Vacation Spotlight: Paris, France

A day by day look at our family’s Parisian vacation.

Ever since I can remember, I have wanted to go to Paris. It always seemed like such a chic city full of delicious food, amazing history and culture. After a year and a half of meticulous research and planning, we finally got to visit the city that has captivated me since my youth. I will tell you; it DID NOT disappoint. I loved it so much that I’m already thinking about when my husband and I can return, sans kids, of course. Without further ado, here is the play by play of our magical Paris vacation!

Day One

We flew out of Philadelphia International Airport around 9:00 pm. My hope was that we’d get a bit of sleep on the plane and wake up refreshed and ready to take on the day at 10:30 am when we landed at Charles De Gaulle. I’m not sure any of my family got much sleep in reality, but I hadn’t planned anything for the first day except to walk around our neighborhood and explore.

Our flight was on time and smooth as can be. When we landed, I knew from my research to make a beeline for the official taxi stand after getting our luggage. The taxis from the airport to Paris proper are a flat fare; one price for the right bank and another for the left bank. So, we stood in line, and were off in an official taxi after a brief wait. It took about 40 minutes to get to our apartment from the airport and the price was as expected.

I had booked us an apartment through VRBO so that we could cook and have some space to spread out. I couldn’t have been more pleased with the place I chose. We had an excellent host, Bertrand, and he was waiting for us at the apartment when we arrived. He took a train into Paris from Normandy to be there to let us in and show us around the apartment. How sweet! He even left us a bottle of wine to enjoy.

Our apartment overlooked the Rue di Rivoli in Le Marais in the 4th arrondissement. It was a fantastic location, about a two-minute walk to the St. Paul metro station. There was a living room/dining room combo, kitchen, a separate room for the toilet and one for the shower, two bedrooms and a large wardrobe area where we stored our luggage and clothes. It was the perfect mix of modern amenities and old Paris charm. Once we got settled in, we decided to explore and get lunch. We walked a down the Rue di Rivoli. There were bistros galore to choose from! The first one we saw had a welcoming waiter, so we decided to eat there. It was called ‘Au Bouquet St. Paul‘ right near the St. Paul metro station.

Our first bistro meal was delicious (as you can see). It was a great start to the vacation. After walking further, we wound up at the Monoprix which is kind of like the French Target. I had planned to stop in there for some groceries and possibly souvenirs. We browsed and decided to return to the store on the way back to our apartment. That way we weren’t carrying around our groceries while exploring.

The next stop was at Amorino for delicious gelato. They shaped it into a rose for my son. For my order, I added a macaron on top! The worker was so friendly and helpful as well, which is a recurring theme for our trip. The French have a reputation for being rude but that was not our experience at all. They aren’t overly friendly or smiling all the time like Americans, but when you engage with them, they are lovely people.

After our gelato, we went to the oldest square in Paris, Place des Vosages and passed through Place de la Bastille. On the way, we looked for street art made by the artist ‘Invader’. There are Invader installations that you can “Flash” (take pictures of) using the Flash Invaders app and earn points. Basically, if you see some art, you take a picture of it in the app, it assigns a point value to it, and you compete against other app users to get the highest score. It was a fun game to play while walking around. We went back to the Monoprix for groceries and then back to the apartment for the night. We unpacked, put the groceries away, firmed up the next day’s schedule and got to bed early. Everyone was exhausted.

Day Two

Day two was MY BIRTHDAY!! I timed our visit to the Eiffel Tower for my birthday. This was my dream trip so that, to me, was the ultimate treat! The morning of, we slept in a bit, we as a family are BIG sleepers, so that was nice for us. We ate at a nearby cafe for breakfast, Le Pain Quotidien. I loved my breakfast there. I am gluten-free so it’s sometimes hard to find things I can eat. However, at this cafe they had the most delicious gluten free bread. I enjoyed it so much that we added a loaf to our order to take home with us.

Once we finished breakfast, we took the Batobus from the Hotel De Ville to the Eiffel Tower. The Batobus is a hop on, hop off water taxi on the Seine. Your ticket is a 24-hour pass to use the ‘bus’ at your leisure. It has 8 historic stops along the river such as Notre Dame, The Louvre, Eiffel Tower and Champs Elysees. The pleasant ride took approximately 40 minutes. From the boat we could see all the sights like Notre Dame, Pont Alexandre III, Musee D’Orsay, etc. Seeing them from the vantage point of the Seine River was especially impressive.

Once we arrived at the Eiffel Tower, we could see the Olympic preparation on the Champs de Mars as it was fenced off. We also got a glimpse of the scammers and unlicensed street vendors I read about in planning for the trip. The street vendors provided the kids with some entertainment.

