We woke up bright and early with an idealistic agenda; visit the Arc de Triomph, stroll down Champs-Elysees, take a boat ride and drop off at several monuments around Paris and end off at the legendary Louvre.
Never did we expect that this would be equivalent to scuba diving without an oxygen tank, in other words, impossible...
Je t'aime, mon cherie!
Tomb of the unknown soldier and several views of the Arc's amazing architecture
Terelle trying to read the inscription on the floor
Errr mummy? Think i need you to translate it to me after all...
Finally at the top!
And Terelle is still wriggling to be let loose...
While we were enjoying the 360degree views of opulent Paris, my dear daughter was either "recruiting" new members to join in her Mafia activities...
Come on, ill show you where the guard keeps his stash of snacks!
...or entertaining the scores of tourists by gesticulating wildly to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it"!
Everyone together now! *If you're happy and you know it...*
Next activity on the agenda: A stroll down the Avenue of the Rich and Famous aka the Champs-Elysees, where people come out to see and be seen. Because we were behind schedule, the leisurely stroll became a flustered walk and lunch was hastily gobbled down on the move.
Trying to look as glam as possible...but to no avail...
There's always time to pose in front of Louis Vuitton!
After going on a wild goose chase for our boat ride as promised by our hotel manager, we finally realised that the tickets he had sold us did not cover it at all. Utterly disappointed, feeling lousy for having been ripped off and extremely exhausted from dealing with cranky tots and walking a good 10km lugging bursting backpacks, we finally collapsed at the foot of the Eiffel Tower for a breather.
Under that shiny, happy veneer were tired, tired souls...
Since we could no longer have the leisurely and scenic option of taking the boat around Paris, we raced to the nearest Metro to catch the train to the Louvre before it closed for the day.
Time check: 345pm. The Louvre closes at 5pm. No worries, we figured, we can get there by 415 and just head for the Mona Lisa. That would be all our limited artisan knowledge allowed us to identify anyway.
How wrong we were! We forgot that with babies, our travelling time actually triples. By the time we arrived at the Louvre, it was 450pm and they were closed for the day.
So how did the girls keep themselves busy while the grown ups were tearing their hair out over the lost opportunities of the day?
Our princess, in true princess fashion, chose at this moment to do a poo poo in this priceless museum. And being the non baby friendly country that France is, there were no nurseries nor changing stations in the whole of the precious, precious museum. So what was the next best thing that mummy could do?
Let's just say one particular Louvre ticket booth attendant is going to wonder why his counter has faint brown stains and a pungent odour the next day.
Tired to the bone, we all trooped back to the good old neighborhood near our hotel to seek solace in a warm chinese dinner. Luckily the girls were there to cheer us up with their antics.
We will live to fight another day, tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment