Perth to Paris

We're in Europe!

Today was our first taste of Paris (and pain au chocolat), and apart from being pretty exhausted after the long flight we've had a confiture-packed first day.

This morning we had a bit of a sleep in but perked right up after some french pastries for breakfast and a stroll with Chad and the boys through a local fresh fruit and veg market which also sold an amazing selection of bread and cheese.



We spent the afternoon at the Jardin D'Acclimatation theme park for Keanu's birthday, the boys had a blast! It was a beautiful theme park that runs all year round within amazing national park gardens and surrounded by French landscape and architecture, very different from what we're used to at the Perth Royal Show!

The boys braved a ride on the roller coaster and the speed planes, but I think that the scariest ride of all for the boys was the glass maze (the ride for which it was my turn to chaperone). It probably didn't help that everyone told them that some people never get out and you can still see some of the skeletons of the lost children that didn't make it out alive. It also didn't help that to get out of the otherwise friendly maze you had to go through this dark room with monster mannequins, which I could not for the life of me convince Hayden to go through, he was pretty sure it was the dark room of certain maze death.

I took Hayden back and we went out where we came in, but of course this meant that I lost Keanu and his friend, who were lost inside running around panicking and hitting their little heads into the glass walls as they ran around every corner. They (and every other lost child) forgot the tip the nice woman at the entrance told them which was to always walk with your hands out in front. It was really hard not to laugh at the constant loud bangs of kids hitting their heads.


After running back in and tracking down the boys who had been going around in circles for I'm sure what seemed like hours I taught them the all important maze rule of running your left hand along the left wall and following that around until you get out. What an amazing ordeal!

After stopping off home we headed back out to the Champs Elysees and the Arc du Triumph. The Champs Elysees was really busy with tourists and Sunday shoppers. I bought a lipstick from the biggest makeup supermarket I've ever seen, Sephora. It was overwhelming! An assault of  perfume hit you in the face as you stepped in, and unfortunately we were headed for the Dior counter which was at the back, probably strategically placed, like the milk isle of makeup.

The Arc du Triumph was our first big Paris sight, and we decided to go to the top which was a first for all of us. The view was beautiful, and was a great sneak peak of what we're going to be seeing for the rest of our week here.



Tonight we're all heading out for dinner at a French bistro, I cannot wait to devour a steak frites!