Paris Celebration Getaway

We always put our house on airbnb for the marathon weekend, and this year instead of a nearby vacation or a short drive away, as we've done in past years, we wanted to go all out, knowing it would be soon after my PhD defense (and assuming I passed) and after we knew where we'd be spending the next few years. We looked at flights during those days to anywhere we were interested in visiting and chose the cheapest tickets, which happened to be to Paris. I haven't ever been to Europe but wanted to go, and especially wanted to take advantage of living in Boston and being relatively closeby. At first, I thought, Paris is so cliche, but I am so happy with our choice, all the hype is well-deserved.

We started the trip out with forgetting Elliott's passport at home. I had succumbed to the fact that we would miss our flight while Nathan rushed back home during rush hour to get the passport and return to the airport. I was pleasantly surprised as I watched as the flight being delayed and delayed. This mishap actually ended up working out well, because since we hadn't checked in yet, they were able to book us another flight to avoid taking the flight that had been so far delayed we would've missed our connection. This one allowed us to sleep through the night instead of switching flights halfway. Also, it was on Swiss air, which gives out chocolate bars!

We arrived in Paris in the afternoon the next day having slept only a few hours but were able to quickly find our apartment, which was right by Notre Dame in the cutest spot. We settled in and head straight to the Eiffel Tower, our first destination. This was the one Elliott was most anticipating and he loved riding up all the elevators. This was a great place to start the trip because we were able to get a view of the city from above and scope out where we were headed. Also, if you ever do visit, don't forget to check out the "1st floor"- most people skip over this and go straight up to the second then up to the top from there. This is where they've installed a glass floor. I guess they were worried people would become too freaked out so it is a bit cloudy, not purely transparent.  

Right outside the door to the stairwell of our Airbnb

The door from the street that leads into a small complex where our airbnb was

Couldn't resist the berets. 

From the top of the Eiffel tower

 

 

On the way home, we bought Elliott a light up toy Eiffel tower that was the best 5 euros I ever did spend and kept him entertained the whole trip. The salesman all have all their goods laid out on a blanket that is a drawstring that can fold up at a moments notice so when a policeman is coming they all can scatter within a few seconds. While Elliott slept in the stroller we took a romantic stroll along the river to walk to our train.

On Day 2 we started the day with pastries from a nearby bakery which we ate next to the Notre Dame Cathedral (PRE-FIRE). We went to Sacre Cour, a beautiful church up on top of the hill overlooking the city and in the Montmartre neighborhood where a bunch of artists gather to paint. We took a little train ride through the neighborhood. When booking the tickets I was determined to go to Belgium for some waffles, but then we heard about this place which is just as good and saved us a whole day of travel. We also visited the Arc de Triomphe and went shopping on the Champs de Elysee before a delicious Pizza dinner with profiteroles for dessert.

The first of many pain au chocolats

Notre Dame Cathedral from the back, spire still intact

Riding the trains was such a hassle with the stroller and Elliott
but the joy it gave him every time was priceless

Where all the artists are set up selling their work at Montmarte

The little train we rode throughout the neighborhood

Sacre Cour

 

Belgian Waffles

Arc de Triomphe

The Italian food in Paris was excellent! 

On Day 3, we visited a fancy macaron place (Pierre Herme) (Elliott can down those things!) and a fancy chocolate place, Patrick Roger which we enjoyed while Elliott chased the pigeons around in front of yet another beautiful church Saint Sulpice. Then we took the BIG BUS around to the Opera House, the Louvre, the Musee de L'Orangerie, finished off by a Crepe from a street vendor eaten in front of the  Notre Dame Cathedral before we went inside. This was just a couple days before the fire happened!

When among some of the most beautiful places in the world,
Elliott was most enthralled by the pigeons.

This is chocolate :)

Palais Garnier

On the Big Bus

The Louvre is HUGE

 

This bridge was absolutely covered with locks

Our Crepe Maker in front of Notre Dame

Notre Dame

On Day 4,  we started the day at Eric Kayser, a bakery chain throughout the city that was amazing (we got several looks from other patrons when they saw the haul of 2 adults and 1 toddler.) We then went to Saint Chapelle, a church that we actually liked more than Notre Dame because of the incredible stain glass art. We went to the Choco story museum, a chocolate museum, with all you can eat samples of chocolate made from beans from different countries and with varying degrees of darkness. Then we walked through the Luxembourg gardens as we made our way to the Catacombs, an underground passageway where millions of bones are stacked together winding around miles of tunnels, part of which we were able to explore. Elliott was a bit freaked out by the dark, but luckily a bit too young to understand the gravity of all these bones. Essentially every day we got some ice cream, because when traveling with a toddler, a promise of ice cream is what gets you all through the day. We got ours at a fancy place that made it into a flower and put a macaron on top. Each time we went, Elliott insisted on a specific color of pink for his ice cream, which was, unfortunately, lichee flavored.

