Paris with Kids

We're still reliving our adventure from last year when we went to Paris, France for Spring Break. It was rather cold but we pretended otherwise! Our apartment was quirky and wonderful and the same time. The owner lived in another apartment in the same building. The building had been in his family since the 17th century. I guess it's paid for, huh?

This is how cold it was...very windy at times. Baby Girl would snuggle up in her stroller (used just for the trip...she had long been out of one but it came in handy) with the wind shield on and be toasty while we froze to death!

The weather did not keep us from playing in the Tuilleries.....

Hide and go seek.....

And Ring A Round the Rosie:

Here's the origin of that playground game:
It is based on the Great Plague of London (1665), as witness the rash ("roses"), herbs and spices to sweeten the air ("posies"), sneezing, and implicit dying ("all fall down"). But the time-lapse between the plague and the appearance of the game, diminishes that theory. Satires are almost always written about then-current events. Also heard is the theory that children sang this during the catastrophic European Black Death (1347), the "ring" supposedly referring to the red spot that marked the onset of the disease, and the rest following the same allegations heard for the plague theory, which is the one most often repeated.

All of that is very interesting (as the tour guide was telling us) but we really just wanted the street vendor food. It's very good! Our favorite was the waffles! Mmmmm.


I ran out of camera battery on the day we went to Luxumborg Gardens, but I must tell you about the old fashioned carousel. The ponies hung from the ceiling and the operator gave every child a wooden stick about 10" long. Near the operator, is a small wooden box the size of large bird house with "rings" in it....once you get going on the carousel, you pass the box, and try to "grab" a ring with your stick. It's soooooo much fun! Can't you just see the picture in your head? It really looked like children from the 17th century. When we first saw the carousel, it was so old that we thought it was man powered. Oddly enough, I think it use to be but converted to electricity.


Either way, it's a long way to go for a field trip but hey, I like to think outside the box!
Hope you've enjoyed another little piece of our trip...we sure did.