After a summer in transit, living out of suitcases, imposing on friends and family, and regularly scheduled trips to the Mall, Costco, and Target to restock for the next 9 months we found ourselves at the airport once again. We had one bag less than last year, but that was because we managed to count wrong. The Air France ticket counter was very helpful and we checked in quickly despite the number of bags and extra pounds in them. It is always difficult to say goodbye to friends and family, and this time was no different. However, the sense of “what have we gotten ourselves into” was gone this time. We had a pretty good sense of what life would be like when we landed at the Lagos Airport.
This year we flew into Paris and spent a few days exploring the city. We stored most of our luggage at the airport and hoped a train into the city. Maneuvering through the subway system with the four of us was much easier than with 25 students I was with last time in Paris. We had found a hotel on line earlier in the summer and with our printed directions we soon had checked in and so had the jet lag. We learned last year with the kids that you can’t just power though the day, because the will fall asleep standing up. The only course of action was a nap. We woke up later that evening and wondered down to the River Seine for a glimpse of Notre Dame and the lights of the city. Emily had her first “authentic” French fries and we hit the Hagen Dazes stand. The kids quickly found out that Paris streets are filled with crazy scooters, incredibly small cars, and packs of daring men and women on bicycles.
The next morning we left early and headed out for the sights of the city. Emily had picked the Picasso Museum, Jacob was all about the Eiffel Tower and we all decided that we had to see Louvre. We bought an all day subway ticket and we were off. Jacob and Emily quickly became experts at counting the number of stops to go and figuring out which direction take on the metro. We ate our fill of croissants and sandwiches, bought postcards, and quickly learned how to find a cash machine to replace the Euros that were flying out of our hands. The kids enjoyed the cruise down the river Seine. Gina and I did not because of the somewhat rude woman who did not appreciate the fact that she had to cruise down the river sitting in front of two children. I think that she spent more time glaring over her shoulder at us than looking at the sights.
The kid’s really enjoyed the trip up the Eiffel Tower. Gina and I did not enjoy standing in line for two hours to get there. Jacob had just finished a book that had talked about Mr. Eiffel and the tower so we had our own personal tour guide. Later we wondered through the Mountmartre area and Emily was fascinated with all the working artists. We ate lunch in front of the Modern Art museum at the Pompidou Center and watched Paris walk by us. Well, we watched the tourists in Paris walk by us.
Although the kids did not ask, and we did not plan on it; we did spend a day at Disneyland Paris. The Pirates and Tarzan spoke French, you could have a beer at lunch, and it was just a little different. We had a good day. We might have set a record for most rides on the Big Thunder Roller Coaster.
Finally we got up early caught the train back to the airport, gathered our luggage and got checked in for our flight back to Lagos. I think at this time we were ready to be settled in a place. We were tired of looking at suitcases and sleeping in different beds. It was time to have a space of our own again, so we actually looked forward to the plane flight to Lagos.
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