An aboslute headache getting there was followed thankfully by a great experience at the park.
Parc Asterix (4 of 5)
This park which was constructed in 1989 is based on the Asterix series that originated in France in 1959. The premise of the comic makes for the makign of a great theme park as the park is separated by different lands (Vikings, Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians) which are featured in the comics. With Disneyland just a stones throw away, you may wonder how this park survives. The best way I can describe it is comparing Legoland and Disneyland in California. They are after distinctly different crowds. Where Disney concentrates on the spectable, Parc Asterix manages to keep it simple with many rollercoasters & wet rides. The major plus is that if you have a kid between the ages of 4-8, the rides seem almost tailormade since they can basically go on 95% of the rides which make it more of a fulfilling experience. As I mentioned with Jardin du Luxembourg, Parc Asterix is VERY French and not many non-French people. So much so that many workers cannot speak English, whereas in Disney everyone is required to be bilingual. Getting there was another experience...
According to their ghetto website they have ONE shuttle bus that leaves at 0845 in the morning from the Louvre. If you miss this shuttle, you have to catch a shuttle from the airport (50 minutes away) or taxi it (a 100 Euro ride). So we got there at 0830, bought our shuttle tickets and waited for the bus. Quick math question - if there are 100 seats how many tickets should you sell? If you guessed 150, you should work for Parc Asterix! We got on one of two buses when the bus driver realized that there were not enough seats. So he made us wait for 2 hours (literally) while another bus came. I seriously thought there was going to be a riot. He locked us in the bus at onbe point without the A/C on or anything - and yes there were many kids on the bus. He switched it on only after several people started to kick the bus door. Logic would dictate to instead of making everyone suffer by waiting, that he drive the bus load to the Park while the other employees waited for another bus to organize transport. I'd recommend getting there another way (via airport shuttle) instead of using this service.
2011-06-16
Review on the Run: Pompidou (3.5 out of 5), McDonald's (3.5 out of 5), Notre Dame Cathedral views (5 out 5)
Pompidou
Pompidou is the National Museum of Modern Art. It sticks out from afar because it looks like a big industrial building with colorful pipes spilled inside out. Chloe has a thing with escalators, so she was psyched about going up 6 stories of escalators. The ride up was actually part of the art display -- it was called "Sound Walk" because there is CD playing in the background that sounds like a long chant from monks in a cave. Isaac was intrigued by the music. The view from the top is pretty nice, and we didn't have to even climb any stairs.
I didn't think young kids would get much out modern art, but Chloe surprised me by commenting that an abstract self-portrait of a man was actually "eggs inside eggs". I read the description and she was right! There was also a neat display of a room that looked like a black and white striped cave where kids liked to run and stomp to hear the loud echoes. Another highlight was a giant mushroom like in the Smurfs. Apologies to the artists that I can't recall their names :P
McDonald's
McDonald's is worth honorable mentions because it was the classiest McDonalds we have ever been to. The McCafe inside sells macarons and baked goods that look better than Starbuck's. Down the spiral staircase was a room with cushy booths, classy bar stools, and modern art murals. Happy meal was 4 Euros. I saw some people have fries with mayo, and I got a McCroc.
Notre Dame Cathedral views
There was a previous post about Notre Dame cathedral, so this one is only about the tour (walk up to the top). The views are awesome. The bell that Quasimodo rings is cool. The gargoyles are awesome. It's worth the climb. You can't bypass the huge line up with your museum pass, but you might be able to skip it by showing your cute baby and little girl :) Seriously...
Pompidou is the National Museum of Modern Art. It sticks out from afar because it looks like a big industrial building with colorful pipes spilled inside out. Chloe has a thing with escalators, so she was psyched about going up 6 stories of escalators. The ride up was actually part of the art display -- it was called "Sound Walk" because there is CD playing in the background that sounds like a long chant from monks in a cave. Isaac was intrigued by the music. The view from the top is pretty nice, and we didn't have to even climb any stairs.
