Paris, France by Mel

Bonjour!!!!
We are in Paris, France! My first home! It is so nice to be back.
We arrived in Paris on the 14th of June. I am glad we are here during summer as Kev and the kids only ever saw France in winter so far. France is always great, but it is even better during the warm season.
On the day we arrived, we took the metro to get to the little flat we booked for the week. We arrived at the address I got from the booking website, knock on the door and we were meet by a really astonished person who open the door. I explain that we are here for renting the place and she said that she and her husband and daughter lives here and the place is not for rent! Great!! Did we get scam? We never had issue with our booking website so far, but there is always a first. The people were super friendly, invited us for a coffee inside to try to sort it out. They even try to call a friend of them who might have a place for us to rent! Really friendly! I message on the booking website and the person say that they are at the location but can’t see us! What? What is the address: 17 of the street we are in. I checked my previous message: 27 of the street! Ok it was a mistake in the number of the street!!! Sorry!!! We get to the right place and settle. It was a bit scary for a minute, but the people were super friendly!
We are in a small apartment (typical for Paris) but that will be enough for a week. There is a washing machine in the flat and we start using it straight away as it is much needed!!!
We get in search of a boulangerie (which is easy as there are some everywhere in Paris) to get our first baguette sandwich of the trip. The kids and us loves those!!!! We found some and Andrew melt of pleasure eating his!! He says it is one of his favourite food.
After that, it is direction the centre of Paris to see my dad and his girlfriend Laurence. She is a ‘bouquiniste’: she sells books on the side of the Seine near Notre-Dames. There are 250 bouquinistes in Paris all along the seine. They all have 4 green boxes where they sell second hands or vintage books. They also sell postcards and some small souvenir now. The waiting list to get a spot is 8 years! Those green boxes have been here since 1859 and are still flourishing now. This is a permanent and well know fixture of Paris. Since 1992. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and it is said that ‘the Seine is the only river in the world that runs between two bookshelves’! To get there, we got of the underground a few stop before to be able to walk in Paris. I am breathing Paris in!!! I love this city so much. I realise every time I am here, that I miss it terribly. Paris is beautiful: the buildings are full of history, there is statues and art everywhere (especially in the centre of Paris) The brasseries, cafes and restaurant are al over the place with their terrace filled with people enjoying a catch up with their friends or having a quick break during their busy day.
We get to where my Dad and Laurence are and it is great to be able to give my dad a hug. It is hard to be away from my family. Australia is very far from France! Anyway, we meet Laurence and then go to a café to catch up, Parisian style!
After a while, we go to see Notre-Dame. Laurence book’s stale is right near it, so it is a good opportunity. We only saw the outside as the line to get in is so big that we didn’t see the end of it! Notre-Dame burnt in 2019. The inside has been rebuilt and they are still working on the outside. They reopened it in December 2024 and a lot of people want to see it! We’ll have to try to see the inside at some point. Notre-Dame was built in the 12th century on the site of an older Romane church which was there since the 4th or 5th century. It almost got burnt during the French revolution, but luckily they didn’t to avoid burning the nearby hospital for the elderly. Notre-Dame is always a pleasure to see. The details of the façade are so many, you could spend a whole day just looking at it! We kept walking in the area for a while before heading to Celine and Thomas, some of my best friends and their 3 kids place. Last time we were in France, Andrew and Emma got along so well with them even if they didn’t speak the same language. It was the same again this time: after a few minutes a shyness, they were all playing together again.
It was nice being back chatting with my friends, natural, not like 3 years has pass since last time we saw each other. We spent the evening chatting and eating cheese and bread. About 10.30pm, Kev looked at the time and had to check that his time settings were right: it was still light outside!!! It is summer and the sun set late at that time of the year!
We left as the kids were getting tired. We got back in the underground and the kids were falling asleep.
The next day, we started the day with a French breakfast: croissant, pain au chocolat and pain au raisin from a nearby boulangerie. It is such a pleasure to be able to get some fresh delicious patisseries in the morning! After that, we went to the cemetery where my mum is, as it was her birthday and for once, I was there to put flowers on her grave on her special day. I know it doesn’t really matter as she is not here anymore, but the gesture was important for me.
Then we went to a restaurant with my dad, Laurence, my uncle Franck and aunt Bego. Again, it is always a pleasure to meet with my family as we don’t see each other a lot obviously. We stayed at the restaurant for around 5 hours! Chatting along and having a few drinks. A typically French Sunday! What a treat.
This time in Paris, I’ve decided to do some of the parcs and jardins (garden) around Paris as we didn’t really do that the last few times we were here because of the weather. So Monday the 16th, my dad picked us up to go to the Jardin d’acclimatation. This park was open in 1860 by Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie. It was originally a zoologic park where plants and animals from the colonies could be shown to the Parisians. In 1870, during the siege of Paris (due to the Franco-Prussian war), the animals were used to feed the Parisians! From the 1930s, the park focussed on children and family orientated activities. Nowadays, there are a lot of rides, playground, water play area… a dream for any children! The kids had a ball on a lot of rides. Andrew wanted to do all the extreme ones. Emma was a bit more hesitant, but she did several rides and found one she loved! The clock tower which goes up and down and turn. She was worried at first, but then you should have seen her smile! It was massive. We could also hear her going weeeee when the ride was going down. It was very fun!
When spent a fair bit of time there, walking around the park and doing attractions. After that we went for ice cream at Laurence’s place. Yum!
