Temperature: Min 18°C; Max 29°C.
Weather: Sunny and hot.
We were renting a small flat through AirBnB during our stay in Paris. It was small but had everything we needed. Having a based was nice and helped us feel at home. It was a bit older than our home though!
Today we decided to take an excursion outside Paris to Giverny As this involved taking the Metro to the Gare Saint-Lazare, then taking a big train to Giverny and a bus to Monet’s place Eskil was of course happy. The Gare Saint-Lazare is a good leaving point for the journey; it is still recognisable as the place Monet painted. One nice touch is the piano in the concourse that is left free for anyone to play. Someone who was quite good played while we were there. The train to Giverny was crowded, as you’d expect on a lovely day in peak season. Most of the train empties there, and everyone is herded onto buses. You can walk as well, but with Eskil that didn’t seem a good idea. Once in Monet’s house and studio, Eskil started making friends with other children as we made our way around. After more than a month on the road he was really missing his friends at day care!
As you would expect, the gardens are spectacular.
Eskil made friends with a little girl while we were at the waterlily ponds, and they sent leaves down the stream.
However ice cream was Eskil’s favourite part of Giverny.
When we got back to Paris, we decided to head to Notre Dame. It was late afternoon and hot, and there was a huge queue to get in. However the queue moved quickly and we were soon inside.
Climbing the towers with Eskil didn’t seem a good idea, so we headed to the Square Jean XXIII behind the cathedral. There was a playground for Eskil, then he exercised some pigeons.
And then ice cream.
There was always something interesting happening in our neighbourhood, and on the way home the boys watched some wheelie basketball then enjoyed the mist again.
After we had gotten back to the flat, Scott went back to Notre Dame to climb the towers during sunset. I’m jealous!
More photos can be viewed at https://www.flickr.com/photos/cragg-ohlsson/archives/date-taken/2014/07/25/.