LittleJ’s visit the Cousins ~ Euro Trio 2012

Part One- Paris

Late this winter with the warmth of Cayman cooling off, the excitement of the World Junior’s Hockey Tournament games dying down, we started to think about what we could do for the February and March breaks. It was then that everything started to line up... DaddyJ needed to head off for a week in Silicon Valley, we were thinking a great deal about the fun that we had had with our cousins when they were here over Christmas and then we found out the cousin’s had the same week off that the LittleJ’s did. Slowly but surely, it was looking like it might be a good spring to go visit the cousins. That was until British Airways launched a fantastic SEAT SALE and then we were sure that we could hear London Calling!

With this fantastic seat sale, I thought it would be a great time to cross two other things off of our list, Paris and the Eurostar! After all, they ought to have a chance to use the French that we are educating them in and you might as well take the train through the Chunnel if you are going from Paris to London. So with that plan in mind, we set off for our 12 Day, MommyJ, CubJ and SparkJ Adventure.

We had a wonderful flight on BA with an outstanding crew to London. Despite our inbound flight being late by several hours due to a “Medical Emergency” which forced a stop in Greenland, all went well. We three arrived after a bit of sleep on the seven hour flight to wander around terminal five of Heathrow for two and one half hours. This gave us a chance to watch the endless parade of planes coming and going, snack on some great food and top up our treat supplies. We then were onto our very quick flight to Paris.

Upon our arrival in Paris, we flew through customs, grabbed our bags and headed off to catch the train into the city. Of course, because I was well versed in how to navigate the ticket machine in French, it was not working! LOL So, we were off to speak to the man in the billets office. It was in there that what would become the theme of the trip would begin: I requested that CubJ purchase our tickets, which he dutifully did while I was helping SparkJ. As I was assisting her, I caught a bit of CubJ’s conversation where he was joking with the ticket agent about how poorly I speak French!  I must say that seeing the two of them chortle together in French made it all very sweet somehow.

After a quick train ride with one switching of train lines, negotiating several sets of stairs both up and down with the small suit cases, we arrived at our spectacular Marriott Champs Elysees http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/pardt-paris-marriott-hotel-champs-elysees/ . We dropped off our gear, called DaddyJ and headed out to grab some dinner at Pomme de Pain. http://www.pommedepain.fr/ Now, this had been a favourite of DaddyJ and mine while we spent three weeks in Paris when CubJ was six weeks old. It is a delightful, quick Parisian sandwich shop which is ideal for when you are tired or short on time and simply want good food without the fuss. It turns out that both kids loved the Parisien which is French butter and Jambon de Paris, our all time favourite.

On our itinerary for our three days in Paris was to visit

·         Les Catacombes, the old quarries which were filled with the bodies from the over crowed cemeteries which were causing major outbreaks of illnesses.

o   Our tour of the underground cemeteries of Paris was incredibly interesting. While the weather outside was quite cool, it was warm and humid below ground. The subtle drip drip of the water from the ceiling, the earthen walls and floor’s ability to dampen all sound really adds to the over all creepiness of walking past all of those long bones and skulls! In addition, for kids who love watching shows about pandemics including the Spanish Flu, Small Pox, Avian Flu etc, seeing all of these bones from people who had died in outbreaks was extraordinarily interesting.

·         Tour Eiffel, really, what would a trip to Paris be without seeing one of its most iconic sights?

o   We would however like to return on a day that was not quite so windy or cold and take the view from the very top platform. One of the things that I really enjoyed was walking the last stretch up to the Eiffel tower while eating crepes!

·         The Louvre, where we had a short list of must sees and freedom to see what ever else sparked the kids interest. The Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo and some of the French Masters were on our must see list.  It turned out that despite this being our third stop of the day, we all enjoyed looking at the sculpture collection including Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss, some of the massive paintings The Coronation of Napoleon, Monet, da Vinci. I learned that unlike when SparkJ was a baby, she is becoming more interested in Dutch Master’s work. This was a great improvement over her wailing in the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam! I feel very lucky to have two children who both enjoy looking at art, have a clear idea of what they like and can explain what interests them in a painting.

o   The other highlight of our time at the Louvre was our lunch. While we were sitting in the very dignified food court of the Carousel du Louvre enjoying a lunch of lasagne, wine, cheese and macarons I realized we were all becoming rather jet lagged and sleepy. It was then that I gave CubJ five Euros and told him to go get a bottle of Coke Zero, turned to SparkJ told her to stay at the table with the bag and that I would be going to get a double espresso! Both kids looked at me oddly, wondering why I needed two caffeinated beverages, at which point I told them that they looked sleepy, we had a museum to see and so they would be sharing a Coke Zero! That sure woke them up as they tried to decide if they were dreaming or if I had lost my marbles as they are never allowed caffeinated beverages! So it was with some caffeine in our system that we all really enjoyed powering through the Louvre Museum.

