Paris ~ Amsterdam
Sunday markets ~ Squiddich!
After an action-packed first week and Saturday afternoon / evening birthday party it was a relaxed start to Sunday morning, putting together the solar-powered cardboard car given to us by our auntie Glenys at the musée des arts et métiers the day before.
Another reason we’re lucky to be based where we are in Paris is being 2 blocks from the Motte Piquet markets, which are set up under the raised #6 metro line on Wednesdays and Sundays. An amazing array of wares, where you can see the locals voting with their feet.
At an OK fish stall you can walk up and order; at the best, you wait stamping your feet in the cold for 20 minutes. Daddy did the latter while everyone else went exploring the sights, sounds and smells!
We were amused to learn that “Dover sole” becomes “Sole francaise” when caught by boats originating from this side of the channel :-). We duly snapped some up so we were all set for hosting our first dinner – uncle Rob and auntie Glenys Sunday evening.
Back home from the markets with trusty Ned in tow, it was off to the park next door to enjoy the sunshine.
Charles and Aisling came up with a new game: Squiddich. For all you Harry Potter fans out there, it’s a bit like quiddich, but you play with a scooter instead of a broom and push a soccer ball from one side of the champ de mars to another to score a goal…
Sunday afternoon and a chance for Daddy and Aisling to practice their drawing on the bed enjoying the afternoon light.
Aisling full of great advice for Daddy’s drawing and sculpting. Anything pink sounds like it will get an enthusiastic thumbs up!
Daddy meanwhile playing around with ideas and plaster shaping and enjoying himself immensely…
School in the dark??!!
Aisling having sufficiently recovered from her bug, it was off to school for BOTH children on Monday morning. Bit of an adjustment for Aisling who had been used to a sleep in. “Why are we going to school at night time?” was her quite reasonable question as we set of out of the house in the dark for the short scoot to school.
With the Christmas lights still up on the rue de commerce, it was a beautiful experience to scoot along dodging the grown-ups trying to navigate the pavements teaming with kids on the way to the many neighbourhood schools.
A side benefit of the dark winter mornings leaving the house is lovely sunrises while we walk to school. They even come up in Aisling’s favourite colour…
Aisling survived her first day – hooray! Some of the young kids get picked up in a fun little battery-powered plastic bus that takes them to after school childminding. They strap six of them in and off they go driving down the busy footpaths – quite a sight!
Meanwhile Aisling is ready to celebrate her surprise at surviving the day, we we all go tripping down the avenue to the nearest cafe to celebrate…
Playdates all around
With both kids finally in school, Niamh and Simon had a playdate of their own. Walking is by far the best form of transport in Paris according to us, and we’ve been using our pegs to explore as much as we can, often racking up 15-20k steps a day. Great way to work off the French calories.
Speaking of calories, it was also time to put into action our plan for at least one nice lunch out together each week. Lunch is a great option in Paris, the menus are often half the price of dinner, the atmosphere is relaxed and you can get a table.
This week’s choice was the Café des Abattoirs in the 1st arrondissement, a Rostaing restaurant.
Excellent food which we had missed in our last few flying visits to Paris.
The discreet entrance also made for a lunch amongst locals. Highly recommended!
Meanwhile Charles also had his first playdate, with a boy named Lucas from his class.
Like all the Adaptation kids at EJM, Lucas is fast learning French.
He also happens to speak Portuguese, Russian, English and Mandarin … and is an accomplished pianist.
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Crepes for lunch (what a treat!) then great fun in the park for all.
Boys playing soccer, Aisling showing off her Squiddich skills..
Amsterdam!
Our plan is to spend every second weekend out of Paris exploring, mostly by train. With the TGV you can make it a long way quickly and easily with young kids, and without the hassle of airports (no, we’re not on a commission from the SNCF…).
Our first experiment with this plan was a weekend trip to Amsterdam!
Picked up kids from school in a taxi, straight to the gare du nord for the 3-hour high-speed train ride.
You need a whippy neck to keep up with the countryside speeding by!
Once the sun goes down, time to test out the tattoos acquired from Suisse on the flight to Geneva to go skiing a couple of weeks back. Now we should blend right in with Amsterdam street culture…
First surprise for the kids on arrival: the thousands of bikes piled in two-storey racks at the train station in Amsterdam.
Biggest pile of bikes this side of Beijing??
Off to the hotel, which is in three of the oldest buildings in Amsterdam, which sit side by side and have been joined together to make the hotel.
Lots of twists and turns and ups & downs navigating the place. Tired children at check-in after the journey
Quickly perked up once in our little theme park of a room.
Old style bike hanging from the ceiling, monogrammed pillows (nice touch concierge!), and a twisting staircase. separating the kids’ loft from grown up territory…
Perfect spot for a quick picnic dinner on the floor before turning in, with a beautiful moonlit view of the canals out the window…
Nemo
Saturday was brisk but sunny – perfect exploring weather.
More surprises at breakfast, where after filling up on pancakes, kids discovered the treasure chest where they could each choose a small toy.
This is one hotel that knows how to get the kids angling to come back…
Out into the streets to explore the sights of Amsterdam!
Cold weather, but never too cold in Amsterdam for tulips! The queen had been in town the day before to kick off the show. We had a little queen of our own, doing her best impersonation of a koala…
Then it was off to NEMO, the terrific science museum. We could easily have spent more than a day exploring the many levels of exploration on offer.
The museum is shaped like a boat, and juts out into the water of the harbour. Charles amused by the boats moored on the way in with their over-sized side fins, making them look a little like catfish!
Great exploring to be had.
Can you guess which object is 4.5 billion years older than the other?
In one room there were infinity Aislings and just one Daddy…
And in another the “chain reaction” show. Water sluices, bicycles driving pumps, rolling balls, dominos, sailing boats, candle power and many more types of energy on display as the chain reaction wends its way around the room to finally launch the rocket at the centre!
Then just to be on the safe side, we thought it might be a good idea to put both kids into bubbles. If only we could get them to stand so straight and still all the time…
Canal cruise and winter festival
One of our reasons for choosing Amsterdam this weekend is that it is the last weekend of the winter light festival. A bit like a mini version of Vivid, with different light installations on the canals, best seen from the toasty confines of a canal boat. A relaxing way to end the day after walking the cold streets and exploring NEMO:
The theatre of fish
Hotel concierge scored again with dinner tip.
Off to Pesca, aka the “Theatre of fish”, where you choose you fish in the market at the front of the restaurant (aperitif in hand if you so choose), then head our the back while it’s perfectly prepared.
Great meal in a fun setting … with a bit of iPad to see us through the end of a long and exciting day 🙂