They keep all of their merchandise on a blanket so that when the police show up, they can pick up the four corners of the blanket and run. That’s exactly what happened when we were making our way to the Eiffel Tower! The vendors have lookouts, and when a lookout alerted them to police presence nearby, they grabbed their blankets and took off running. It was crazy to watch all of these vendors, take off running with what looks like big sacks slung over their shoulders.

A few minutes go by, and the vendors see the police have moved on and they are back at it, selling their wares off of the blankets again. We were fortunate enough to see a few policemen planning their attack on the vendors later on. We followed them to watch how they split up to come at the vendors from different directions. Like I said, the kids really got a kick out of it. It’s something they will remember more than any monument or museum for sure.

There are public toilets in Paris but sometimes you have to pay one or two Euro to use them, they can be hard to find or broken. Most times, I would go in a cafe or the museum or monument’s facilities and not need a public restroom. That was not the case today. We walked about the Eiffel Tower and saw two separate toilets that were out of order; this is how we happened upon the police officers planning their sting operation. After no luck with public toilets, we headed to a cafe for some drinks, snacks & a bathroom break. I wasn’t really hungry, so I ordered a drink and crème brulée. My youngest got calamari–it makes me laugh that as picky as he is, he likes calamari! Go figure.

After all of that activity, it was time for our tour of the Tower. I had booked tickets to the summit via the elevators–which was no easy feat! Tickets sell out online almost immediately upon release. If you don’t procure tickets prior to the day of your visit, you can wait in line to get them day of on site. If you do that, you risk not being able to get tickets because they can sell out. Also, you’ll have to wait in line twice, once for tickets and once for security.

At all of the historic sites we visited, I found that that all of the queueing did not take as long as I had anticipated. We didn’t travel in peak season, so maybe that was the reason, but all of our lines moved quite quickly. We may have had a 15-minute wait or so to get onto the first elevator up the Eiffel tower. The tower elevator stops at the Second Floor where the restaurants are located. There is another elevator to get on to go up to the summit. We were lucky that it was such a gorgeous sunny day, the view from the summit was amazing. We spent a lot of time up there; my oldest son really enjoyed it. Overall, the experience was really cool. I’m glad we did it. Now I can say that I was at the Eiffel Tower on my 47th birthday!

Post Eiffel Tower, we found a grassy spot near the Seine to relax in the shade and have a drink and some snacks. After our rest, we lined up at the Batobus stop to go back to the apartment. The ride back was close to an hour, and it was very hot. We were thrilled to get home and be able relax before dinner at Mama Shelter. Mama Shelter is one of the ‘Mama’ restaurants popular in Paris. I picked it because it had things each of us could eat. While my husband and older son are not picky, my youngest is and I’m gluten free. Dining can be a challenge.

We took an Uber because the restaurant was a little far away and we hadn’t gotten up the courage to try the metro yet. When we get there, the area looked sketchy, and we didn’t see the restaurant. A little exploring led us to a hotel where the restaurant was located inside. The ambiance of the place was very cool & modern. They had a DJ on stage, fun music playing & there were a lot of young French people there. I thought the food was ‘meh’, but my drink was good, and the vibe was cool. My oldest really liked his food, my youngest, not so much. Overall, for the price of the food and the cost of the Uber there and back, not the best choice.

Day Three

Day three started off in a hurry. My alarm did not go off and we woke up late! We had timed tickets to see Ste. Chapelle at 11:00 am. Factoring in the time to get ready and the walk to the church, there was little hope of us making it on time–but we were determined. We rushed the kids awake, quickly dressed, then hoofed it to the church at breakneck speed. When we got there, we were about 15 minutes late. It did not matter in the slightest. After all of that rushing, we simply got in line and were admitted at the current time slot. No problem!

The Sainte-Chapelle is a Gothic Style royal chapel. It was the residence of the Kings of France until the 14th century. It was damaged during the French Revolution and restored in the 19th century. There are 15 stained glass windows plus the Rose Window, making it one of the most extensive 13th-century stained-glass collections.

The church was magnificent. It brought tears to my eyes as I stood in the middle of the upper chapel looking at the stained-glass windows. It literally takes your breath away. People say its best seen at twilight, but we had late morning tickets and think it would be amazing at any time of day or night. You can take as long as you like at the church. I suspect those into history or religion would spend more time there. We were only in it to see the pretty windows, so for us, the whole thing took about a half hour.

After touring the church on an empty stomach, we left in search of a place to eat. Our wandering took us into the Latin Quarter where we had a yummy lunch at ‘Cafe G’. My adventurous eater got escargot, the picky guy got chicken fingers & fries, I got a delicious watermelon feta salad and a cafe creme, while the hubs munched on Ceasar salad. It was a great cafe to sit and people-watch on a beautiful sunny day. We thoroughly enjoyed the weather on our first few days and that’s a good thing because the rest of the week was overcast & rainy.

