Thank you for helping to keep Paris clean

Paris, France

I spent the last few days in Paris, arguably one of my favorite places. It’s such a cliché place to love, but I don’t care. And what they say about Paris in the spring, it’s all true. It really is beautiful. When Maureen and I were here last year, it was the end of February, cold, rainy, and still awesome. So imagine a bit warmer weather, people out and about, and flowers in bloom. I spent two days just wandering around the city, sitting on a park bench watching the world go by, stopping to eat a crepe whenever the moment hit. I really just love Paris.

The real accomplishment was successfully navigating the city with three children under the age of nine in tow. I had come along to Paris with the K family to afford Mr. and Mrs. K the opportunity to have a night out in one of the most romantic cities in the world. I was a bit apprehensive, as usually we are confined to  the ship during our time together, but things went surprisingly well. We spent the entire afternoon in the Tuileries, a lovely garden at the end of the Champs-Elysses. I insisted that no trip to Paris was complete without a ride on the carousel. They were hesitant at first, but ended up loving it. I bought two sets of tickets and the guy behind the counter gave me a third one for free. We repeated this process again and they rode six times. They also have these trampolines (or jumping carpets as the French call them) set up in the middle of the park. You pay two Euros and kids can jump for five whole minutes. The boys convinced me that buying two tickets was a really great idea, and seeing no downside to expending more energy, I agreed. (Too bad the trampoline guy wasn’t as generous as the carousel guy.) Sometime that day, the two oldest boys started collecting used Metro tickets that they found on the ground. It was a great distraction, but it was also a great distraction. Especially when walking to and from…anywhere. There was one point at the metro station on the way home that I thought they were going to get trampled trying to pick up used tickets right outside the turnstile as people were trying to get in. Luckily, all injuries were avoided. While we were at the jumping carpets, one of the boys was rifling through the landscaping, picking up old tickets and one of the fathers said, “You know those aren’t good right?” When I explained that it was just an impromptu hobby, he said, “Thank you for helping to keep Paris clean.” A good distraction (most of the time) and picking up liter. It’s a win-win.