything. Then we went home. At home, we just relaxed for a while. Around 8:00, we had dinner-another apartment picnic. Then, around 9:00, we decided to go to the Eiffel Tower.
The Eiffel Tower was all lit up because it was night. We got there at around 9:45. We were going to go up to the top, but the line was really long and we couldn’t figure out how to get tickets. Around 10:00, we decided to leave. Then, at ten, the Eiffel Tower lit up with hundreds of flickering lights. It was amazing.
Then, we went to a cool place called Trocadero. There was a really huge, deep fountain. It was amazing. After that we took a metro to a creperies near our house. CC and I both got nutella. Mom and Dad didn’t get any crepes.
After that, we went to the apartment. We went to bed and fell asleep soon.
Dad: Well, not much to add there. We did walk the rest of the way home from St. Eustache and Zara, stopping at Franprix on Rue Mazarine. It’s smaller than our Champion, but the vibe there was very Saturday night. A younger couple buying lots of frozen chicken cordon bleus, coffee cake-type things, frozen pizzas, yogurts, cheeses and the like. Deb says maybe they were just buying two weeks worth of groceries, but I like to think they were having people over and these were their appetizers to go with their wine or specialty cocktails over the holidays. Then of course we had madame (several of them), buying their parsley, turnips, leeks, onions, potatoes and meat for tomorrow’s (tonight’s?) pot au feu. Us? Just more cheese, wine, biscuits (cookies), and pate, and finally tapenade. That’s right: Champion has no tapenade. I don’t know if this rises to a national crise, but even the worker at Champion who started confidently walking me through the store when I asked “ou et le tapenade?” finally admitted in stunned defeat: “I don’t think we have tapenade.” Sacre bleu!
Then a note about our sudden Eiffel Tower run. We were very cozy, around 8:00 p.m., after much bread, cheese, pate, etc., when Deb just says, let’s go to the Eiffel Tower. So we got our cold weather gear on, I took a quick look at the Metro situation, and we were off! The plan was to take Odeon to St. Michel, and transfer to the RER and take it to the Champs du Mar/Eiffel Tower station. Pas de probleme, non? Non. At St. Michel, we made it most of the way to the RER platform, but then took a crucial right turn rather than left, at what we’ll say was an ambiguous “sortie” fork. Deb was confidently marching to the right, while I was not as forceful (we soon learned) as I should have been, mainly because I saw it as a crapshoot. But we went right and found ourselves at a space where we could not do anything but exit the station. Ack! We tried various ways to see if we could still be in the paid space, to no avail. We had to use new metro tickets to get back in.
Then, of course, we could not, for the life of us, figure out how to get to the right platform. We consulted maps, walked around in circles, walked down one set of steps three different times, until Deb noticed that the “C” (for the line we wanted) had been covered over down the staircase we kept thinking might be the way. So we finally got to the right platform, only to almost miss the train because the car that stopped in front of us was dark, so we had to sprint to the next car. This was after giving some advice to a nice couple from Salt Lake City about what to do in Paris on a 15 hour layover sans hotel. Although I had a weird feeling that they were either not from SLC, or were otherwise not Mormons and had bad intentions. But that’s just me.
When we got to the station, we had a long walk down the busy and dark Quai to the Tour Eiffel, with about 700 sleazy hawkers forming a gauntlet, but otherwise, CJ describes it nicely. I will add that it was absolutely freezing, and that walking up the Trocadero steps was a major workout. We took the Trocadero metro to Grenelle, and back to Odeon to get home. There is a wonderful candy stand at the corner of St. Germain and Ancienne Comedie, and I wonder if it is just there for the holidays.
The crepe stand we went to is the one just down from our apartment on Ancienne Comedie – very convenient.
Oh, a note about the apartment: During breakfast, the power in the apartment went out - twice! The first time was while CJ was in the shower! Very glad it’s morning – otherwise it would have been pitch dark. Quickly figured out that the power was on in the rest of the building, so we consulted our not-so-handy dandy apartment guide. Deb quickly decided to flip what looked like the main fuse, in a white box above the front door, and voila – lights! We think it was having the electric kettle on at the same time as the shower, or at least the same time as the fan in the bathroom.
