Day 36 (July 14th): Paris

Woke up around 8:00 AM and everybody else was sleeping. I decided to motivate since we had a busy day ahead of us and I needed to move the car off the street before 9:00 AM. Al woke up and showered after me. We left the kids in the room to get ready while Al and I took the car over to the parking lot closest to our hotel. Because of Bastille Day access to the parking lot was difficult and the police would not let us make the turn we needed. Instead we had to go around the block and ask another policeman (who did speak English) and he told us the proper direction. At first the entrance to the lot was closed off but the policeman luckily let us thru. We were definitely not in the mood to drive around the crazy Paris streets especially on Bastille Day. We parked the car and walked back to the hotel. The kids were dressed and we headed out towards the Arc de Triomphe where the parade was starting. There was a restaurant right on the corner across from the Arc where we stopped and had breakfast. The waiter brought us a couple of baskets of croissants and we started eating them until our breakfast came. We ordered some crepes and orange juice and watched all the people start to congregate around the Arc. In addition to the people, there were numerous military personnel all around. We finished breakfast and got the check. To our surprise, they charged us for all the croissants we ate (8 of them at 1.80 Euros each). The parade started and we headed over to the Champs Elysses where the parade was going down. Many of the streets were blocked off around the Arc with soldiers and their heavy equipment (tanks, jeeps, etc…). We stopped and took some pictures with the kids standing next to the soldiers (see picture on left). The only way to get to the Champs was to follow the massive crowds walking north of the Arc and then head back east. We finally got to the Champs and it was packed with people (some of which were there for hours before the parade started to get a good spot). We decided it would be best to head east on the Champs and not stay in one place so we could cover more ground. About 15 minutes later, jet fighters soared over our heads streaming red, white and blue smoke. This was followed by repeated “fly bys” of jet fighters in formation (see picture on top middle). In certain spots on the Champs it was so packed with people that you literally could not move at all through the crowd. One 15 foot section of sidewalk took us over 10 minutes to traverse while “stinky sweaty” people pushed in all directions. Are we having fun yet? Zach needed sneakers so we pulled over and stopped at an Addidas store. Not only was it air-conditioned but also it had two stories so you were able to view the parade from the upper floor. I planted myself in front of one of the windows and watched the parade. It was not a typical parade because there were many lags in the procession. You would watch some soldiers walk by and then you would wait 10 to 15 minutes before anything else went by. We hung out at Addidas for a while and cooled off then hit the streets again. We tried to head down to the Place de la Concorde but many of the streets were closed off due to the French President and we ended up doing another big round about to get down there. By the time we got to the Place de la Concorde (12:00 PM) the parade finally ended. The Tuilerie gardens are right next to the Place de la Concorde and we walked in and found a restaurant to have lunch at. Zach and I had a chicken sandwich (and I had a cold beer). After lunch the kids played with the pigeons while Al and I relaxed a little longer. We then headed over to a little festival in the Tuilerie gardens that had rides and Zach did a bungee ride with the Louvre Museum in the background (cool setting). It was very hot out and we got some cold drinks in front of the Louvre. We debated whether we wanted to do the Louvre but decided against it due to our limited time in Paris, and knew that the Louvre can take hours to go thru. The Seine was across the street and we stopped and got some ice cream and hung out near the water. We continued eastward and went to the Notre Dame Cathedral (see picture on right). We walked around instead the church but did not go to the top since you can only walk the 400+ stairs and there was no elevator. By this time, Hannah was completely exhausted and she needed to rest. We found a little café across the street from the church and had some drinks and used the restrooms. After resting for 20 minutes we went behind the church and visited a Holocaust memorial that was a little “odd” and nothing special. We walked over the Pont de Sully and stopped to watch a bicycle street performer who was very good. We then got some more ice cream and drinks and checked out some of the small quaint shops. One of shops was air-conditioned and Hannah bought a horse bookmark for her friend while we cooled off (good stop). We continued on and found a playground where we let the kids play for a while. I thought it would be appropriate on Bastille Day to go over to the Place de la Bastille thinking that something might be happening there. Nothing special was going on but we stopped and took some pictures. It was getting late and we had no energy to walk back to the hotel so we took the Metro instead. We got back to the hotel and washed up to change for dinner. Fireworks were starting at 10:30 PM at the Trocadero so we headed in that direction. We found a French restaurant along the way and had to eat inside since all the outdoor seating was taken. It was a little hot inside with no AC. We endured and I had a nice shrimp and scallop salad along with a cold Belgium beer. Al had a steak that was ok, Zach had a cheeseburger with fries and Hannah had a chicken salad. We finished dinner and headed down to the Trocadero to get a spot for the fireworks. I was hoping to get a good unobstructed view of the Eiffel tower during the fireworks but the best we could do was see the top quarter of the tower. The place was packed with people all with the same intentions. The fireworks started at 10:35 PM and lasted for 30 minutes (see picture on middle left). They were good but not great. After the fireworks finished the massive crowd dispersed and we moved with the flow. As we were walking a small dog to the side of us did a “#2” right on the street while hundreds of people were walking behind it. Hannah was watching the whole thing and it wasn’t 10 seconds after the dog finished that someone step right in it. Note: There are no leash laws in France (and for that matter Germany) so you need to watch every step. We finally made it back to the apartment around 12:00 AM and hit the sack after a very long busy day.