SACRE BLEU! WE'RE IN FRANCE!

Scott and I want to raise our children to be citizens of the world and we are already well on the way with Gavin. Ever since we dragged him through Mexico at age 5, he's been bugging us to take him on another international trip. So we extended our layover in Paris, hoping to give him a taste of one of the most popular tourist’s destinations in the world. My good friend Lauren, who lived and worked in Paris, recommended some sites to see since she had just taken her young nephew to visit Paris. Lauren also knows me well and like me, loves seeing things that are "off the beaten path". So we had plans for "Lauren's Whirlwind Tour of Paris" which included the catacombs and a cool little taxidermy shop (I know, sounds weird) as well as some of the major sights. Lauren also recommended our quaint little French hotel in her old neighborhood, Hotel Molay, which was also close to a metro stop.

When we arrived in Paris at 9 AM, it was raining, foggy and Gavin had only slept 1 hour the entire flight! We jumped into the next available cab to go to our hotel. We were blessed to have landed in a cab driven by Daphne, the friendliest cab driver in ALL of Paris!(We took cabs later in the day and found drivers to be either glued to their blue tooths or not wanting to converse with us in our broken French, so Daphne was indeed a find). He was affable, funny, loved to ramble on about politics and thought our adoption plans were awesome since he had 3 kids himself. Since the weather was terrible and we couldn't check into our hotel yet, I suggested Daphne drive us around to some of the sights. He was an amazing tour guide, allowing us to get out and explore at each stop, taking our pictures, telling us the history behind every church, street and statue. When he found out I was a veterinarian, he whipped out his I-phone to show me a picture of his 2 cats he brought home as strays (gotta love this guy). He said small animal vets do very well in Paris since Parisians LOVE their animals (now I know where I will go to work if I ever want to spend time overseas!).

With Daphne at the wheel we saw the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysee, Notre Dame, and  Ste. Chapelle. He then dropped us at our hotel and insisted on outlining the exact metro route for us to take to the catacombs. It was a no-brainer to hire him to pick us up the next morning for our flight out! We stowed our luggage and made our way down the street for a quick bite to eat and people-watching at a local cafe. It was hard to find a place serving lunch since it was Sunday and many restaurants were closed. But I finally got my double espresso, Gavin got his Paris hot cocoa and Scott was happy to eat something other than airplane food.



Scott on street corner with yellow backpack.

 Another favorite pastime of mine when visiting a foreign country is to go to a grocery store. We stopped in one and Gavin was delighted to find "Kinder Eggs" (we don't have these in the U.S. since they'd be considered a choking hazard :-). Kinder Eggs are a hollow milk chocolate egg with a toy surprise inside. Gavin got a 3-pack so he could give one to his new brother upon meeting him! We walked back up the street to our hotel, taking in the sights and smells; a huge line at the bakery (must be good), the butcher shop where the ducks and chickens were displayed with full-feathered heads attached (I assume to prove their freshness), loads of tulips at the flower stands, bikes to rent then return anywhere in the city from special "bike" stations and many friendly dogs.

 Upon checking into our room, we decided to take a 2 hour power nap then get up just in time to take the metro over to the catacombs before they closed at 5 pm. Or at least, that was the plan......we woke up at 4 pm. Drat! We'll just have to come back again for the catacombs. We ventured out to have dinner at  Cafe de L'Homme, situated in one of the museums across the Seine River with a full view of the Eiffel Tower. Dinner was great but not authentic French cuisine I had hoped to try (like escargot, etc.,) but the spectacular view more than made up for it! About every 15 minutes, the Eiffel Tower would light up and sparkle, like electricity was moving through it - what a sight! After dinner we decided to walk over to the Arc de Triomphe. On the way we got lost (since I had started us off in the opposite direction) so we had to ask a group of Parisians for help. As I asked my question in broken French, they all laughed, told me it was too far to walk then hailed a cab for us, told the driver where to take us and sent us on our way. I'll have to say we never bumped into any snobby Parisians you always hear about. We taught Gavin to always say "Bonjour Madame/Monsieur"  any time he met someone or walked into a store and to say "Au revori" upon leaving, "Merci" and "Pardon" when appropriate....this got us along way! Anyway, the Arc de Triomphe is quite a sight at night since the arc sits at the intersection of 12 streets - it's fun to watch all the cars whizzing around and honking! 

 We then began walking down the Champs de Elysee, a huge shopping boulevard that puts NY's 5th Avenue to shame!

Gavin and I had famous pastel-colored macaroons at the world-renown Lauduree bakery, located here. Gavin had a green apple and I had a rose/ginger flavored macaroon--- delectable! (How do these French women stay so skinny?)

 At Christmas, every single tree lining the Champs de Elysee is decorated with white lights and at the end opposite the Arc de Triomphe, is a Christmas village complete with all types of food/crafts stands and a huge Ferris wheel. Unfortunately the Christmas lights were up  but wouldn't be turned on for another week. Waaaah! Gavin absolutely had to have a crepe from one of the street-side stands so he ordered one IN FRENCH AND PAID FOR IT IN EUROS ALL BY HIMSELF (we were very proud of him ;-) .

Gavin ordering a chocolate crepe in French.

 It was now close to midnight and we had to get up at 4 AM since Daphne was picking us up at 5 AM for our flight to Kiev. We'll definitely be back.....VIVE LA FRANCE!