That question started it all. Jack arrived home from school one afternoon and asked me and John if we could take him to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower. Apparently many of his classmates have already been to Paris and were talking about the Eiffel Tower. Being able to say "sure Jack, we can go to Paris" gave us such joy. And so we planned a weekend in Paris.
On Friday 30 May, we left from St. Pancras Station on the Eurostar to Paris. The kids were so excited, jumping up and down, happy to take turns carring Kate's backpack and the camera or pull the roller bag. The train ride was very exciting and the anticipation for Paris was almost too much for them. The kids could not wait to be in the "Chunnel" and everyone in our car was just as anxious for that to happen...so they would stop hearing, "are we in the Chunnel yet?" "is this the chunnel - oh no, that tunnel was too short," "are we in France yet?" "Where is the Chunnel?" "Will we see fish in the Chunnel?" "Are we still in England?"
We finally arrived to Paris and after a quick stop at the hotel we met up with some friends from London at Le Cafe de la Paix, across the street from the Opera. Kelly Basile and her daughter Grace, and Ellen Eskenazi and her daughter Jane had a mother-daughter overnight and were getting ready to return to London. The kids were a bit confused - you could almost see it on their faces..."we know you in London...what are you doing in Paris?" We had a quick drink together before they caught their train back to London.
After our snack at the cafe, we wandered back to our hotel (Kate had filled her pants and I forgot a diaper...potty training cannot happen soon enough); then we walked into the Jardin de Tuileries, a beautiful park across the street from our hotel. We strolled through the park, played in the "maze" created by hedges and walked by the Louvre on our way to dinner. Our friend Betsy Farley, a French teacher at OPRFHS and a frequest visitor to Paris, recommended a great place for steak frites, Le Relais de L'Entrecote. Owen was a fan of Fanta, Jack loved the frites and Kate was happy when the vanilla ice cream showed up for dessert. It was nearly 10:30 p.m. by the time we ate and then walked back to our hotel...but it was still very light out and the kids were having a ball and loved seeing Paris at twilight.
On Saturday, however, we paid the price for our late night. After breakfast we started at the Eiffel Tower and got there very early..thank goodness. We waited about 45 minutes to make the trip to the top, not bad considering how the lines looked when we returned to the bottom. We mailed post cards from the post office on the first level; rode up to the second level and finally took the lift to the summit. At 905 feet above the ground, Owen was terrified, Jack was cold and Kate was exhausted.
We returned to the ground and decided to have a picnic snack in the park under the tower, which was exactly what Jack wanted to do and probably my favorite part of the weekend. Watching the kids chase the pigeons and eat frites under the Eiffel Tower was just too good to be true.
We stopped for a ride on the carousel and then walked to the Bateaux Mouches, a 1 hour boat ride along the Seine. Paris is a beautiful city and even the boys marveled at the buildings, the bridges, Notre Dame, the Statue of Liberty and of course, the Eiffel Tower from the water. Kate took a snooze on Dad for most of the boat trip.
We returned to our hotel for a swim in the pool before heading out for dinner. We decided early in the day that our evening must end before 11 p.m. It probably should have ended before dinner...but we were in Paris.
The whining, crying and crabbing hit new levels on the walk to dinner. "Where are we going?" "Are we lost?" "I want to watch t.v." (shows that are all in French by the way), "we never get to do what we want." Despite the persistence of our whiney bunch, we managed to find a nice restaurant called Le Castiglione. Things really came to a head when the cheeseburgers arrived with a very "special sauce" smeared all over them. I nearly crawled under the table when the complaints began - "what is this sauce?" "I don't like this" "this is gross" and on and on. After much pleading and persuasion, in between sips of wine, we convinced them to try the @#!%&* cheeseburgers. Imagine their surprise - they actually liked them and Owen started dipping his frites in the special sauce. In the meantime, however, Jack completely melted down and said, "I'm having the worst weekend ever!" at which point I got tears in my eyes because it was his request to see the Eiffel Tower that caused this whole weekend to happen.
Against our better judgement, we stopped for ice cream on the way back to the hotel. To our amusement, as the kids ate their ice cream they talked about how much fun they were having and started talking about their "favorite thing in Paris." At that point John said, "I'll be right back" - and he returned with a bottle of wine. We put the kids to bed at 8 p.m. (7 london time!) and promptly opened the wine and watched the French Open (with French commentators) on t.v.
Sunday morning we enjoyed some room service breakfast (naturally, Owen is a big fan) and headed out on our only adventure for the day - a walk down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. It was an absolutely perfect day in Paris and the walk to the Arc was lovely. The boys kept talking about their favorite things in Paris while Kate kept saying, "I want to go to Paris." It really was a beautiful morning and a perfect way to end our weekend.
As a result of this weekend, John and I have decided that we need to keep our expectations very low and work on our patience. Overall the weekend was great...evidenced by the fact that upon arriving home, the kids sat at the kitchen table for over an hour drawing their favorite sights in Paris. There were so many moments filled with crying, whining, crabbing, that it really made me and John pause and reconsider the trips we want to take with them. On countless occasions, John and I would look at each other and then look longingly at happy couples sitting in outdoor cafes drinking wine, quietly talking and laughing and then we would look back at each other and just start to laugh at ourselves. Our willingness to endure more trips with the kids was restored upon hearing Jack and Owen talk about how much fun they had - they easily forget about the crying and whining so we should too. This morning, Jack packed our Paris guide in his book bag to bring for "show and tell" - he said he wanted to tell everyone about his trip to see the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe.
We learned a lot about ourselves as parents and even more about our kids on this trip...and look forward to traveling again with them soon.
À la vôtre!
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