Sam is asleep, Jen is enjoying a glass of red and the blinds have been drawn on our first full day in Paris, but it was almost curtains for me yesterday as we wandered around after our arrival. We checked in to our usual apartment in Le Marais, which is even better the second time around, then visited the supermarket to stock up. Once the necessities were taken care of we had an hour or two before dinner so headed to our favourite places, the Ile St Louis and the Ile de la Cite, where Sam played in the playground behind Notre Dame.
In front of Notre Dame is a fairly busy road crossing the island, and a very strange pedestrian crossing. There are no lights, no ‘Walk’ or ‘Don’t Walk’ signs, just a zebra crossing. The traffic continued to zoom past, so I assumed the rules were the same as Rome – step out blindly and trust the hand of God to take care of you. It turns out there is no God in Paris, there are just Parisians. They’re not necessarily the anti-Christ but the woman behind the wheel of the Citroën that nearly took me out was definitely a bit of a demon. I jumped out of the way as she blasted past, and was left in the middle of the road looking like … well … an idiot tourist.
Last night dinner was cassoulet, a bizarrely tasty French dish which, if you don’t wish to spend a week making it, comes in a tin. When you open the tin it looks like dog food. As you heat it up it smells like dog food. But my goodness, it’s the tastiest meal on Earth. That’s the amazing thing – in Paris everything seems better. It’s like that ad for James Boags. Wine tastes more classy, bread tastes more buttery, cheese tastes more cheesy and in Paris my beautiful wife is even more gorgeous than usual (I told her this and she said it’s just because she’s so happy here).
Anyway, after a thoroughly lovely evening and our first full night’s sleep of the entire trip we headed out this morning for a huge walk to the Eiffel Tower (about eight kilometres), which Sam walked entirely without complaint. We were very proud of our fit little trooper.
On the way we stopped at the bird markets on the Ile de la Cite.
Sam & Mummy at the bird markets
A place to buy more Sams
Wishing to rest out little man’s legs on the way back we caught the Batobus ferry which was quite fitting, as both daddy and Sam were wearing their Batman (or is that ‘Batoman’?) t-shirts.
This afternoon, after Sam didn’t have a daytime sleep but daddy did, we headed out again, hopped on the Batobus again, then wandered back via the Arc de Triomphe, Tuileries Gardens and Louvre Museum. It was another huge walk for Sam (about 2.5 hours), and another excuse for Jen and I to drink more red once we finally arrived home. A good result all around.
Sam at the Louvre
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