Despite a shaky start (or more accurately, sticker shock after the relatively reasonable prices in Portugal), Paris is charming us.
The wide avenues, and the intriguing alleyways that draw you in. So many restaurants, bistros, cafes, always crowded and offering so much deliciousness. We haven't eaten out much ( see point 1 above) but the obligatory one-chocolate-croissant-per-day goes without saying. And you will be relived to know we have found hipster coffee!
Oh, and also roast goat head.
But I digress.
We love the incredible public transit, not only the Metro but the efficient bus system, which we are tending to favor as it takes us by innumerable magnificent buildings before we even get to our goal.
Given the overwhelming enormity of the options here, I am finding it hard to restrain myself from setting a cracking pace on the tourist agenda. There are so many must-sees and it is tempting to try and pack them in. But after 3 days of tourist crowds, I am over it.
We haven't been inside a single notable building, the lines are too long. To be honest, our attention spans are perfectly happy with admiring the magnificent architecture and moving on. Instead we are going into places like the Picasso Museum and the Cité des Sciences where there is no line.
We had a good pace set in Portugal - one adventure of 3-4 hours per day, then down time. And rotating through the family who was planning the day. But somehow that has come undone in Paris, and we are spending too much time getting places that I think we should go, and not enough just being there.
We definitely have some more plans of the touristic variety (the Louvre is anxiously anticipated, for its Greek antiquities, due to current kid obsession with all things Greek god related) but I am coming back to the mantra of "less is more". We will sleep in, eat croissants, observe street life from the apartment window, wander aimlessly. And if we don't have all the ins and outs of the history of Paris nailed by the time we leave, well, c'est la vie!