Paris

Every string of beautiful, sun drenched days comes to an end. Today I revel in a very long string indeed! (Tomorrow we may have rain.)

I'm with my two grandgirls in Paris. Parents went off for a 24 hour escape. I'm filling in.

 

(a different view -- out their window this morning)

 

If you bring two sweet kids to a city where few speak their language and habits and demands are new and not always easy to adapt to, and if parents leave for a while, then of course, you have to expect to make adjustments. The absolutely best way to keep them excited and happy is to cut them some slack, all the while keeping in mind that they are little ambassadors, so good behavior is a priority.

 

(cutting some slack for Juniper means allowing her to have fruit before, during and after breakfast)

(Oh! Is that a mirror?)

Staying local, to our neighborhood, would be the easy way to go about it this morning. But I don't want easy. I want them to have some excitement and an adventure.  I take out the stroller and we walk over to the bus stop. 

(The number 63 has arrived! Let's get on!)

Everything is so much simpler these days with google maps giving you details of which bus to take in how many minutes. But where are we headed?

To the Jardin des Plantes (yep, the garden of plants) over on the east end of Paris. 

(Oh, the fragrance of spring! Heady blossoms, honey scented chestnuts...)

But of course, I can't just get them excited by another garden (even though I can certainly get myself excited by this one). Within the gates of this one, there is the Menagerie -- the small city zoo that is forever immortalized in the Madeline books (to the tiger in the zoo, Madeline said poo poo!).

I've come around on zoos. Now that we've evolved and we no longer create them as places to gawk at imprisoned exotic animals, I no longer avoid them. This particular zoo no longer will have the tiger that Madeline wasn't scared of, because tigers dont belong in city zoos. There are some animals you'll encounter probably for the first time, and there are always educational materials available that'll teach you about what you're seeing.

 

(A "red panda??" Looks more like a red racoon to me!)

(I associate flamingos with France, where I in fact saw them in the wild. In the Camargue.)

(I asked the girls if they were sure these birds were pink, they said "yes!")

Perhaps the best part here is the freedom that you can give kids. And this little one grabs all that she can take of it, hiding so well that I almost could not find her!

But let's not forget the flowers. It is a fantastic time to visit these gardens. I'll show you why:

As in all parks, you're going to find a merry-go-round here.

Juniper always starts off cautiously.

 

But that's only at the beginning of a new ride.

And of course, the way to keep them excited is to say yes to ice cream. Before lunch!

 

Time to take the bus back to our neighborhood...

 

... Where the parents have just arrived! 

Before we can even think of lunch foods, we have to wash up: I hand over dusty, sticky, disheveled girls!

Okay, all fresh.

We head out to a crepe stand.

 

Rather than stand and eat, we walk over to the church gardens of the St Germain des Pres church.

 

(so beautiful!)

(a park, even a small one, is an invitation for Juniper!)

It is the girl's naptime now so they head back to the hotel as I continue my stroll through the all too familiar blocks. I pick up a coffee, and of course, in this weather, I must take a few moments for the Luxembourg Gardens.

(However did this street musician set up his instrument here!)

Sure, none of us should hang out in the sun too long. But those few minutes in spring are irresistible!

(the green shades of spring are simply sublime...)

Okay, I need a rest. Just a few minutes. With a cup of herbal tea in my room.

And now we all head out for dinner, with a stop at the Tuilerie Gardens. 

 

 

 

Why? Because we did this before, some two years back -- same restaurant (Primrose begged to return to it!), same stop at the gardens beforehand, with a pause for a refreshing drink.

(lemonade!)

(lemonade)

(with Parisian twenty-somethings having great fun next to us)

 

 

Which restaurant so struck the girl's fancy? Le Souffle. Funny, because this is where I took my girls when they were very young -- because it's such a rare treat to eat all things in a souffle form!

We walk back afterwards the long way: to the Obelisk, looking out on the one hand to the Arc de Triomphe, and on the other -- to the Eiffel Tower (and we catch the few minutes of twinkling lights on the Tower). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the night air is wonderful, so full of the sweet scent of a season that does not believe in holding back.

(one post-card vignette after another...)

I had one string of breathtakingly lovely days! 

with so much love...