Paris--Day 2 Continued and Day 3

**WARNING-This is a VERY LONG post!! Proceed with caution...and a bag of popcorn!!**


The Thursday night that we were in Paris ended up being a much longer night than we had anticipated. After leaving McDonald's and getting back to the Hotel Citidines room, we got everyone ready for bed, which is no small feat, in itself. I think we finally had everyone in bed and asleep by 11:30, but at 12:30, Ashlynn was STILL coughing her head off! (And, did I mention that we had no air conditioner *AND* we couldn't open the windows, because of all of the honking and loud motorcycles and people being loud in the streets, so the warmer she got, the more she coughed.)

*Side note* Ashlynn had begun coughing (just a little) on the Thursday evening before we left to come to the Netherlands. I was a little worried that she was going to cough on the entire flight over, but fortunately, she did not. She did, however, start coughing the Sunday night after we arrived, and she literally hasn't stopped. We had filled up a *large* suitcase with all kinds of drugs that we took with us on our trip over. I even told Chris that I hoped the people in Customs didn't think we were dealers, because we literally could have opened a small pharmacy once we arrived here. We had Robitussin for adults, Robitussin for kids, Benadryl, Children's Tylenol, Children's Advil, Adult Tylenol, Adult Advil, Bug Bite Medicine, a nebulizer, boxes and boxes of liquid Albuterol for the nebulizer, asthma inhalers, and ALL kinds of other junk.

So, since Ashlynn had such a bad cough, we had already been experimenting with the different kinds of cough medicine and nebulizers. Up to that point, NOTHING had worked. Fortunately, the ONLY symptom she had was a horrible cough...no fever, no runny nose, not feeling badly. We just kept thinking, "Oh, she'll get better..." Well, finally on Thursday night (after she had coughed ALL day on Thursday), I told Chris that I thought maybe she might need to see a doctor. I was a little worried that maybe she had walking pneumonia, so I really wanted to just rule that out and make sure she was okay.

**ANOTHER Side Note** I had remembered our friend Riemke (she is our local Dutch contact, who is literally supposed to "hold our hands" through this transition. She is FANTASTIC, and I don't know what we'd do without her!!) saying that if we decided we needed to take her to the doctor that we probably should just take her to the emergency room at the hospital...not because she was in need of emergency care, but because we weren't legal residents here, just yet, and because lots of doctors are currently on "holiday" or as we call it in the States...vacation. She felt like I would be more comfortable talking with the Mamas at the kids' school and trying to get a recommendation for a doctor rather than just randomly trying to find one.

So, with all that said, I suggested to Chris that since her cough was so bad that we probably should have her checked out, and probably the best place to go was to the emergency room.

So...Chris went down to the front desk at 12:30AM and told the concierge about our situation. He did say that they could call a doctor (I guess to do a "house call" of sorts), but that would be terribly expensive and he really didn't recommend that. He suggested that Chris and Ashlynn ride in a taxi to the Children's Hospital, which was about 20 minutes away. So, that was what we decided to do. Before they left, I had told Chris to leave me some money so that I could take the boys across the street in the morning to get some beloved McDonald's for breakfast, because we just really weren't sure how long it would take or when they would return from the emergency room.

Well, after they left, I settled in and tried to get at least a little sleep while they were gone. At around 2:15AM, I was abruptly awakened by the sound of light knocking on our door. I jumped up, peeked out the peep hole and let them back in. I was shocked that they were already back!!

Chris said that from the time they walked in to the hospital, filled out all the paperwork and went back to see the doctor, only about ten minutes had gone by. Crazy fast! The doctor checked her out and quickly determined it was, in fact, only a virus, and she wrote out two prescriptions...one for cough and one for her sore throat (that she had due to her bad cough). When I asked Chris how much they charged, he quietly answered, "Nothing." Wow. Our experience with the Parisian children's hospital could not have been better.

So, the next morning, Chris set out to walk a couple of blocks over to visit the pharmacy and have the prescriptions filled. Again, he was only gone for about thirty minutes...total. He got ready to give her a dose of the cough medicine, and he apologized several times for the taste, because he wasn't sure how badly it was going to be. So, armed with several cups of water to wash it down, Ashlynn took the cough medicine. Immediately after she took it, she smiled and licked her lips. She said, "Mmmm...it tastes like chocolate!" After looking at the box, I noticed it was "caramel flavored." I tell ya...the French know how to do healthcare, apparently. :-)

Well, by this time, we had already put in a full day's work, and we hadn't even begun our Day 3 itinerary, yet!

Because of the night before, Friday went a little more slowly. And, as you might have guessed, our morning began with McDonald's. At least by this time, we were a little more comfortable with what to ask for. The problem, this time, was that Chris had ordered ten packs of pancakes (because the kids loved these so much), but apparently, they only had five packs. Who knows how many we were actually charged for, though?

Anyway, then we set out for the Metro, again, and we headed over to L'Arc de Triomphe down the Champs-Elysees. The Champs-Elysees is the most famous road in France (and maybe in Europe...I can't remember what they said about that), and it is quite the ritzy place. We didn't eat or drink anything there (although we DID see a McDonald's!), but we were told that a regular coffee with creme would cost 8 Euro. We paid 4 Euro at another French cafe for the same drink. Anyway, we did walk down the street and window shopped. I told Chris that I wanted him to pick me out something "really nice" at the Cartier store. He didn't.

So, we arrived at the cool Arc de Triomphe, and we got in line to buy tickets so we could climb up. The line wasn't bad there...maybe five minutes. After having our tickets torn, we began the trek up. Think climbing to the top of a lighthouse. There was one spiral stone staircase that seemed endless. Of course, Ashlynn and Aaron ran up ahead of us, but they had to keep slowing down to wait on "Granny." We finally made it to the top, and it was beautiful! We took several pictures there. We also got in trouble for eating...It may have been posted that there was no eating at the top, but I either didn't see it or couldn't read it. Anyway, after the lady tapped me and said, "Madame, s'il vous plait...no eating on the Arc," we quickly stuffed our granola bars in my purse and went on. (Although I did notice that she had to tell that to at least two other families while we were up there...maybe they should make the sign more visible.)

Anyway, after leaving the Arc, we had planned to go to the Musee Rodin where Avery's beloved statue of "The Thinker" is on display. (His favorite part in the movie "Night At the Museum 2" is where "The Thinker" comes alive. He, of course, has most of that movie memorized.) But, on the way to the Rodin, I decided it would be fun to make a pit stop in the Jardin des Tuileries. This literally translates into the "Garden of the Tuileries," and it is like Central Park in New York City. It was beautiful! There were huge circular ponds lined with chairs, lots of statues, tons of trees and lots of people just enjoying the atmosphere. There was also on the edge of the park a mini-amusement park complete with a log water ride and a ferris wheel. Ashlynn REALLY wanted to ride the ferris wheel, so she and Chris went on to ride that. In the meantime, the boys and I happened upon a sweet little playground with some really cool (and unfamiliar!) playground equipment. The boys decided they wanted to play in there! So, we went and experimented with all the cool and different stuff! There was one piece that looked like a huge tilted plate on a stick, and the plate would spin in a circle. The boys eventually climbed on this, and I spun them around and around. They LOVED it! There was also another piece that had bouncy toys that they could sit on and bounce around and up and down...kind of like riding a horse. One in particular had three different "seats" to bounce on. As the boys were on this, another little guy (about Aaron's age) came wandering over. I heard him ask Aaron if he spoke English. Aaron told him he did, and he quickly jumped on the vacant seat beside Aaron. Turns out, his name was Sebastian and he was from Texas. His family was there on vacation. I never did meet any of his family...he said his Dad and Uncle were "in the park" but "over there," and his Mom was apparently at the spa. "Oh," I thought. He also told the boys that his family had just come back from Disney World a couple of weeks earlier. Anyway, the boys played until Chris and Ashlynn came back. Ashlynn LOVED the ferris wheel, but they were thrilled to tell us about the cool "jumpy things" they had found! So, we walked over to the "jumpy things" which turned out to be individual kiddie sized trampolines. We paid 2 Euro per child and let them jump for five minutes. They had a ball!

After that, we walked back over to the mini-amusement park and had hot dogs for lunch. (We also found a bathroom, and decided to take advantage of that while we could.)

Then, it was on to the Musee Rodin! I had read in a book that the trick to taking kids to the Musee Rodin was to only go to the garden. "The Thinker" and most of Rodin's most famous scultures were found there, and then, the kids wouldn't get too terribly bored. That was a fantastic tip! It cost Chris and I 2 Euro (total!) to get in to the Rodin Garden. We immediately found "The Thinker," and Avery handed me the video camera (already prepped!), climbed up onto the steps of the statue and proceeded to reenact "The Thinker" scene from "Night At the Museum 2."

It. Was. Priceless!

The kids did enjoy the Rodin Garden, but I'm so glad we didn't pay for the entire museum.

We then hopped onto the Metro and headed back toward our Hotel, because we had planned to eat at...are you ready?

Hard Rock Cafe!!

It was fantastic!! Our waiter's name was James, and he was fabulous! He had been with the company for 23 years and had helped "open" lots of Hard Rock Cafes all around the world...including the one in Vegas. We were pleasantly surprised to find English menus, "American sized portions," and FREE REFILLS (which is unheard of in Europe!)! Food was good. Service was great!

Aaaah, Paris! :-)