PARIS WITH A TODDLER

We arrived in Paris on Sunday afternoon and stayed until Thursday afternoon. Being a tourist with a toddler in Paris wasn't as bad as you might think (most of the time it was much better, but a few times it was a bit worse). With that said, here's our time in Paris 'by the numbers'…

• # of museums/churches/sites we visited with our Paris Museum Pass… (11 - the Louvre, Pantheon, Cluny Museum/Middle Ages Museum, Museé d'Orsay, San Chapelle, Arc de Triomphe, Museé de L'Orangerie, Centre Pompidou, La Conciergerie, Notre Dame, Archeological Crypt)
• Amount of time saved by not standing in lines to museums because we bought a 4-day Paris Museum Pass…(3945 hours)
• # of times Kent was told, "Please open your backpack" at a security checkpoint of a museum only to turn and have them realize that Leif was on my back… (11)
• # of times that a stranger smiled at Leif… (318)
• # of hours we didn't have to stand in line because we bought tickets to the Eiffel Tower ahead of time (more than 3)
• # of eligible steps our feet touched on the Eiffel Tower [you can climb from the ground level up to the second level] (all of them)
• # of steps we climbed UP on the Eiffel Tower (0)
• # of steps we climbed DOWN on the Eiffel Tower (all of them)
• # of steps from the main entrance of our hotel [which was on the 6th floor of the Hotel Hospital Dieu] to the plaza in front of Notre Dame (26)
• # of shower curtains in our hotel bedroom… (0)
• # of times we successfully showered without getting water on the bathroom floor… (0)
• # of degrees Celcius our a/c was set on in the hotel room… (21)
• # of degrees Celcius it was outside most of the days we were in Paris… (30+)
• # of degrees Celcius it was on average in the subway… (212)
• # of times we were mistaken for real Parisians… (0)
• # of times we had a true sit down meal at a restaurant… (1.5 - once with a high school friend of Elisabeth's and her husband who happen to be living in Paris right now, which allowed one of us to wander with Leif while the other one ate and talked; and half of a time when we attempted to have breakfast at a café the first morning)
• # of times we had a picnic in a park or plaza while Leif ran around and played… (3 - the first one is pictured here when we had Lebanese food in the park behind Notre Dame)
• # of tissues we went through wiping the runny nose that Leif got from the toddlers from the Netherlands at Taizé … (139)
• # of times Elisabeth was chased down the block by a restaurant owner because she stole a plastic fork… (one)
• # of pictures we took that had the Eiffel Tower somewhere in the picture... (435,871)
• # of times we thought about and missed Elijah and our many friends at CLF… (too many to count!)

We truly did have a wonderful time in Paris. On Thursday we flew to Edinburgh, Scotland where we'll try to rest (and do some laundry, since we did zero laundry in Paris) before we leave for the Island of Iona on Saturday. Not sure how much internet access we'll have in the days ahead, but we'll write when we can!