By the way, we had also already dismantled the smoke detector on Friday, which had been beeping every 30 seconds – that would have made for a fun visit! We called the owner, Phillippe, who first insisted on correcting me by letting me know it was a fire detector, not a smoke detector. Glad to get that cleared up. Anyway, his suggestion to press the button did nothing, so he said to go ahead and remove the batteries. Thanks, Phillippe. Also, in that first phone call, Phillippe had mentioned he had some friends in town he wanted to show the apartment to. Sure enough, upon our arrival from our first walk around the city, Phillippe and 3 female companions dressed to the nines were checking out the apartment! It was a little strange, but they were polite, and left within a few minutes. That apartment gets very crowded with 8 people in it!
CJ and I got up around 7:00 – well, actually, about 6:30, and out the door at 7 – and went for a walk that was longer than CJ wanted but shorter than I wanted, which worked out just right. We cruised around our neighborhood – rue de Buci and rue de Seine - then down St. Germain to Rue de Four, saw where our apartment would have been last spring, then meandered down to St. Sulpice. CJ said it was creepy, and it actually was a little spooky in the still dark of night, even though it was 7:30 by now. St. Sulpice is under major construction, so we couldn’t go in. Or so we thought. Around the side was a little sign that said Entrée, so we went in, and boy was it amazing. So big, so beautiful, and a little eerie, since we didn’t see another soul in the entire church. I’d really like to hear the organ concert on Sunday – those pipes are huge.
We then had a hard time finding our way out, but did, [I, CJ knew where the exit was the whole time] and walked back to our neighborhood, but not without checking out Gerard Mulot Patisserie, which wasn’t quite open yet, although there were 7 or 8 young women furiously filling up the shelves. Very fancy, lots of amazing looking desserts and sweets, including macarons, which I’ve never tried, but promise to on this trip. The only place open this early on a Saturday was Carton, a patisserie and boulangerie on Rue de Buci, so we stopped and got some chausson aux pommes, croissants, pain au chocolates, and one apricot pastry that CJ had. I had one of the croissants, and yow – I’m not sure why they can’t make croissants like this in the EEUU (United States), but they can’t, and even if they could, not for 95 Eurocents.
We ate, had some coffee (the kids did not want to try the shelf stable milk we bought yesterday, even though it was now cold), showered, and got out the door by 11:00 a.m. or so, bound for Galleries LaFayette for some shopping. Our first Metro trip! We had a little hitch in our giddy-up at the St. Germain station, trying to figure out how to get 2 carnets (one adult, one “tarif reduit”) from the machine, since the woman at the counter insisted we use the machine. And she was right, once I stopped trying to use our silly American credit cards and saw where the machine accepted paper Euros. I just couldn’t see how a machine could read those squarish, different sized notes, even though BART machines in the Bay Area easily read U.S. money. But it did, and we were on our way, transferring at Chatelet, which think I said was the biggest underground station in the world 3 or 4 times. What a trek – up, down, sideways on moving walkways, past a very good band and some fruit stands, and finally to our platform and off to the Opera Station, mainly to see the Garnier Opera House on our way to the store.
Galeries LaFayette is really big, and it was decked out for Christmas with a ginormous Christmas tree and giant ornaments up in the dome, which must be 15 stories high, with stained glass. Just beautiful, and CC got some excellent pictures of it. (We also looked at some of the pictures she took on the first day, and they are very good.) We wandered around for a while, kind of looking for a scarf and hat for CC, and maybe something for Deb, and then the boys split up and looked at DVDs and books while the girls shopped. We were supposed to meet at the “upscalator” at 12:55, and unfortunately there are two (at least) on the basement level, so we didn’t actually find each other for another 20 minutes or so. But CC got a pretty scarf and wool cap, and she looks beautiful in them – tres Parisienne!