Our extensive haul

In Saint Chapelle, the windows tell the story of the bible as you go around

Choco Story

Luxembourg Gardens

In the Catacombs, this place was awesome!

So good we went back the next night.
So very Parisian to make it into a fancy flower

The next day we decided to visit Versailles. Despite getting there early in the day and having the "skip the line" tickets, we waited in line for 2 hours before we could enter. It all felt very true to Versailles, keep everyone outside waiting for hours before they can all go inside to look at a super fancy and elaborate building that screams of distasteful overindulgence. We were swarmed by other pushy tourists the whole time, so if I could do it again, I wouldn't have gone here as all in all with the train ride out there and back it took far more time than it was worth. The silver lining though was that we were able to get these amazing savory crepes afterward for lunch.

That evening after returning, we were able to take a river cruise on the Siene, seeing all the beautiful iconic Parisian sites by water as the sun set. This was the last day that the Notre Dame spire stood before the fire, and it was breathtaking to see despite not knowing about what was to follow. We also had Raclette for dinner, which is where they bring you a giant block of cheese with a heat lamp that slowly melts it and some bread, meats, and veggies that you dip in the melting cheese. It was just about the best thing ever.

Just in time for this shot, the fire was the next day

 

The Raclette

The following day, we rented a car and took a drive through the countryside to reach Mont St. Michel. This is an amazing castle standing on a hill on an island.  It was originally a small abbey in the 8th century AD that has since been built upon on numerous occasions to become what it is and has functioned as an Abbey, a fortress, and a prison over the years. When we arrived, it was when many of the shops were closing for the evening and tourists were all leaving, allowing us space and freedom to wander around to each crevasse and hidden alleyway. We climbed to all sorts of places that were definitely not allowed with the few other guests who chose to book their stay on one of the few island hotels and see it all in daylight, at dusk and at night. Nathan loved discovering his phone's photosphere capability here and it was one of our favorite parts of the trip.

On our walk in from the shuttle to the island

 

Our little inn

 

 

It was when we arrived at Mont St. Michel and were putting our stuff in our room we turned on the TV to see that the Notre Dame Cathedral was in flames and since the smoke had been seen fifteen minutes earlier, no firefighters had been able to fight their way onto the scene with the traffic yet. It was surreal to see this as just that morning, we had been at our airbnb which was a few minutes away from the cathedral. We felt grateful to have been able to see it before this happened and also that we were able to leave the city before it happened.

The next day, we skipped forward 1000s of years in history to visit Normandy and drove to Utah Beach, a site where US forces landed on D-Day. Nathan's great uncle landed on Utah Beach and was quickly shot in the stomach. Fortunately, he survived and lived to tell the tale. We also stopped at Pointe du Hoc, where the US forces scaled up steep cliffs to surprise the Germans and take out the weaponry that would've threatened the progress of the Utah Beach and Omaha Beach landings. There were still huge craters in the ground everywhere, but now the wildflower covering offers a stark contrast to the destruction. It was interesting to marvel at both the beauty and ugliness of the earth and the people on it. On the way home, we stopped in Bayeaux for a ferris wheel ride and a delicious dinner.

At Utah Beach museum

Pointe du Hoc

Bayeoux

 

To finish out the trip, we had a 9 hr. layover in Zurich on our way home. We went to the top of Uetliberg mountain to hike up to an overlook of the city taking the train to get there. Then we explored the city, walking by the river, going into fancy chocolate shops, and seeing some more churches. It was here that both of our phones died when I went to buy some chocolate at a grocery store and told Nathan I'd meet him there because he was exploring a stamp store and so I knew it was gonna take forever. When I had waited for a while in front of the store, I went back to the stamp store knowing if he hadn't left yet I'd pass him on the way. The clerk told me he'd been gone for a while now. Not knowing what else to do, I just waited in front of the grocery store, not knowing Nathan was wandering all over the inside of the store for some time. We were both simultaneously freaking out. Luckily he eventually emerged and we were reunited, learning our lesson on splitting up in foreign countries when we have no phone service.

We flew a red-eye home (thank you Benadryl and Melatonin) and were grateful to put Elliott back in school and catch a break after traveling with him for all that time. It definitely limited us, taking one ride on a scooter instantly helped us realize all the time we were wasting pushing his stroller everywhere, but I was able to push away my constant need to be efficient and enjoy the journey. Elliott was a champ! He was surprisingly well-behaved and tolerated the lack of sleep and time change very well. He loved it, but it's a shame such a once in a lifetime trip had to happen at a stage he won't remember any of.