Paris Day 1

Our flight to Paris was at 7 am on Friday August 24. We woke up at 3:45 am to get ready and took a taxi to the airport. I have to say the second time around was easier than the packing and getting ready for Edinburg. There is a lot of planning involved when you have a baby and forget about just bringing a little backpack as your suitcase. Connor definitely has more things in the suitcase than both of us combined. Even still, we fit everything in two carry on rolling suitcases that were Aer Lingus approved.

We arrived at the airport pretty early...so early that our gate wasn't even assigned yet! We had time to eat breakfast and take it easy. The flight to Paris was around 1.5 hours and we arrived around 10 am Paris time. Paris is 1 hour ahead of Dublin. Connor was sleepy during the plane ride in and slept most of the way.
 

Beautiful welcome sign at Paris airport

 We took the Roissy Bus from the airport to the opera house ( that's the only stop) for a cheap way into the city. The bus ride was around 45 minutes. If you have never been to Paris, do not book a hotel near the airport no matter how cheap. It is not a nice area and is far away from the city so you would spend a lot getting to and from the city from the hotel. We arrived at the opera house and decided to walk to our hotel in the St. Germain area.

 

Paris Opera House

 It was a little bit of a far walk and we had to cross the river, but it was great for sightseeing and getting acclimated to the city. Paris is just a beautiful city and lovely to walk around and look at. The weather was warm and a nice change from Dublin.  I didn't realize how much I missed the warm weather!  When I was packing it was confusing to think that I could just wear a t shirt and pants and probably be ok. 


Walking by the Louvre Museum

    

Connor and I in front of the Louvre Museum

 Our hotel was a cute little thing and you would walk right by if you didn't know it was there.  Everything was small, the lobby, the elevator, the stairs, our room...  Here's a picture of our room.

Where I'm standing while taking the picture was the other side of the room.  It was tiny.  The receptionist insisted that we get a baby crib even though we said we didn't need one.  So, they got us a bigger room than we originally booked so it could fit the crib.  I am curious how much smaller the other room was!  It was definitely cozy. 

After refreshing and unpacking in the hotel, we ate at a creperie next door to our hotel.  It was cute, the price was reasonable, and the service was great.  Our hotel was right next to a bunch of cafes and restaurants so it was really convinient.



That big glass window on the left is our hotel. The bright yellow restaurant was the creperie.

  After lunch, we walked to Île de la Cité to see the Notre Dame cathedral.  There were a lot of tourist and the line to get into the cathedral was too long for us to wait in.  Michael and I have already been to Paris and have seen all the touristy sights so it was ok not to see everything again.  We wanted this trip to be a relaxing trip in Paris.



Ahh, Notre Dame

 Because Connor was napping in his buggy we kept walking to the other island, Ile Saint Louis, and went by the river.  It was very peaceful sitting by the Seine and looking at Notre Dame. 



Michael and Connor next to the Seine



Once Connor woke up we went to the little park behind Notre Dame to let him play. 






He looks like a big boy in this picture, not a little baby :-(

  Afterwards, we went to a nearby metro station and bought 3 day passes.  We rode the metro to the Montmarte area and walked to the Sacré-Cœur Basilica. Unfortunately when we reached the top it started to rain.  We went to sit at a cafe nearby and got charged a ridiculous amount for two coffees but atleast we were dry and warm. 



Sacre Coeur




Having fun in the metro station

 We then went to the Latin Quarter for some food and went to bed after a very long day!