Away From My Desk: I don’t want a history lesson, I just want to see stuff -Paris

Blog title from my son, while waiting for the Louvre Museum.

We were back in Paris. And within the first 15 minutes, it showed. We decided to take a taxi from the train station to our hotel, as it should have cost $15 and my son would not have to be on the metro with luggage. The taxi dropped us off at the hotel within 15 minutes and charged $70. He claimed it was due to the Rugby World Cup having flat prices, but that had ended two days prior? So yep, back in Paris that is never easy and always scamming. Then I tried to check into the hotel, but our room was not ready regardless of my status. Yep, Paris.

I dropped off our bags and we headed down the street to Printemps, as I had promised my son macaroons each day. As I have good taste, we had to have our first ones at Laudree! It was the first shop in Printemps so it was perfect. (Not a great shot of him, but first bite of real French macaroons.)

We decided that was a great lunch and made our way to the metro. We went to the L'île de la Cité as a soft way to ease into exploring Paris. Sadly, due to the Israeli-Palestine conflict, the Holocaust memorial was closed. We had a tour of Notre Dame scheduled as our only guided tour of the week, so after exploring the restoration of the church on our own, we listened to a tour guide for over an hour. We left the tour early to explore the crypt. I wanted to see two things in Paris this trip and the first was a church. We walked to the other side of the island to our strictly timed visit for Saint Chapelle. This place was as magical as I remembered. We then grabbed a glass of champs at a Parisian cafe while we almost cracked a smile that we made it to Paris again. We then went back to the hotel/Opera area to walk around and eat dinner. After dinner, we went to the top floor of the hotel in the club so we could lean into the gabled window and watch the Eiffel Tower twinkle. This is the thing I find reliable in Paris.

The next day was the day our son planned. The Louvre was up first. While to enter the Louvre you now must have a timed reservation and a ticket, the que for the Louvre is more insane than any past time we went. While waiting, D said the blog title quote as I was trying to show him my printout of the museum and talk him through the history of it. We had our first mishap with the Paris Pass, but I figured it out after the museum staff was useless. Through hours of planning, I got him to see all of the major pieces in the museum -including the Mona Lisa - in less than three hours.

We then grabbed lunch and rode a few trains to the city’s football (soccer) stadium. Parc de Princes, where Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (PSG) plays, had a self-guided tour that took you around the entire stadium. We all thought it was impressive, but our son was literally jumping for two hours for excitement.

He picked out a Mbappe jersey and we left the 16th arrondissement for on a long bus ride to the Arc de Trompihe. Our son did not want to climb the Arc, so we settled on a stroll down the Champs-Élysées.

From there, we went to Hotel des Invalides to see Napoleon’s Tomb. He is really into Napoleon history, so he enjoyed it. I will say, as I have seen it four times now, it is still impressive and somewhat silly. For dinner, I made the family go to a gluten-free Italian restaurant which was my best meal of 2023.

On Monday, after 14 years, I got back to the Orangerie Museum. The entire family enjoyed looking at the rooms of Water Lillies. Years later, I still wanted to sit there for hours.

We went to the base of the Eiffel Tower and were shocked by the new security. We tried to go into a neighborhood to ride a balloon that flies over Paris, but it was too windy. From there, we regrouped on a boat that functions as a disco, bar, coffee shop, pool, gym, yoga studio and hang-out on the Siene. Honestly, the most interesting place I have sipped rose. We took a detour to see something I’ll post about later! For lunch, we stumbled back towards the Eiffel to try out a newer restaurant that was a French twist on a American diner called Birdys. Our afternoon was capped off with our first boat ride down the Seine. We ended the night at Hard Rock.

We woke early on our last day in Paris to go to the Musee d’Orsay to see more art. We had to ride on an overly full metro, which made us nervous. As we had a timed entry, multiple lines with security checks and I had planned ahead, we were the first people on the scared fifth floor for the Impressionist art. We saw all the greats, but my son is much like my husband who after about 30 pieces is just done. He enjoyed Van Gogh the most and I never change - Degas and Water Lilies.

As it was our last day in Paris, we slowly strolled down the river. We stopped at Food Breizh for crepes and drinks and ate on the river. We walked to the Concorde to see it up close. We then went to see the outside of Palais Garnier and take a last stroll through Printemps. We went to the food court, which is so much nicer than the US food courts, Laudree and to my new favorite (gluten-free) bakery, Cospains. I prefer to spend my money on food rather than clothes here.