Paris- Next Edition

Our second day in Paris started at the Rodin Museum located down the block from our apartment. It was the perfect museum for M as it had a huge beautiful garden for her to play around in.

Davis, my Mom, and I took turns inside the museum where we saw Rodin's The Thinker and the rest of his works.

I do museums pretty quickly so I snapped this shot of Rodin's famous statue and then found these beautiful Van Gogh's.

I spent more time looking at these 3 paintings. Vincent has always been one of my favorites.

While M and I waited for my Mom and Davis to finish, we hung out with The Thinker who lived outside, and had a little snack.

After the museum, we headed out for lunch via taxi as foodie Davis had found a place he really wanted to try (I'd share it here but Davis is currently on a 10 hour flight to Los Angeles for work and I cannot remember the name of it for the life of me). Very authentic French. Yummy!

Then it happened. After lunch. The tantrum of all tantrums. I knew my Mom would witness at least one while she was here. We were too far from our apartment and so a stroller nap it was. She was not having it. Epic. I mean, truly epic. I'll just leave it at that.

M finally fell asleep for a wee bit of time and when she awoke, she found herself at The Louvre.

Since we ate such a large lunch, we enjoyed some cheese, charcuterie and wine back at our apartment for dinner. Then my mom and I headed out for a walk to see Paris at night. We walked all the way to the Eiffel Tower since she wanted to see it at night. I did not mind seeing it again since it is such a beautiful sight at night. It even sparkled for us.

And of course we stopped for some sweets and a glass of champagne to end the night.

Our last day in Paris was spent at the Musee d'Orsay. When Davis and I visited Paris for the first time in 2001, the museum workers were on strike and we were not able to visit the museum. The impressionist artists are my very favorite and I had been really looking forward to visiting the museum this time around. Our experience at the Musee d'Orsay was seriously disappointing. They would not check the stroller and so we were left navigating the stairs and crowded rooms with it- not at all an easy or enjoyable task. At one point, while trying to keep M from being too loud, Davis put her on his shoulders and we were yelled at by security in French. I've no idea what he actually said but I know toddler on shoulders was NOT okay. We took that as our cue to exit. My mom stayed behind and enjoyed the museum on our behalf.

Should we find ourselves in Paris in the next few years, I'd love to go back to the museum without M. The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth and it is so very different from the museum experiences I've had here in London. They are all so very child friendly but Paris is...a bit different.

We did not miss our train back to London and happily left in the late afternoon to head back. Traveling is the best and yet coming home is sometimes just what is needed- for toddlers and adults alike.

Cheers!

Kelley