Carl's Birthday Weekend in Paris

Lunch at the Louvre

Well, it has been an exciting first week in Zurich.  To recap, we arrived in Zurich on Sunday morning, stayed in a hotel until Tuesday, and then checked into our apartment.  We love our place, and it surprisingly feels like home.  Jack has some of his favorite toys which have made the transition easier.

Jack's favorite toys right now are his pop up book and his friend Scout

Trying to get Scout to sing

 Carl had his first walk from the apartment to work on Wednesday.  It was very easy for him, and we were able to join him for lunch down the street.  We had a great lunch at a pastry shop, and then explored the neighborhood grocery store near our apartment.  It has all of the basics, and half of the store is made up of great cheeses. 

This is the outside of our house...we have the first floor

When Carl was finished with work, we went wine shopping.  With modern technology, all it took was a quick google search and we were at a wine shop in minutes!  As we asked for some recommendations, this local wine guru asked for our favorite regions, and before we knew it we were doing a full blown tasting of everything we were considering buying…FOR FREE!  It is really nice to be able to try before you buy.  The store probably has about a selection of 100 bottles, of which you can taste any of the wines and they are all numbered by the country and region.  Needless to say, we bought a few bottles! There is a little train museum next door to the wine store but it was closed.  We hope to make it over there on another day. 

At the wine store about to taste some wine!

Yummy

At the grocery store....Carl forgot a jacket so has been wearing his sport coat around Switzerland

First dinner at our new place

My creation

Jack drinking a bottle of Evian water...all of the water in Zurich comes out of these fountains along the street and are very clean to drink so I just refill our bottles as we walk by

Carl worked on Thursday.   Here are a few pictures of Jack helping Carl study for his exam.

hmm...I think that is not the correct answer

Jack explaining why

This weekend was a holiday weekend for the Swiss and so Carl had it off.  It just so happens that Carl turns the big 3-1 on Monday, and so we took the opportunity to go to Paris for the weekend.   We have a train pass that allows us to travel through two contiguous countries- we chose Italy and France.  Carl has never been to Paris and always wanted to visit.  With a short four hour train ride, it was a great time to do it.

SO happy on the train

We had somewhat of a comical, true Seinfeld type experience getting to Paris.  From Carl misreading our train tickets (he was looking at the tickets back from Paris to home) and sending us on a running frenzy to the train station only to arrive three hours early to then accidentally sticking my ticket in his pocket and the train company refusing to reissue the missing ticket which left me crying to the ticket woman (she finally agreed to let me on the train) only two hours into the ride stumbling upon the ticket!

Jack was very happy on the train and realized that climbing on the seats was sheer entertainment.  He did have a hard time falling asleep though which left us with a cranky baby.

Practicing his French

After some more mishaps, we FINALLY got to Paris.   

Our hotel room...you can't see how cramped every thing was

We arrived at almost 9pm, and headed to our hotel.  When we called for a crib, they were skeptical that they could even fit it in our room, which was a little concerning.  It all fit fine, and the hotel was in a great location.  

Our first dinner and we brought our French toy, Sophie, with us

  

The hotel was called Plaza Tour Eiffel located in Trocadero, and, not surprisingly, near the Eiffel tower.  We had a great dinner at a local café, with a very good burgundy wine, the best onion soup I ever tasted (sorry Mom), and scallops for dinner.  My mother makes a wonderful French onion soup but this had some secret ingredient.  Carl got a kick out of me continuing to ask what was in it, and getting the same answer of: cheese, onions, bread and beef bullion (which is what the base of all onion soups).  I kept asking “what else?” and getting “that is what is in onion soup.”  They wouldn’t share their secret so I am going to have to research in some French cookbooks.  

 After dinner, the three of us walked to the tower and got to see them do a light show with glittering lights.  Jack fell asleep as soon as we got to the tower, and slept well that night.  There was amazing music being played while we watched the tower; the group was of Native American descent and played very upbeat music with recorders and these sticks that made such a unique sound….It was a great introduction to Paris!

The tower all lit up...this is after the crazy light show

The musicians are over to the right

Next morning, we woke early, had a great breakfast of café milche (coffee with milk-if you don’t say with milk there is no hope in getting it later on), croissants, and ham with eggs.   

Next to the hop on hop off bus

We got on a hop on-hop off bus (thanks to my friend Michelle’s recommendations) it was a great investment. With sunny 80 degree weather, there is no better way to see Paris, in my opinion, than by the upper level of a double decker bus.   

No one enjoyed the day more than Jack.  Love is an understatement to describe how Jack felt about the ride.  He stood up, held onto the handle bar and was amazed that he was able to see the tree tops and see so much. 

On the bus

We visited the Cathedrale Notre Dame, walked under the Eiffel Tower (the line to go up was going to take hours and we only had a limited time), went to the Luxembourg gardens, walked the Champs D’Elysees, and did some window shopping on Madeleine street.  

At the Luxembourg Garden

There is a beautiful pond in the middle of the gardens with these sailboats that the kids push with sticks

Having fun at the gardens

At lunch

I love standing

Our crazy lunch of beef tartare

At dinner

Our favorite wine..a burgundy

The fam at dinner

Hanging at the Louvre

The next day, we went to the Louvre, walked many gardens, and took a two hour wine class to learn the specifics of French wines. 

Daddy and I playing

SO much fun

 

It was a neat course, filled with mostly Americans, and was taught by a Sommelier in a wine cellar.  There were approximately 16 of us (including Jack-yes the only baby).  We did get some serious looks when we walked in with a child but he was very well behaved.  One champagne, two other whites, three reds, and some bread later, we were better versed in the French regions.  I have new respect for French wines, as they do not allow any use of irrigation which basically means that the climate will significantly impact a given year.   

Our second day on the bus...

We enjoyed a nice late dinner with some cured meats and bread. 

Like Zurich, everyone is impeccably dressed in Paris. There are beautiful shops everywhere.  White seems to be the color of the season, and everyone is wearing low hanging belts.  I was surprised to see so many women in flats, and they all seem to zip up the back. 

Starbucks are everywhere, and we easily were able to find Pamper diapers.  The grocery store is huge, although hidden in what looks to be a small storefront.  The grocery is possibly five times larger than those in Zurich, and the wine selection fills a quarter of the store!

Handicapped access basically does not exist in Paris.  Carl got some serious exercise carrying Jack’s stroller up and down the metro stairs and through the Louvre.  The only benefit of the handicap access is that because there is no lift (i.e.elevator) no one checks the metro tickets which means you never have to buy new ones. 

After a week of croissants and cheese, I must admit that I need to take a few days off!  There are only so many croissants one can eat, and I have had my fill for the week.  I am looking forward to getting back to Zurich, and feasting on some pizza!   Miss you all…

Sleeping baby

Spying on two young ladies in front of us on the train home