Back to Paris, France by Mel

We are back in Paris!
We are here because a certain someone (Emma!) wanted to have their birthday in Paris with their French family!
We arrived on the 3rd of September at the beginning of the evening, found our place, had a quick shop to buy pasta and cheese, then dinner and bed to get ready for the big day the following one.
Thursday the 4th of September, Emma turned 9!!! Halfway through childhood… That is going way to fast! Emma has grown a lot since the beginning of the gap year! She is still a child but on her way to becoming a pre-teenager. I am so not ready for that!
We started the day with cuddles, lots of them. Then pain a chocolat for breakfast. Our first stop of the day was the Illusion Museum, which was fun: it had lots of optic illusions, brain teasers and games. We had fun there. We finished a bit earlier than planned, so we walked around the area a bit, waiting for the time of our second stop of the day. It was lunch time, and we went to “l’auberge de Nicolas Flamel”. It is considered the oldest house in Paris, built in 1407, by Nicolas Flamel, a rich ‘bourgeois’, who may or may not have been an alchemist. He commissioned this house after the death of his wife, Pernelle: the ground floor was reserved for trades and the top floors for the poor. They could live there free under one condition, saying one “Ave Maria” and one “Pater Noster” for him and his wife every day.
Nowadays, there is a restaurant on the ground and first floors, owned by Alan Geaam, a star chef. I picked this restaurant, as Emma says they want to be a chef, and this place is renowned for its innovative cooking. We loved it there!
The food was delicious: creative, fun, colourful, so good! For the exact details of what we ate, you can go to Emma’s blog! The atmosphere was great and the service impeccable. We were made very comfortable and got told some of the history of the house. Every dish was explained to us. It was amazing. I truly loved the experience. They even asked us if we wanted to see the kitchen as I mentioned in my booking that Emma wanted to be a chef, but Emma got extremely shy when we went in the kitchen. The restaurant organised a small extra desert with a candle on it. Those touches were so lovely.
After this delicious meal, we went onto a treasure hunt. We had to pick up a bag with a book full of codes and pictures and clues and some tools to helps us. Some clues had to be found on the monuments and building in Paris. We had a map to follow which took us to 6 stops in the centre of Paris. It took us around 2 and a half hours to do the whole thing. We got a pin each when we successfully came back to the first spot with our final answer.
We finished the day at a karaoke for a couple of hours, singing our hearts out.
It was a marvellous day and a very special birthday. As I said to Emma, we can’t do that every year though!!! We made amazing memories.
The following day, we relaxed a bit and did some blogging. In the afternoon, we meet up with Celine, Thomas and their 3 kids. As always, even if they don’t speak the same language, the 5 kids get along so well, chasing each other, running together, building lego things and inventing games. It is always a pleasure to see Celine and Thomas and we are always sad to leave, as we never know when is the next time we will see them again.
On the 6th of September, we picked up my niece, Manon and her boyfriend Nathan, who came for the day in Paris. We visited Paris together, walking along the big monuments: the Pantheon, the Eiffel Tower, the Trocadero, the Champ Elysee… Paris is so beautiful, I will never get tired of it! It was great to spend the day with Manon and Nathan.
In the evening, we had dinner with those 2, my brother David and my uncle Franck and my aunt Bego for Emma’s birthday. This was the one thing Emma asked for: during the gap year, she wanted to do her birthday, with the French family, so we did. Emma picked a brasserie where they do banana juice, as it is one of Emma’s favourite and we had trouble finding it anywhere else! We had a great evening, chatting and catching up. It is always great catching up with the French mob and it fills my heart.
On the Sunday, we went to Asterix Park! It was a great day. Andrew is an adrenaline junkie and wanted to do all the massive rollercoasters, which Kev was very happy to oblige! Emma and I are a little more reserved on that side. We did a few (the less scary one) and even those were a bit scary! Emma pushed herself and even if she was scared, she was very brave and tried thing that were outside of what she would normally do, but she was also very capable of saying this one is too much, I’m not doing it! We were very proud of her!