I didn't think young kids would get much out modern art, but Chloe surprised me by commenting that an abstract self-portrait of a man was actually "eggs inside eggs". I read the description and she was right! There was also a neat display of a room that looked like a black and white striped cave where kids liked to run and stomp to hear the loud echoes. Another highlight was a giant mushroom like in the Smurfs. Apologies to the artists that I can't recall their names :P
McDonald's
McDonald's is worth honorable mentions because it was the classiest McDonalds we have ever been to. The McCafe inside sells macarons and baked goods that look better than Starbuck's. Down the spiral staircase was a room with cushy booths, classy bar stools, and modern art murals. Happy meal was 4 Euros. I saw some people have fries with mayo, and I got a McCroc.
Notre Dame Cathedral views
There was a previous post about Notre Dame cathedral, so this one is only about the tour (walk up to the top). The views are awesome. The bell that Quasimodo rings is cool. The gargoyles are awesome. It's worth the climb. You can't bypass the huge line up with your museum pass, but you might be able to skip it by showing your cute baby and little girl :) Seriously...
Review on the Run: Jardin du Luxembourg (4.5 out of 5)
We heard a local say "Jardin de Tuileries is for the tourists. The locals go to Jardin du Luxembourg." I agree.
Stepping out of the Luxembourg station, we were engulfed in a sea of red-capped French kids just coming out of the school early as per every Wednesday. We were thinking, great, the park will be swamped with kids. We were so wrong. There's something about these vast city parks that seem to be always big enough to engulf limitless amounts of people and still have enough chairs and benches for you to find your own oasis. They are smart -- every inch of space is interesting so the crowd can evenly disperse themselves. There are areas designated for playing chess, playing petanque, playgrounds, sailing toy boats etc. It's not just one big green patch.
Jardin Luxembourg gardens is beautifully landscaped, with formal gardens gracing the front of the Luxembourg palace. The best part was the GINORMOUS playground. The entrance fee was 2.50Euros but well worth it. Chloe ran for 4 hours straight and if we didn't stop her, she could have easily camped out overnight here.
Kids are great ice-breaker topics. We chatted with some interesting people, and an old granny fawned over Isaac and said if they sold a doll made exactly like him in a store, she would snatch him up.
Beautiful.
Stepping out of the Luxembourg station, we were engulfed in a sea of red-capped French kids just coming out of the school early as per every Wednesday. We were thinking, great, the park will be swamped with kids. We were so wrong. There's something about these vast city parks that seem to be always big enough to engulf limitless amounts of people and still have enough chairs and benches for you to find your own oasis. They are smart -- every inch of space is interesting so the crowd can evenly disperse themselves. There are areas designated for playing chess, playing petanque, playgrounds, sailing toy boats etc. It's not just one big green patch.
Jardin Luxembourg gardens is beautifully landscaped, with formal gardens gracing the front of the Luxembourg palace. The best part was the GINORMOUS playground. The entrance fee was 2.50Euros but well worth it. Chloe ran for 4 hours straight and if we didn't stop her, she could have easily camped out overnight here.
Kids are great ice-breaker topics. We chatted with some interesting people, and an old granny fawned over Isaac and said if they sold a doll made exactly like him in a store, she would snatch him up.
Beautiful.
2011-06-13
Review on the Run: Musee D'Orsay (4.5 of 5), Jardin des Tuileries (4.5 of 5), Musee de l'Orangerie (2 of 5), Place de la Concorde (3.5 of 5), Champs-Elysees (1 of 5), Arc de Triomphe (5 of 5)
Wow what a day. The kids held out great as we did a lot of walking. This time we decided to start the day off early since everyone was up by 7:45am and took the bus to Musee D'Orsay. After which we crossed the bridge to the North Bank to spend the afternoon in Tuileries Gardens and Musee d'Orangerie before making the historic walk to the Arc de Triomphe via Place de la Concorde and Champs-Elysees. Here is a link of our itinerary.
Musee D'Orsay (4.5 of 5)
Packed in a stylish retrofitted train station, is French art from the 1800-early 1900s that picks up where the Louvre ends. You will see works of art from Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh, Rodin etc. that you will recognize from your art history text books or movies. So if you don't get a chance to go specifically to the Rodin museum for example, coming here should tie you over sufficiently. One thing that I found really appealing is the variety in works since it spans the old, new, and revolutionary. The second best art museum we've visited so far in Paris and wish that we had more time here.
