Paris, France, Repeat Country, Stop 54

Dec. 13

We arrive in Paris and immediately get into a scammy situation with a cab driver who says that, yes, he is using a meter. Then a few blocks from the train station he says that actually it's a flat rate. When we are dropped off, his credit card machine "isn't working" and so Dmitri gives him less than the "flat rate" but in cash, since that's all he had. Ah, Paris. Welcome back to the big city.

We check into our funky hotel less than a block from the Musee d'Orsay and walk to a local pharmacy to get our pass sanitaire (health pass) QR codes so we can enter stores and restaurants. We dutifully show our vaccine cards and passports and pay 36 euros each and on our way we go. We much prefer getting the QR code for free and doing it all online like we did for Belgium but such is life. It's actually quite nice to know that when we are out in stores or restaurants or even outdoor Christmas markets that everyone else who is there has either been fully vaccinated or has been tested within the past 24 hours. Otherwise, they are not allowed to enter.

Dec. 14

We visited a local small grocery store yesterday so we are able to have our usual hotel room breakfast picnic. For both financial and logistical reasons, it's not practical for all four of us to head out to eat breakfast every morning. As most hotels have at least a mini fridge and a tea kettle, we are in business. We tend to eat yogurt with granola, cut fruit, cereal or oatmeal. We supplement with local pastries and find this works pretty well for us.

Since we have all been to Paris before we have no need to rush out to see the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre and whatnot. The goal is to soak up the Christmas merriment and just be out and about in the city. We have a family meeting and come up with some things we would like to do. We also need to allot time for Dmitri to get some work done and me to blog and Jack to have a few tutoring sessions. So it's going to be a low key next few days before we head back to the US.

We set off for a stroll around the city to see some of the festive areas. We head across the Seine and through the Tuileries to a Christmas market.

From there we head to a bakery and get a cookie that I have been reading about online for a few days.

We go to the roof of the Printemps Haussmann to get a view of the city and then head to Galeries Lafayette to admire the Christmas decorations and ENORMOUS tree.

On our way back to the hotel, we stroll through Galerie Vivienne, which is a beautiful covered arcade that is lit for the holidays with lots of white lights. We swing by the Italian deli (where Mia and Dmitri picked up salmon sandwiches the previous day) to get some dinner. They were not offering the salmon sandwiches so Dmitri and Mia got different sandwiches--which were almost as swoon-worthy, they tell me. I get pesto lasagna and Jack gets chicken Milanese. We go to bed full and happy.

Dec. 15

Mia and I make our way to a local boulangerie for some breakfast pastries. She gets an olive bread yummy thing and a creamy puffy donut thing and we get Jacques (see what I did there) the perfect pain au chocolat.

I get a baguette and Mia asks what I am going to get to go with my baguette. I tell her I will eat a baguette with my baguette. Ah, French baguettes in Paris.

After breakfast, Mia and I spend the early part of the day with Monsieur Monet and his water lilies at the Musee de l'Orangerie, which is the perfect pocket-sized museum.

We have a lovely stroll back along the Seine where I promptly finish off my baguette. Yes, I ate an ENTIRE baguette in one day. By myself. I am in Paris! It's my breakfast AND my lunch!

For dinner we head to Chipotle and make Jack very happy!

Nearby we stroll through the Hotel de Ville Christmas market, which is my favorite of all the Christmas markets in Paris.

Dec. 16

In the afternoon we make our way on the metro to the Promenade Plantee. It's an elevated parkway built on abandoned railroad tracks. If you are picturing New York City and the High Line, yes--just like that. In fact, the High Line was modeled after this one in Paris.

Dec. 17

Today Dmitri and I do what was billed as a 3 hour bike tour, but turns out to be more like 5 hours!!! We have a VERY excited and proud guide who takes us all over Paris, showing us the famous monuments and telling us the history of Paris. Dmitri and I are glad we left the kids behind on this one, as we get back to the hotel very late. We are cold and worn out. While we loved the tour and all that we were shown, it was a bit overkill.

Also, while in Paris we delight at finding the pixelated creations of Invader, a French street artist. Mia had heard about him and we start to notice the little mosaics all over the streets of Paris. ***Photos of Invader's street art at the end of the blog.***

Dec. 18

Mia and I are up and out early to head a block over to Musee d'Orsay. I've been to the museum before but this is her first time there and in addition to the works of art, she marvels at how gorgeous the building is.

Later in the afternoon, we head out on a canal tour. This isn't the usual bateaux mouches tour that people go on when they go to Paris. Instead, we meet up near Canal St. Martin and go through several locks, swinging bridges, and a kilometer long tunnel as we make our way along the Seine and end at the Musee d'Orsay.

Dec. 19

Today we get up and gorge ourselves silly on French pastries on our way out of town.

Before....

....and after.

Before heading to the airport, we need to get antigen tests! We have waited until the last minute so that we only need to have one test to cover our flight from Paris to Lisbon, the overnight stay in Lisbon, and the flight from Lisbon to Miami. We find a pharmacy and after a long line, get the tests taken. We go to a nearby mall to browse and wait for the results. Three out of four results come back very quickly. Luckily, we decided not to head to the airport until we get the results. There has been some mix up and we walk BACK to the pharmacy where they have the wrong email for the last test. Sigh. We get it sorted and head to the airport and off we go.

We fly to Lisbon, where we will spend the night before heading back to the USA!!!

And here's a link to Mia's blog on Edinburgh, Bruges, and Paris.

***Invader's creations on the streets of Paris***