I don’t dislike Paris, I just didn’t really feel like I desperately wanted to come and spend another four days here.
Last time I was here (and it was the second time that journey) we pretty much covered all we wanted to see and do. Besides, I’m not a huge fan of cities.
Paris is a little stinky. There is wee on the footpaths, and in the metros, and lots of dog poo to try and avoid, but even as I say this I feel bad – how dare I speak ill of the city of love! Paris has great beauty too, of course that can’t be dismissed, but I have seen a lot of it, and I know most of my readers would probably give an oft used body part to spend their birthday there,
but
I just didn’t want to.
And to ice my cake of ungratefulness, the summer weather was rainy, windy, and cold.
Still,
the kids and I made the most of it.
For a start, we stayed in a beautiful hotel in Montmartre
Terrass Hotel is a little sanctuary. The staff are very friendly and accommodating, and my room was big and comfortable with a view of the Eiffel Tower
and a cemetery that looks really cute with tilt-shift.
The kids’ room was a little cosier – more to Paris room size standards – but they had a lovely outlook, and they’re smaller than me anyway.
For my birthday not in Spain (where I had wanted and planned to be) I decided we would go to the Pompidou, because I had loved it so much last time (oh, my kids were so cute then! See them in the photo with the Yves Klein painting!). Problem was, my birthday was the Tuesday, and the Pompidou isn’t open on a Tuesday….
Lucky I had checked that. We ended up shopping for kids clothes on my birthday. Yup. Pretty much all day. It takes that long to drag three kids around Paris on the metro.
We went to the Pompidou on the Monday.
A cool spot with a view to rest our legs on the top of Pompidou.
I think the pigeons agreed.
On the way back from the metro I was hassled about stopping at the boulangerie for meringues. There was a queue (often there is a queue for bakery products in Europe) and I told them they had to queue and order and pay themselves – en Francais.
They did.
They were a bit nervous, but the desire for meringue was stronger.
To the victors, went the spoils.
Please disregard any changes in tense through these European holiday posts. Just because I start one with good internet, doesn’t mean it gets finished that way. I am now in Spain, about to travel back to France, so have some catching up to do.
As a post script, I should mention that on three individual occasions I was offered assistance from French people (well, all men now I think of it) when I hadn’t even asked for it. They were lovely. It’s just the location that I don’t love as much as I am supposed to.
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