Jardin des Tuileries (4.5 of 5)
The location of the Tuileries Garden makes it a great place to take a break from all the sightseeing as it links the Louvre, Orangerie, Je de Paume, Orsay, and Place de la Concorde. Not only because of the location though, but it has a bunch of stuff for the kids that include a playground, merry-go-round, mini sailboats, and trampolines.
Musee de l'Orangerie (2 of 5)
I'll admit that our heart wasn't in it in the first place as we really came to this museum to use a clean washroom for a quick nappy change. Our Museum Pass afforded us walking straight in so we checked out the major exhibit that featured Monet's Water Lily series of paintings. Basically the way Money painted this, it covered 6500 sq ft (yes that is just the painting, and was meant to be viewed in a circular room. As such, you enter 2 circular rooms that show a painting that wraps 360 degrees. Interesting yes but only for a minute. BTW the washrooms were clean.
Place de la Concorde (3.5 of 5)
As you know, in terms of squares I was not a fan of Trafalgar square and am glad to say that Place de la Concorde was more my style of what a city square should be. A good size space with a massive size traffic circle, it is home to one of the Luxor Obelisks - a gift from Egypt in the early 1800's. It was transported using major waterways piece by piece and took almost 4 years to move the thing.
Champs-Elysees (1 of 5)
People talk a lot about this boulevard and how it is a must to trek it from the Louvre to the Arc - a 45 minute walk or so. Walking along this street is over-hyped but at least I can say I did it, with kids, which is more impressive since it took us 90 minutes. A good place to people watch though as we saw a break-dancing competition, a fight break out between a guy that we cursing at Turkey outside of the Turkey tourism board and a passerby that was from Turkey (which subsequently got broken-up by plain clothes policemen), and tourist almost getting clipped trying to take photos of the Arc while standing in the middle of the road. If you have kids, I'd recommend to skip the walk, save the energy and headaches, and take the Metro to the Arc from the Louvre.
Arc de Triomphe (5 of 5)
Ah yes, finally the "piece de resistance" of the day which I'm glad to say ended in spectacular fashion. Napolean had the Arc created to mark his victory at the battle of Austerlitz and made it the biggest (165 ft high, 130 ft wide) in the world. As Rick puts it:
"With 12 converging boulevards, there's no traffic circle more thrilling to experience - either from behind the wheel or on foot (take the underpass)"
The foot of the arch is the stage of some major events of the past 200 years of French history such as Napolean's funeral and the arrival of the Nazis and ending with Charles de Gaulle's return after an Allied liberation. The walk to the top of the arch (287 steps) offers another breath-taking vantage point that is becoming a common theme in Paris. Do yourself a favour and ensure you go up - with a Museum Pass of course.
Musee D'Orsay (4.5 of 5)
Packed in a stylish retrofitted train station, is French art from the 1800-early 1900s that picks up where the Louvre ends. You will see works of art from Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh, Rodin etc. that you will recognize from your art history text books or movies. So if you don't get a chance to go specifically to the Rodin museum for example, coming here should tie you over sufficiently. One thing that I found really appealing is the variety in works since it spans the old, new, and revolutionary. The second best art museum we've visited so far in Paris and wish that we had more time here.
Jardin des Tuileries (4.5 of 5)
The location of the Tuileries Garden makes it a great place to take a break from all the sightseeing as it links the Louvre, Orangerie, Je de Paume, Orsay, and Place de la Concorde. Not only because of the location though, but it has a bunch of stuff for the kids that include a playground, merry-go-round, mini sailboats, and trampolines.
Musee de l'Orangerie (2 of 5)
I'll admit that our heart wasn't in it in the first place as we really came to this museum to use a clean washroom for a quick nappy change. Our Museum Pass afforded us walking straight in so we checked out the major exhibit that featured Monet's Water Lily series of paintings. Basically the way Money painted this, it covered 6500 sq ft (yes that is just the painting, and was meant to be viewed in a circular room. As such, you enter 2 circular rooms that show a painting that wraps 360 degrees. Interesting yes but only for a minute. BTW the washrooms were clean.
