Bonjour from Paris

Bonjour from Paris!

We flew out on Thursday night; and, I must say, we have the best little travelers! We got situated on our row and off to sleep we all went! Hallelujah!

When we landed, it was morning for us but afternoon in France. So we hit the ground running! First stop, Arc de Triomphe….and it was as majestic as I had remembered! We had forgotten about the crazy traffic circle around it where it seems so chaotic but somehow it works here. It makes our roundabout in Alabama look so pedestrian! We did have to pull our children away from being the unintended round-eyed, blonde headed stars of a picture with an Asian tourist! Seriously!?! This hasn’t been the last time that’s happened either! We kept walking to the Eiffel Tower as Bea was about to bust to see it. When she saw it, her face was priceless! It was the most amazing sight…Bea, I mean! Teddy, on the other hand, had fallen asleep! We walked around a bit more through flower markets and fruit/meat/cheese markets…feeling like locals. We found a cafe where we sat outside for supper. It was definitely chilly but was so fun! Everyone was ready for bed by 8. However, Teddy waked at midnight (thinking he took a long nap!) and we wrestled til he got back to sleep just before 2am!

The next morning we took an open top bus tour of the city. It’s the quickest and best way to see as much of the city as possible! It was fun for both Cory and me to reminisce about places we had seen when we came here 15+ years ago with our own families. For lunch, we walked down a bustling alley with all kinds of shops and restaurants to find a cute Italian cafe. We love the outdoor eating…at least this time we had some overhead heaters to save our thin skin!

For supper, we had a reservation when the restaurant opened…at 7:30pm! It was a delightful French place with a luckily short menu since the waiter had to read it all to us…even the google translate app struggled to make sense of a menu so deeply French cuisine hip.

Sunday, we set off to go up into the Eiffel Tower. Bea was SO excited she was bouncing! Since the recent attacks here, France is obviously doing all they can to protect high traffic areas. They have soldiers with assault rifles everywhere around the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe. We enjoyed seeing the French Statue of Liberty that faces America! Then we waited in a long line to get to the top…in a glass elevator. I must’ve forgotten that part as I don’t love heights! It was quite cold when we got to the top. Teddy cried the majority of the time up here because he was cold…or so I thought. Turns out, he was tired. He fell asleep as soon as he got back in the stroller and didn’t wake til we got in a taxi back to the hotel. He missed delicious Nutella crepes (again, as great as I remembered) and a Merry Go Round ride. Sweet Bea told me she rode the lion for Teddy since he was asleep.

Just as we hopped in a car to get to head out of town, it started raining….perfect timing! The French side of customs was experiencing technical difficulties which led us to stand in line for a long while getting thru French and English customs. Then we waited longer for our delayed train. When we finally boarded, we had a four top table area to ourselves. It was a late night but eventually we made it to London.

Here are a few pictures below. You can also see more (and some videos) via Instagram:
@mdminton
@coryminton

Love,
Cory, Millie, Bea & Teddy

Ready for our first flight…and our version of a double stroller for our trip!