We decided to take a family vacation to France so Fiona could see the Eiffel Tower in Paris (where her imaginary friend used to live) and to see Krista and Sophie one last time before they move from Germany. As an added bonus, we also go to see my old friend Madeleine and her two kids. I haven’t seen Madeleine since I visited her in Heidelberg the first time she lived there, in 2000.
It was a fabulous trip and none of us wanted to go home, but it didn’t begin that way. The trip started in a very stressful way. We had a leaky, then broken, faucet that had to be dealt with just before leaving and involved two different plumbing companies, my mom was in the hospital with a mysterious illness (she’s much better now), and Fiona had a fever two days before leaving. Conditions were less than ideal. The flight was aboard an Airbus 380, the double-decker plane, and was relatively easy. Service was good, Victoria slept in the bassinet for a long time, allowing me to read a little, watch a movie, and take a nap. Customs and Immigration checks didn’t take too long, thanks to staff allowing us to go to shorter lines because we had a baby, and our luggage arrived quickly.
Then things started going south. First, we wanted to get a sim card at the airport so we could call our first accommodation, a bed and breakfast in Versailles, for directions. The person who sold the sim card spoke no English and limited French and did not activate the sim card as she was supposed to, and pointed to some directions that did not tell how to activate. It was a long waste of time. Second, it took a long time to get the rental car and install the car seats (we brought Fiona’s from home, rented Victoria’s). Next time, we are bringing both car seats with us. We usually rent, but it seems the quality of rented seats is decreasing with time, so we are just going to bite the bullet and bring ours from home. It was not immediately obvious how to exit Charles De Gaul Airport, and we took some wrong turns causing us to drive around in circles literally, as the roads around the airport are circular and many different signs say similar things but seem to go in different directions, but eventually found ourselves on a highway toward Paris. Because we had no contact with our hosts, we decided to follow the signs toward Versailles and hope for the best. The drive was not difficult and we got to experience some interesting and very quiet underground tunnels and highways with no off-ramps or turn around points. At least the car had air-conditioning. In less than an hour, we were in Versailles. We stopped and asked a person who looked like she was conducting traffic how to get to the street we wanted and it turned out to be very very close. We found our place easily.
“But Keren,” you might be saying to yourself, “that doesn’t sound too bad. Why all the fuss?”
Did I mention it was about 108 degrees when we arrived in Versailles? We were expecting warm, but not that warm. Plus we were dressed for the flight, so we were wearing long pants and t-shirts, and were running out of water, and every time we stepped out of the car it was like stepping into an oven. It turns out we brought a heat wave with us, as in all-time record temperatures. Our proprietors were not home and Fiona had to go to the bathroom. She really REALLY had to go. She didn’t want to squat in the street next to the car, and it was so so hot waiting. She was crying in full meltdown mode when our proprietress arrived just in the nick of time. She led us to our rooms. They looked very nice, one room with a double bed for John and me, one room with a single bed for Fiona and a portable crib for Victoria that we moved in with us, and a bathroom with a small stand-up shower. Unfortunately, our hostess did not know how to assemble the crib and her husband who did know how was not due home for many hours. Did I mention it was hot? Our rooms offered no relief because they were on the second floor getting full sun all day long. There were no fans because apparently it never gets that hot in France, al least not for more than a day or two, and the family who owns this B-and-B sleeps in the basement. Also, the sun sets very late, so one much close the blinds to make it dark, but that means also closing off any evening breezes there might be (there weren’t many breezes at this time). So, two tired and cranky kids, two tired and cranky parents, all sweating and melting together. After many hours of sweating and holding Victoria and not having anywhere to put her down, John and I figured out how to stop the sides of the crib from collapsing all the time and we tossed both sweaty daughters into a cold shower because there was no hot water. We used wet cloths to cool Fiona so she could sleep and we all collapsed into sleep without eating dinner. Ahh. Of course, everyone was up at 11:30pm because of jet-lag and did not go back to sleep until 3.
