Manèges

Every town in France, it seems, has a carousel somewhere near the centre, which is a great thing for a four-year-old. Funnily enough, one that we don't have a picture of is in Saint-Tropez, Place des Lices, for which we actually bought 10 tickets at once.

Coming full circle

When I saw some Metro station names and street names near the apartment we rented in Paris, I quickly realised that I was very close to somewhere I had lived as a child. But I can't say I actually recognized anything. And I couldn't decide if it was the year I was 5 that I'd lived there, or the three months during my Grade 2 year in Canada...

I was able to piece it together, but it was nice to have my dad visit from England to clarify it all for me. Yes indeed, just around the corner from our rental was the apartment we lived in when my brother was born. We had a little Austin Mini Cooper (grey and white) -- they were smaller than the new one that came out recently -- and we had just become a family of five. My sister and I went to the same school, but I was in kindergarten and she was in gradeschool, so we were in separate parts of the yard at recess and used to meet at the fence that separated us. I remember the name of the street where my best friend lived, and the name of the street where our doctor lived. Some of this is real memory, some is memory of family stories.

One of the fun things that happened when my dad visited is that we went to the market place when the marke was not on, as it's a great space to kick a ball with Declan or let him run around on his scooter. "There used to be a market here," said my dad. "I have a film of you standing just here holding a baguette that's as big as you are." It's really fun to have, quite inadvertently, taken my boys to places that were part of my own childhood. I hope they come back as adults and continue the circle.

Derniers jours a Paris

Well, I was going to do this one in French, but I'm on a PC and can't find the accents.

Our last two days in Paris were rather wet, but enjoyable nonetheless. We got caught in the rain a couple of times, most notably the night we had told Declan we would go to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle up close. It was raining so hard that only Jeff went, and I stayed home with Loic. This way, Declan could go in the stroller with the rain cover. We were leaving two days later, so what with packing, this was really the last chance.

As I watched the rain from the apartment, I knew that their little adventure had the potential to be delightful or disastrous, depending on whether the Tower "performed," whether Declan stayed dry, etc. Luckily, delightful won out and Declan was enchanted.

On our last morning, we went to the Rodin, which has a lovely garden, making it a more child-friendly museum than some. With this, we had accomplished all of the "essentials" on my list. Which means no Musee d'Orsay, no Picasso, but these are not for visits with small children anyway. Two museums (l'Orangerie was the other) is plenty.

In the afternoon, we went back to Place Beaubourg, watched some buskers, had some ice cream, ran inside to escape a rain shower, which allowed a quick visit to la Fnac. It was the only time we went back to anywhere, the other 8 days being filled with new things every day. The fact that we had time to go back somewhere contributed to the feeling of having seen what we set out to see.

And more still

My Father-in-law told me today that as you get older time goes faster, on that theme I think that as the vacation draws to an end you are surprised by more things.

The Dali Museum in Paris: This artist was something. Crazy? Probably. Innovative? Most certainly. Ahead of his time? By decades. And a performer on many levels? A genius on many levels more to the point.

Travel between two far points: My above mentioned Da(vi)d-in-law took the Eurostar into Paris from London today to have coffee in a cafe, tea in another, dinner at our apartment and then head back home to Oxford for the night. Aren't fast rail service and loving parents grand?!

My son, Declan, lying in bed at night watching the Eiffel Tower and calling us when it performs it's 20,000 lightbulb dance during the evening and saying how he will miss it TOO much.

Paris is wonderful.

It's all about the Eiffel Tower

Yes, other than the playgrounds closing, Paris is great for kids.

Our taxi driver to the airport in Canada, nearly four months ago, made a reference to the Eiffel Tower when we said we were going to France. Declan looked at him blankly. I realized that if he was to get anything out of the Paris visit, I would have to work on it. The Eiffel Tower seemed the best place to start, so I did. And I certainly succeeded. Every time we see it, there's a chant, in a typical child's rhythm that a musician could write out for me in "long" and "short" – "La Tour Eiffel. La Tour Eiffel." The first of the Madeline books, by Ludwig Bemelmans, was instrumental, with its drawings of Paris monuments. Who knew that we'd actually be able to see the tower from our apartment.

In the playground beside the tower, there's a lovely old-fashioned carousel, with just horses. I thought Declan would prefer the fancier one across the way, with spaceships etc., but he insisted. And it turns out this old one is hand cranked and involves a game where the carousel riders each have a stick on which they try to accumulate rings as they go around.

A tourist in Paris

Three months in Collioure and I felt like a resident. Only ten days spent in Saint-Tropez but I still got to know the butcher, went to the Marche three times and said hi to the staff at the time share and had them say hi to me . Four days in Nantes made me feel like I had family in France. But Paris, truly here I am a tourist. Five and a bit days into a ten day stay and I'm not sure I've been to the same place twice. We've tried different places for croissants, we might have a winner now, and every day has been a different direction on the Metro. Ok I have been to my two Metro stations more than once and the local dep as well, but, so many people go in and out I'm not recognized from the masses. My conclusion......if you are going to be a tourist this is a good city for it! Each day we head out after breakfast and return for a late supper and we will never see all there is to see. Even if we stayed for three months I doubt everything could be little more than glimpsed at. No, I will leave France feeling as though I have lived here and Paris as if I have had a holiday there. Even the Saint-Chapelle, small by most standards, would take months to take in all the stained glass stories. It is a city full of wonders which is no surprise since people have been living here for two thousand years. Myy only wonder is when will I visit it again and try to see more; it took eight years since my last visit and will probably be that much again. Perhaps we should live longer or have cheaper air fares...oh, and less work and more time to do all this stuff.

Liberté, Egalité, Fermé

En quatre jours, nous avons réussi à voir la Tour Eiffel, l'Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde, le Louvre (de l'extérieur), Notre Dame, la Sainte Chapelle, les Invalides, le jardin des Tuileries, le Champ de Mars, le Centre Pompidou et la place Beaubourg. Nous avons marché un peu partout, pris le métro un peu partout aussi.

Mais bien sûr, pour faire tout cela avec un garçon de 4 ans, il faut des jardins d'enfants. Il faut pouvoir s'arrêter (souvent!) et jouer. J'ajoute que notre horaire est un peu décalé en raison du séjour à l'hôtel, à Nantes, où il fallait pouvoir sortir au restaurant le soir.

Alors voilà que deux fois, déjà, nous nous sommes rendus à un jardin d'enfant, après l'avoir promis pendant des heures pour fair patienter Declan, pour le trouver fermé! Oui, ils ferment bel et bien leurs jardins bien avant le coucher du soleil (19h30 en avril). (Et encore faut-il comprendre l'affiche compliquée des heures d'ouverture.) Quiconque est parent sait à quel point il faut faire des excuses quand on a promis quelque chose qu'on ne peut ensuite livrer.