We then walked a half-mile or so up (down?) Boulevard Haussmann to Chartier restaurant, which was our destination. It’s off Haussmann on Fauborg-Montmarte, then down a little passage into a courtyard. We waited in line outside, but it moved quickly, and we were at the doorman within 20 minutes or so. He escorted Deb in and said something to her, and we followed her into the restaurant, around a corner, and up some stairs to a balcony where we were one of 3 parties standing around waiting for a table. So I asked Deb, what did the maitre’d tell you? She said he patted her arm a few times, pushed her toward the back of the restaurant and said, “premier etage,” and gestured around and up. Then Deb, feeling her oats, asked one of the waiters upstairs, “C’est le premiere etage ici?” He said “oui,” and she was very pleased with herself indeed! We were seated pretty quickly, and this is CJ’s part, but I’ll just say, I loved this place. The waiter could not have been more gracious, and at the end when he was supposed to add up what we ordered (they write the order down on your table paper and then add up the price right there), he asked CJ if he wanted to add it. He got it right, by the way.
CJ: Chartier was a great restaurant. After looking at the menu for a while, I got an appetizer of ham and sausage, and a main course of steak frites. Dad got a terrine and sauerkraut with assorted meats. Mom and CC got the same thing as each other-a salad each and a piece of chicken with frites each. Everyone except me loved their appetizer. Mine was too dry and chewy.
Everyone really liked their dinner. Mom and CC’s chicken looked really juicy and good. The frite were great-not too crispy but not too doughy. The lamb chops were great also.
For dessert, CC and I got the same thing-profiteroles au chocolat chaude. They were absolutely amazing. The ice cream inside was great, and the hot fudge sauce was great. Dad got a kind of goat cheese, and Mom got just coffee. Chartier had an overall rating of 8.75 stars.
Dad: I had been craving choucroute and pork products, and was not disappointed! And the chevre was delicious and the single biggest pice of goat cheese I’ve ever seen intended for one person. The girls’ salads were frisee and lardons – fantastic. And le damage, including a carafe of vin rouge, was 78.70 Euro! Afterwards, feeling full and happy, we decided to walk back home, down Rue Montmarte, which runs smack into St. Eustache, yet another huge, old cathedral. In fact, we saw a list of head priests inside which goes back to 1213! CJ keeps asking, and I can’t give a good answer, how did they build these things?
CJ: We got kinda lost in St Eustache, and we had to ask a lady there where the exit is. But in the end, we got out, into an amazing courtyard. There was a giant statue of a head next to a giant statue of a hand. We got to stand on top of the hand. There was giant, long, fountain thing at the end of the courtyard. It was really cool.
Then, we went to Zara but we didn’t get anything. Then we went home. At home, we just relaxed for a while. Around 8:00, we had dinner-another apartment picnic. Then, around 9:00, we decided to go to the Eiffel Tower.
The Eiffel Tower was all lit up because it was night. We got there at around 9:45. We were going to go up to the top, but the line was really long and we couldn’t figure out how to get tickets. Around 10:00, we decided to leave. Then, at ten, the Eiffel Tower lit up with hundreds of flickering lights. It was amazing.
Then, we went to a cool place called Trocadero. There was a really huge, deep fountain. It was amazing. After that we took a metro to a creperies near our house. CC and I both got nutella. Mom and Dad didn’t get any crepes.
After that, we went to the apartment. We went to bed and fell asleep soon.
Dad: Well, not much to add there. We did walk the rest of the way home from St. Eustache and Zara, stopping at Franprix on Rue Mazarine. It’s smaller than our Champion, but the vibe there was very Saturday night. A younger couple buying lots of frozen chicken cordon bleus, coffee cake-type things, frozen pizzas, yogurts, cheeses and the like. Deb says maybe they were just buying two weeks worth of groceries, but I like to think they were having people over and these were their appetizers to go with their wine or specialty cocktails over the holidays. Then of course we had madame (several of them), buying their parsley, turnips, leeks, onions, potatoes and meat for tomorrow’s (tonight’s?) pot au feu. Us? Just more cheese, wine, biscuits (cookies), and pate, and finally tapenade. That’s right: Champion has no tapenade. I don’t know if this rises to a national crise, but even the worker at Champion who started confidently walking me through the store when I asked “ou et le tapenade?” finally admitted in stunned defeat: “I don’t think we have tapenade.” Sacre bleu!