The next stop on our agenda was the Jardin du Luxembourg, located in the 6th arrondissement. The garden was created for the widow of King Henry the IV, Marie de’ Medici, when she constructed the Luxembourg Palace as her home. The French Senate owns and meets in the palace.

The garden is 57 acres with walking paths, tennis courts, sculptures, grassy areas for picnics, the Medici Fountain, playgrounds, and the Grand Basin. At the Grand Basin, you can rent mini sailboats for 6 Euros per half hour. You place them in the water and push them around with a long stick to get them sailing. We were in luck as it was a windy day, so our boat sailed easily from one side of the basin to the other.

The youngest and I had a great time running around the pond to keep our sailboat going. After a time, all that running under the sun got us longing for a rest in the shady grass. We found a great spot to spread out our picnic blanket and give our feet a much-needed break. Sitting in the grass on our picnic blanket amongst the beautiful backdrop of the gardens felt très Parisienne!

As you can see from the first photo above, rain was threatening and it started to drizzle after we had been sitting a while. That was a sign that it was time to go if we wanted a chance to beat the rain. Luck was not on our side as the rain caught up with us during the walk home. We stopped at a souvenir shop for cover and ended up purchasing a couple umbrellas.

Back at the apartment, I prepared the clothes for our morning photo shoot while my husband hit the road looking for dinner. He brought back some baguette sandwiches from Bo & Mie, a hot dog for the picky guy, and a savory gluten-free waffle for me. It was a win all around! We ate quickly and got ready for The Live Thriller.

I booked The Live Thriller incorrectly assuming that it would be like an escape room experience. We love that kind of thing at home, and I needed something for us to do that was fun and not a monument or museum. I could never have imagined how awesome the experience would turn out to be when I booked it.

The premise of the adventure is that you’re assisting a detective on the hunt for a serial killer, but that synopsis does not do it justice. We were tailing people on the street, performing crime scene forensics, searching for clues in the dark in some seriously creepy locations, questioning suspects and more. The two actors playing the detective and the suspect/killer were so in character! Once we finished the hunt, it was so great to talk to them–they were the nicest guys!! If you go to Paris and have a family with older kids, it is the perfect activity! The entire family LOVED it and I think it was probably the most fun thing we did on the trip.

After we finished The Live Thriller, it was late. We had taken an Uber to the location but wanted to try the metro for the way home. Since it was late and we weren’t in a big tourist area, we thought we’d have time to figure out what we were doing without loads of people around. It turned out to be a great decision. We spoke with the ticket attendant, and we got tickets home. While we were there, we planned to get a 10 ticket pass the next day for the rest of our trip.

Day Four

By day four, we had seriously rearranged a large chunk of the things I had planned out each day prior to arriving in Paris. The reality of what we could do while in Paris compared to the number of things I thought we could do when planning at home did not match up. There were times when we were too tired, the weather didn’t cooperate, or we wanted to linger in a cafe for a bit instead of walking anymore. Really, that’s the way you want to approach travel. You go into the trip with a plan and adjust as necessary.

However, this morning, we had to follow the plan because I booked a photography session with Flora Andriany Photography. She asked for us to meet her at the Bir Hakim bridge at 7:40 AM. It was an EARLY morning for the family, we had to wake with enough time to get pretty and catch an Uber to the bridge on time. We made it exactly at our meeting time and had a wonderful session with Flora. She was the kindest person and a great photographer.

She took us to a bunch of different spots to capture some magnificent shots near the Eiffel Tower. You could tell these were popular locations because there were other people taking photos as well. At one location, there was even a line of people waiting with their photographers. It was pretty interesting, they all seemed to know each other and were very professional when taking turns for the best shots. The morning was cold and windy with rain threatening. Thankfully, it held off for us to finish our photo shoot. The shoot was an hour and she charged 300 Euros. I had 150 edited photos in my email via Dropbox the next morning!!

After the photo shoot, we walked over to the Trocadero to view the Eiffel Tower from there. I had planned to take in the view from the Trocadero on the day we went to the Eiffel Tower, so it was nice to be able to check that off the list. The Trocadero is in the 16th arrondissement across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. It was fortunate for us that the Trocadero was a quick walk from where we did the photo shoot. Once we finished taking in the view, we walked around the area and found ‘The Cafe du Trocadero‘ where we sat and had a pleasant breakfast. We took the metro back to the apartment to change into less fancy clothes. The plan for the day was to stroll around and view the sights of the Montmartre area.

And here is another example of how ‘the plan’ had to change. I was really looking forward to this day in Montmartre because it was an unstructured day. Ask for advice on what to see in Paris and I guarantee you will have people telling you that the best way to experience Paris is to wander and let the city surprise you. That was this day. The day to wander with a loose idea of landmarks to walk by, eat in interesting cafes, find quirky shops for souvenirs, etc. There were a ton of sights I planned to see including the Sacré-Cœur, Place du Tertre, Passage Jouffroy, Rue des Martyrs, etc.

