Returning to Paris in 2008

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Paris in Spring 2008

Since we enjoyed Paris so much when we were there last year we went back this year. This time we didn't go on our own though. We had Emma's sister, Anna, and Emma's niece, Jonna, with us.

Last year our minds were set on visiting the Louvre and the Mona Lisa. This time Euro Disney was the main goal for our visit in Paris. Officially we were there for Jonna's sake. Unofficially, the rest of us wanted to go there too...

Travelling with a small child, Jonna is five, is a bit different from what we are used to. You have to make sure that the child is never bored, never hungry and get to do and see things that the child is interested in and in a pace suitable for the child. When we think about it travelling with a child is very much like travelling with Ake. You have to make sure that Ake is never bored, never hungry and get to do and see things that Ake is interested in and in a pace suitable for Ake. So Emma is already used to travelling with a child but for Ake it was a new experience.

Well, since focus for our attention on this trip was more on Jonna than on ourselves this blog entry will also be focused a bit on Jonna. It was more her trip than ours really. In fact it was her Christmas present from Aunt Emma, Aunt Anna and from Uncle Ake. A Christmas present that made us a bit popular with Jonna for a long time.

The first day in Paris Emma, Jonna and Anna went to the Eiffel Tower without Ake. For job reasons Ake could not join them to Paris on the flight they took. Ake instead arrived on a later flight making him miss the opportunity to visit the Eiffel Tower.

There was a very long line of people to go to the Eiffel Tower. The wait was almost three hours. For two grown-ups a three hour wait is tolerable but for a five year old child it is hard. Emma and Anna had to work hard to entertain Jonna while they were waiting to get up. They made Jonna endure the wait but unfortunately Jonna was a bit tired after the wait so she didn't enjoy the views from the top. But Emma and Anna did. The views from the Eiffel Tower is spectacular.

A few years ago Emma an Ake visited an iron works in Sweden called Borgvik Ironworks. A sign on the old furnace boldly claimed that the iron to the Eiffel Tower came from Borgvik. But nobody knows if that really is true. Probably some iron from Borgvik was used in the construction of the Eiffel Tower, because Borgvik Ironworks did export lots of iron to France. But it is not likely that all of the iron to the Eiffel Tower came from Borgvik as this sign actually claimed.

On the first day in Paris we all, Ake had by now joined the three ladies, went to the Centre Pompidou. Outside Centre Pompidou there is a fountain, the Stravinsky Fountain, where there are many of sculptures with weird shapes and colours. They were fun to look at even for a five year old little girl.

Near Les Halles we found a few other sculptures that looked fun. To a five year old child statues and sculptures are things to play with, not art. And these sculptures sure were cool to play with for a while.

But near Les Halles we found the best attraction this day - a playground.

On the second day we went to Euro Disney or Disneyland Europe. An entire theme park build around fairy tales, princesses, Donald Duck, pirates etc. That is pretty close to heaven if you are a five year old girl. It is fun if you are in your 20ies and 30ies too. But when you are older you are also more aware of the long lines to every attraction, the huge crowds everywhere, how hot it is and so on. It is not as magical as it is when you are five. It is just an unusually large amusement park/theme park. And sometimes the phrase "Less is more" does make a lot of sense. It is fun to be there and to see it but it is too large. After going around the place for a few hours it becomes too much. That was true for all four of us, especially Jonna. It was all very fun for a few hours but then we got tired of it all.

We did get to see Goofy though. But Jonna got a bit scared for him.

We also got to see a palace looking just like it does in the fairy tales, we saw a pirate ship, tried three or four funfairs and roller coasters and we saw the big parade on the Main Street.

Even the journey home became a bit of an adventure. The union of the oil suppliers at Charles de Gaulle Airport went on strike just before they were about to fuel up our plane. So we had to sit and wait for six hours at the airport before we could go home. Well, it is to be expected when you are in France. They seem to go on strike very often in France.

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