Then a note about our sudden Eiffel Tower run. We were very cozy, around 8:00 p.m., after much bread, cheese, pate, etc., when Deb just says, let’s go to the Eiffel Tower. So we got our cold weather gear on, I took a quick look at the Metro situation, and we were off! The plan was to take Odeon to St. Michel, and transfer to the RER and take it to the Champs du Mar/Eiffel Tower station. Pas de probleme, non? Non. At St. Michel, we made it most of the way to the RER platform, but then took a crucial right turn rather than left, at what we’ll say was an ambiguous “sortie” fork. Deb was confidently marching to the right, while I was not as forceful (we soon learned) as I should have been, mainly because I saw it as a crapshoot. But we went right and found ourselves at a space where we could not do anything but exit the station. Ack! We tried various ways to see if we could still be in the paid space, to no avail. We had to use new metro tickets to get back in.
Then, of course, we could not, for the life of us, figure out how to get to the right platform. We consulted maps, walked around in circles, walked down one set of steps three different times, until Deb noticed that the “C” (for the line we wanted) had been covered over down the staircase we kept thinking might be the way. So we finally got to the right platform, only to almost miss the train because the car that stopped in front of us was dark, so we had to sprint to the next car. This was after giving some advice to a nice couple from Salt Lake City about what to do in Paris on a 15 hour layover sans hotel. Although I had a weird feeling that they were either not from SLC, or were otherwise not Mormons and had bad intentions. But that’s just me.
When we got to the station, we had a long walk down the busy and dark Quai to the Tour Eiffel, with about 700 sleazy hawkers forming a gauntlet, but otherwise, CJ describes it nicely. I will add that it was absolutely freezing, and that walking up the Trocadero steps was a major workout. We took the Trocadero metro to Grenelle, and back to Odeon to get home. There is a wonderful candy stand at the corner of St. Germain and Ancienne Comedie, and I wonder if it is just there for the holidays.
The crepe stand we went to is the one just down from our apartment on Ancienne Comedie – very convenient.
Oh, a note about the apartment: During breakfast, the power in the apartment went out - twice! The first time was while CJ was in the shower! Very glad it’s morning – otherwise it would have been pitch dark. Quickly figured out that the power was on in the rest of the building, so we consulted our not-so-handy dandy apartment guide. Deb quickly decided to flip what looked like the main fuse, in a white box above the front door, and voila – lights! We think it was having the electric kettle on at the same time as the shower, or at least the same time as the fan in the bathroom.
By the way, we had also already dismantled the smoke detector on Friday, which had been beeping every 30 seconds – that would have made for a fun visit! We called the owner, Phillippe, who first insisted on correcting me by letting me know it was a fire detector, not a smoke detector. Glad to get that cleared up. Anyway, his suggestion to press the button did nothing, so he said to go ahead and remove the batteries. Thanks, Phillippe. Also, in that first phone call, Phillippe had mentioned he had some friends in town he wanted to show the apartment to. Sure enough, upon our arrival from our first walk around the city, Phillippe and 3 female companions dressed to the nines were checking out the apartment! It was a little strange, but they were polite, and left within a few minutes. That apartment gets very crowded with 8 people in it!
Feb 15th, 2009, 02:11 PM
#11
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Keep it coming. It's wonderful. I especially enjoyed the part about the people "who may or may not" have been from SLC, since I'm about an hour from there. (Surely made me giggle. (formerly from SoCal)
Side note if you don't mind the question. What are the rates in Dec. from the west coast-Paris?
Side note if you don't mind the question. What are the rates in Dec. from the west coast-Paris?
Feb 15th, 2009, 02:46 PM
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Love your report and we stayed in that apartment in April 2008 (it was $150 a night then!).