To say that the day did not turn out like I had planned would be an understatement. The first strike against us was the early wake up time. The kids were tired. More walking along hilly, cobblestone streets was not appealing to them. Strike two was the rain. For the most part up until now, the rain had been very sporadic and didn’t progress to more than a light drizzle. Today was a different story. It rained heavily and even with our raincoats & umbrellas, it made for a pretty miserable touring day.

We took the metro to Montmartre and then took the ‘Funiculaire de Montmartre‘ to the top of the hill. The Montmartre Funicular is an inclined transport system serving the Montmartre neighborhood located in the 18th arrondissement. This funicular, opened in 1900, is managed by the RATP. The RATP, is the same operator of the metro, bus and train system, so our metro passes worked to get us on the funicular. The Montmartre funicular connects the bottom of the Butte to the Sacré Coeur de Montmartre. The ride was quite short, but it saved our feet from having to walk up a ton of steps.

Once at the top, I got my youngest son to go on the carousel outside the church with me, which was fun, albeit pricey. We got a picture in front of the Sacré-Cœur and contemplated going in, but the line was very long, and we did not want to stand in the rain. For reference, the Sacré-Cœur Basilica is a Catholic church. It is located at the summit of the butte of Montmartre. The dome is over 650 feet above the Seine River and overlooks the entire city of Paris. It is the second most visited tourist destination in Paris after the Eiffel Tower.

We walked to the Place du Tertre to see the artists selling their paintings and doing live portraits in the square. I had hopes of possibly buying a painting or getting a portrait done, but they were expensive, and I couldn’t imagine sitting for a painting in the rain. We did a quick lap to look at the paintings and then took cover in a cafe for lunch. The hope was that the rain would stop, and we could resume touring and although it lessened, none of us were really in the mood to continue on.

Montmartre is known as the bohemian, artsy area of Paris, with lots of steps and cobblestone streets. However, to me, it felt very crowded and touristy. We did, of course, go to the main areas where tourists would be, but I had a more romantic notion of what we would encounter while visiting the neighborhood. We were all kind of unimpressed by it.

I did get the kids to agree to stopping at two more landmarks for photos. The first was ‘Le Mur des j’taime‘ (The Wall of I Love You). The Wall of I Love You is located in the garden of the Square Jehan Rictus, Place des Abbesses in Paris Montmartre. It was created by Frédéric Baron and Claire Kito. The wall has the phrase ‘I love you’ in 311 different languages.

The second was ‘La Maison Rose‘. The building was originally bought by painter Ramon Pichot in 1905 as a painting studio. Famous artists such as Dali and Picasso, would visit him there. His wife, Germaine Gargallo, painted the walls pink, inspired by her recent trip to Spain. She was the one who opened the restaurant ‘La Maison Rose’. Through the years, it has been frequented by many of artists, cabaret performers, film stars, writers, and singers such as Albert Camus, Alain Delon, & Dalida.

This was the last of Montmartre for us, after posing for this photo, we took the metro back to our apartment.

Once back at the apartment, my husband put on some movies for the boys while I took a nap. When I woke, my oldest was in bed and the youngest was zoning out on his phone with no desire to go out again. My husband and I left to explore the neighborhood and get dinner while the kids stayed back at the apartment.

In Paris, the stores generally close at the end of the business day and keep inconsistent hours. That put a damper on my dreams of shopping because we were generally busy touring during the day. We barely bought anything while we were there. I had hopes of visiting a Christmas Shop in our neighborhood, but the hours were so strange that were never around while it was open. I had allotted time for shopping while we were in Montmartre, but the weather ruined that plan. The souvenir shops you pass are basically carbon copies of each other. They sell tchotchkes and the usual souvenir type things, but I was looking for something special. Even when my husband and I were out on our stroll, it was probably around 6:00 pm and all we could do was window shop.

Window shopping was fun for a short while, but we started to get hungry. We walked toward the Ile St. Louis area and had a fantastic dinner at a small restaurant, ‘La Sarrasine‘. The restaurant is very tiny, and the kitchen is located down a dangerous-looking spiral staircase. The person who sat us was also our waiter and chef, cooking at a small station by the front of the restaurant. He made some of the food and the rest would appear via dumbwaiter from the downstairs kitchen. The French really know how to make use of small spaces!

The maître d’/waiter/chef was such a pleasant person, engaging us in conversation and cracking jokes. This restaurant is a favorite of locals as we also chatted with the man at the table next to us who clearly frequented the restaurant. The food was delicious and reasonably priced. Probably the most cost-effective meal we had in all of Paris. They had galettes made of buckwheat which is naturally gluten-free, so I had no trouble finding a delicious combination to eat. Overall, a lovely adult evening in Paris.

