Sean Gillies (Posts about paris)

August 22, 2018: Paris in a Day

Sean Gillies — Mon, 02 Sep 2024 23:16:47 GMT

Six years ago my family and I spent some time in France, passing through Lyon and Paris on the way back to Colorado. While Ruth stayed behind at a conference in Montpellier, Arabelle, Bea, and I did Paris in a day. We saw many bones, ate much gelato, hiked many stairs, rode many trains and buses, and enjoyed being together, seeing new places, and using our second language in one of the world's capitals. I cherish my memories of this day. I felt like I was killing the fun Francophile dad role and thoroughly enjoyed the company of my kids. I had a memorable time. We confirmed in June that Arabelle and Bea have strong, positive memories, as well.

I went to Instagram for the first time in years to dig up a photo taken on that day that I haven't published on my blog before.

A child in a blue top making a peace sign in front of the Eiffel Tower and waxing moon.

We didn't go back to the Trocadero in June, assuming that it was closed for Olympics construction, but we did go back to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur. Both Arabelle and Bea have been cultivating Spanish as a third language since 2018 and had a chance to use it on our recent visit. We encountered a Spanish kid of Bea's age who had been separated from her parents and kept her company until we could reach her mom on the phone. She had no phone of her own, but had memorized key numbers.

Paris in a Day

Sean Gillies — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 20:08:09 GMT

On the 5th day of my fortnight of solo parenting, Bea, Arabelle, and I went all over Paris. Before lunch we took the metro to the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle and toured its Gallery of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy. There are bones, many bones, and organs in jars, including dissected brains of all kinds. It's enlightening and grotesque, very cool.

After, we found lunch, and then walked back to our hotel. I had planned the route very carefully. On every other block I would announce "Hey, look at this: the old amphitheater of Roman Lutetia (Arènes de Lutèce)!" or "An Amorino gelato shop, what are the odds of that?" or "What a surprise: the Pantheon!"

After some relaxing and packing we took the metro to Montmartre and climbed up to the top of the butte to see the touristic mayhem around Sacré Coeur. After some negotiation we had a nice dinner away from the busy square, did some souvenir shopping, and then hustled back to the metro and to the Trocadero to see the Eiffel Tower at sunset, Arabelle's goal for the day, take many selfies and congratulate each other on "doing Paris" in one day. We watched the tower sparkle in the twilight and then we took the no. 63 bus back to the Latin Quarter. This is a great bus route, studded with so many landmarks, and my new favorite way to get from the 16th arrondisement to the 5th.