Day 2 (Part 2): Jardins du Luxembourg

We gathered our things and headed out to the streets to find a late lunch, landing at the Cafe Palais Royale, which was nearby.

Feeling refreshed and energized, we headed back out for more exploring. This time with our sights set on the Jardins du Luxembourg. It was about a 20-25 minute walk. And a gorgeous one at that.

The tiny tables and street facing chairs at all the cafes around Paris were quaint and picturesque. And yet, I don’t think I managed to snag a photo other than this one above.

When we arrived at the Luxembourg Gardens we headed straight for the fountain in the middle. When researching Paris, I came across images of kids with these little sailboats and for whatever reason, I became enamored with the idea of checking them out. Even though my kids are growing at a rapidly alarming pace, they’re still 100% kids and have yet to eschew a quality kid friendly activity.

The sailboats cost 6 euros for 30 minutes, and they do take international credit cards. A quick note, there are other activities in the park (a small carousel and pony rides) that do not take cards. Those vendors only accept euros. So if it’s something you’re interested in, make sure you have some euros on hand.

I’m still surprised by how much fun we had with such a simple activity. The kids loved everything from stretching as far as they could to sail their boats, to following them around the fountain, to identifying the different countries each sailboat represented. They created stories for the boats as they traveled; pretty sure Finland went to war with Great Britain a time or two and Denmark was once nearly lost at sea. And then, of course, there are the long sticks, and what kid doesn’t find a way to have fun with those?!

So simple. So Parisian. So fun. And an activity that I think is going to stick in their memories of Paris as they grow. We wandered around the gardens some more. All in all, it was a perfect afternoon.

Back out on the street, we loaded up google maps to navigate us back to the Seine, and the closest Batobus stop. Our path took us along the edges of the 5th arrondissement, where we found lots of lovely little alleyways to walk, restaurants, bars and a definite vibe. Penelope found a pigeon that walked along with us for awhile. She named him Bobo.

Rue du Petit Pont took us right up to the Seine where we found ourselves across the street from Notre Dame. Unfortunately, Notre Dame is still under refurbishment from the fire in 2019. We took the steps down to the river and walked right onto a waiting Batobus.

We found some seats near the front of the boat and proceeded to fall into them. By this point in the day, I think we had clocked around 9-10 miles. And we were toast. But the tasty, strawberry jelly covered kind, not the burnt kind. And for that, this boat ride goes down as one of my favorite moments of our entire trip. Just this side of delirious, where the magic happens.

Before we knew it, we were pulling up to our stop at the Eiffel Tower.

A quick note about the area surrounding the Eiffel Tower… you cannot walk far without nearly tripping over trinkets, or being asked if you’d like to purchase. Especially if you have little ones, the vendors will walk by you holding out the sparkliest glitter-fied Eiffel Towers right at eye level just tempting them to touch it and engage. It was interesting, because we very quickly noticed Penelope was always the target, and not Lucas. Definitely worth a conversation with your kids before hitting up the most touristy areas of the city. They were mostly concentrated around the Eiffel Tower, but we also saw them around the Louvre and all over Montmartre.

We made our way across the river and climbed the steps to Trocadero just in time to see the Iron Lady light up the night sky.

We grabbed dinner at a restaurant on Place du Trocadero, before heading back to our room for the night. Penelope rather fancied the wine shaped water glasses!

The above photo is another favorite… delirious and happy after a really great day. We got the kids situated, and while they wound down in the room, Brett and I meandered up to the roof of our hotel for a glass of wine, and some very sparkly views. We discussed how lucky we are and must-do’s for our next day in Paris.

Up next… Montmartre. The place I most wanted to visit in all of Paris.

Shoebox Full of Memories: A Paris and London Trip Report - March 2023 (Day 2 Part 2: Delirious and Happy)