Our Paris Vacation Photos

We had the most amazing trip to Paris at the end of July. It was sizzling hot, but we had the best time. I've actually been having magical Paris dreams ever since we got back. :) A big thank you to Paula and Baby, who sent Coco a lovely summer wardrobe in advance. She looked adorable the whole time. Keep reading to see all our photos and hear more about traveling in The City of Light with a toddler.

Our first night, we got checked into our Airbnb apartment and walked down to the Champs du Mars where Coco had her first crêpe. If you go to Paris with a toddler and a buggy, try to walk as much as possible. I think we walked at least 25 miles in the 5 days we were there. It's just so much easier, and more scenic, than the Metro.

After crêpes, Coco posed for a photo with an Asian tourist. I suppose we should be weirded out that random strangers routinely ask to hold our daughter and take a photo with her, but we're okay with it. :)

Major fail: I forgot our real camera while packing for Paris. That meant I only had my iPhone, which had a speck of dust stuck inside the lens. Seriously. Then my iPhone died while we were in line for the Eiffel Tower. C'est la vie! No photos from that toddler-chasing adventure, but it was lovely and we saw the sunset and then saw the tower sparkle from the second floor. Brilliant! Every time we passed it again on our trip, Coco said, "Eiffel Tower" and now anytime she sees a tower (say of blocks) or a crane, she calls out "Eiffel Tower" then too. Hilarious! See for yourself right here.

The next day we went to the Musée d'Orsay. Coco was thrilled with all the art featuring breasts. (There was a lot of it.) She ran around the museum pointing and shouting, "That's milk!" and J and I were blown away by the Caillebotte.

One of the days, we took a day trip to Versailles. I am in love with Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette movie. Have you seen it? It brought the place alive for us!

And then on the way out we got this amazing dust-speckled selfie. Right before my phone died again! ;)

When we got back to Paris, we rallied despite the insane heatwave that was going on, showered, changed and headed back out again for dinner at Blend Burger, a super tiny hipster burger joint.

J was thrilled to have a cold Rogue beer (from Oregon:) all the way in Paris. Do you see how shiny and hot everyone is in that photo? Quelle chaleur!

The idea was that Coco would sleep in her buggy while J and I had a date. That didn't pan out, but she was quite well behaved. Do you see behind me in this photo how her buggy took up half of the entryway?! Oops. Afterward, we walked down to the Louvre and enjoyed the lights and Paris at night. Naturally, Coco was asleep 10 minutes after we left the restaurant despite the hour of walking we'd done before dinner. ;)

Our last night, we walked around Le Marais, ate at L'As du Falafel, which was worth the wait, and took a Seine river cruise. It wound up pouring rain during our cruise! It's the cheesiest thing in the world to take a tourist cruise, and then to wind up inside the boat looking out through raindrops was a drag. :( Afterward we took Coco to a bar that Hemingway used to hang out at. It was a night to remember: toddler in the bar sipping Pellegrino and clapping for the lounge piano player while her exhausted parents smiled and laughed and enjoyed a beer together on their last night in Paris. Sweet stuff for good memories. :)

On our final day, our train didn't leave until dinnertime. We had spent the previous five days dragging Coco all over the place and making her spend way too much time in her buggy, so we made the day all about her. We took her to ride the little go-carts by the Eiffel Tower. We took her photo in front of the Eiffel Tower. And we let her ride the carousel as much as she wanted.

Then, much to our surprise, Coco fell asleep and we got to have a little lunch date, after all. :) We went to Charlie Birdy and the food was fabulous!