·         Haggen Daz, after a full day of touring, a quick dinner of the famous Parisien sandwiches, we were off to the three floor Haggen Daz for dessert. We went up to the restaurant on the second floor to enjoy an ice cream experience unlike any other with sundaes, fondues etc. While the most expensive ice cream eating experience I have ever had, it was well worth it.

o    Hillarously, our server was from Latin America and CubJ was able to converse with her in both Spanish and French! She found it very interesting to know that he was taking both Spanish and French at school.

·         Pont Nuef Bridge, while the weather was chilly that morning, the bridge was beautiful in that morning sunlight and a wonderful photo opportunity on the way to Notre Dame. This LittleJ’s enjoyed trying to see how the bridge does not exactly line up.

·         Cathedrale Notre Dame, another iconic Paris sight to see! We enjoyed looking for the kilometre zero medallion, viewing the outstanding stained glass windows, the sculptures, splendid depictions of the stations of the cross, the most impressive domed roof and the awe inspiring organ that shocked the kids by its sheer size. Not to mention that we all had several good giggles when we went outside to view the flying buttresses, nothing like getting to say buttress a few times to make it a fun outing.

·         After touring the church itself, we were off to tour the Archeological of the Crypt Parvis Notre Dame. This was the first time at I had visited the crypt beneath Notre Dame which house the ruins found during construction of the church in its various phases over the years. These ruins span time from the earliest Roman settlements to the 19^th century.

·         Then we were off to Basilique du Sacré Coeur, again a sight that I have not yet previously visited in Paris. SparkJ particularly enjoyed riding the funicular up the steep hill to the beautiful gleaming white church.  CubJ and I were looking forward seeing the massive dome and 19 tonne free swinging bell. 

o   The interior of Sacré Coeur is spectacular! The paintings on the ceiling are beautiful enough to give you a serious kink in the neck, the bright and airy light that fills the entire sanctuary with a feeling of warmth, and the lovely stations of the cross. It was a wonderful experience.

o   The exterior of Sacre Coeur was very lovely too. We took the 300 (yes three hundred) stairs to the very top of the bell tower! We can assure you that all of those stairs both up and down are well worth the view of the city from the top. They say on a clear day you can see for 30 kilometers. We were lucky enough to have a glorious view of the city as far as the eye could see.

·          La Madeleine, after touring the churches we were ready for lunch and toured this historical area on what would become our gastronomic tour of Paris’ macarons. I knew that we needed to visit Laudree (http://www.laduree.fr/) the home of Paris’ best macarons which has a location at Madeleine and we had had received strict orders from one of the teachers at the LittleJ’s school to be sure to eat the Fauchon http://www.fauchon.com/en/en/#/gastronomy-fauchon-luxury-delicatessen/boulangerie-fauchon We enjoyed a wonderful lunch, shopped for some presents and sampled as many macarons as we could find! It made for a fun way to unwind from our serious tours in the morning. One of the highlights was watching the kids easily use their French and listening to SparkJ as she chatted with the Chef Fromager who had made her a parmesan cheese rose!

·         Arc de Triomphe, we took an evening tour of this monument and for my first time, we went to the top to take in the spectacle of the evening skyline.  Seeing the Tour Eiffel lit up, la Defense acting like a giant picture frame, Sacre Coeur glowing on the hill and sharing this experience with the LittleJ’s was a wonderful way to enjoy our evening.

·         Louis Vuitton, as huge fans of the small leather goods, the LittleJ’s and I enjoyed touring the flagship store on the Champs Elysees. While touring one of the mini boutiques, CubJ had the opportunity to have his card holder monogrammed! This was quite a pleasant surprise for him as we were all under the impression that this was not even possible on his style of card holder.  It turns out that CubJ just so happened to be in the right location, chatting up the right master monogrammer to have this done.

·         Oblisque de Luxour & Roue de Paris as our final activities before leaving for the Eurostar was to visit the Oblisque, the sight of the beheading of Louis XVI and to ride the Wheel of Paris. Sometimes life is like a wheel and the opportunities come around again, in my case this was the chance to ride the wheel ten years later with CubJ and for the first time with SparkJ while we enjoyed a true chocolate éclair.

Our time in Paris was wonderful! Staying on the Champs in the thick of the action, able to easily hope on the metro to visit the sights and in such a sumptuous room allowed us to take in so many sights in such a short window of time. It was so nice to be able to take in the sights that the kids were interested in without the pressure to see everything all at once. I think that this trip gave the LittleJ’s a great taste of Paris, an opportunity to use their French which thankfully came glowing reviews (kudos to the teachers at their school), to see the benefits of being confident in the use of a second language, perhaps some understanding of why we are educating them in French and hopefully the desire to come back to France one day!

The Eurostar was very civilized! What a glorious way to travel. We cleared security, French and British customs and boarded the train all in under 20 minutes. Once on the train we spread out, unpacked our supper and felt free to get up, walk around and just relaxingly make our way to London. In fact, you know you are traveling in an infinitely more civilized way when the group of ladies across the train car from you break out a bottle of champagne complete with flutes, cheese and nuts from their bag to enjoy while playing cards. It was like the movie Shirley Valentine across the aisle from us as these ladies laughed about their Mid-Winter ladies get away!