Place de la Concorde (3.5 of 5)
As you know, in terms of squares I was not a fan of Trafalgar square and am glad to say that Place de la Concorde was more my style of what a city square should be. A good size space with a massive size traffic circle, it is home to one of the Luxor Obelisks - a gift from Egypt in the early 1800's. It was transported using major waterways piece by piece and took almost 4 years to move the thing.
Champs-Elysees (1 of 5)
People talk a lot about this boulevard and how it is a must to trek it from the Louvre to the Arc - a 45 minute walk or so. Walking along this street is over-hyped but at least I can say I did it, with kids, which is more impressive since it took us 90 minutes. A good place to people watch though as we saw a break-dancing competition, a fight break out between a guy that we cursing at Turkey outside of the Turkey tourism board and a passerby that was from Turkey (which subsequently got broken-up by plain clothes policemen), and tourist almost getting clipped trying to take photos of the Arc while standing in the middle of the road. If you have kids, I'd recommend to skip the walk, save the energy and headaches, and take the Metro to the Arc from the Louvre.
Arc de Triomphe (5 of 5)
Ah yes, finally the "piece de resistance" of the day which I'm glad to say ended in spectacular fashion. Napolean had the Arc created to mark his victory at the battle of Austerlitz and made it the biggest (165 ft high, 130 ft wide) in the world. As Rick puts it:
"With 12 converging boulevards, there's no traffic circle more thrilling to experience - either from behind the wheel or on foot (take the underpass)"
The foot of the arch is the stage of some major events of the past 200 years of French history such as Napolean's funeral and the arrival of the Nazis and ending with Charles de Gaulle's return after an Allied liberation. The walk to the top of the arch (287 steps) offers another breath-taking vantage point that is becoming a common theme in Paris. Do yourself a favour and ensure you go up - with a Museum Pass of course.
Weekly Wackies - Week 3
Paris has been as French as we ever imagined. The food IS amazing. They DO dress better. And they DO like to see you limp your way through a conversation in French rather than use English.
- There are buskers everywhere. Even when riding on the metro. Yes, we could a couple of accordian shows. Isaac is particularly mesmerized by each type of musical performance.
- Directly downstairs from our apartment, we are blessed with a bakery, a chocolate store, a creperie, cheese store, Berthillon ice cream store, a convenient store. Within a block away, we have a pharmacy, foie gras and truffles store, confectionary store, a butchery, and small beautiful restaurants with many breakable glasses. Talk about convenience. Each neighbourhood is supposed to have their own set of these conveniently stores.
- There are crepes everywhere. It's their fast food.
- Chloe's diet consists of baguette, pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant), and Nutella crepes every day.
- The baguettes! The croissants! The macarons! Foie gras! Oh la la!
- By now we are very lax with letting Isaac crawl anywhere so the poor kid isn't strapped in all day. Yes, we get some dirty disapproving looks, but hey that's what the wipes and hand sanitizers are for. Most people have big smiles when they see him. Let him grow!
- Isaac now says mama, dada, and jie jie (big sister), and mum mum (to eat). Every time we eat something good, he yells mum mum and pounces for it.
Review on the Run: Galeries LaFayette (5 out of 5)
If there is one department store you could go to in the world, make it Galaries Lafayette in Paris. Not only can you browse the latest fashions, toys, accessories, you can also see a free fashion show (you can reserve seats by sending them an email). The fashion show took place in their top floor lounge. Chloe loved it, and even daddy enjoyed the show -- though he didn't know where to put his eyes when the models came with see-through tops :) This place is huge. And gorgeous. So beautiful it puts Harrods to shame. Even if you don't shop, just come and soak up the ambience and look at the soaring ceilings and gold plated ornate decorations. The kids enjoyed the expensive toys. We enjoyed the huge food hall. We were half expecting to be snubbed because of our lovely tourist look, but the service wasn't bad. It could be because of the "Les Enfants" effect.
