Paris Day 1: Eiffel Tower

Now that the kids are older I thought they would enjoy going up to the top of the Eiffel Tower.  I bought tickets in advance, figuring it would be the perfect outing for Valentine's Day.  That is until we woke up to pouring rain.  So not fun.  But since we had tickets, we soldiered on.  It was cold, windy and wet on the tower.  But even with the rain and fog the views were lovely.

We rode the elevator all the way to the top.  C wasn't sure she wanted to go all the way up but in the end she overcame her fears and joined us.  According to her, "(the elevator) was scary going up, but fun coming down."
 

By the time we came down the rain had mostly stopped but there was still lots of puddles to jump in, or in K's case, fall in.  It was at this point where I was kicking myself for packing light.



C was fixated on hot chocolate so we walked across the city to the famous Angelina's for a late lunch.

It's hard to pass all the boulangerie's and not stop at least to look.

It was quite a trek across the city so we were all tired and hungry by the time we reached Angelina's. There was a line outside but luckily it moved pretty quickly and we were seated at the exact same table we sat at three yrs ago.  We immediately ordered hot chocolates for the kids and kir royale for me. The hot chocolate is more like chocolate syrup that you mix with fresh whipped cream. Yum.


  
While we waited for lunch to arrive, C drew a picture of us all at the top of the Eiffel tower. The kids also made valentine's at the table.  Our lunch was oui french - french onion soup, quiche and croque monsieur.  Out of nowhere C has turned into a picky eating so she passed on everything except the french fries.  We finished the meal with a chocolate eclair (which K ate like a hotdog on his fork) and passion fruit cheesecake. 



After lunch we walked across the street to the Tuileries, the garden in front of the Louvre.  First stop was the trampoline park where the kids had a blast.  C was super excited to have finally figure out how to sit and stand in one motion.

 
Then we spent time at the playground in the Tuileries.

We walked around the garden a bit more, enjoying the scenery.

 

  The sun had just set by the time we made it to the Louvre.




We decided to walk back to the hotel which was at the far end of the Marais district at Place del la Republique.  This turned out to be yet another hike and about halfway through, K started complaining that his leg hurt and he couldn't walk anymore. With some mommy back riding, we were slowly closing in on the hotel when we stumbled across an oyster vendor who urged us to try some, free of charge.  J did so willingly and surprisingly, K was up for a try as well.

 

After the oyster appetizer, K was begging to go back to the hotel so that he could go to bed (love this kid!) so he and I went back while J & C ate burgers & fries at at Cantine California.  A long but fun day exploring Paris.