1st Day Monument Snooze

Got to the hotel yesterday at around 11am and Nick and Nicole were happy to see each other. Well, happy undersells it. Eleventh stage of nirvana is more apt.

After pain au choc and a brief nap we walked Nicole down to the Hotel Weston for her 2nd show of the day. She would be covering shows all afternoon, so Nick and I decided to head for the Tuilieries for a longer nap by the big fountain. On our way there I caught Nick sleeping in front of the Place Vendome. I once did a report in eighth grade on the Place Vendome for Madam Van Sciver's french class. Nick's expression here about captures my interest at the time.

Il fait tres beau! 70 degrees and sunny with just the faintest chill to remind us it's autumn. Nick and I grabbed a seat by the big fountain down near the Obelisk end of the park. I draped a blanket over the hood of the Spitfire, kicked my feet up onto the lip of the fountain, closed my eyes and...Nick started wailing.

Seems he wasn't much for sitting still. So instead, we strolled to the other end of the Tuilieries. It was Sunday and the place was packed with families and tourists. There are a ton of kid's activities on offer in the Tuilieries, some of which I'll highlight in another post.

Nick was fast asleep by the time we neared the Louvre...

So we kept moving.

We made it to the Pont Des Artes a few minutes later. Currently, there's a photo exhibition on the Pont Des Artes having to do with Malaria in Africa (link coming).

Looking east from the bridge, one sees Ile de la Cite, which means Notre Dame is not far off. It occured to me that if I could get a pic of Nick sleeping in front of the big church it'd make a hat trick of some sort. So we kept walking east. But it was 5:3o by the time we reached Pont Neuf and we were due back at the hotel at 6.

We turned around, walked back through the Tuileries and made it back to the hotel in time for an early evening feeding. I took my first shower in a day and a half and then it was back out to complete the hat trick.

This time we took the Metro which, it's worth noting, does not offer a pass-through gate a la NYC. Getting to your platform means first carrying baby and stroller over the turnstile
or collapsing the whole kit and holding baby as you pass through.

Pont Neuf at dusk is pretty!

Nick and I had dinner at The Great Canadian off Place St. Michel, a choice I made in a ravenous pique and one I wouldn't make again. (The name should've provided ample warning). After dinner we strolled on over to Notre Dame. Nick was in dreamtown by the time we got there, making for a perfect setup:

Hat trick!