In which we spend the day in Paris

Tuesday morning after breakfast (and a bit of housekeeping) the kids and I set off for the American Library, intending to switch our library books and then head back home to read. Sapphire is in the middle of the Harry Potter series and was eager to read the next book (I had to wait years for that privilege) and Ezio had decided that he wanted to start reading Harry Potter as well.

As we were walking from the metro station to the library though, I realized that it was really quite pleasant out, almost balmy, and thought that perhaps we should stick around Paris for a little bit. What to do though? We could, obviously, head for a museum, but that wouldn't exactly take advantage of the weather. We could go for a walk along the Seine, except that I would be hauling 20 pounds of books on my back, and that starts to get heavy after a while. (Most museums have cloakrooms where I could leave the backpack. I use them regularly when we're out.) A third possibility would be to buy lunch at a grocery store and then head to the playground at the Eiffel Tower for a picnic lunch and some playtime. That would put us outside, and give me the opportunity to put the backpack down instead of carrying it. There was only one problem: I didn't know where there was a grocery store in the area. (The density of grocery stores inside Paris is typically very high. When we lived near Montmartre 2.5 years ago there were 6 supermarkets within 3 blocks, plus a couple of corner groceries. However, we don't pass a single grocery store on the 4 block walk from the metro to the library.) Perhaps one of the people working at the library would be able to direct me to the nearest supermarket.

We got to the library, switched our books, checked out, and asked for directions to the grocery store. Evidently, there was one on Rue Saint-Dominique, about 2 blocks away, so we headed over there. I had forgotten how small Parisian supermarkets can be (the hypermarché we typically shop at is enormous), but we managed to find cheese, sausage, fruit, bread, cookies, and juice boxes without too much difficulty. Then we paid, and headed over toward the Eiffel Tower, a couple of blocks away.

The playground was swarming with little kids, and so we ate lunch first, hoping that many of them would be heading home for lunch and naps soon. By the time we were finished eating, the playground was much less busy, and so the kids headed to the play structure while I watched. It wasn't too long before Sapphire was back, complaining that she felt out of place because she was too old, and asking if she could please read Harry Potter instead. So she read and Cherry and Ezio played on the playground for a while. We ate the cookies, and they played some more. Eventually an oddly dressed man (who was, admittedly, probably completely harmless) walked onto the playground and started staring at Sapphire, so I packed up our stuff and we headed out.

We went under the Eiffel Tower, across the river, and through the Palais de Chaillot to the Trocadéro metro stop, bypassing innumerable trinket sellers ("Three for one euro, madame") and gypsy fortune tellers ("Speak English?") on the way. We stopped at Cinéaqua, the Paris aquarium, thinking that it might be a fun thing to do. It might have been if it hadn't cost 20€ a person to get in (the kids would have been 14€ apiece), which isn't really out of line with aquarium prices generally, but was a lot more than I wanted to spend. We decided to take the 6 line from Trocadéro to Nation, because part of the 6 is above ground (almost all of the Metro is subway, parts of the 2 and the 6 are above ground) and I thought it would be more interesting than our other options. As it turns out, we were above ground for almost the entire length of the trip, and the big kids and I enjoyed the view. Cherry, who had been a screaming mess by the time we got to the train station, slept, though only after I assured her that I wouldn't leave her on the train if she was asleep when we got to our stop. She slept as we walked through Nation as well, and so Sapphire was stuck carrying the backpack, and then most of the way to Val de Fontenay. Fortunately she woke up before we got off the train, so she was able to walk back to our apartment and I could carry the backpack.

Sapphire and Ezio dove straight into their books, and Cherry handed me her stack and demanded that I read them to her as well. Then Cherry and I left Sapphire and Ezio to their reading while we headed to the Auchan so that we could eat dinner when Blaise got home from his meetings.