Paris: Part Two

We spent Day Three in Paris just sort of meandering about. We had an early lunch at West Country Girl, a little creperie within walking distance of the hotel. Martin had found it just by doing a Google search for nearby eating options, and it turned out that we were around the corner from what might be the best crepes in the city. At least Saveur declared the chef "La reine des crepes," (the queen of crepes). Suddenly our hotel location seemed a lot more sensible to me than it had the previous day.

We headed for the Canal St. Martin to watch the boats and the lock system in operation. It wasn't until later that I learned this is the canal on which Amelie skips stones. I had been hoping to visit something from Amelie and didn't realize until later that we had.

The canal is also featured in the 1938 film Hotel Du Nord, which we have never seen.

Afterward, we wandered around and found a lovely park with a community garden and some people drumming. The sun came out, and kids were playing sword fights with long sticks and people were lying on the grass and picnicking and playing in the playground and it was a really sweet moment to soak it all in.

Then we did a little shopping.

For dinner, we met Martin's cousins (well actually, the children of his cousin) at Ratatouille. Upon hearing the name, I think my kids were kind of hoping for the movie version of this restaurant. There were no rat chefs in sight, but it was a very nice meal, and it was wonderful to catch up with Sebastien and Celine, who were 14 and 10 when I first met them. And now they're all growed up.

That's Sebastien on the left, his girlfriend Sophie in the middle, and Celine on the right.

For some reason we mostly just photographed Max's meal.

On Day Four, our last day in Paris, we finally had a sunny day, which was good, because the line for the Catacombs was still long, even though we arrived before it opened. This time, we were prepared for the wait: we brought snacks.

An hour and a half later, we finally got in to see some bones.

Back above ground...

We went for lunch at a nearby Brasserie. 

It was all really good, and very relaxed. We were the last customers there as we lingered over lunch and just enjoyed the respite.

Once we emerged from our lazy lunch, however, we (and by we, I mean me) suddenly felt a bit stressed that to realize it was our last afternoon in Paris, remembering there were so many things we wanted to do, and we were hard pressed to decide which ones we should choose. We decided to head for Notre Dame, as we (and by we, I again mean me) thought it might be fun and/or memorable to see this part of Paris. It was extremely crowded there, with long lines to get in to the cathedral, and it felt very touristy. I had remembered it being very quiet in the area, but it was nothing of the sort. We began to regret the decision as soon as we approached it, as I was feeling the time crunch and the need to have a fabulous last day. I did not want to spend it standing in long lines.

Luckily, there was an amazing street performance going on there to make it worth the visit.

We hadn't seen a single museum in our entire time in Paris, and this also made us feel a bit depressed. Since it was once again raining, we thought it might be a good time to step into a museum. I had wanted to take the kids to the Rodin Museum, as I was sure they would love it. But it was too far away to head there so late in the afternoon. We visited the Georges Pompidou Centre, since it was close. There are these wonderful sculptures in a fountain just outside the museum, which I thought the kids would love. But the pool was not yet filled with water, and so none of the sculptures were moving, and they were much less exciting than I remembered.

It started to rain, and I thought the kids would at least enjoy the escalators inside the museum. But everyone was feeling tired, and when we realized we would have to pay quite a bit for admission, even though we only had an hour or so to spend there, we ended up abandoning that plan too. It was not a total loss. We spent a short time in the library, which is in the same building. There was a Manga exhibit there with big comfortable bean bags, on which people were lying about, reading various Japanese comic books or watching films or just taking a nap in the cozy cove.

Outside, the rain had stopped and the sun had returned.

We wanted to get back to the hotel relatively early to pack up and get to bed so we would be ready for our early morning departure for London. We decided to have dinner at the West Country Girl, since it was near the hotel and, um, because it was so very good. It seemed a bit silly to go to the same restaurant again on such a short visit. I mean, it's Paris. There are so many wonderful food options. We should branch out. But it also felt absolutely right. When we got there, the owner greeted us, remembered us, and seemed delighted that we were returning again so soon. The queen of crepes even came out and smiled and acknowledged that we were at "our" table, since the boys had selected the same table as before.


We were the first customers, waiting outside the door before it had even opened, but it soon filled up. We overheard the girl at the neighboring table discussing the creperie, saying that it was her first time there, but she was meeting a friend who had been there three times in the last couple of weeks because it was really so good. They were Americans who were living in Paris and were surprised this little restaurant had escaped their radar until now. It made us even more excited to have stumbled on it in our four days in Paris. We have a knack for finding good food wherever we go. Or maybe it's just a matter of where we place our priorities.