Paris in Spring

We spent the Carnaval holiday weekend in Paris with the kids.  On the way down we stopped at the Air & Space Museum just outside the city. We boarded a deconstructed 747 and both a prototype and real Concorde.  Then a few miles later we spotted the Eiffel Tower and pulled into our hotel in Montparnasse.  We spent twilight walking around Notre Dame and the Ile St. Louis.  We acknowledged that we cannot enjoy sunset from a sidewalk cafe with Caroline in tow at this age so we had a savory dinner at a casual creperie.

Saturday, after a stop at one of many patisseries, we took the metro to the Place Trocadero.  With the sun rising through the Eiffel Tower we introduced the kids to Paris in its glory.  The kids rode one of the antique merry-go-rounds and then we finally walked to the base of the tower.  

We sat ourselves in the little playground by the tower and spent a few hours enjoying the view.  After our picnic lunch we rode a horse-drawn carriage around a few of the sights and finally metroed back to the hotel.

I took Caroline with me shopping at Monoprix while Lauren napped and later we walked down to the Luxembourg Gardens to check it out for the next day.  We managed dinner in a large, noisy cafe and early to bed.

Sunday morning the skies shown bright blue and we grabbed Starbucks, pastries and enjoyed feeling the sun warm the day in the Jardin du Luxembourg.  When the man arrived with sailboats to rent Cole and Lauren chose US and Belgian flagged vessels and Jesse had fun circling the pond to guide the boats with the kids.  We stopped in the manical park playground which the kids loved as well.  Cole told us he wanted to move to Paris immediately and we could understand clearly why after this trip.

After a final creperie lunch and a fresh, warm baguette from the boulangerie, we packed up the van, squeezed out of the garage and returned to Brussels.