The next day, we went to another park, Le Jardin du Luxembourg. This park was built in 1612, by Marie de Medicis (Wife of Henry IV and mother of Louis the XIII) to accompany the palais du Luxembourg. It now belongs to the Senat. The garden is one of the most beautiful in Paris. There are trees, water features, chairs everywhere to sit and enjoy your day, beautiful old buildings. In the middle of the park, there is a basin where you can rent small boats. It has been going on since 1927. Clement Paudeau hand carved small boats and his wife hand sewn the sails and they decided to rent them to children for 2 sous. It was an instant success and still is. I believe the boats in used now are still the same (the sails have been repaired or changed). Now it is 8 euros for 30 minutes! But the kids looooooved it. You put the boat on the water and push it with a wooden cane. The wind pushes the little boats, and the kids have to run around the round water feature and push the boat back when it comes back to the side. It is brilliant. The kids are all around running and looking for their boats. The kids could have stay there the allllll day!
There are also play area, where you have to pay a small fee (that bugged me a bit: playground use to be free!) and we spent a bit of time there. After a drink with my dad and Laurence, the kids decided to spent some of their pocket money to have one more go on the boats.
We then meet with my brother David. It is so good to catch up with family. Hugging your loved one when it only happens every several years is something very special. We walked around the park a little bit then went for dinner in a brasserie where Andrew got his first ‘Steak haché’ of the trip. This is just minced meat, but it is delicious. It is one of his favourite dish in France and has been looking forward to have some. We came back late, again! The fact that it is still daylight until 10.30pm is weird and we keep forgetting how late it is!
On Wednesday, after a bit of school work, we went to the Park Floral. This park opened in 1969 and is located in the Bois de Vincennes (near the Castle). In there, there are a lot of plantes, flowers, trees and a whole bunch of wooden playground. The kids play on it for a bit, before going to do some accrobranche: these are ziplines, rope bridges, nets and other fun stuffs hanging in trees that you have to go through. Lots of fun for the kids! Andrew was extremely keen obviously, Emma a little more reserved but we asked her to try her best and she did amazing. Both kids had a lots of fun going through the obstacles. Andrew got a bit frustrated when he was stuck behind people who were slower than him! He does those things so quickly. The higher track goes up to 12 meters high and he did it easy-peasy. Emma did the second highest one and was amazing at it. She is growing in confidence with her body and it is a pleasure to watch. We are very proud of her.
After a stop for food, we said goodbye to my dad and Laurence (we’ll see them again in a few days) and went to do some Rosalies: they are vehicles that have 4 seats and pedals with a roof over it. We had fun taking turn driving (a bit stressful when the kids were driving!) and going around the park. Then the kids spent like what felt like hours on a flying fox and we decide to go back to our place. The underground was packed so we decide to get off it and walk as we were in the area where I used to live, and I wanted to show the kids my old building. I love walking in the city, watching people at the terrasse of brasseries and cafes, all the little shops everywhere (not in shopping centres!)… I love this city!
Thursday, we booked a drum lesson for Andrew. He has been missing his drumkit a lot lately, so it was a must. We found someone close to where we are staying and booked him a 2-hour lesson. Andrew really enjoyed it and did not want to leave at the end!
Then we meet David again at La Villette, a park in the 19 district in Paris which was built between 1984 and 1987 on the site of former slaughterhouse which were active from 1867 to 1974. In that park there is multiple museums, concert hall (I saw several concerts there in my youth!), theatres and multiple playgrounds for kids. This is a massive park, the 3 largest in Paris. We went to see one of the exhibitions of the moment: Bubble Planet. It was an exhibition around the theme of bubbles! There were 9 different rooms. The first one with screen on the floor with fish and bubbles that you could step on the make them move. The second room was filled with massive pink ballons. The third one was a dome with a video projected on the inside of it of weird, coloured bubbles, cell type image thing and with bubbles and water sound. The fourth one has more ballons, but the air flow was making the balloons come back to the middle and levitate and the colours were changing all the time making it a very visual and entertaining room. Then it was a room with small area where you could take picture in fun settings, including making a giant bubble around yourself! Then it was a room with a massive ball pit. After that a circular room with video projected on the wall of moving magical landscapes, very visual. Then a room filled with light bulbs hanging from the ceiling and mirror on the floor and walls: the light bulbs were changing colours in pattern, making it extremely mesmerizing. Then there was a room with some VR set: Andrew and David did that. I didn’t, VR stuff make me sick! They both said it was amazing. To finish we watched 2 robot arms make bubbles. It was a really good exhibition: visually beautiful, interactive and fun.
We finish the day with another brasserie dinner; that is the best in Paris. We went in that same brasserie 3 years ago and Emma had a banana juice then. We never find that same one again and she has been asking for it ever since. They still had it, which made Emma very happy. Andrew tried a steak tartare, which is raw meat. He loves his steak haché very blue, so he gave a try with the steak tartare, but he prefers steak haché: meat has to be a bit cooked for Andrew.
Then back to our place, late again!
Friday we did some blogging in the morning and pack again as we will leave early the next morning. In the afternoon, we went to get Emma’s Pandora charm from France: she got 2. We got her one that has a baguette and cheese on it and she got herself a cancan dancer with the French colour on it.
We spent the afternoon walking in Paris. The weather is wonderful at the moment (even a bit hot!) and it is a pleasure to walk in the city and taking on the sights. I could walk for ever in here! We found a lollie shop and had to make a stop. We also had a stop at a brasserie and got a couple of drinks and the kids got crepes: just enjoying people watching and simply enjoying the time together Parisian style!
The evening we went back to see Celine and Thomas and the kids. As soon as we got in, the kids were off with Theophile, Heloise and Timothee. They always play so well together! As always, we always have a great time when we are there. The time always goes to fast. Back to our place late again.
The next morning, we got the car we are renting for the rest of our France trip and are off for more adventure.
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