The location is fantastic and we loved how quiet it was even though it's on a busy street. Yes, it's small and we also overloaded the power supply a couple of times.....
The location is fantastic and we loved how quiet it was even though it's on a busy street. Yes, it's small and we also overloaded the power supply a couple of times.....
Feb 15th, 2009, 03:43 PM
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Day 3: Sunday, December 28
Dan: I woke up early as usual, and CJ declined my request to get up and take a walk. So I slithered between the sofa bed and the suitcases and managed to get on my clothes and jackets without waking anyone, for a 7:30 a.m. morning walk. I decided to visit the Jardins du Luxembourg, hoping they would be open given the fact that it was barely light out. And I was very happy I did, although I do wish Deb were with me. On our honeymoon, we visited the Lux. Gardens every day, watching the Plane trees sprout more leaves each day during the last few days of winter. But I know she gets her best sleep on vacations once it’s light in the morning, so we’re all good.
On this walk, the trees were bare, and there were few visitors save the intense runners. And man, was it cold! Definitely in the 20s, or around minus 2 or 3 Celsius. Per gmap-pedometer.com, this was a 2 mile walk. On the way back, I stopped at Carton for our standard apartment breakfast: more croissants, pain au chocolate, baguettes and chausson aux pommes.
Although nobody was awake when I got back, the smell of coffee and incredible pastries got people going. Four showers and many layers of clothing later, we were out the door for: The Louvre! That’s right, it’s museum day! We walked down Rue de Seine and across the Pont des Arts – possibly my favorite walk on Earth - then to the main pyramid entrance (after posing for pictures taken by CC in front). We would have gone in one of the more obscure entrees, but there was virtually no line. Our plan was to get Museum Passes (hard not to call them Cartes Musee, but “Paris Museum Pass” is their name even in Paris!). So we went down the stairs to find a mob scene, but knew to walk toward the Carousel to an office that sells the Passes, where nobody ever goes. So we did, getting two 4-day passes for 45 Euro each.
By the way, the exchange rate during this trip was around 1.40. A little too much over 1-to-1 to pretend Euros were dollars, but we tried. And while we weren’t on a budget per se, we had done our research, and didn’t have any wild splurges planned, except for Disneyland Paris. More on that later.
The kids didn’t need Museum Passes, since every museum in Paris (except Cite des Sciences and maybe a few others) are free for kids, and while we weren’t sure we were going to go to enough museums in 4 days to justify the price, we knew it would be close, and we were pretty sure it would be worth it to us to bypass the lines. We had no agenda in the Louvre, so we picked the Richelieu wing pretty much at random. The first thing we got to see was the heroic 18th century French sculpture in the huge sculpture room. Amazing. Then we meandered and ended up looking at recreations of Napoleon’s apartments, unless they weren’t recreations. Pretty opulent. Those two areas took up close to 2 hours, and our plan was never to spend more than that much time in any one museum, so we agreed to try to visit again later to see the big paintings in the other wing, along with Asian antiquities for CC’s project.
We left through the Carousel exit, and strolled through the Tuileries, with a stop for crepes for the kids and baguette sandwiches for me and Deb, which we ate on a bench and chairs, with birds appreciating CC’s generosity with her crumbs. Note: no sodas, ever! We’re not really a soda drinking family anyway, and we had let the kids know we did not want to pay 4 or 5 Euro for Pepsi, so it was never an issue. We split a couple of bottled waters, for what its worth.
We decided to see about the big Ferris Wheel (“Roue de Paris”),and there was no line, to our serious surprise given the crowds everywhere. Tickets were 9 and 6 Euro apiece (that constituted a semi-splurge, but what the heck), so we did it and it was fantastic! For once, I think Deb was more scared of heights than I was. You get to go around 3 or 4 times, with some pauses up top of a good 2 or 3 minutes at a time, probably 15 minutes total. We shared the car with a French dad and his boy, who were having as good a time as we were. Great views, great time.
