TLDR – We flew to Paris for a week and toured about. This post covers getting there, and the next day when we walked from the Louvre to the Eiffel tower, napped, then toured a water place near out flat. High 37c
Airport Action – Long travel day
Instead of a 20-minute walk to the Clayton followed by an hour on an Aircoach bus setting out at 0300, our normal. We went ritz and hired a car to drive us door to door to the airport. We rode in a 16 passenger van to the airport and it only took 35 minutes; brilliant. The car hire cost three times as much as the aircoach, but it sure was nice. It’s going to be a challenge going forward bus, or car hire.
The airport we flew into BVA (Beauvais-Tille) is like a landing strip in the middle of farmland. Not much of an airport, but we were able to land there. Leaving the airport on the 80-minute bus ride to Paris city center we actually followed a large blue tractor for a bit; yup we’re in farmland. Bus fare was almost the same cost as the Ryanair ticket (14Euro ahead for the bus each way). I’m betting the bus company is far more profitable per seat then Ryanair is flying into the airport. – Lesson learned BVA is another airport we avoid even if the cost is stupid attractive.
MATH – 80 euro car to the airport, 175 euro flight, 80 euro bus to the city – Car and Bus cost almost the same as the flight.
Eventually, we made it into the city center where we caught the metro to the neighborhood we were staying in (12 Rue Lauzin, 75019 Paris, France) About 20 stops total with one train change in the middle. The Paris Metro is not stroller friendly at all. Some of the access points are too narrow for the stroller with the wheels on and they have almost no gates. Had to take the wheels off of the stroller a few times to get in or out of the metro complex. This is Mylee’s first ride on a metro and it’s about the hottest a metro can be without shutting down.
It was about 1500 by the time we made it our flat. A small one-bedroom studio with bunk bed loft thing sleeping three, fridge in the living room, bathroom with a handheld shower and odd washing machine, and a tiny kitchen. Perfect for us, the cheapest place we could find everyone could fit in. After setting up a bit we stopped at a Franprix for some food and explored a park nearby with total let down playareas and an amazing view of the city from a pagoda thing on top of a hill. – Travel days are long and exhausting. We were all done and sleeping around 2000.
Friday Eiffel tower
We started waking up around 0600. Maddex was first awake, as always, we entertained him with his Switch. Next the girls slowly woke up. We ate mandolines and cereal for breakfast then we took the subway into the city. The 11 to 9 then the 9 to the Louvre stop, which happens to be at the Louvre; go figure. We explored a bit of the outside of the museum and watched an elevator through the glass pyramid for an up down cycle, watched a ballerina pose for pictures on a fountain and tried to take a picture with ladybug girl before we left the Louvre and walked towards the arche through the Champs-Elysees park zone between the Louvre and the Arche. We’re not huge fans of spending time in lines unless we have too, plus the kids are small enough art is pretty Meh to them = explanation of why we did not go in.
We found a great kid park to play in for a bit along the way and had some crepes from a street vender who looked like he might have taken a face nap on the grill once; resisted asking where the scar came from. The arche in the middle of a round about where about 170 roads come together; Pure traffic insanity. Paris is now top of my list of cities to NEVER drive in. From the arche we walked along the river for a bit until we came to the Eiffel tower. Last time I was in Paris, like 13 years ago, you could walk under the tower and explore. Now there is a glass fence all the way around the parameter blocking any access to the base of the tower without standing in a lane paying money – Sad face.
You can’t get near the tower without a ticket. A bit annoying if you ask me. The line to pay money appears to be never ending and it’s like a billion degrees out. We opted to walk around where we could and take in the views. We checked out the kids play park behind the tower for a bit, walked in the grass, walked around the tower and explored. After exploring it was time to head back home; to the Metro! We crossed the river and walked around the massive fountain thing in front of the huge building. We made our way through all of the street hustlers to the metro station for our ride back to the flat for cold showers, ice cream, food and a break.
After break, we headed towards the Paris plagues along the Bassion de le Villette which is a stoned off water way north of where we are staying near the science center. From what we can translate/tell the plague is Beach areas for adults and kids setup along the waterway. There was a zip line across the water way the kids desperately wanted to go on. It did not look to be open for kids of thier size so we they did not get to go; no matter how much I wanted too. We managed to find some parks and areas to play in and have a good time. Before heading back to our flat for a show, pasta and sleep.
Misters along the water – so nice to cool down.
Bonus pictures
