Paris ~ Fontainebleau
Sunday out with Maggie
Off to the Sunday morning Motte Picquet markets for a look around with Maggie.
Remember it’s not a market in Paris if there aren’t at least 12 varieties of egg to choose from…
We were off to the Jardin de Luxembourg, with a quick stop first at the Montparnasse Sunday art market.
Kids in great form at the Luxembourg playground as always 🙂
After all the excitement, time to cool off with a bit of gelato…
We had a great time hosting Maggie, looking forward to some hill walking with her in Ireland over the summer.
Family fun
Plenty of time for family fun this week. An odd holiday schedule saw Tuesday and Thursday be public holidays, with Monday, Wednesday and Friday normal school days. And don’t even think about pulling your child for one of those days if you want them back in school the following Monday.
Even the UK has the good sense to put all its public holidays on Mondays!
We had fun in the park with the frisbee, and fun at home with lego.
And of course we headed out on the town…
Two questions:
First, is it possible to blend French and US culture just a little too far?
Second, how come we weren’t invited to the gigantic party that apparently happened in our neighbourhood on Sunday night and filled the glass bin to overflowing by about 100 bottles?
Buttes-Chaumont
The Parc des Buttes-Chaumont is a large (almost 25ha) curved, hilly park in the north east of Paris that was a Napoleon III creation along with the Haussmann boulevards, which was opened in 1867.
Neither Simon or Niamh had ever been before, so we used our Tuesday holiday day to check it out, and we were really glad we did. Beautiful sunny day to be out in the park.
Lots of water pistol fights and fun in the sun.
And of course we couldn’t pass up the chance to climb the oddly out of place temple perched atop a man-made cliff at the centre of the park…
Start of sunbathing season in Paris, and spring is truly springing 🙂
Creative fun
Simon off to sculpture as usual on Tuesday night, plaster forms of the rocks now finished. Hopefully now rocky enough 🙂
Meanwhile Charles had a workshop at school. What sort of workshop do we hold at school in Paris for a group of 7 year olds? Perfume making of course. Kids all made their custom perfumes from their selection of smells.
Charles came home announcing proudly he was going to offer his new fragrance to “DIE-or” as eau de citron…
Off to Fontainebleau
Wednesday as usual was a half day for Charles and no school for Aisling, so with Thursday a holiday we decided to zip down to Fontainebleau just south of Paris via the “Transilien” regional train.
SNCF strike meant fewer trains than usual, so once again Simon and Charles were sprinting from school pickup to the station.
We made the train with 30 seconds to spare. Kids happy to catch a bit of rest on the way…
Made it to our cosy hotel near the palace, kids in good form.
Dinner al fresco – happy days!
Simon channeling his inner Fletcher; kids unwinding with a bit of drawing.
Fontainebleau Forest
Morning time and there’s no better way to kick-start the day than with a cup of hot coffee.
But of course we’re in France, and hot coffee doesn’t come in cups, it comes in buckets :-).
Happy days for Niamh!
The forest at Fontainebleau is 280 square kilometres large, once a hunting playground for the kings of France, now full of hiking trails and has become a rock climbing and bouldering mecca. We fired out!
The park was in the full bloom of spring wild flowers, a beautiful sight…
Kids alternating between playing tip and sneaking up on their parents in the long grass:
Easy to see why the INSEAD students love the environment here.
Beautiful place for strolling in the forest or along beside the canal.
But mostly just for playing in the fields…
…and blowing dandelions.
Fontainebleau Palace & gardens
Later we ventured into the palace, with its impressive architecture spanning multiple centuries of construction, surrounded by sprawling gardens.
The site has had a chateau on it since the 12th century. The current palace was initially built by Francis I, then built on and expanded by every monarch through the 18th century through to Louis XV, and well worth a visit.
Many important historical events have taken place there, and today it’s a museum to that history. You can see Napoleon’s field tent, and his “necessaire” – a wonderful name for the essential travelling case of any emperor…
You can see the bassinet of an Emperor’s son. Is there a Bugaboo Emperor coming out anytime soon?
We particularly enjoyed the table in the kids’ play room with its contemporary map of the world for learning the essentials of geography. Note the topography of Australia:
Or of course you can just quietly soak in the architecture of the place…
Just as Aisling found some bedroom decor inspiration at Versailles, Charles gathered some simple decor ideas here…
The map room we found particularly beautiful, and Niamh and Aisling were both captivated by the ceilings throughout
Once we were palaced out, it was into the gardens for a bit of high quality tip!
Lots of secret passageways to explore as we tore around the gardens playing tip.
Then a bit of relaxing with the goslings – and a chance to catch our breath and recharge with a macaron the size of our face 🙂
Back to Paris & Friday night dinner
Luckily Niamh had some handy bubbles on hand to jolly everyone along while waiting for the train after our day and a half of tiring adventures.
Charles and Simon polishing their ball shooter & catcher skills.
Friday night dinner at the end of a long week.
Some of us made it all the way through, others wisely chose the tactical nap option.