Day Five

Day five was our day to get out of the city and visit the Palace of Versailles. The Palace of Versailles is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV, located in Versailles approximately 12 miles west of Paris.  The French government owns the palace and it’s one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world. It is estimated that around 15,000,000 people visit the site each year. The site includes Marie Antoinette’s hamlet, a replication of a small village, the Grand and Petit Trianon, and, of course, the main Palace.

It was good that the kids stayed home and rested the night prior, because it was another early wake up day. We needed to be out of the house at 8:15 am to catch the train to Versailles. Our timing was great, we got out on time and walked to the train station. The train was there right as we arrived, so no wait.

This is where the day takes a turn…we were supposed to get off the train at the next station and switch to another line. We did not realize it until we were pretty far into the journey. That meant we were going to be late for our tour. We got off at the next stop and tried to get an Uber to take us the rest of the way. As we were waiting the Uber said it was coming but the time to pick up kept increasing. We realized we were wasting precious time, so we decided to get back on the train and get off like we were supposed to. That meant some serious backtracking and missing a chunk of our tour. The tour I booked included riding around the gardens via golf carts & bikes with a guide and a picnic lunch.

We booked a tour with Kingtours and it was something I’d definitely recommend to others. Our guide was very knowledgeable and told us many anecdotes of the history of the gardens and palace. When we contacted them to let them know we’d be late, they immediately put us in touch with a person to contact when we got there. They arranged for our palace tickets to be waiting at the will-call window (normally the guide has them and walks you through the line). The tour company then let us know we could meet our guide at the bike rental stand and pick up with the rest of the group. It helped lower my stress level knowing that we’d get to do the remainder of the tour and that we had a person to contact who was aware of our situation.

We rushed quickly to get our tickets after getting off of the train at Versailles. It was a bit of a walk to the palace from the train station. To top it off, it was another rainy day–mostly drizzle but it did get heavier at times. We picked up our tickets and sped through the security line for the palace gardens. As we were rushing to the bike stand, we noticed a huge crow following us. Literally every time we turned around, he was behind us. Or he’d fly up and sit on top of the fence in the direction we were going. It was weird. It was kind of a relief when he stopped because he was starting to freak me out. I was worried he was some kind of bad omen or something.

We walked a good while through the gardens to find the bike stand. On the way we got coffee and some snacks and hit the restroom. When we arrived at the bike stand, our tour group pulled up within five minutes, very good timing! Biking in the rain was not the ideal situation, but the gardens were beautiful, and our guide was fantastic. The kids were happy to be in nature biking around and didn’t care one bit about the rain.

There were only two other people on our tour, a cute couple from Maryland. We enjoyed sharing the tour with them. Our guide was very knowledgeable and told us so much history about the gardens as we passed by. He was also happy to point out all of the areas of the gardens that were going to be used for Olympic venues. The large pools are going to host some rowing events and there were bleachers set up on a grassy area where some of the equestrian events were to take place.

We got to see the gardens, the Petit Trianon and Marie Antoinette’s Hamlet with the tour. After that, we had our picnic lunch, then our guide led us through the gardens on our bikes back to the palace for us to tour at our leisure.

At this point, we were tired, the palace was crowded, and we were ready to go home. I wanted to see the Hall of Mirrors and didn’t much care about anything else. I had my youngest with me, and we beelined it through the crowds to the hall. We lost my husband and oldest son in one of the rooms, I got so claustrophobic and hot I had to keep going through. Once you got into the hall, space opened up and you could take it all in.

The Hall of Mirrors is over 120 feet long has 17 large windows across from 357 mirrors. The windows open directly on to the gardens and the mirrors reflect the greenery in the day and candlelight at night. The hall contains 17 large chandeliers and 26 smaller ones made of solid silver which hold 1,000 candles in total. It was GORGEOUS and definitely worth seeing. The sheer size of the palace is overwhelming. I cannot imagine living in a place that big.

Once out of the hall of mirrors, it was time to take the train home. But our troubles didn’t stop there, we had an issue with our tickets getting de-magnetized for our trip back. We had to stand in line and speak to a ticket attendant to get it resolved. A minor annoyance in a day filled with minor annoyances. On the train, everyone was happy to be sitting and resting and the boys even got a second wind. They were being very silly and laughing with each other the whole ride back.

When we arrived at the apartment, I was so tired. All I could think about was taking a nap. Between the early rising, the time change, and all the physical activity, I was done. My husband put on movies for the kids (Deadpool & Zoolander) and by the time they were over, I was up and ready to go for the rest of the evening.

