Our first night in Paris
Upon arrival in Paris, we went to our apartment. We stayed in the Rue Cler/Ecole Militaire area of Paris (the 7th). We stayed in the area the last time we went to Paris and we really enjoyed it. We rented a little 50 square meter 1 bedroom apartment. The neighbors were friendly always saying hi to us and cooing over Celia. That night we were all jetlagged, it was already bed time pretty much at 7:30 by the time we even got into the apartment. Then we went out hunting for dinner and cash. All our apartments were paid for in cash so we arrived with a lot in hand and needed more for Amsterdam too. We went right to Rue Cler which is a pedestrian market street, with open markets on the weekend and lots of regular stores throughout the other days. The buildings are classic french architecture with the beautiful light repetitive buildings and balconies. We went to a creperie and put back at least 4 crepes between the 4 of us including one yummy chocolate one and some egg and cheese crepes.
Then the girls and I played in the street a little bit, exploring and walking around. They sort of just looked intoxicated because of jet-lag.
We’re all sort of off-kilter, unsure of how we’re supposed to feel (hungry? tired?). At 9pm and we thought we’d walk over to the Eiffel tower to see it shine, but the kids just lost it on the walk over so we headed back to the apartment. By 10 it was finally dark, it stays light really late comparatively to here in Boston! We tried to put the kids to bed and Josie went to sleep, but Celia went into total meltdown mode and screamed for an hour in bed while we tried to comfort her and then she too gave in. We all slept till 10:30am (4:30am Boston time) before we started our first full day in Paris. Being in bed almost 12 hours gave Jordi and I a really great start, even though the kids were still really short on sleep.