A Park in Paris

So continuing on, then...

We didn't really have an itinerary set out for our fourth day in Paris. I woke up and went across the street to a little boulangerie/patisserie to grab some pains au chocolat for Michelle and myself. Dalton and Maggie had their typical French breakfast - French Frosties. We decided to go to the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, a little park in the northeast of the city. We then went out into the markets to buy various items to picnic on - apples, grapes, bread, wine, and the like.

We made it to the park and stopped off at another little boulangerie/patisserie where we bought a croissant jambon (basically a croque monsieur on a croissant), a croque monsieur, and croissants for the kids - which led to Dalton's discovery that he actually likes some French food. Every time we stopped at a boulangerie afterwards, or mentioned stopping off for a quick bite, Dalton asked for a croissant. We also got some pastries - a millefeuille or two.

We spent the rest of that day until the afternoon wandering the park, which has a neat little gazebo at the top of a large hill, a waterfall, and plenty of room to wander. We picnicked not far from the gazebo, with a view out over most of the city. After exploring a bit more, we managed to make it down for a pony ride for the kids and cotton candy ostensibly for Michelle, but which was shared by all. Interestingly, cotton candy in French is 'le barbe a papa', which translates to "Papa's beard".

So we said "au revoir" to the park, and headed out to the Opera de Paris Garnier. The Opera was the inspiration for the Phantom of the Opera, and it is an exquisitely beautiful building. I had tried to see about booking tickets for a ballet there, but being the end of August, no shows were on. It even has a lake underneath (just like the Phantom)- which, unfortunately, is not open to the public. According to the personnel there, nobody is allowed down to see the lake, which was disappointing, but the building itself was still gorgeous.

We went back to the apartment for a bit, and then back out to "Au Beaujolais", a little restaurant a street or two over from the apartment. The kids had noodles (tagliatelle au carbonara, as I recall), while I had the boeuf Bourgignon, and Michelle had chateaubriand with bearnaise sauce. (We think - we've been discussing this and we can't decide what cut of meat she had precisely, but we both agree on the bearnaise.) Having had our official French meal, we went back to the apartment, where the kids settled down to watch French cartoons for a while - obviously our kids are television deprived, since they watched French cartoons every morning, despite the fact that they know only "bonjour" and "merci".