Our plan was to take the kids to La Sarrasine for dinner but when we arrived, it looked like it was closed. My youngest wanted pasta so we ate at a restaurant nearby called ‘Le Lutetia‘. It turned out to be a great decision. Everyone loved their meals, and my son got the pasta he wanted. There wasn’t much for me, but I ended up getting a Caesar salad with chicken and it was the BEST Ceasar salad I’ve ever eaten. The dressing was so good and fresh. We had dessert and French wine, a great meal overall.

My youngest wanted to see the Eiffel Tower at night. After seeing the view from the Trocadero during the day, we knew that was the place to go to watch it light up and sparkle. After dinner, we took the metro to the Trocadero. There was a party-like atmosphere at the Trocadero with tons of people around. Vendors were selling souvenirs, beer, wine, crepes, etc. There was a singer playing covers of popular songs and we sat on the steps listening to him while we waited for it to get dark.

The Eiffel Tower lights up every evening from sunset until 1:00 am, with a sparkling light show occurring for the first 5 minutes of every hour after dusk.  However, when we were there, it DIDN’T sparkle like it was supposed to. We saw the midnight show and could have stayed until the 1:00 am show but decided to go home. We were tired and didn’t want to wait another hour. I later read somewhere that Paris was engaging in a green initiative to use less electricity so only certain times they would do the light show. It was so confusing and a little disappointing, but we had other nights to see it.

Day Six

After a busy day five, day six started much later with a nice sleep-in for the family that loves sleep. While researching restaurants, I found a place called ‘Breakfast in America‘ walking distance from our apartment. I figured this was a great time to have the comfort of food we were used to eating. We got the typical American breakfast, eggs, waffles, coffee, hashbrowns. It was a cute place, quick service and good food.

Day six was another rainy day that did not bode well for the tour of Père-Lachaise Cemetery I had planned. But by this point, we were used to zipping up our raincoats and trudging on.

The Père-Lachaise cemetery is the largest cemetery in Paris and covers over 100 acres with 70,000 funeral plots. More than 3 million visitors from all over the world visit it every year. Famous graves include Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, Molière, Frédéric Chopin, Colette, Marcel Proust, and many more.

The cemetery was really amazing. The graves were so ornate and creative. Of course, we had Jim Morrison’s grave on the top of the list as one we wanted to visit. It was very hard to find and kind of anti-climactic, especially compared to the other graves in the area. The majority of the graves were more like small mausoleums, some meant for entire families.

My kids were great sports for strolling along the cobblestone paths through the graveyard looking for the grave of a before-their-time rock star. They were entertained by the number of slugs and snails that we found all over the place. And of course, there was a creepy crow in the graveyard. He didn’t follow us around like at Versailles, but they got a kick out of that. While planning the trip, I was very conscious of the fact that I’d have to intersperse the historical with the fun. Today’s ‘fun’ was a visit to ‘Les Cafe des Chats‘, which is a cat cafe. The rain started up again, so we took an Uber to the cafe.

We have two cats at home and my kids absolutely adore cats, so I knew this cafe was a must-do. The place is very small, so we had to wait in line for a table to get up before we could sit. We didn’t have to wait very long, and we got a table directly under a catwalk. The restaurant had a QR code on the table and you could order your food & pay through there. No need to wait for a waiter to take your order!

We got some appetizers and hot chocolates. The food was good and there was one cat that was batting around a toy on the floor and another sitting directly above us. The others were lazing about in the windows or on ledges. It was about halfway through our meal that I realized what I thought were 6:00 pm tickets to the Catacombs were actually 4:00 pm tickets! We were definitely going to be late. We finished up our meal, pet some cats on the way out and hightailed it to the Catacombs.

The Catacombs of Paris are underground ossuaries which hold the remains of more than six million people. The ossuary was created as part of the effort to eliminate the effects of the city’s overflowing cemeteries. It is 65 feet deep, and the visit route is almost a mile long. Since we had already visited a cemetery above ground, it was time to take our touring underground.

When we arrived, we got in line and had no trouble being late (yet again), no one said a word to us. They offer you a free headset with facts about each are of the Catacombs as you tour. My husband and I each got one, but the kids opted not to. This place was seriously creepy, and the sheer number of bones contained in the area is mind-blowing. It took us a little over an hour from the line to gift shop at the end.

After another full day of fun and touring left us tired and longing for a rest at the apartment. We decided to pick up some yummies at the local market, watch a movie (Pulp Fiction) and then turn in early. That’s exactly what we did!

Day Seven

Day seven started bright and early! I had arranged for a self-guided scavenger hunt in the Louvre, and we needed to meet the hunt operator at the entrance at 9:00 am. She was going to explain how to complete the hunt, give us all the materials and get us through the line and security. We met her promptly at the meeting point and she took us through the underground entrance to the Louvre that has a much shorter line (Carrousel Entrance). Once we entered, we stopped and got pastries and coffee at a cafe and looked over the materials for the hunt while we ate.

