Paris May 2009

Of course our adventures in Paris did not follow the perfect tourist agenda (see our cultural adventures in New York last spring for evidence that we don't quite do the touristy thing right). Instead we asked our friends who have lived in Paris what their favorite things to do there were--well, actually we asked their kids in particular. So, we tried to match one thing that Chris and I wanted to do with one thing that the kids wanted to do.

Here we are off to the Louvre (note the suspicious look on Atticus' face).



But, really the kids were excited.



The first place that Tiare wanted to go was to see the Mona Lisa.




(Atticus still not feeling it!)

Our friends kids told us that after the Mona Lisa, we just had to go see the crown jewels and the Egyptian collections. But, on our way, we passed a whole bunch of statues.





For those of you who were following our trip via Facebook status updates, you will remember Atticus' astute observation of the Louvre. He turned to me about half way through our day there and said, "Mom, this place has a lot of butts and nuts!" When he becomes a famous art historian (think Robert Langdon), we'll all keep this comment on the down low right?!



We had to pace ourselves as we were there for a long time and of course only scratched the surface of the collections.





It was just great to spend time together--really this is the best part of any of our trips together no matter where we go. I know it sounds corny, but having time with the four of us together without any distractions--friends or work or anything else--is so great!



We loved the seeing Monet's lillies at the Orangerie!



Atticus took his job of guarding the bag of artisan chocolate very seriously as we went through Orangerie...



In exchange for going to the Louvre and the Orangerie, the kids wanted to go jump on the trampolines conveniently located right in the Jardin Tuileries.











After all of that jumping, we had to have a picnic!



And what is Paris in addition to art, food! And we made sure to eat a lot!



Of course being the family of Chris Cutri, we make friends with everyone and their brother with in moments. While ordering a crepe, all of the sudden the crepe man says that Atticus can come back and make his own crepe.







We did eat more than just crepes, we ate a whole lot of wonderful bread too. Tiare's favorite was pain au chocolate! She'd ask for one as soon as she woke up. Here is our favorite place to buy baguettes and pain au chocolate--and yes not all baguettes are created equal.



No worries of weight gain as we walked and walked--down streets, across bridges...



Along the way, we'd meet more people and instantly become friends--like with the break dancers...





Chris also ensured that we had quiet, artsy moments of reflection too as he made us pose for photos using his new camera...



Sometimes, he'd allow for silly poses too...


On occasion, he even let someone else take the picture so that he could actually be in a picture with us...





Now, before you feel bad for noticing, let's just get the truth out in the open, yes we did wear just about the same clothes everyday! You all know that I am not a fashionista, and I am a very practical traveler, so we didn't bring very many clothes.

Yes, we did go to the Eifle Tower.











We didn't climb up it though as the kids had a whole lot of other activities planned for the Champs de Mars than climbing stairs to see a great view!

There were the pony rides...







Tiare's favorite find at the Eifle Tower was the pink limo!



Another of the kids favorite things in the Champs de Mars was the puppet show starting Guignol.

We'd come back from our marathon days of culture and fun, and just crash



Yes, they did sleep in the bathtube that night--they wanted to I promise! We had a great stay at the hotel--so nice to come home to a clean and super comfortable hotel--yes, my roughing-it days of staying in youth hostels are long gone, and I have no desire to return to that mode of traveling! Give me a Marriott with CNN and Cartoon Network any night! (Thank you Marriott points for a free week's stay!)

Ok, back to the food...yum best Falafel I've ever had here at our favorite restaurant in the Jewish District (or part of the European Bagel Belt as other travelers told us).









The Jewish District and the Gay District were definitely our favorite in terms of finding cool little design shops and galleries and good food. (Well ok my favorite. Chris loved the Latin District better.) Alas, we never did find the one pastry shop that I really wanted to go to called Le GayChoc--with a name like that how could I resist, but we never found it!

My memory of Paris from my backpacking days was always clouds, and we saw some beautiful ones this trip too.



Jardin du Luxembourg was beautiful...



You are supposed to sail boats at the Jardin du Luxembourg, but we didn't do that.



We watched the boats.





And relaxed...





But what the kids really wanted to do was play on the zip line at the playground!





We stayed there for hours and ate barbe à papa (cotton candy)!


At night one of our favorite places to go was the English speaking book store...





We'd look at books, the kids played the piano, and we chatted with other English speakers. Some people even stayed the night there as they allowed crashers on the top floor!

Our week in Paris was so much fun, but we were ready for our next adventure--the beach. That post to come soon!