Trekking the First Day in Paris

After we arrived in Paris, we more or less headed straight to our hotel, Hotel St. Paul, a bit north of the Jardin du Luxembourg, and about a mile or so south of Notre Dame. After a take-out lunch and an aborted nap by Amelia, we headed north to the Seine, meeting the river on the bank opposite the Louvre. Then we headed east, onto the Ile de la Cite, ending up on the east end of the island at Notre Dame. We wandered around inside the cathedral, but did not venture up the stairs. (Going upstairs would have required a long wait in line, and the stairs are ill-suited for our little girls.)

We stopped for a snack at a brasserie across the street from Notre Dame. There we consumed two crepes, a decaf coffee, two warm milks with vanilla, and a demi-liter of water. The bill came to a shocking 34€ ($43). My favorite was the water: less than 18 ounces of Evian for 5.50€ ($7)—but I have reason to believe that the water was personally passed by Napoleon, and possibly blessed by a pope, so all things considered it was probably reasonably priced. It's possible that Paris is an expensive city, and across the street from Notre Dame may not be the most economical neighborhood in town.

We walked back to the hotel, and a little later ventured out to a nearby creperie for dinner. In general, the girls did a pretty good job keeping up as we walked around town. We have a stroller for one, so variously both girls walked, or one walked while the other was in the stroller or on someone's shoulders, or one was in the stroller and the other was on shoulders. But no question it's a lot of work for our little group to get around!