Paris, Day 1

Today is Dashiell's 11th birthday. Since we have been in Europe for almost a month, he has had no access to cereal, sugary or otherwise. He has had chocolate croissants galore, so don't feel sorry for him. But since it is his birthday, we let him pick this disgusting cereal for his birthday breakfast. As you can see, he enjoyed it.

Then we went to the Eiffel Tower, which was his biggest plan for his special day. We stood in line for over two hours, which was really ok because they were out of advance tickets online. We spent all night two nights ago trying to get advance tickets and feeling like loser parents because we couldn't. But, there were lots of tickets still available at the tower itself. Despite the cold and rain, the tourists were out in full force.

Then we went to the airport to switch cars. Our original reservation expired today, so we had been planning to take the famed Metro everywhere, but then as we looked into it more we discovered that just the trip to Versailles on the Metro would cost over 40 Euros, and we could rent a car for the four days for only $130. So, our American love of instant travel won out and we picked up this tiny car today.

It is really, truly, the smallest car we have ever been in, but still doesn't feel too small. A few more days in Paris with the wonderful bread might change our ability to fit...

See what I meant earlier about the parking lot at Orly?

And finally, to finish up the Paris birthday, Dash picked Pizza Hut for dinner. We trudged over to it in the rain, got the pizza, and walked back with it to our hotel. 

Three doors down our hallway, there were several French police officers, some criminal investigators in white hazmat suits and masks, and a police photographer taking pictures and muttering quietly to each other in French. They are currently taping off a white van below our window.

So, we got into our tiny apartment as quickly as possible and sang Happy Birthday for the twentieth time, ate our pizza, fries, and chicken sandwiches and tried not to wonder what on earth is going on down the hallway.

We are getting the full Paris experience!