We then headed over to the Orangerie, which of course had the beautiful Monet Waterlilies on the top floor. The kids seemed to appreciate them – no complaining, and actual comments on the art. Since we were there, we decided to quickly see what was downstairs, and it turned out to include a healthy amount of Picassos, Renoirs, Cezannes and Rousseaus. Wow! I had no idea about this exhibit going in, so it was a major thrill and surprise.
Then a chilly walk across the Seine on what we think is a brand new footbridge over to the Musee d’Orsay, where the lines were huge, but: we have a Museum Pass – yeah! So our Access Priorite line was only 5 minutes long although I think it seemed like about 3 hours to the kids – there was some minor grumbling, but nothing that required snapping at them. We stomped up to the top floor for the Impressionists, and as always it was amazing to see that many familiar classics all together – Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet, Whistler. Ridiculous. But the kids were exhausted, so we high-tailed it out of there through the main floor, and walked down the rue Universite to rue Jacob to home, on a very dark, cold, wintry afternoon. We poked our heads into some entryways along the way, which was fascinating.
On the way, I had my own turn having a French couple ask me for directions, which I was actually able to do, knowing exactly where the Place Furstemburg was. Well, except for my pointing to the left and saying “droit.” At which point monsieur said, “gauche?,” and I said, “um, oui, gauche.” But still, CJ gave me a grade of 90%, while the girls wanted to give me major points off.
Back to the apartment where we’ve snacked on a little cheese and bread in advance of heading over to Polidor tonight for dinner.
CJ: Polidor was an absolutely amazing restaurant. Mom and CC got the same thing again. They got a creamy lentil soup with pureed foie gras mixed in. They say it was amazing. Their main course, or plats, was boeuf bourgonoine. They say it was very, very good. Dad and I got the same entrée. We got confit de foie de porc. It was rated a 10 by both of us. It had wonderful chunks in it, and it was more of a terrine than a pate. Dad’s plat was blanquette de veau (veal stew). He said it was heavenly and had the best white stew sauce he ever had in a restaurant. I had steak with shallots and frites. The shallots were cooked with butter, wine, and drippings from the pan. The steak was perfectly cooked and nice and tender and juicy. The frites were perfectly crispy. In all, Polidor was a 9.5 star restaurant.
We got back to the apartment around 9:00. We’re just going to lounge around the apartment until we go to bed.
Dan: Polidor is in most of the guidebooks, and they mention the gruff waiters and the “student-friendly” prices. Well, we saw nothing but waitresses, and while they work their behinds off, they were anything but gruff. Efficient maybe, but ours was more than willing to give us some extra time to work through the menu, and was wonderful. The prices were very fair, but I’m not sure a student would want to spend 96 euro for 4. Maybe students are doing better than when I was one.
Price breakdown: 22 and 32 Euro menus. Deb and CC ordered off the 22 Euro menu, which is how CJ got glace – he got Deb’s. I didn’t want dessert, so my 6 Euro terrine and 16 Euro Blanquette de Veau (which was available on the 32 Euro menu) added up to 22, while the bargain of the night and maybe all time was CJ’s 10 Euro steak frites (on the menu as “Bavette”) with shallots. Bavette translates as “flap,” but it wasn’t quite a hanger steak, because it wasn’t quite gamey enough – hard to know quite what it was. But it was perfect – we weren’t sure how to order it medium rare, and finally our waitress, who’d been patient with our French, gently suggested “medium?” Well, oui. The kids’ dessert was 2 scoops of gelato – chocolate and caramel. Yum! We had a “pot” (46 cl., about 2/3 of a bottle) of Brouilly, the house red for the night, for 12 Euro, and d’l’eau ordinaire for the table.
When we to Polidor at about 7:30 p.m., it was about ˝ full. We were seated in the back room, which had 3 community tables seating 12 apiece, and two smaller tables. By 8:00, it was packed, and when I say packed, I mean scooting your chair in so your stomach (well, my stomach) was smashed against the table. In a good way. To my left was a Parisian trio who absolutely wolfed their food. Two guys and a girl, all 50-ish, their appetizers came shortly after we got there, and they got 3 bowls of the lentil soup and two confit de porc. And the next time I looked over, the entrees were gone. They then proceeded to motor through their plats and tartes and cafes and were gone. Although not before squeeeeezing past us with coats brushing over our heads. In a charming way, of course.