Upon landing, we discovered that I forgot the guidebook and Fiona’s bathing suit and goggles at home, so we spent our first day trying to find a guidebook (total and complete waste of time and money), finding bathing suits for the girls (no luck on the goggles but it turns out you can buy them from vending machines at the public pools), getting our cell-phones up and running, looking for a stroller (holy cow are they expensive!), and finding snack foods and water and baby food for Victoria. And ice cream. We ate A LOT of ice cream and sorbet. We walked all over town, found restaurants. We had a good dinner at a restaurant not far from our BnB and walked around some of the gardens and parks near the Versailles Chateau. It was still REALLY REALLY HOT. Oh, and we bought our chateau tickets ahead of time.
Our second full day was spent at the Versailles chateau itself. We did not get an early a start as I would have liked, but it worked out to our benefit. We walked to the chateau and skipped the queues for the main house, going into the gardens instead and taking the little train to the Grand Trianon Palace. Louis XIV’s estate was so big, he had a getaway on the same property (actually more than one). It wasn’t open yet, so we wandered around near the Grand Canal and took pictures of swans and ducks until it did open. Not many people were there, so it was a pleasant place to look around. After the Grand Trianon Palace, we walked back to where the Grand Canal begins, had lunch, then hired a little boat to row around the canal. That was a lot of fun and very relaxing, even if it was still hot. When we tired of the water, we returned the boat and walked back to the main chateau. It was 3:30 in the afternoon, everyone was out in the gardens and there was no line whatsoever to get into the house (thank you Rick Steves). We breezed through security and walked right in. Inside there were people, but not as many as the morning. All the big chateaus have directed walking routes, so you can’t just wander around, you have to follow the path. We followed, eventually finding ourselves in the Hall of Mirrors, where Fiona fell asleep. We finished up, left the chateau and wandered back to our place, stopping for ice cream on the way. We freshened up and had another dinner on Rue Satory.
Our third full day was spent in Paris, looking at the Eiffel Tower and long lines to ascend it, failing to find a working toilet, then hopped on BatoBus, literally a boat bus with many stops. We took it to Notre Dame. While there is a line there, it moves very very quickly because there is no fee or security to enter the cathedral. It was nice and cool inside and Fiona liked looking at all the stained glass. She asked me if Chagall was the artist, but I do not think so. The line to climb the towers was long and not moving, and also cost money, so we skipped it and went to a little cafe facing the cathedral and ate crepes and sandwiches, and drank cold orange juice. We also saw several Asian brides and their grooms posing outside the cathedral, even though they did not get married there. It was so hot, it was a little odd to see them in their heavy make-up and wedding dresses and suits posing while tourists milled about. Fiona enjoyed chasing the pigeons before we hopped back on the BatoBus to catch our train home. This was a mistake. First, there is a metro station right there with a train that goes directly to Versailles. Second, while it would have been nice to sit on a boat and look at all the famous and interesting building along the Seine, the boat ride was much longer than expected and very very...you guessed it...HOT! A tiny breeze off the stern. Also very humid. Fiona fell asleep on the train home.
On Saturday, we met my friend Madeleine and her two adorable kids at the Eiffel Tower. She traveled from Germany for the weekend and saved us a place in line for the stairs. She also brought us a nice stroller, but security would not let us take it up the stairs, nor would they let us leave it at the bottom. It was very frustrating. We left it in the park next door and sadly it was gone when we returned. A frustrating hour was spent trying to locate it but all for naught. There was also a bag of nice clothes inside for Fiona. We decided that Paris hates children. I doubt I will ever take kids there again. Maybe when they are teenagers, but not before that. The line for the stairs was not too long and everyone climbed on their own except Victoria who rode in the Ergo. It was very pleasant on the second level. A nice breeze, shade, not toooo terribly crowded. The elevators to the very top were closed because there were too many people, so we descended back into the hot and hellish pit that is Paris in a heat wave.
After the kids rode the carousel and ate crepes, we walked to Trocadero metro station and went to the Galleries Lafayette, the oldest shopping mall in the world. Also, an air-conditioned shopping mall. I could not believe the size of the shoe department. It would have been so tempting had it not been so crowded and shoes so ugly. Seriously, I’ve never seen an uglier bunch of shoes in my life. Not one pair I would even consider trying on, and I love shoes. We found our way to the 6th floor to a giant toy store with every toy imaginable. The kids spent time wandering while we found a bench to rest on. Fiona picked out a toy for a friend back home, got a couple of toys for herself, and I found a Sophie the Giraffe for my friend’s baby. They are available in Ventura and all over the place, and I think even cheaper here, but I wanted to bring her one from Paris.