We did water ride and got wet (lucky it was warm), we did quieter ride and enjoyed them too. It was a great day and again, more happy memories where made.
The only negative side were the waiting in the line: maybe next time we will take the skip the line tickets!
On Monday, we had a quiet day. This is what we are going to do this week, as we are trying to save a bit of money for the rest of the trip, and catch up on planning and schoolwork.
So on that day, we did Emma’s birthday interview: every year I asked the kids the same questions around their birthday and video the answers. I love listening to their answers. Emma this year, talked a lot about her brother, horses and sushi! When I asked Emma what she was proud about, she said: “my brother” and when I asked what she loved about herself, she said: “Me! And my personality”. Yes Emma, we love it too!
Then we spend the day blogging and resting.
Tuesday was more schoolwork. Then we walked in the park near where we stay, called La Villette. This is a ‘modern’ (more constructions than trees) park built around a river, where I used to go when I was a teenager and it was nice walking around.
We finished the day with a board game night, which we haven’t done for a while.
Wednesday was planning day for Kev and I, while the kids mixed blogging, schoolwork and reading books. We managed to book all the way up too beginning of December: Ecuador and Peru accommodations and plane tickets and tickets for Machu Picchu are booked! Yeah!!!
Thursday was a family day. Afternoon with my brother David. We went to put some flowers on my mum’s grave together and spent the rest of the day chatting and walking in the Park George Brassens, which I didn’t know before. It was a lovely one which a small lake in the middle and garden of herbs and overall a nice atmosphere.
We finished the day at Franck and Bego for dinner where we had a fantastic time, eating delicious food and having simply a wonderful family time. I didn’t want to leave! I looked at the time at some point and realised it was past midnight and we had to go! We ordered an Uber and went back to our place with 2 really sleepy kids!
Friday we sent some of the things we have been carried around for a while without using them and also the ‘few’ magnets we bought since the beginning of the trip. Our bags should be a bit lighter now!
We caught up for a coffee with my Dad and said goodbye as we are leaving in a couple of days.
Emma got a haircut after that: back to one of the haircut I love: half shaved on one side and long on the other. It suits her very well.
We spent the evening with Ben and Malika and their 2 beautiful children. Ben is a friend of mine from my teenage and young adult years (I don’t have too many of those!) and it is always nice to catch up. We had a lovely time and too soon, it was time to say goodbye again, which I really don’t like, as I never know when we will be back again.
Saturday, we changed some euros to US dollars, as it is what is used in Ecuador where we are going next! I always like to arrive with some local money already in our wallet, as by experience, ATMs at airport are pretty expensive. We had lunch out and came back to our place to rest and relax and played some video games. We have to have some lazy days!
Sunday the 14th of September is our last full day in Europe. We went for one last visit of my mum’s grave, did some blogging and spend the afternoon with David.
I went to have a couple of beers with Celine, catching up just the 2 of us, as we use to do many many years ago. Always a pleasure and one of the thing I miss the most when I am back in Australia. As always, I had to say goodbye again. Saying goodbye sucks.

Goodbye France! It was a pleasure catching up with all our friends and family. I love visiting France as it is a magnificent country with a lot to see. We did a bit in June when we came first, but there is so much more to do and discover. I loved visiting the ‘chateaux’ in the Loire area. Family and friends time were amazing. Catching up with everyone like we only saw each other a few weeks ago is always a pleasure. I will miss everyone and I wish Australia wasn’t that far from everywhere (Can someone move tectonic plates, or invent teletransportation, one or the other?).
I love Paris: yes there are a lot of people, and you are packed in the underground and there are buildings everywhere, but this was my first home and it feels comfortable and familiar. And Paris is beautiful, with so much to do. I think I will always miss it.
France is such an interesting place to see: history, art, fun and interesting places to go. The food is delicious: we love the simple sandwich baguette and also brasserie meals, simple but delicious. The experience at the Nicolas Flamel restaurant was amazing.
France we will be back… not sure when though.
Tomorrow we are on our way toward our next adventure: South America! We are starting in the Galapagos Island, which is going to be amazing!!!
We will see you there.
MelRead more