City of lights, Cameras and Action

When we found out we were coming to Germany one of the first things we decided we needed to see was Paris. Maddi, our youngest daughter, has for the last several years been infatuated with Paris in general, and the Eiffel tower more specifically. We opted for the high-speed train from Kaiserslautern to Paris. The tickets cost all of 230 Euro for round trip tickets, which is a great deal in my eyes. We went to the train station and waited on the platform with our luggage, it felt like we were in a movie waiting for the train to take us to some exotic place, awaiting all of the mayhem and adventure that would surely come our way. We got on and quickly found our seats and the adventure was underway. I must say, traveling by high speed train (195mph) was the quickest, smoothest and painfree ride I have ever taken. As it approached 200mph, you couldn't tell you were going above 30mph, but the scenery flipping by gave it away. We bought second class tickets, but all that meant is you didn't have a lounger or have access to the food...which may have mattered if the ride was any longer than the 2 hour 20 minutes we were on the train. We got off at the train station and found our way to the metro ticket booths. After trying to figure out how to buy tickets, getting confused and then realizing that we need to stand in a very long line, we opted to leave the train station and find our hotel. We stayed at the Richmond hotel near Gare du Nord train station. We wandered around for 30 minutes trying to find the right street to walk down. We would walk down a street thinking we were on the right one and then realize we were headed in the wrong direction, correct ourselves and realize we were two streets over...this went on for thirty minutes. Thanks to Hailey, who has a built in compass, we were able to right ourselves and find our hotel. The person behind the desk was nice enough to allow us to check in early. The hotel was a diamond in the rough, it really wasn't a great hotel from the outside but she had a great personality...kind of a 'special spirit' of the hotel world. You could see the unique quality of this hotel and even though it lacked beauty, it had style. After dropping our luggage off we decided to make a second attempt at buying metro tickets. Success! Our first destination was Notre Dame. We got off the metro and there she was, the grand lady herself. But just as interesting was the neighborhood in and around the church. Boutiques, upon boutiques lined the street, then the cafes and patisseries surrounded the boutiques. Each street was filled with excitement. And this is the beauty of Paris, you have to walk to know her. We hit a souvenir store and bought all sorts of small trinkets and souvenirs, now we didn't feel so pressured to buy something right before we left to go home. We walked around the outside, walking past the flying buttresses, arched doorways and the gargoyles keeping watch of the tourists. As a side note, I took french in junior high and high school, one of the things my teachers did was bring France to life. We had culture days and they would talk about all things Paris. So when I was at Notre Dame, I felt like I had been there before. We walked through this magnificent structure and marveled at the architecture, but you know there was a feeling of emptiness. I say that as I compare it to the churches and temples that I know from my faith. But still this place meant something to me. Then we walked away from Notre Dame down a few streets, up a few streets, to the left, to the right, and that in a nutshell is the beauty of Paris, just being on the streets. To drive through Paris, you miss the charm, the smells, the excitement...it would be a very sterile trip indeed to take a bus or drive through the city. We found our way to the Louvre, I could feel her beckoning to me, but we didn't have time on this day...but just wait patiently, I'll be back to grace your entrance shortly. As we walked in the courtyard of the Louvre, it opens up to a nice garden with ponds and trees and benches. In one of the ponds there was this elderly gentleman who had a fleet of handmade sailboats that he was renting by the 1/2 hour to kids. The kids would take a stick from the man and push and maneuver the boat around this large pond and there was enough of a breeze to actually make it look like these boats were on the high seas. I rented one for McKay and then sat back and relaxed, watched and enjoyed as my son took me back to my childhood of floating leaves and styrofoam down homemade rivers. The next thing I knew Maddi had a boat to, I guess the guy thought her cute enough to give a boat to her as well. But she didn't have any money to give him, I guess he thought he could lose two Euro on my little girl. The pond was alive with people, kids running around the pond chasing their regattas with their sticks, willing the boats wherever they wanted. When it was time to go, I gave money to McKay and told him to pay for the extra boat. The old man said "save your money and go