The previous night Callie was all screwed up. The time change and all the excitement really threw her for a loop. She woke up around 2, hungry. So we fed, hoping she would go back down easily, but that was not to be! Around 3 she was super wired! I have never seen her that hyper. Thinking back on the previous day, I wonder if it was because I had too much caffeine. I normally only have one cup a day, but because I had been so worn out and tired from traveling, I had more than that...We put her in the travel doorway bouncer that we borrowed from John and Valerie, but I think she is still a bit small for it. Everytime she would jump she would lean forward so she was basically choking herself on the fabric. So no go there. Clearly should have tried it out before we left! So I tried to wear her out playing, but she was still rarin to go! So we brought out the big guns. We swaddled her and cranked up the Rockabye Baby lullabies on my computer. She slept for a while. She pretty much woke up every two hours. She definitely seemed to be napping, not really going in for a deep sleep. But the time 11:30 am rolled around, I felt like I had gotten enough sleep so we got up. Since we figured it was almost noon, I opted for my casual shoes for the day, because I figured since we were getting a late start we would just stay out for a few hours and come back. Ooooh no. Now I know better! Tomorrow I am pulling out the really athletic shoes.
Our first order of business was food. We had all been talking about crossaints for days. So, we walked in the direction of the Louvre and stopped along the way.
Callie was very sleepy as you can see, so she napped quite a bit along our walk. Which was fine by me! I figured we should take advantage of the sleeping baby to get to as many locations as possible! When she fell asleep in the stroller, she was kind of slumped over forward. This Parisian grandmother stopped us and said God knows what, but she might as well have shook her finger at us. We just smiled, shrugged and went on our way. Somethings truly need no language! We stopped along the way to pick up some postcards and continued on our way. Then we arrived at the Pyramid at the Louvre.
We woke her up fully, she was going in and out at the time and took a few pictures. We opted not to actually go inside the museum and walk through the adjacent park instead. It was beautiful!
We hung out by the fountain and had coffee. Then I spotted the ice cream stand. It said artisian, so I had to try it.
I am laughing so hard in this picture because I had asked Bill to take a picture of me with my ice cream (otherwise I probably would have forgotten about it!). When I looked up at the camera, this is what I saw staring back at me through the camera screen.
To which I exclaimed, "That's not me! That's you!"
We gave Callie something to play with...
We walked over to the Egyptian Obelisk. When we arrived my mom says "I can read that." (It is covered in hieroglyphics.) She had taught Eygptian history to one of her classes a couple years ago, so I was hooked. So I say, all excited, "Really?! What does it say?" To which she says "The pharoah died and he was really important." Nice. Totally got me.
Munching on my finger.
We kept walking and came across this really cool fountain, which we assumed is for washing hands.
Bill demonstrates.
We continued on and ended up the Esplande de Invalides, a nice outdoor area that leads into the Musee d'Armee. Again, opted not to go in.
Old canons outside the Museum
Mom had been searching for some Fleur de Lys. And we found some!
We continued walking around, always seeing the tower in the distance. We had to keep telling ourselves, "We are in Paris! So crazy!" We stumbled onto Rue du Cler which was an adorable little street closed to cars for the most part, filled with awesome little cafes and organic markets. We opted to have lunch here at a cafe called Central Cafe. I decided to try the onion again since the previous nights was so incredible. This one not so much. More like a little onion soup and a shitload of cheese. At least I found a really nice glass of rose wine. I have never really liked rose wine at home, too sweet, but this one was really very nice.
We stopped at this adorable cheese shop as well. So cool! We picked up a little piece of cheese and it was sooo stinky!
Also a cute bakery with neon colored treats.
We skipped the treats and opted to show Callie what good bread looks like.
Callie has been going crazy grabbing at glasses whenever she can. And my glass of rose was certainly no exception!
I got a little help from Grandma Tere so I could drink my wine without interference!
At this point, I expected a meltdown. But she was doing great! I couldn't believe it. We had already covered so much ground.
On our way we took some silly pictures. Bill's idea of course.
Stinky foot!
We just kept walking since Callie was doing so well. Then we found ourselves at Champs Mar, just on the other side of the Eiffel Tower. I found a nice spot to nurse her. I wasn't too sure how nursing was going to go in Paris. I had read that we had to be a bit more discreet here than in the states so I packed my nursing cover. I had actually nursed her earlier in the day as well. It is pretty funny to watch her. Because she is always moving her arms and legs someone of the other side of the nursing cover would just see moving fabric and kicking legs. Bill and I sat on a bench to feed her while my mom went ahead to check out the tower. Next to us was this couple that had obviously run into a rude cheese clerk. The girl was going on and on about how could he assume that we know nothing about cheese, so rude, blah blah blah. Apparently her boyfriend felt the same way at first, but eventually he tired of the conversation because he finally said, very calmly "I know it was annoying but I'm going to move on about it." But that did not deter cheese girl. On and on she went. Calm boyfriend just ate his cheese and drank his wine. Poor guy.
Meanwhile, we took some great photos at the park.
3 Generations of Girls
Family Photo!
Sophie is so happy to be back home!
Giant Baby!
Mom wanted to take a "school picture" since yesterday had been school picture day back at Buschser.
So here is her school picture! It is one of my favorites from the whole day.
We then stumbled onto a really cute carosel. I thought it was high time Miss Callie went on one!
We had the whole place to ourselves. The guy working there looked bored out of his mind, on his phone and watching tv the whole time.
But we didn't care, we had a blast! Once again, no seatbelts for the little miss. Living dangerously!
Afterwards we talked about how funny it was that her first carosel ride would be in Paris. We may have ruined her forever.
After the carosel ride, they had tuned on the lights on the tower. So you know what that means! More pictures!
Another super cute one of Grandma Tere and Callie
After that we started our journey back home. I was totally shocked Callie had done so well all day. Girl likes excitement I guess! It was a good 2 miles back, so we took our time. Our feet were hurting pretty bad after a while, so we stopped for dinner at the MonteCristo Cafe which is in the heart of Champs Elysees. The whole area was super crowded. When I checked in via FourSquare I found out why. The Vogue Fashion Week kickoff party was in the area. Who knew ? We got a veggie pizza and a bottle of wine. By this point, Miss Callie was finally overstimulated.
Here you go Grandma! Squealling little girl for you!
I didn't want to use the flash with so many people around, so when she started moving around this is what I got on my camera:)
We were done and started the rest of our walk back, when we ended up in a rainstorm! What a day of firsts for Callie! Thankfully the Bob covers her perfectly. Bill has now taken to calling it The Hummer. The rest of us, however, were not so lucky! We stopped in a pharmacy to find an umbrella. We got the last one! The lady working there exclaimed in her proudest English "It is raining cats out there!" It was hilarious!
With the rain we walked back quite quickly:) So that was it, our first day.
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