The kids were MOODY. They both had a major attitude that day and I knew it was going to be a struggle. We attempted to get them interested in the scavenger hunt, my husband was really trying to engage them, but it wasn’t happening. My youngest seemed pretty into seeing the Mona Lisa, but after that, he sat on a bench and looked at his phone.

I was slightly annoyed at them for not being good sports. We’re in Paris, obviously we’re going to the Louvre! This was the one and only museum I planned for the whole trip because I understand that it can be boring to look at paintings and sculptures. Knowing that, I planned a scavenger hunt to get them engaged and they STILL couldn’t pull it together for my sake. Instead of trying to get that through their heads, I ignored them. You want to sit on your phone while surrounded by priceless works of art–BE MY GUEST! I’ll appreciate where I am and how lucky I am for being able to view IN PERSON gorgeous paintings and sculptures created by renowned artists.

Eventually, my oldest came around when we started to play a little game of ‘who does this look like?’. We tried to find a look alike from paintings and sculptures that corresponded to his friends. Then we were laughing about the faces in the paintings or making up in funny voices what we thought they might be saying. In the end, we saw all the main highlights of the museum and had a decent time.

Once done with the Louvre, we went to find a lovely cafe to eat some lunch. We ended up at ‘Brasserie Madeleine‘. We had worked up quite an appetite walking around the museum all day, so we got a big meal. My husband ordered Boeuf Bourguignon and French Onion soup, I got a burger no bun, my youngest got a pizza and the oldest got salmon. The best part of this restaurant was that it had a cat! His name was Spiro, and he took to my youngest son immediately. He came over and laid on his raincoat while we were eating. He let the boys pet him and got a little frisky at the end, playing and swiping at the kids. They loved it!

I think that this was the one time I saw my youngest with a genuine smile on his face. We were sad to leave our new friend, but it was time to get dessert! We stopped at the BHV, a department store that reminded me of Macy’s. My oldest got some super expensive loose-leaf tea to bring home. Then we stopped at ‘Yummy & Guiltfree‘, the place that has savory and dessert waffles on a stick. I got a lemon cheesecake waffle with whipped cream, my oldest got one too, but I forget the flavor. It was so good! I had planned on taking it back to the apartment and eating it later, but I couldn’t resist. I ate it so fast! It really is a treat when you can’t eat most baked goods to get to have something so delicious like that with no consequences (except the calories)!

The next stop was to a place suggested by my mom. She saw on one of her shows, a bakery called ‘French Bastards‘. They have a pastry called the ‘Cruffin Chocolat’. The cruffin is a pastry that is a cross between a croissant with the shape and size of a soft muffin stuffed with a creamy chocolate filling. We got that and a few other things to bring back to the apartment. It was hard to choose, everything there looked incredible.

After sampling some delicious pastries and taking a rest back at our VRBO, we got on the metro again, this time to the Arc de Triomphe. When we got there, the rain was starting to clear up and as a bonus, there was a rainbow! But then, while in the security line, we saw this guy walking in the area that was blocked off around the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc. I have no idea why he was doing it, but he was walking all around and even ON the tomb. My husband alerted the security guard, and they were all up on the walkie-talkies to get control of the situation. We never did get to see what happened and if they caught the guy or not because we had to move through the line.

The Arc de Triomphe, is one of the most famous monuments in Paris. It’s at the center of Place Charles de Gaulle. It used to be called Place de l’Étoile (etoile means star), due to it being the ‘star’ in the center of 12 radiating avenues. It is located between the 16th, 17th and 8th arrondissements. Underneath the Arc lies the tomb of the unknown soldier from WWI.

To get to the Arc, you take an underground staircase so that you don’t have to cross the busy streets. As stated above, there are 12 avenues that converge to a large circle around the Arc. Can you imagine the throngs of tourists trying to cross the street at the circle of the Arc where twelve roads meet? It would be chaos! The Arc has 284 steps to the top via a spiral staircase. Thankfully, there are areas where you can step to the side to take a rest. When you get close to the top, there is a gift store and an area showcasing the history of the Arc and restrooms. I loved the view from the top! Besides the rainbow, it was around sunset, so we got some great pictures of the beautiful sky!

All of these landmarks have such gorgeous views that the intricate details can often get overlooked. For example, on the Arc, the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces and the ceiling has 21 sculpted roses. Not to mention, all of the carvings found on the exterior of the Arc.

Once we finished with the Arc, my original plan included a walk down the Champs Elysees. However, since we never got to see the Eiffel Tower do the light show, we decided to try again. We took the metro to the Trocadero in the hopes of catching the first show at sundown. Yet again, we were disappointed. I have no idea why the tower didn’t sparkle but we were too tired to care.