spend it elsewhere"...what a cool memory this is going to be. We made our way down the Champs-Elysees. Now I will be honest, I know this is a very famous street in Paris, but this was the lowlight...shopping. I don't want shopping, especially with the likes of a Nike store and other familiar stores that detracted from the aura of Paris. However, the street did lead to the Arc de Triomphe. By this time we were beat, tired and our feet just plain hurt. We sat at the Arc for a while and watched the cars buzz past us, as this was the epicenter of 12 intersections. After sitting here for a while we decided it was time to see the Eiffel Tower. As we got to the tower dusk was setting in and we were getting hungry. We decided to find a little grocery store and purchase bread, cheese and drinks and just sit at the base of the tower and watch the lights come on. So that is exactly what we did. It was spectacular, the lights came on and it glittered against the night sky, like a giant Christmas tree. Maddi had achieved her Mecca, she was in heaven...and me? Well I felt like the best dad in the world, because the one thing Maddi wanted to do so badly, happened. The best feeling is knowing you brought joy to your child. Day two. We decided we would go straight back to the Eiffel tower and go to the top. Just as a means of a backdrop to our visit, there was a huge police/military presence at all of the tourist destinations because of terrorist threats. So we were sized up several times by men carrying large automatic weapons...I guess we didn't look like too much of a threat with three kids in tow. We reached the tower again and the lines were long, so apparently nobody was afraid of the terrorists this day. We rode the elevator to the top and took in the sights of Paris. Gale force winds blew that day, but no matter, we didn't care if our hair was messed up...after all, we were at the Eiffel tower. The view was spectacular and we stayed there for quite some time picking out all of the sites we knew. We rode the elevator down to the first stop and walked the rest of the way down. Thank goodness we didn't listen to Sharma who also wanted to walk up to the first level. We strolled along the Seine until we found the statue of liberty. Yes, the other statue of liberty...and it made me appreciate America just a little more. Since today was the first Sunday of the month the Louvre was free...and since I had promised it that I was coming back, that is where we went to next. We arrived to find lines and lines of people waiting to get inside and realizing that we only had a couple of hours until it closed, panic set in. I spotted two security guards and in my most pleasant tone asked if this was the only line to get in. No, came the reply. Apparently there is a side entrance that we could also go in, next thing we knew we were walking directly into the Louvre without being in any line. My first stop was to see my lady. You see, Mona Lisa and I have had a pending date for quite some time, except I kept standing her up because I just couldn't quite make it to Paris. Well, today that date was going to be kept. We walked into this large and spacious room and in the middle, at the edge of the throng of people, there she was. The picture was small, but powerful. I stood in awe for 10 minutes and after getting enough we moved on. We also saw 'winged victory' and many other wonderful classics. Day three was our wildcard day. We only had one thing planned and then just whatever. We took the metro to Sacre Coeur, a beautiful white church set up on a hill overlooking the rest of Paris. This was the only time that it rained all weekend long, and it only rained while we were in the church. We walked around it, took pictures, enjoyed the view of Paris, trying to come to grips that this was our last day. We then went to the Moulin Rouge area. I almost hate to bring this up, as a good parent would have never taken their children to this part of town knowingly. And the worst part about it was that our kids were starving, so not only did we find ourselves in a seedy part of town but we had to find a place to eat and spend more time here than we wanted. Moving quickly on, we decided to head to Ile Saint Louis, a natural island in the Seine River, next to Notre Dame. We had heard they had wonderful Salted Carmel ice cream and decided that we had to try it. We found a little cafe that had some and all got a scoop, it was wonderful and unique at the same time. We then just decided to spend the rest of our time wandering in no particular direction just wherever the next whim would take us. The next thing we knew we needed to get back to the hotel, pick up our luggage and catch our train. We enjoyed a nice quiet ride back to Germany...going 200 mph...Au revoir, Paris! Info Mode of transportation to city: ICE train from Kaiserslautern (234 Euro for five roundtrip tickets) Hotel: Hotel Richmond (near Gare du Nord) City transportation: Metro, purchased paris visit card for 3 days. Sites: Louvre-free on first sunday of month; Eiffel tower-11.50 Euro/adult