Paris, Part III: Disneyland

[Read Part I]
[Read Part II]

(Disneyland - We all knew it would come to this, didn't we?)

After the success of the Aquarium, we took the rest of the day easy. Emily was quite worn out from what was probably the sudden stimulation and we could get away with it. But we knew there was another day ahead of us and internet searches gave us no additional information whatsoever as to what sort of entertainment Paris held for toddlers. There was one glaringly obvious option, one we'd specifically decided against weeks before: Disneyland.

David suggested it again and I, again, said no. Emily is too young, it'd be a waste. She wouldn't appreciate it and she'd most certainly not remember it. But in the end, with the idea of a whole day of nothingness and frustration for Emily looming, I gave in (rather eagerly, I'll admit). So we hurried to the Disney store around the corner quickly before it closed and bought our tickets, and a Mickey Mouse toy for Emily which she hasn't stopped hugging since.

The next morning was cold, and very windy, although we can't really complain as rain had been forecast for the entire weekend and it had only rained for 20 minutes on our first day there. We searched high and low for gloves for Emily (I hadn't even packed a pair!) but as winter stock had been put away, there were no gloves to be found. We unrolled her jacket sleeves and tried to keep her hands under her footmuff.

I don't really think I need to say much more about our day there, I'll let the photos speak for themselves.









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And then I said it would be a pity to have come to Disneyland and not let Emily meet her beloved Mickey Mouse himself. So we queued for 50 minutes, sans buggy of course, on a gravel path - meaning Emily had to be held the entire time or she'd have tried to eat the gravel.

All for a few minutes with Mickey. Whom Emily turned out to be scared of.




The verdict? We enjoyed it. Of course she won't remember a thing and we plan to take her again when she's older and can enjoy it more. But I don't regret having given in this time. It was a day where we could relax, not be worried about where we might need to change her nappy or what restaurant might have a highchair. We certainly didn't need to worry about anything not being child-friendly. Emily had a blast and we loved watching her enjoy it. That alone makes it worth it.

Paris, Part II: Aquarium de Paris

[Read Part I]

Visiting the Aquarium was a stroke of genius. Emily could finally get out of her buggy and crawl around. She has recently become very interested in animals so this was a good opportunity to show her something different. She loved the movement and the colours of the fish, although not so much the larger fish.







She spent most of her time at the Aquarium shouting at the fish, or trying to catch and lick them.

And then we found the petting pool. She stood by the side for a while, just watching. Then tentatively, she touched the water. Then a bit more and a bit more, until five minutes in, her top and cardigan were soaked right through (she kept turning around to try and dry her hands on David's arm!) and she was even trying to catch the poor, terrorized fish.







We stopped to have lunch shortly after that (sushi - a bit ironic to be serving sushi at an Aquarium, we thought!) and we stripped Emily down to her vest and dried her clothes under the hand drier in the toilets which did the job and she was fast asleep, fully content, soon after that. Suddenly we didn't feel like such bad parents any longer: we had found something for Emily to enjoy in what seemed to be the land that forgot the toddler!

More Paris adventures to follow...

Paris, Part I: Hmm...

Months ago, we booked a long weekend in Paris. As part of his Ironman training, David was going to run the Paris Marathon on the 15th April. Then, due to injury, he was unable to run but we decided to spend the weekend in Paris anyway. It had been a few years since we were last there, and it was a good excuse to be back.

We couldn't quite make our minds up about how to get there and when we finally decided to take the Eurostar, prices had sky-rocketed so we fell back on our original plan to drive there via the Eurotunnel. We were both not very keen on this option because Emily had recently begun being very impatient in the car and we didn't want to have to listen to her moaning for over 3 hours. Still, we didn't want to fly there either, so we decided to risk it.

Turned out we had nothing to worry about. She was perfectly fine getting to Dover, spent the crossing out of the car, and spent the drive from Calais to Paris asleep or blowing us kisses.



We were the last car on board the train so she had ample room to roam.


Once we'd checked in to our hotel, we moved around the furniture in our room (we must be every hotel's favourite guests) to ensure we could actually have a quiet conversation once Emily was asleep. Then we headed out for a stroll down the Champs Élysées and to get some dinner.



This was when reality kicked in. Stupidly, we'd done no "Paris With Toddler" research. Since we'd been before and done all the sights then, and we're not big on much sightseeing anyway - we much prefer to take it easy and just soak up the essence of a place, we figured we'd just chill and let Emily roam around while we do, as we'd do in England. We'd take a few walks, perhaps a boat ride, a spot of shopping, nothing stressful.

It was at this point, looking for a place to have dinner, that we realised that we might be in for an interesting weekend. Most restaurants and brasseries we attempted to have dinner in had no highchairs (and we'd stupidly left our portable booster seat in the hotel room). Emily was looked at as if she was some sort of alien fallen out of the sky. A child in a restaurant?! When we did eventually find somewhere that had a highchair (one without a harness so she spent the entire time climbing out of it), and after I was almost run over by a very rude waiter carrying a tray of empty glasses and got shouted at for being in the way while we waited to be shown to our table, Emily was given stainless steel cutlery, a plate and a glass. And the waiter seemed taken aback when I moved everything away from her.

From where we stood, it seemed like no Parisian had even the slightest concept of an infant. Playgrounds (we found quite a few) include slides, see-saws and monkey bars. Emily loves swings, but there are no swings, anywhere. Signs state that playgrounds are intended for children over four years of age.

Even shopping started out feeling hopeless. In Zara, we tried to get to the first floor. We spotted a lift. Good, this was progress. After what seemed like an eternity waiting for the lift to arrive, it was packed with boxes and clothing rails. There was no way more than one person would fit in there, let alone a buggy. The sales assistant close by looked up, then carried on doing whatever he was doing. We walked out. (We were more successful in other shops, but it was at this point that David looked over to me and, laughing, said "I can actually see the blog post writing itself in your head." He wasn't wrong.)

By the morning of our second day, Emily was bored out of her mind and we were becoming slightly concerned as to how we were going to keep her entertained, and feeling very bad for having brought her all the way there to have no fun whatsoever. I said to David let's find some grass and let her roam around for a while. But there on the grass was a fresh delivery of dog poo. Back to square one.

She was getting increasingly impatient to not be allowed to move around anywhere (remember, she still just crawls!!) until David spotted a sign. There was an Aquarium. We ditched the Eiffel Tower and made a bee line for the aquarium.



I'll tell you all about that in my next post, and I promise it does get more positive after this!

[Read Part II]