This was not an isolated incident. Parisians are noted for their gastonomie, and one hears of, and experiences, leisurely, multiple course meals, with the waiter gladly waiting until you ask for l’addition. One cannot have one’s café prior to everyone else finishing their cheese and dessert, and we’ve been places where one cannot have one’s dessert until others have finished their cheese. And yet at our two restaurants so far we consistently see locals just inhale their meals, so even though they may have 3 or 4 courses, things are flying to and off the table, albeit all in the prescribed order.
So it was c’est normal at Polidor. We may just go back and all order the 10 Euro bavette frites.
The kids are very excited about Disneyland Paris tomorrow, and they are in bed now, so we’re at the “be quiet or we’re not going to Disneyland tomorrow” phase of the evening. More wine is really the only solution.
Feb 15th, 2009, 04:31 PM
#16
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Grandmere, Rose, Julie and Four: I think our kids have inherited our love of food, and for them, the various and varying food experiences were something they looked forward to each day, and still talk about. CJ (10 yr. old boy) still says Polidor was the highlight of his trip, even over the Eiffel Tower and Disneyland! CC (12 yr old girl) enjoyed the food and any opportunities to shop.
I really feel like they lived in the moment, enjoying both down time as well as all the walking. They shared a room at an age when they probably didn't want to, and they chose to get along. I couldn't have asked for a better time with and attitude from the kids.
We also went to Paris when they were 4 and 2, and I would say the Jardin de Acclimitation (sp?) was the highlight of that trip for them, along with daily trips to the Luxembourg Gardens playground.
Laurel 61: If you mean flying rates, we used our United frequent flier miles for this trip, although we did have to pay $100 per ticket after we had to reschedule after my father-in-law passed away. So I'm not sure what it cost, although I do recall something around $1,000 for the Air France SFO-CDG flight, one I've always coveted because it's the only non-stop. If you mean exchange rates, it was 1.40 at the time, although it's now down to a little under 1.30.
I really feel like they lived in the moment, enjoying both down time as well as all the walking. They shared a room at an age when they probably didn't want to, and they chose to get along. I couldn't have asked for a better time with and attitude from the kids.
We also went to Paris when they were 4 and 2, and I would say the Jardin de Acclimitation (sp?) was the highlight of that trip for them, along with daily trips to the Luxembourg Gardens playground.
Laurel 61: If you mean flying rates, we used our United frequent flier miles for this trip, although we did have to pay $100 per ticket after we had to reschedule after my father-in-law passed away. So I'm not sure what it cost, although I do recall something around $1,000 for the Air France SFO-CDG flight, one I've always coveted because it's the only non-stop. If you mean exchange rates, it was 1.40 at the time, although it's now down to a little under 1.30.
Feb 15th, 2009, 05:02 PM
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Wow what a wonderful opportunity you have given your children. It is really fun to see that young children can appreciate new/different food too. My children are all over 18 now and I hope to surprise them with a trip next year during there college breaks(18,20,22,& 26) While I will be making my 1st trip back to europe in 25 years I will be looking for things to show them next year.
Would you do anything different as far as your plans were if they were older.
P.S. Disney Paris will be out for us as we always had season passes to Disneyland but everything else sounds great. Oh and keep posting the reading is very entertaining.
Would you do anything different as far as your plans were if they were older.
P.S. Disney Paris will be out for us as we always had season passes to Disneyland but everything else sounds great. Oh and keep posting the reading is very entertaining.
Feb 15th, 2009, 05:12 PM
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Enjoying your report, I am one half (the better half?) of a Dan and Deb couple, too.
We were in Paris last summer with our two kids (16 and 13) and I am reliving our trip as I read your posts.
Thanks!
We were in Paris last summer with our two kids (16 and 13) and I am reliving our trip as I read your posts.
Thanks!
