Notre Dame here we come...

[13th August]

***This is a long post but the video at the end makes it all worth while, promise!***

Daddy Ebi flew in today. He was arriving at 7am and getting a taxi to the apartment - we thought it best with his tendency to get lost! So we had just finished breakfast when he arrived. After freshening up we headed out to Notre Dame.

Apart from the first day, where  I just bought us single trip tickets, this was a day to figure out the best ticket situation. I had looked at the paris Pass which gives you travel on buses and the trains plus entrance to 60 museums but when I sat down and did the math, you would have to squeeze in a lot of museums and be on and off the public transport all day to make it pay. We decided instead to go to the ticket office just round the counter from Pont Marie metro stop and buy the museum tickets in advance and get all day metro tickets. Much cheaper plus having an advance ticket would allow us to jump the queues at the museums.

The all day metro ticket was €7 and we got Ebi-kun the kids Viste ticket which was €5.5. The clerk at the station was super helpful and showed us how to use the ticket machine, there is an English language option and the only take cards at the ticket office but the machines take cash.

After buying the tickets we made our way to Notre Dame, picking up some sandwiches on the way. Oh the food, it was so difficult to choose, I wanted to eat everything!

Those meringues were amazing but we only managed one between us!

We sat outside Notre Dame enjoying our butties before, yes you guessed it, joining the queue to get in...

We didn’t go up the tower, instead we had a wander around the cathedral itself. It’s pretty impressive and beautiful inside, the stained glass windows are stunning.

There is also this detailed carved scene with stories from the bible, Ebi-kun and daddy were asking what they are all about but I'm afraid my bible history is somewhat rusty!

Although it would have been nice to climb up and see the city from the top, non of use could face the queues and even those with passes were queuing so we just had a wander outside instead.

Then we headed over the bridge to the next island to have a mooch, we accidentally found the bridge of love but hadn't got a padlock with us!

And Paris wouldn't be Paris without some typically French music playing as a theme song!

There were lots of cute shops, I would have loved an afternoon there by myself but unfortunately the boys are really not into shopping, so I had to make do with a beer instead! We had intentions of trying macaroons and saw this beautiful shop but didn't go in - note to self, don't leave things until later!

After refreshments we hopped on the metro to the Luxembourg Gardens, it was a lovely day so we didn't want to be stuck indoors. The gardens a beautiful and massive!

I had read that the boating on the pond was popular and fun, I was very skepical but we rented a sailboat for €3.5 and let the fun begin. Actually it was lots of fun, Ebi-kun wanted to extend his time he was having so much fun!

You use a stick to push your boat out and hope that it makes it's way across to the other side, there rae carp and ducks in the pond plus a fountain which all play with the currents and then the odd gusts of wind can change the course of your boat. There were a few crashes and many close misses...

I have to say, if you are in Paris with kids, this is a must do! We had a wander around the park and discovered a big play area which looked great but you had to pay to go in. We were all pretty tired so we gave it a miss and headed back to grab some shopping from the supermarket and dinner.

Dinner... since finding out that we were going to paris, Ebi-kun has been harping on about trying escargot, now there is NO WAY I was going to be eating them and daddy wasn't keen to try either but Ebi-kun was determined. My brother gave him some money so he could treat himself and treat himself he did (how many other kids would spend their Euro on a plate of snails?)

I decided to record the experience, watch the video to see what happens...

Ebi-kun wanted to start his own youtube channel and this is his first video so any thumbs ups, likes, shares and general comments on the youtube video would be much appreciated!