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Published: August 18th 2007
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The Dragon Slide
Parc du La Villette was amazing and this enormous dragon slide was tops. Everyone was up by 8:30, but Emma woke up with a cold and Abigail looks like she will be next. We ate our usual fare and got packed up for another family day in Paris. Today props go out to Don and Kerry who told us, several years ago, about the Parc du la Villette. What an off the beaten track find!! The park is designed as the prototype of the new urban playground. It has a cinema, theater, natural history museum, elevated running track and playgrounds. We were on a mission to get to the dragon slide which we had heard so much about. WOW! It was so cool. Ultimately we think it is about equal in size to the one near us but this one is open whereas the one at Provinciaal is a tunnel slide. The kids were not disappointed however. We had a blast playing on the playground and eating our lunch. Emma perked up quite nicely for the playground but when we got ready to leave and suggested another site she said she preferred to go home and nap!
So we went home and the girls napped while Jonathan read and I took a fantastic
Jonathan and the Girls
You had to be careful because you could go really fast and consequently slam into the turns and really hurt yourself. As a result you could hear the squeal of shoe soles slowing people down as they slid. run to the Lac Daumesnil. There was a Buddist temple on an island in the middle of the pond. It was perched on top of these amazing rock structures and I wish I had been carrying a camera because it was stunning. I went out for groceries and we had an afternoon snack when the kids woke up. The girls still weren’t feeling well but we convinced them to go to Montmartre for the evening. As soon as we got off the subway we felt like we had really hit the heart of Paris. This area had been first developed by the artists and it has tons of little streets and alleys all leading up the hill to Sacre Coeur. As we turned the corner the first thing we saw was the carousel. Then as we kept walking the church came into view looming above us and Emma exclaimed, ‘holy smokes’. It is that stunning that it ranked over the carousel in terms of dramatic response. Of course the kids had a ride on the double decker carousel and had fun. Then we rode the funicular up to the top of Sacre Coeur (this was purely for their sake, the
line was long and I would have preferred to walk the big stone steps, but they do love funiculars). The views over Paris were astounding. It was a beautiful, clear evening and the steps were littered with people soaking in the street musicians and artists performing. The inside of the church is impressive but not as dramatic as the outside would have you assume. Emma did suggest lighting a candle and saying a prayer for my aunt Linda who is very sick right now. So we did that and had a quiet moment to think about her. That was one of the sweetest gestures ever offered by one of my children.
After more picture taking we wandered down the steps and into the streets. We headed for a fondue restaurant that our guidebook recommended but they weren't open on Mondays. Luckily up the street we found another restaurant that was recommended, Il Duco. It was a memorable Italian dinner. Jonathan had homemade gnocchi in gorgonzola sauce (a note to our friend Don: very close to the pillows of heaven). I had veal with a creamy marsala sauce. Emma and Abigail split an order of penne with this incredible tomato,
onion, bacon sauce. And Eliza helped herself to my side of linguini. It was delicious. We made our way home and put the kids to bed by 9pm. I had finished Harry Potter the night before so I picked up another one of Jose’s books, this one a mystery by Michael Connolly, and enjoyed that while Jonathan finished up his book. It was a fantastic last night in Paris.
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