I started typing this post from a chair in the Luxembourg Gardens, and wondered how beautiful this place might be in the fall. I finished it two days later, in New Jersey. We are back home!

The kids and I handed in our car last Thursday, in Strasbourg, and took a train to Paris. Two hours later, we were checking into our Airbnb. Thankfully, we walked from the train station to our apartment since Gare de L’Est is only 10 minutes from the house.

Always a word about accommodations. It was a two room apartment, in an old building and a loud neighborhood. Tenth arrondissement of Paris. Third floor, big windows, balcony, and a macerating toilet (a grinder toilet). No a/c, so we bought a fan since mid-stay we had a heat wave. Last time we stayed in Le Marais, and the windows faced the courtyard, not onto the street, so it was much quieter.

We had a Thursday night and a full day Friday to settle down before my husband flew in on Saturday morning. Roamed around, spent time in Place de Vosges, and went out to lunch.

Overall, these nine days were spend walking around, visiting some museums, shopping (mainly clothes and pharmacy items to take back to the US), eating, always eating, and watching TV and/or sleeping.

Museums: Marmottan Museum and Palais Galliera, aka The Museum of Fashion. The Marmottan Museum was on my list from the prior year when we did not have enough time to visit. And the museum of fashion because… I don’t know, I like clothes! Note: T was with the kids while I went to those museums on two separate occasions.

Palais Gaillera had two exhibits that were cool: current – Rick Owens and regular: fashion through movement (of time). I had no clue who Rick Owens was but turned out, he is an American designer! Many of his designs are not very wearable but he certainly sends a very strong message:

The areas we walked around on various days are:

✔️Montmartre (packed)

✔️Trocadero (packed) and side streets of the Eiffel Tower (better)

✔️Luxembourg gardens (beautiful, not packed) and Panteón (packed)

✔️Le Marais and Bastille (gorgeous, empty)

✔️Canal St. Martin (gorgeous, local, empty)

✔️The royal palace patron with columns and adjacent gardens (gorgeous, rather empty)

✔️The Tuileries gardens area (gorgeous, not very packed) and the pyramid (packed)

Sometimes we would start in one neighborhood and finish in another.

Our days were kind of following this routine: wake up, get out and about, have lunch out, come back to the apartment for a while to rest/tv time/nap, get out again in the early evening for a walk, some playground time, and to find dinner.

We mainly ate in brasseries, cafés, and crêperies.

A definite highlight was eating at Le Train Bleu with my daughter. This is a beautiful, art-deco restaurant located in Gare de Lyon (Lyon train station) in Paris. I made the reservation for the four of us but ended up only going with my daughter since we didn’t think R (the 5 year old) will be good at that kind of place.

Our meal was spectacular. The food, the service, and the company. Most importantly, the decor. It’s like eating in a museum! Paintings, sculptures, chandeliers, all the details. L and I both wore lipstick 😉

*window* Shopping. While window shopping and gawking at prices, I got a lot of inspiration. I took pictures of products/outfits I liked (of which were many), then came home, made a list of those clothing companies, and made a note for Christmas/my birthday. The clothes I liked were mostly expensive so not something I am willing to buy on the spot, but, to plan for – totally doable. Here are some examples:

The brands/styles that I especially loved were: Antoine et Lili, Cos, Saaj, Claudie Pierlot, Marie Sixtine, Petite Mendigote, Hippocampe, Suncoo, and Heroïnes Marais.

Lastly, a high light was simply having unstructured time, together. Whether it was visiting a playground, eating out or in, or wandering the streets, being together was great (but this does not mean that we didn’t have disagreements, or that the kids didn’t whine, r ask for ice cream or boba tea ten times a day, or complain that they were hot and cannot walk anymore). We had plenty of those, trust me.

And that is a WRAP to our 33 day adventure in France. I will probably write an overall reflection post a bit later, but for now, friends, I leave you with this.