Our quick trip to Paris

We had a lovely trip to Paris this past weekend. We flew in late Friday night and left Sunday afternoon. The trip started out a little rough because Cooper decided not to sleep a wink during the flight, so when we got to our hotel at 11:00pm he was a total nutcase. And since we didn't have his elephant that he sleeps with every night, he woke up twice during the night (totally not the norm these days) and cried for almost an hour each time. I was positive that I packed Cooper's elephant, but it was no where to be found when we arrived in Paris. When we got home we found it hiding in a little seat in the corner of the living room...we think Cooper must have taken it out while the suitcase was open just before we left. So yeah, it was a rough night, but after a shower, a delightful buffet breakfast and this lovely fruit basket waiting for us in our room, I knew the weekend wouldn't turn out to be so bad after all.
We started out on the tube, but then walked the rest of the day.

The weather was perfect. I mean really, really perfect. I don't recall ever being cold or hot. I was just perfect all day and all night. It was so nice.

We went to see the Notre Dame Cathedral.
We basically just walked the streets of Paris all day and took in the beautiful sights. I was surprised at how clean the city was. Berlin is full of graffiti, but Paris was not.
We ate lunch at a little cafe and the nice man at the window gave Cooper an ice cream cone to snack on.
It totally sold him on the French.
It turned out not to be such a bad thing that Cooper didn't get much sleep the night before because he ended up falling asleep in his stroller so we didn't have to go back to the hotel for his nap. (He was just kickin' back for his nap)
And he slept for 3 full hours! Such a bonus for us! It was so nice to just stroll and not worry about entertaining the little monster.

Just how we like him... (pictured here with his frog, an inadequate substitute for his elephant, but perhaps a good napping companion?)
We went to the Louvre.
But didn't go inside since apparently I'm one of the things that's restricted?
We walked in the adjacent park and sat at a bench for a while and just relaxed.

More on this location later.
We then walked up the Champs Elysses where most of the street was barricaded off in preparation for a little bike race that was ending there the next day.
We walked all the way to the Arc de Triomphe. There were tons of people.
There are twelve roads feeding off of the roundabout that encircles the arc. It is an automobile mad house. There are no signals and no lines so people just drive out there and push their way through the traffic. It was chaos. It made me a little nervous just watching.
Then we went on to the Eiffel Tower. It was quite spectacular.
Doesn't it look fake?
Later in the day we came up with a brilliant idea, which I don't know why we hadn't thought of previously. Cooper goes to bed around 7:00pm so we're generally tied to home after that point, but we decided to try and put him to sleep in his stroller and then go out for the evening. It took him a little while to fall asleep, but once he got there he was out. During the day he is a very light sleeper, but at night he's pretty much out like a log, which was the case this particular night. It was great. We were able to enjoy a nice long dinner without having to pay for a babysitter. So great!

Here's Pat with the name of the restaurant, Le Carre, in the background.
Pat had the house special chicken. He looked much happier after he had a bite, I promise.
And I had the duck. It was really good!
For dessert I really wanted to try the "hot up side Apple pie makes house" but opted for the creme brulee instead. It was good, but not great.
We had a really great time. I was sad to come home so quickly. But it was also nice to be home at a reasonable hour. I hope I get to go back to Paris one day. The place just makes me happy.