Reluctantly we left the air-conditioning and hopped into two taxis to the Luxembourg Gardens, passing the Champs Elysees and Arc du Triomphe on the way. It was a nice ride and Fioan fell asleep on the way. A sorbet later, we enjoyed the fountain (why doesn’t anyone play in the fountains?!?), then found a nice playground that we had to pay to enter. The kids had a blast (it really was a nice playground), and we took the metro to St. Michel-Notre Dame to find dinner. We ate dinner in a Turkish restaurant and it was very good. Some of the staff had fun playing with Victoria. We bid our adieus and took our respective trains home. It was a very long day. Fiona was really tired and grouchy a lot of the day and it was really hot. Again, she fell asleep on the train home. It was so nice to see Madeleine after all these years and her kids are fantastic, I just wish Fiona had been in a better mood.
The following day we packed up our things, settled our bill, and drove to Chartres to see the cathedral. It was nice and cool and we actually wore long pants and light jackets. We had no problems finding parking and at first thought maybe everything, including the cathedral, was closed. At the first open restaurant we came upon, the man told us he was full even though we could see the restaurant wasn’t. So we continued on and found more open restaurants close to the cathedral. The one we chose was great! The man running it was very nice and knew just enough English to explain what some of the items on the menu were. Our lunch was tasty and we even had some homemade berry tart for dessert. We spent a couple of hours exploring the cathedral and climbing all 300 stairs up the tower and back down. I had a moment of panic when Fiona slipped going down the stairs, but she caught herself on the rope (thank goodness she was holding on with one hand, she caught herself with the other) and did not actually go tumbling down. Other than that, it was a very pleasant visit. There weren’t many tourists and it was a nice quiet walk back to the car before driving to the Loire Valley.
Fiona, falling asleep with her hand in the food bag…again:
St. Louis Cathedral that was just up the street from our place:
John and Victoria in the garden, and our place (our rooms were on the second floor):
Versailles:
One of the many tree tunnels around:
Resting under a tree:
It was evening, but still so so hot!
One of the many “lakes”:
One morning I woke up before anyone else, and took photos of them sleeping:
The Grand Canal (the shorter arm of it) near the Grand Trianon Palace:
The Grand Trianon Palace:
To be honest, neither the Grand Trianon Palace nor the Versailles Chateau were really that interesting inside. Most of the furniture was removed during the French Revolution. The things that were either salvaged or re-created all look very similar to me, even those in the Loire Chateaux. What I found most impressive were the paintings. They were gargantuan and very detailed. I haven’t had an opportunity to look at paintings in a really long time, so that part was a treat for me.
This one I took because that light fixture is very popular right now. I never realized just how old and retro it is:
Resting inside the Grand Trianon Palace:
See? More tree tunnels:
We took a boat ride on the Grand Canal:
Victoria slept through most of it. Also, they seem very trusting, we took the boat out and paid at the end.
The insane lines to get into the chateau:
No lines at Grand Trianon, except this brigade of Segway riders:
(I think Louis XIV would have a fit if he saw these guys riding in front of his little love den).
How Fiona got around:
Pretty sure I have a picture of this fountain from 2000, but from a different angle, and FILM!
If you ever wonder how they get the bushes to be in the shapes they are:
It’s not freehand!
So much gilting, so tacky!
They do love their halls:
In the Hall of Mirrors, where Fiona fell asleep:
The view from one of the windows in the Hall of Mirrors:
Doing double duty, carrying both kids:
I took to wearing Victoria on my back to help keep both of us a little cooler. Eventually I abandoned the Ergo altogether, even before we got the stroller.
Finishing off with a cold treat of some sort, on Rue Satory:
Wandering around Versailles:
It’s a nice place to wander when all the tourists go home. If only it wasn’t so hot! Did I mention it was hot? Because it was. Hot, I mean.
Next, all the photos of Paris.
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