The summer holidays began in Ireland on June 29 so we immediately threw ourselves into the European summer with a 3-week trip to France. We had an early start and arrived at Dublin airport a little before 6am - even at that time, it was absolutely crazy! There were so many people that lines and queues had been abandoned and it was pretty much every person for themselves in getting to bag drop. Luckily, our flight was called and we somehow made it to bag drop and onto the plane in time!
We arrived in Paris and went straight to the apartment we had rented for the next 5 days. It was right at the bottom of the Rue Mouffetard. This is one of the oldest streets in Paris, housing one of the oldest markets in Paris. We had not stayed in this area before and we loved exploring the markets and nearby streets and discovering great coffee, bread and cheese. The Romans were once settled in this area of Paris and Rue Mouffetard was apparently part of the old road between Paris and Rome.
The big excitement on our first day in Paris was meeting up with Denise and Trent, Eva, Matilda and Charlie, who we had not seen for 6 months. The girls were so excited to see their cousins again! We spent that first afternoon in the Luxembourg Gardens, where we returned several times over the next few days, exploring the playground, pony rides and beautiful walks.
We also loved seeing Sophie, our niece, who was doing a month-long French course in Paris.
This was the first time we had been in Paris in the summer for a very long time and we were lucky to have nice weather for most of that time. The girls were well and truly over spending time in museums so we spent the next few days just walking around soaking up the atmosphere - not hard to do in Paris!
Of course, no trip to Paris would be complete without a trip to Euro Disneyland (according to Ella!) so while James enjoyed a historical day trip to the country home of former French President Charles de Gaulle, the rest of us headed out to Disneyland and enjoyed some rides (not so the very long queues!) and meeting some Disney favourites.
Our last day in Paris also involved visiting some historical sites. The first was Les Arènes de Lutèce (Lutèce was the Roman name for Paris) which was just a few minutes walk from where we were staying. This is one of the few remaining Roman ruins in Paris and it is the arena where gladiator fights and other more humane forms of public entertainment took place. The arena was built in the first Century AD and could hold up to 15000 people.
The beautiful garden of poppies just behind the Arena.
The second historical site was not quite so ancient but involved a trip down memory lane for Denise and I as we visited the apartment building where we lived when our family spent a year in Paris in 1983-84, and the primary school, Rue Boulard, which we attended. 30 years later and not much has changed - on the outside, anyway!
We ended our stay in Paris with a visit to Paris' only completely gluten-free patisserie - a great little place, near the Canal St. Martin, called Helmut Newcake. Thankfully, macarons are gluten-free and Pia had already been able to enjoy these. However, it was so nice to find a place where she could choose any of the gorgeous pastries on display.
Yes, Ella enjoyed the gluten-free lemon meringue tart!
The nearby Canal St. Martin......
and Place de la Republique.
An impressive display of macarons that we found near our apartment - poppy flavoured was Pia's favourite.
So that was the end of a lovely 5 days in Paris. It was great to be able to enjoy the time seeing family again in such a beautiful city. Next stop - St. Quentin-la-Poterie in the South of France.
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