It's hard to arrive in La Ville-Lumière and not feel excited. But Paris is a demanding mistress-- She has so many sights to see and so many delights to be discovered. We are already more than halfway into our week in Paris and it's clear we will depart leaving too much undone. Each day we try leave as early as we can manage-- no languid breakfasts of croissant and coffee. Each day we return after the kids' purported bedtime. Our pedometers report close to 20,000 steps daily-- twice the norm. And yet so much remains to be seen and done.
Our Paris friends have been the most gracious of hosts. They have also been our personal guides (and translators!) in Paris. We hope to repay the favor when they come visit us in Rome later this year.
Our Paris friends have been the most gracious of hosts. They have also been our personal guides (and translators!) in Paris. We hope to repay the favor when they come visit us in Rome later this year.
The visit to Versailles was well worth the effort. I think everyone enjoyed the Gardens more than the Maison, despite the rain. It's tough to really grok the grand scale of this place. It makes you feel small in comparison, which is exactly what Louis XIV wanted, to be sure.
The kids especially enjoyed the musical fountains.
The kids especially enjoyed the musical fountains.
We also got out to the Parc Floral this week. It was a much nicer day, allowing us to enjoy many of the kid-friendly activities like climbing, driving the bicycle "cars" and just plain running around. Again, this place is built on a grand scale. Though I don't think it was meant to intimidate as much as it was to create an oasis within the city. |
After Parc Floral we detoured slightly to explore the nearby Chateau de Vincennes.
The place is surrounded by a moat and an outer wall. The kids were sent to go play on the outer wall. This seemed like good clean fun at the time, as the perspective makes the wall look like it's only a few feet tall. "Uncle Big" knew better, though. He stopped the kids from climbing onto the wall, pointing out the perilous 20' drop on the other side of the apparent 3' wall long before any of the other parents had connected the dots.