2011-06-12
Review on the Run: Saint Chapelle (5 of 5), Conciergerie (2 of 5), Crypt Archeologique (1 of 5)
Day 26 called for a refuel on food, so we headed to the Baudoyer Market close by our apartment and picked up a lot of fresh produce. After dropping everything off at our place and having lunch, we took a nice stroll to the adjacent island of Ill de la Cite to knock off Sainte-Chapelle. Since we had the museum pass, we also checked out the Conciergerie, which was next door, and finished off the day by seeing the Crypt Archeologique that spans under the square of the Notre Dame Cathedral. After yesterday's experience of getting lost on the RER, it was nice to not use any method of transport other than our ECCO shoes. Here is a link to our itinerary.
Sainte-Chapelle (5 of 5)
This was the first attraction (of many) that we really saw the usefulness of the Paris Museum Pass. Refer to a previous blog post here. We bypassed the huge queue to purchase tickets and walked straight in which was great! By the time we finished 45 minutes later, there we spotted the same people still in the queue. Anyways, I'll have to admit. Upon first walking into the main floor, I was like "ok big deal". It's not until we walked to the main room on the 1st floor that I understood what all the fuss was about. Sainte-Chapelle is a cathedral of stained glass like no other. Forget about it being a crowning achievement in Gothic church architecture, it is a crowning achievement in project management as it was built between 1242-1248 for King Louis IX. Consider that Notre Dame took over 200 years to build in the same time period, and this only took 5 years - which was unheard of in Gothic times. There are 15 separate panels of stained glass that cover 6500+ square feet and 1100 different scenes. Adding to the appeal of this experience, the legendary Crown of Thorns, yes think Passion of the Christ, used to be kept here and you have an overwhelming sense of the historic journey and significance Sainte-Chapelle has played. The Crown of Thorns was supposed to have cost King Louis 3 times as much as Sainte-Chapelle itself.
Conciergerie (2 of 5)
This former prison is adjacent to the Palais du Justice and 2 doors down from Sainte-Chapelle. It was a prison famous for being the last stop of almost 2800 victims of the guillotine including Marie-Antoinette. I was looking for the guillotine but unfortunately they didn't have one. I didn't find it that appealing and found the prisons at the Tower of London to be a lot more fun. Glad we came, but definitely would skip if we didn't have the museum pass that got us in for free.
Crypt Archeologique (1 of 5)
The crypt simply displays the foundation of the previous ninth century church where the current square outside Notre Dame resides. Extremely boring and not worth the visit - even though it was free with the museum pass.
Sainte-Chapelle (5 of 5)
This was the first attraction (of many) that we really saw the usefulness of the Paris Museum Pass. Refer to a previous blog post here. We bypassed the huge queue to purchase tickets and walked straight in which was great! By the time we finished 45 minutes later, there we spotted the same people still in the queue. Anyways, I'll have to admit. Upon first walking into the main floor, I was like "ok big deal". It's not until we walked to the main room on the 1st floor that I understood what all the fuss was about. Sainte-Chapelle is a cathedral of stained glass like no other. Forget about it being a crowning achievement in Gothic church architecture, it is a crowning achievement in project management as it was built between 1242-1248 for King Louis IX. Consider that Notre Dame took over 200 years to build in the same time period, and this only took 5 years - which was unheard of in Gothic times. There are 15 separate panels of stained glass that cover 6500+ square feet and 1100 different scenes. Adding to the appeal of this experience, the legendary Crown of Thorns, yes think Passion of the Christ, used to be kept here and you have an overwhelming sense of the historic journey and significance Sainte-Chapelle has played. The Crown of Thorns was supposed to have cost King Louis 3 times as much as Sainte-Chapelle itself.
Conciergerie (2 of 5)
This former prison is adjacent to the Palais du Justice and 2 doors down from Sainte-Chapelle. It was a prison famous for being the last stop of almost 2800 victims of the guillotine including Marie-Antoinette. I was looking for the guillotine but unfortunately they didn't have one. I didn't find it that appealing and found the prisons at the Tower of London to be a lot more fun. Glad we came, but definitely would skip if we didn't have the museum pass that got us in for free.
Crypt Archeologique (1 of 5)
The crypt simply displays the foundation of the previous ninth century church where the current square outside Notre Dame resides. Extremely boring and not worth the visit - even though it was free with the museum pass.
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