We have been to Paris three times so far. I must say that I loved L’Open Tour and highly recommend it as an introduction to the sights of the city. Our hotel was right on one of the loops so we used the tour bus as our main mode of transportation.
Saturday, our first full weekend in France we woke up early and walked (yes we made the kids walk 4 blocks) to the train station and caught a train to Paris. It was about a two hour train ride and our first stop happened to be McDonald’s right across the street. Very kid friendly food to set a positive tone for the weekend. I keep asking myself where is the French food. We checked into our hotel which was near the train station and got ready to explore Paris. We stopped at the front desk and got directions to the metro and headed out – yes more walking. The metro is clean and very easy to use. Interesting to compare it to NYC especially since we were just there the week before Paris. Some world travelers Seattle, NYC and Paris all in the same month.
Our first stop was shopping – this was Andy’s desire. We went to Galleries Lafayette and he went to the Men’s level and I took the kids to the children’s clothing because Lee of course just had to buy something – it doesn’t matter where we are or what store it is she can always find something that she must have. We looked at beautiful winter coats for $250 - $350 euros and we really enjoyed looking at them but we bought a small Tweety Bird key chain and she was happy. Andy wasn’t successful in his shopping efforts, just not ready to pull the trigger and buy anything. We left the amazing shopping center – 8 floors of stuff and headed back outside to walk. Everywhere we turned we saw L’Open Tour Buses – double decker tour buses. Andy hates tour buses and I love tour buses. We stopped to have lunch in a French café and I had a French meal pate and duck salad it was yummy and this restaurant just happened to be across the street from the L’Open Tour Bus offices. It was our destiny. We decided it was time to jump on a tour bus and see as much of Paris as we could from the top deck. Lots of sitting and no walking who in the Erickson family wouldn’t be happy. I loved it, there was so much to see and it is nothing like I have every seen before. We pull around the corner and there is the Louvre. Place de Concord was amazing and driving down the Champs de Elysees was amazing as well. Of course we drove around the Eiffel Tower too. We spent the afternoon on the tour bus and conveniently one of the loops had a stop near our hotel. We went back to our room to refresh and regroup and headed back out for dinner. We jumped on the subway and made our way back to the Eiffel Tower. We found a café to have dinner and than walked to the Eiffel Tower to see it all lite up at night. The lines were long and we knew we were going to be back so we decided not to stand on line and go up. Instead we called Andy’s mom and dad but they were home so we left them a message and than we talked to my mom. We jumped on the subway and went home and to build up our energy to do more the next day.
Sunday was our trip to Notre Dame and my personal sickness experience that we often joke about. Every corner seems to have a pharmacy, bus stop and café and Lee is always saying this is where you got sick. We also visited an English bookstore, where we had no problem spending money.
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