Destination: Paris, France #2

When it comes to travel, I'm usually not one for returning to someplace we've already been to. (You can read about our first trip to Paris here if you missed it.) There are too many places in the world to be seen and experienced. However, last fall when Geoff decided to sign up for the 2014 Paris Marathon, there were no complaints from me on the opportunity for a return trip to Paris even though we were just there last summer. So we once again hopped on the Eurostar train out of London and arrived in Paris 2 1/2 hours later.

Destination marathons are a bit tricky when planning sightseeing activities. Geoff didn't want to be on his feet too much in the days before the race so that his legs would be fresh. However, as expected there is post-race soreness and tired legs, again somewhat limiting the amount of activity we can do. Our first full day in Paris, the day before the marathon, was pretty low key. We went to the race expo for Geoff to pick up his race stuff. After grabbing lunch, we headed to Tuileries Garden to wander around. It was there that we got our first sight this trip of the Eiffel Tower. I wish I would of had my phone out to record Olivia's reaction. She was so excited! The girl is a bit obsessed with it. When we first arrived in Paris the day before, Olivia asked us over and over where Paris was and when we were going to get there. We kept explaining to her that we were already in Paris. In her little mind, Paris = Eiffel Tower and until we saw it, we weren't in Paris yet.

Gazing at the Eiffel Tower from the gardens

Spring in Paris: does it get any better than this?

Random building spotted with its entire facade covered in plants

The morning of the marathon, the girls and I went to cheer Geoff on out on the race course. Geoff and I had looked at the race map the night before and figured that the best and easiest place for us to see him at would be at the Eiffel Tower, around mile 18. I have to admit, after getting two small girls by myself around via subway in a foreign country where I don't understand or speak the language, I feel like I can do about anything when it comes to travel!

At our cheering location watching the runners

Doing her "running stretching" while waiting for Daddy

Geoff around mile 18. We got a thumbs up from him meaning he was feeling great!

After the girls and I saw Geoff, we had some time to kill before we needed to head to the finish line area to meet Geoff since he still had eight miles left and any post race recovery things he needed to do. So we went across the River Seine to wander around the Eiffel Tower up close for a little bit. We found a bench to rest and eat some snacks at...and to be accosted by teenage girls trying to sucker tourists into purchasing whatever they were selling. Various girls with clipboards in hand kept approaching me every couple minutes asking if I spoke English. I might have lied and shook my head no while avoiding eye contact.

At the Arc de Triomphe with our Paris Marathon finisher who finished in a speedy 2 hrs, 55 min.
So, so proud of him!

On Monday, poor Geoff had such sore legs from all the pounding over 26.2 miles. So naturally, we figured doing a bike tour around Paris would be the best post-race day activity. Fortunately, Paris is a flat city so the biking really didn't cause too much additional strain on Geoff's legs. He even said it was much better for him than just walking around would have been. The tour company had a baby seat for Ashton and a trailer for Olivia to sit in. Our tour guide was American and there were about 15 other people in our group, all Americans, making us feel slightly at home at least where accents are concerned.

One girl super excited about cruising around Paris

The other girl, not so much...

Poor thing just couldn't handle all the excitement Paris offers

Dome Church (they didn't get real creative when it came to naming the place)

Checking out the River Seine

Love the French architecture

We didn't yet have enough pictures of Olivia with the Eiffel Tower so we had to get another one.

Stop on the tour at Tuileries Garden where we enjoyed lunch at a cafe outside

Musse du Louvre - maybe someday we'll actually make it inside to see all the famous art

Our final stop on the tour was the Eiffel Tour. We were at the exact same spot only 10 months ago, so it's fun to compare the photos we have and see how the girls have grown. (Geoff and I pretty much look the same. Although I probably have a couple extra wrinkles somewhere from an additional 10 months of parenting a 2/3 year old.)

It's almost like we are childless in Paris in this picture! The feeling lasted about 2.8 seconds until Olivia started knocking down bikes while we snapped this.

That evening for dinner, we headed to the Montmartre area of Paris. I didn't get any pictures, but I really liked this area and wish we would of had more time to wander around exploring. It just looked like Paris. Kinda hard to explain and describe but lots of cafes with people sitting outside enjoying French wine. One thing that was challenging about this trip was the restaurant dining. Dining with a 1 and 3 year old is typically not a very relaxing activity in and of itself, but add in the fact that not a single restaurant we ate at had a highchair for Ashton to sit in and it became particularly difficult. Eating all your meals with a squirmy baby in your lap who wants to touch and climb on everything is hard! I guess the French just don't dine out with small children. But on a separate thought, all the French people we encountered were nice and helpful to us. You hear the stories about the French's rudeness and general disdain for non-French, particularly Americans, but I never felt any of this. Maybe having really cute kids helps. :)

We walked up to the Sacre-Coeur Basilica Montmartre after dinner. It sits on top of a hill and provided beautiful views overlooking the city.

On our last day in Paris, we took a train out to the Palace of Versailles, one of the largest palaces in the world, built by King Louis XIV. Quite the impressive place!

That audio tour device sure was helpful. As a phone....

...and a pretend camera.

King Louis's bedchamber. The guy must of needed a ladder to get up onto his bed

The picture below really doesn't do this room - the Hall of Mirrors - justice. It was jaw dropping. I knew it must be something spectaular before we rounded the corner to go in given the amount of people holding up their cameras, phones and ipads taking photos at the entrance.

In addition to the massive palace, there were acres of gardens to be explored.

After dinner that evening, we made one final visit to the Eiffel Tower, because, ya know, by then we still hadn't seen enough of it. We specifically wanted to see it "twinkle" which it does the first five minutes of every hour after sunset. Despite being tired from a long day out, it was definitely worth it and the girls loved it.