Day Trip To Paris - See All The Things! - Touring Tuesday

Oldest Kiddo had a day off from school on Friday, so we took a day trip to Paris.  That's what you do when your kids have a day off right?!  I'll never get over how easy it is to travel when your base is the UK.  Actually, I booked this trip way back in August when Eurostar had a ticket sale.  

So we took the 7:01AM Eurostar train from St. Pancras International station with an arrival into Gare du Nord station at 10AM Paris time.  Since this was our girl's first time to the City of Lights, we had to see it all.  I bought a day Metro pass so we could ride any train or bus we wanted to not waste a moment.    

The first order of the day was a quality pastry.  It's not really hard to find them in Paris, but I had one in particular that I craved from Du Pain Et Des Idées.  The l'escargot chocolat pistache was well worth the wait in line.  As I fought Oldest Kiddo for each bite I realize that I should have purchased two.  

After my carb fantasy was fulfilled, it was time to see the town!  We hopped on the Metro to the Arc de Triomph.  She loved seeing the humongous traffic circle and the carved funny faces on the warriors.

Next, it was time to fulfill Oldest Kiddo's life long dream - The Eiffel Tower!  Her face was priceless when the Metro crossed over the Seine and the Eiffel Tower came into view.  She could not believe that we were actually there.  We even took a chance while at the Eiffel Tower and used the automated public toilets.  It was a silly experience.

To keep things moving, we got on the bus to get across town near The Louvre.  Our first stop was a walk on the path along the edge of the Seine to the Île De La Cite to see Notre Dame Cathedral.  The line to reenact Quasimodo was beyond comical so we moved on. 

A walk back toward the Louvre took us to the colorful pillars at Palais Royal.  She had a great time hopping between them.  After the exercise we grabbed a quick sandwich and took a little walk through the neighborhood.  Along the way we saw some cool fountains and the Pompidou Centre.  

We then returned to the Louvre to see the must see items with a few thousand of our closest friends: Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory of Samothrace.  The Louvre was very helpful for our expedited touring by placing signs throughout the museum to guide us toward the biggies.  Mona Lisa's harem was a sight in itself.  Our feet started revolting against us at the end of our time at the museum, and we took respite in the Apple Store's free wifi at the mall attached to the museum.  

By this time we had to make a decision, take the slow way back to Gare du Nord or squeeze in one more thing.  

Squeeze in one more thing!!

Our last stop of the day was to see the gorgeous Galleries Lafayette department store.  The atrium is beyond gorgeous and worth any moment you can spend in there.  Oldest Kiddo noticed a sign for the outside terrace, and we could not pass that up.  The view was amazing, but the sun was not in my favor to take any worthwhile photos.  

Then it was time to hustle back to the train.  We stopped into a market near the station for some dinner provisions and settled into our seats for the journey home.  Oldest Kiddo could barely keep her eyes open on the Tube ride home, and I'm sure she fell asleep as her head was falling onto the pillow.  I say it was a successful Parisian rendezvous.