Paris with Family

In the middle of August, Vance’s parents arrived in Paris. We arranged to meet them there, spend a few days in the city, and then take a trip to Normandy before bringing them back home with us to Bordeaux. It was no small feat to find a place in Paris for 7 people for less than your life’s savings. I think Paris can safely be considered the most beautiful city in the world, but it does come with a certain price tag, especially when it comes to accommodations.

Frank and Claudia had just finished up a river cruise tour, so they had already had quite a bit of time with churches, museums, and tour groups. Frank seemed to be happy to just have some time to sit and rest, but the kids and I took Claudia to the Opera house. She was a professional opera singer in her day, so the Palais Garnier was of special interest to her. I had taken the kids there on our first trip, but frankly we had all been feeling fairly grumpy that day. We needed a do-over.

The great thing about Paris is that, although it’s a top tourist destination and full of foreigners, the sights are spread out enough throughout this massive city that I usually feel surrounded by real Parisian life. Obviously, that changes when you get to the Louvre or the Eiffel Tower or the Arc de Triomphe, but there are a thousand places in between to feel the real pulse of the city. It also means that you can go to a place like the old Paris opera house in August and still be able to get in without a line, because the hordes are all at the Top 5 Attractions, or wherever Rick Steves told them to go ;).

The Opera is just dripping with ostentation and an overabundance of gold. There is nothing subtle or lovely or thoughtful about the space–it is a place for those who want to See and Be Seen. As such, it’s gorgeous.

We also visited Box No. 5, which is the Phantom’s box. Apparently the famous scene in the musical (book, too?) where the chandelier falls was based on a real life accident at the theater, where one of the counterweights fell and crushed a woman to death during a performance. Yikes.

The next day, Vance took his parents and Isaac to the Louvre. The girls and I had already braved the vicious masses in July, and we weren’t up for that kind of hustle and bustle again. We took a leisurely walk together, and stumbled upon the “passages couverts,” the old medieval covered streets that house lots of little boutiques and shops. We stopped by E. Dehillerin and drooled over all the specialty items in that world-famous cooking store.

We tucked into a little door on the side of the Louvre, and bought tickets for the Museum of Decorative Arts, which catalogs interior design art through the ages. We had the place pretty much to ourselves. It was amazing to walk through medieval bedrooms and Renaissance salons all the way through Art Deco and Art Nouveau designs. We even saw Napoleon Bonaparte’s throne. It was one of those places that we would never have made it to on a First Trip to Paris, but in many ways was more enjoyable than the unmissable stops.

Afterwards, we met Vance and the family in the Tuileries (just outside the Louvre), and I decided to walk back with the parents and kids while Vance took an Uber back. We walked along the Seine, which is always our favorite, and then tried to find one of our favorite pastry shops along the way. However, August in France struck again, because the boulangerie was closed for the conge d’ete. By the time we were 2/3 of the way home, I was driving everyone on a forced march, because my definition of a nice walk is maybe a little more ambitious than other people would prefer. Oops. We got ice cream at the end to soothe tired feet, and it worked. Ice cream always works.

Our last full day was reserved for my favorite: the Musee D’Orsay.

We SAW the Orsay…and by saw, I mean, spent at least 5 hours there. We did not see everything by any stretch, but we got a good taste for all the incredible impressionist art there.

The kids also loved the clock. I have a photo from my first trip that I took behind the clock in the Orsay. It is often in our family room, so it feels very familiar to the kids. Apparently the rest of the world has also discovered this clock, because there were lots of other people lined up to take pictures there. Times, they are a’changin.

Only after we had pushed ourselves to a state of significant hunger did I realize that there were Van Goghs in the museum as well. I dragged everyone downstairs for an extra 10 minutes. It was totally worth it.

That evening, we took Vance’s parents our for a French bistro dinner. Isaac turned his gentleman on and escorted Eve all the way to the restaurant. The kids were very invested in serving their grandparents escargot, which they sampled with a good will. We had entrecote and duck confit and lamb and salad with chevre toasts and profiteroles–so many classics.