So jet lag – it’s a thing. Everyone has their tricks for how to deal with it. Ultimately, some people are just better at sleeping on planes and / or functioning without sleep. Fortunately, having raised a child who didn’t sleep through the night until he was 3, we are a lot better at this than we used to be, but it’s still a slog. Also fortunate, our kids love chocolate so when we hit the streets in Paris bright and early on our first morning after negligible amounts of sleep, we loaded up on coffee and chocolate and set off exploring for the day. We had primed the kids for this ahead of time so even though they were exhausted, they perked right up after a pain au chocolat and a hot chocolate – breakfast of champions.
We had every intention of taking this first day slow and not pushing too hard – that didn’t happen. After wandering along the Seine, we found ourselves in front of the Louvre with an unusually short line so seized the opportunity to see the Mona Lisa and 10,000 other masterpieces that everyone forgets are contained there (ancient Egyptian works were a big hit).
Next it was time to refuel – crepes and juice worked for that, and on to Jardin du Luxembourg – big open spaces and a pretty good playground (paid entry but then free toilets so a win overall). Sometime in the afternoon, our hotel room was ready so we took a little nap before dinner then back to bed for a good night’s sleep.
Days 2,3 and 4 were spent in Paris checking out a variety of sites and clocking the kilometers on Lauren’s fitbit. We took in some classic sites (Eiffel tower day and night), some sites to push the kid’s boundaries a bit (Modern art at Centre Pompidou) and some things purely for kid fun (the adventure wall built underneath Pont des Invalides followed by gelato). We also took in a full day at Cite des science et de l’industrie, a family friendly science museum where I was surprised by how much the kids enjoyed touring an old French Naval submarine (the audio guide was a big hit), they had lots of questions and wanted to read all the exhibit info panels to learn as much as possible.
After 4 exhausting full-tourist days in Paris, we hopped on the TGV (yay for fast trains) to the town of Annecy on the edge of the alps where we have rented an apartment for around 6 weeks. This is our spot where we will try to really soak in the local culture, which seems to include spending as much time as possible walking, biking, running and swimming around the lake while feasting on delicious cheese, bread and wine.
I’ll update later with more details of our time here, for now I’m off to the boulangerie, time to start another day.