Posting from Paris

My husband is French so every other year we go to France for Christmas.  We are all French citizens now so we used our French Passports for the first time. Pretty cool going thru the fast lane at customs.

We arrived  in Paris Thursday Dec 16 - tired and scruffy.   This is the first time we have taken our daughters to Paris- usually we go straight to my husband's  little village in Lorraine.  Les filles have been so excited to see all the sights.

I am now a convert to renting an apartment instead of staying in a hotel... at least with children. In France where the hotel rooms are postage stamp sized it is impossible to get one room that will fit all 4 of us which meant 2 rooms or a minimum of 600 euros/night... not happening... so I did a little research on the web and found Ah Paris!

So here's a peek at what can be had for about 150 euros/night:

view from one of our windows

view from inside

It's a little one bdrm apt on rue elzivir.   We are on the 6th floor (the last) which must have been the maid's quarters now turned into separate apartments. It's exactly what a Parisian apartment should be warm, cozy, modern and old all at once.

For a change we decided to stay in the 3e arrondissement otherwise known as the Marais. which literally means swamp.   It's pretty hipster- but in a good way.  In  le Marais you can tour the home of Victor Hugo, visit the musee carnavalet or check out the Place des Vosges.  Equally as good is all the shopping here. 

 In spite of ambitious plans to go out and explore the neighborhood we all fell asleep and dined "in" on French frozen tarte aux poireaux and "couscous in a can" (the French have remarkably delicious canned goods)  I'm not so sure I should be admitting that last bit ...

I have lots of ideas of places to take the 2 kiddles; Tour Eiffel, the Louvre, Pompidou Centre, Notre Dame, Ile St. Louis, Antiquing, Shopping and of course lots of walking!!   We'll see how much of that list we can get done...

That's all for now... A demain!