I am fortunate enough to be able to say that I’ve been to Paris four times. I went once when I first moved to Germany back in 2009, again that August when my mom and brother came to visit, once with my husband, and this last weekend with my whole little fam bam.

My mom had left me a “Dear Nicolle” letter on her computer (thank God), but the one I found had the words “old letter” at the top. WHY. I searched for-EVER, friends, to find the “new letter.” I finally found it about two months after she died. It had a few instructions (that luckily I had followed!) and some much-desired comforting words. She also said that she likes to be at the beach and in Paris. I had always assumed I would take most of her ashes to Cape May, which has always been a special spot for me and the family. But as soon as I read the word “Paris” I started planning a last minute weekend trip for us to take Mom to Paris. I only had a small amount of her with me here, but I had some!

We haven’t travelled much this go-around in Germany. I’m not very good at being pregnant, and traveling with these little ones is so intimidating. We booked the bullet train and got a hotel directly across from the train station – it needed to be easy toting around these kids and luggage. We planned on wearing both kiddos in our awesome Ergo 360 (seriously can’t live without it) and our new Deuter Comfort III “Cub Carrier.” But in true washed-up-gymnast form, I threw my back out last week. So we also brought our trusty BOB Revolution Pro. It was a little clunky to get into the train, but it handles those cobblestones like a dream. Please admire Cub looking like he hates being so privileged as to be in Paris at 2 years old, eating a banana nut muffin from a delicious local bakery.

Like I mentioned before, we took the ICE “bullet” train from Kaiserslautern. Correction: we scheduled the ICE train from Kaiserslautern. Murphy’s Law loooves us, and the tracks between here and Paris were in disrepair and we had to divert through Mannheim, which took us two hours out of our way. Usually we can handle this kind of thing, but two extra hours on the train with kids wasn’t our cup of tea. We made it though, and still got to Paris in time for dinner.

We walked around for a while bc we don’t like crowds and we’re indecisive, but we finally found just the spot to eat:

Seeing as we were here for Mima, this pizzeria “Da Mimmo” called out to us and seemed like a no-brainer. And thank God we stopped here because it was SO GOOD. Like I just got hungry uploading this picture:

(If you know us and you know we’ve been eating vegan for about a month now, pretend like you didn’t see this picture and don’t judge me. Vacation dairy doesn’t count.)

The kids slept through most of dinner, and HOW COOL that the Cub Carrier stands up on it’s own (under supervision of course). #lifesaver. This meal seriously was probably the third best meal I’ve EVER had (#1: the 5-course wine-paired meal we had after the Budapest half marathon, #2: the swordfish and greens I had in Portugal overlooking the water…oh but don’t forget about Da Toni’s spaghetti carbonara here in Lohnsfeld that changed my life).

We knew this would be a short trip, so we set a few reasonable goals……and we didn’t do any of them. Face palm. As much as I blame having kids, it was really our unwillingness to wait in long lines with them or spend 45 mins shushing them during a tour. So we suck. I know. Oh well.

So the first morning we hitched up the kids and decided we’d walk from our hotel (across from the Gare de l’Est) down to Notre Dame, then across to the Eiffel Tower, and then back. I felt those were the places mom would want to be, so she could sing “God Save the Outcasts” from Hunchback and then relax by the Eiffel Tower all lit up at night. And people watch for weirdos.

FYI, this trek was a little over 8 miles. At 20,000 steps, this was a Fitbit record second only to that time we hiked around Chamonix with J&P (me 4 months pregnant, Rick wearing 25lb Cub – why do we do these things?). But it made us feel better about eating all that pizza. (Side story: Mary ended up waking up and knocking 2 of my beloved pieces of pizza on the dirty Parisian sidewalk. I was enraged and then she scrunch-smiled at me and I forgave her.)

We got to Notre Dame around 10-ish, and the line to get in was already crazy long. So that was our first abort. But I admired this lovely flower patch and we got to take some pictures. There were lots of armed police and military walking around – thank you terrorists – it did make the vibe a little more uptight. But they were nice to us when I almost hit them with our stroller.

After hanging out for a bit (at only ~ 2,000 Fitbit steps), we started our trek to the Eiffel Tower. It was all along the river which made for a really beautiful walk. We crossed the bridges a few times for fun and went up and down to the walkway whenever we came across a ramp (stroller + stairs = nope).

 

We took a break in the Jardin de Toulleries (maybe ~ 8,000 steps?). Mary needed to nurse, we needed to match in public in our French stripey shirts, and Cub needed to chase some birds. And we also had a great lunch! No pictures from that though, Cub is too much of a flight risk when not strapped in.

We took another break when we got to the Eiffel Tower. The lawn is all gated off now because terrorists ruin everything, and you can’t go underneath without going through security and presumably buying a ticket (good thing we’ve been there done that circa 2010 with Mima and Eric). But the side “lawns” are open and we threw out a blanket and let Mary play, Cub sleep, and Rick may have taken a nap as well (or tried to).

Mary gleefully (see picture) went back into the Cub Carrier and we started to backtrack. We wanted to stop by Notre Dame again to enjoy it with a little less crowd around. We also wanted to pass by the Louvre.

On the walk back we started to regret our plan. But we are PT-loving determined and seasoned travelers so we pushed on through. We used to take all our trips on long weekends and we’d say we “dominated” a city. I think it’s safe to say we did that this time. Even though we didn’t go in anywhere or take any tours, we saw so much of the city.

Once we got back to Notre Dame, the Cub was awake and wanting to walk. We let him chase birds for a while and then started a long, slow, toddler-speed walk back to the hotel. Lucky for us he jumped back in the stroller after a binky meltdown about 20 minutes in. Fitbit step status: Cub, 223; N+R, 18,000. We win. Or do we?

Back at the hotel Cub wanted to go outside, so we hung out on our balcony thing for a while. And what do you know we could see the Eiffel Tower from right there!

I’d like to note that all these pictures are iPhone 7 pictures, because even though I brought my Nikon I did not take it out of the bag once. #classic #ytho

On our last day we took our time, ate lunch/destroyed a sushi buffet, and took our extra-two-hour train ride home. It was better since we knew what to expect, and the train was a little nicer than the one we took there.

I complain a lot these days about living in Germany, but I’m so fortunate to still be here. To be able to take this trip just a few months before we move back to the States, and complete a step in what I guess is going to be a long quest for closure – it’s remarkable. I am glad of that.

Next stop for Mima: The Magic Tree.

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