Once the tower lights up, most people leave, and the metro gets really crowded. However, my oldest son had been scoping out the exit options and had a great plan for us. He told us he knew how to get to the metro before the crowd if we were willing to do a little parkour. What could I say to that? Of course we followed him around the crowd, skirting around buildings, through some large puddles, jumping up and then back down small barrier walls. It was a bit crazy, but it worked! We beat the crowds and got on the first train back.

Day Eight

Our last day in Paris! I took it easy on the family and we got another relaxing morning to sleep in. We had breakfast at the apartment, in the effort to finish up the food we bought. I, of course, had been eating my delicious gluten-free bread from Le Pain Quotidien with butter and jam every day. The kids had their pastries left over and cereal we purchased at Monoprix. We had two things scheduled today at the Galeries Lafayette shopping mall; going out onto the Glasswalk and then to a macaron making class.

The Galeries Lafayette is the biggest French department store chain in Europe. The store on the Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris is the flagship store. The most iconic feature of the store is the 43-meter-high Neo-Byzantine stained-glass cupola. Following closely are the golden arched alcoves, resembling a theater more than a typical department store.

You can walk out onto a glass catwalk that goes halfway across the domed area to get a cool view. Timeslots can be booked online and its free to do–so of course we had to do it! It was a little scary because you can feel the Glasswalk moving once you get to the end, but it’s a great vantage point to view the mall from. Once back on solid ground, we had some time to kill before going to the macaron class, so we browsed the souvenir area and got gelato.

Besides the stained-glass cupola, the other big draw to The Galeries Lafayette is the rooftop area on the 7th floor with an amazing view of the city. You can see the following landmarks from the rooftop: Eiffel Tower, Sacré-Cœur, Les Invalides, La Defense, and the Grand Palais. The Palais Garnier is so close, you feel like you can reach out and touch it! There is a restaurant on the terrace and at the time we visited, there was a huge screen and chairs set up for optimal viewing of the French Open.

After taking in the views from the terrace, we did some shopping and passed by a beautiful cafe in the mall that I had to try (EL & N London). It was pink and decorated with feathers and flowers everywhere. The food and drinks came out looking as beautiful as the decor! I ordered a yummy iced caramel latte and a gluten free pistachio cake.

After over-indulging at the beautiful pink cafe, it was time for our baking class. The class was located in the mall, in an area called ‘The Apartment’. It had a complete kitchen and classroom area set up for cooking classes. Each group chose where to sit then we all introduced ourselves. The class began with the instructor showing us how to make the shells of the macaron. We took turns piping out the shells and then make the ganache for the filling. We made two types of macarons, chocolate & pistachio. Our instructor was very knowledgeable, she broke the process down in a way where we felt confident that we could make macarons at home. We left with recipe cards and any macarons we didn’t already eat (not many).

Summary

Overall, our trip to Paris was everything I wanted it to be. The city itself was so clean and amazing and the people were friendly and accommodating. It was easy to navigate, our VRBO and host were fantastic and even with the rainy weather, it was still enjoyable.

The main reason I feel like the vacation was a success is because of all the research I put into planning it. Because I planned so well, we were able to hit all of the main sites we wanted to see, have some fun and different experiences AND have plenty of downtime to relax, enjoy and feel like we’re on vacation.

I got to know so much about the city through my internet sources–Pinterest, Google Maps, Tripadvisor and the Facebook Group ‘Les Frenchies‘. Babbel & Duolingo helped me to learn enough French to understand slower speakers and be able to read most French. I could get the basics conveyed when I spoke, but not much else.

The Les Frenchies group was invaluable for figuring out how to book Eiffel Tower tickets online. There was a trick to it and without the group, I probably would not have gotten them for my birthday. Their videos and warnings about pick pockets helped me be prepared and know what to look for and not be afraid. I could talk all day about the tips & tricks–from using the metro to ordering in a restaurant, I learned it from Les Frenchies!

Google Maps was another great tool. I would group nearby attractions together and it would lay out a walking plan to each one. When things were further away, it showed which metros were closest. Then I would get an idea of where to eat in the area by zooming in on the maps and looking up the restaurant websites to see their menus. I would even use the street view sometimes to get a look at an area and familiarize myself with it.

Pinterest had lots of articles to read about where to stay and what to do. I got specific with some of my searches and found off the beaten path things to do, like the Cat Cafe. Tripadvisor’s reviews helped a lot. That’s where I found ‘The Live Thriller’! Anytime I wanted to book a tour or get tickets to a museum, I looked at the Tripadvisor reviews first.

I love to travel! If you want to hear about other travel destinations, I suggest you read my post Vacation Spotlight: Lake Placid, NY and Vacation Spotlight: Costa Rica. If you want to learn to streamline your packing process and learn about great packing tools, read my post Pack Like a Pro. Post any questions or comments below. You can also reach me on Facebook, Instagram and via email. Thanks for reading!