Our last day in Paris was spent walking (and walking and walking and walking). It was a beautiful day.
We began the day at Luxembourg Gardens. Ellie's love affair with this park started when she came to Paris with my parents a few years ago. They stayed very close to the park and I think may have visited the zip line daily. Stella is also a big fan. In fact, I think every Normandale child who has been to Paris has visited this park and has a variation of this picture:
After the park, we did some more walking. We were all getting very hungry (bordering on hangry) when we found a nice little spot in the Tuleries to have a quick bite. Quiche, egg sandwich, crepe, juice, orangina, and some rose and we were all set!
We could see the ferris wheel from our lunch table and decided to check out the view from the top when we were done eating:
I understand we have trampolines in the U.S. Regardless, trampolines in the Tuleries in Paris seemed to be a necessary stop:
Then, more walking! The girls made some funny faces while enjoying apéro hour (they had sirop and ice cream, we had wine).
In case you were worried that the girls were not getting enough sugar, here is a shot from earlier in the day to put your mind at ease. We found this delish bakery (Turkish?) where they enjoyed some yummy treats and petted the store cat (cat not pictured due to running away):
We ended the day at a yummy pizza place called Louie Louie. Stella went to Louie Louie last year and REALLY wanted to go back on this trip. It was delicious (although none of us could finish our pizzas because we were stuffed). We then walked home, packed up, and went to bed.
In the morning, we called our car to get to the airport almost three hours before our flight. You might think this would be sufficient, but if you have flown out of CDG, you would know better. During bag check, there was a security incident. Everything shut down and we were smushed toward the back of the bag check area while men with machine guns patrolled out front. It was a little concerning (dogs barking and some yelling could be heard in the background), but honestly the entire experience was also somewhat reassuring. The cause seemed to be unattended baggage -- they do NOT screw around with security in Paris, which I appreciate and an unattended bag shuts everything down. However, after the security incident cleared, complete pandemonium ensued in the bag check line. We finally got our bags checked and went directly to the border control line which took about 2 hours to clear (this line was also cleared during the security incident -- the backup was immense). We were still in this line when our flight was supposed to leave:
But apparently due to the security incident, many many travelers were in our position and they held the plane. We ended up running to our gate and were the third to the last group to board before they closed the doors. The flight back was pleasantly uneventful (the girls gave the vegetarian meals a big thumbs up on this flight) and we were welcomed at the airport by Tom, Maggie, and Sam!
It was a fantastic trip! Thank you so much to Stefani and Stella for some amazing memories (and a few inside jokes)!!!
