Pre-Eilat Paris visit

Our flight to Eilat was through Paris. Since it was early in the morning, we were going to have to spend the night there so when Alice told me that she would be there on the same dates, I simply added another night to the hotel and moved the train journey up.

We checked into the hotel and headed into Paris.

We couldn't take a picture together with this cow but it had to be individually!







These were taken in front of the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall). You can see what a great summer we had in France (if you like grey skies).









We met Caroline there with her two boys Edward and Victor.







We ate at a Quick restaurant across the street but priority was a kids' play area and food they all would eat. Kind of sad but priorities change when you have kids!

We had to make the long journey back out to the airport. No way would I change hotels for the sake of one night. The next day we met up with Alice, Scott and their kids in front of the piramid on top of the Louvre. First we stopped at this fountain to take a picture;





Here are all six of ours together again;





Alice and Scott bravely took them into the Orsay Museum by themselves. The kids were free and I would have had to stand in a long line to get in so I simply read my book outside while they actually had a good time.

We took the boat on the Seine, which the kids loved.











The ladies in this picture actually got annoyed at the girls and pushed them. I didn't see it but Scott did and got up and yelled at them.



The problem with Paris in August is all the lines for various tourist attractions. We waited to climb up the tower in Notre Dame but it was simply too long so we compromised by taking some pictures from the outside.





We managed to get Davina in these photos;







We then continued down the Seine to the Eifle Tower. My kids had already been up it (in the freezing cold) and the prospect of a 7am flight and the fact I couldn't sit in one more line, we said our goodbyes and we headed out again to the airport...



Unfortunately, the RER line we took was partially closed for construction and we ended up on an awful alternative bus service set up for this purpose. It took much longer than antipated to get out to the airport. I thought we might not be there when Daniel checked in but he managed to get on the wrong train. He didn't know that the TGV going to the airport doesn't continue to the city center. It's actually a Lille train, strangely enough, so it was a logical mistake. I gave him directions from Gare de l'Est to Gare du Nord and the train to the airport but he was lazy and took a cab, getting there after we did.