Packing went pretty quickly because we only had 2 night in Reims. After we went to a nearby coffee/bakery for breakfast. As usual, Caroline had carbs, and a little fruit cup.
Then we went to a museum nearby. Reims is the location where the Nazis surrendered in WWII, and the room that the Nazis and allies sign the surrender in was super close to our hotel. I really hate war history but Joel wanted to go and the kids agreed. Luckily for me, it was a small museum. It was neat to see the room, left exactly as it was on the day of the surrender. Otherwise, there were mostly mannequins wearing uniforms from all sides. There was also a great 15 minute video about the surrender. It was surprising that this little town in France played such a big part in the war. There is even a local school named after Eisenhower.
Our train ride to Paris was short and sweet. 15 minute direct to the Gare De l’Est. From there it was 4 Metro stops to the one nearest our hotel. It shouldn’t have taken more than 10 minutes via metro but the line to buy metro tickets was looonnnngggg. The walk to the hotel is was 20 minutes so we explained to the kids that it will take us longer to wait in line to buy tickets and ride the metro than it would to walk. Surprisingly, Caroline was the first to say she wanted to walk, and so we were on our way.
Being in a new town is always stressful and undoubtedly maps are confusing when the pressure is on, even Google Maps, but we found it ok. We were early for checkin but luckily the room was ready. We quickly changed and were off.
The kids were hungry and it was challenging to find a restaurant. Most places closed around 2, and would reopen for dinner, and it was around 2:00. We walked through some great galleries, and all the shops kept Caroline going. Per usual, when one kid is happy, the other is not. Bennett was super tired and hungry so it was trying times.
We found a great pub. Bennett is a huge fan of fish and chips now, because he loves the vinegar and salt. Unfortunately this pub had run out of fish and chips. Poor guy. He ended up eating some of my salmon and baguette. I had ordered plain salmon with basmati rice, hoping Caroline would eat some of it, since she actually likes salmon. Of course this salmon was slight different than the one at home and she didn’t want to eat it. I was NOT having it today and literally spoonfed her bites of rice and salmon. At least she ate a protein.
The pub was about 20 minutes from the Louvre, so we decided to walk it. Joel and I obviously don’t mind walking but it’s a lot for the kids, so we do our best to ignore them and keep pushing on. There were plenty of metro stops along our walk but it’s hard to justifying paying when it’s only 15-20 mins.
The Louvre, as expected, was PACKED. And as expected, there wasn’t great air conditioning. We were all sweating. This made Caroline, in particular, extra miserable. Hot, sweaty, tired, in a place packed full of people is just a recipe for disaster. That being said, in between her angry grunts, she’d point at paintings and ask, “What’s that?” Then we’d weave our way through all the people to read the little info card about the painting. “What’s that?… ugh, I’m so hot! When can we go? What’s that? What’s that? CAN WE GO YET?!” This went in for 1.5 hours. Then she stopped caring altogether and just complained for the rest of the time we were there.
We did see all the famous masterpieces like the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, The Winged Victory of Samothrace, and Napoleon’s apartment- which is my favorite. The Mona Lisa was much more of an organized cluster than I remember. Now they have an actual queue for people to line up in. Caroline thought the sculptures were inappropriate because they showed private parts. It was hard to get them excited for art when it was so hot and crowded. They were also disappointed we didn’t get audio guides. To be honest, I think they would have enjoyed it more with them.
After we walked to the Sacre Couer. Unfortunately it started to rain on our walk. The kids had their raincoats but joel and I weren’t prepared. And also, unfortunately the sacre couer closed just as we got there, so we couldn’t even see it. It’s not a huge concern becsuse we have 3 more days in Paris alone and there isn’t THAT much to see. We stopped for some ice cream and glasses of wine, to wait out the rain. Then we made our way to the Latin Quarter for dinner and to do some shopping. Bennett’s soccer jerseys are so old and dirty but they also make up about half of his wardrobe. We found one reasonably priced and Caroline got a beret.
We stopped at a typical tourist set meal restaurant. Joel and I are so used to these from our other travels, and even though we know the food isn’t always the greatest, they always give the best variety and are reasonably priced. Surprisingly our food was pretty good! We had French onion soup and escargot for appetizers. Then for entrees, joel had tartiflette, I had steak and Caroline had spaghetti. Caroline wanting pizza, but settling for spaghetti is the reason we picked this restaurant, but she didn’t eat much. Bennett was supposed to share her meal but didn’t want to eat spaghetti, so he ended up eating more than half of my steak. We had crème brûlée, ice cream and a chocolate crepe for dessert. This would mark Bennett’s second chocolate crepe of the day.
From this point, it was a 40 minute walk to the hotel, or a 15 minute walk to the metro and 15 minute metro ride… so we decided to walk it. Actually, joel and I decided to walk it. The kids clearly had no say in it, otherwise we would have taken a taxi. Paris is just so lively at night, plus it’s Saturday so I’m sure that adds to it. The rain had stopped but the streets were wet, and Caroline was wearing sandals (we tried to talk her out of it, but also weren’t expecting rain). As we neared the hotel, we heard cheering. There was a soccer match being played in a pub and fans were singing and cheering. We stopped for a second and one of the fans tried to talk to us. Unfortunately he didn’t speak English, but he explained that the Marseilles club was playing and they were fans. Bennett and joel decided to stay for a bit. What better experience than to take in soccer with locals in a pub.
Caroline and I headed back to the hotel to get ready for bed. We didn’t make it home until 10 pm, and today was supposed to be an early night. I clocked in about 150 steps shy of 20k. When we got to the hotel, Caroline unprovoked, said today was a great day. I was pretty dumbfounded because she threw tantrums most of the day, so I asked which parts she enjoyed because it didn’t seem like she enjoyed much of it. She thought for a moment, and said she liked the walk back to the hotel when it was just the two of us. That was it, the 10 minute walk we had alone. Not Paris (although she thinks the trip will be perfect when we have a photo from the top of the Eiffel Tower), not the Louvre masterpieces, nothing. Just the walk when it was us alone.
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