Another rainy morning. Surprise, surprise. We want to explore the park across the street more today and then save energy for the music festival tonight, Fête de la Musique.  We’ve heard it’s a really big deal, so we plan to keep the kids up. We’ll see how that goes!

We went for a nice walk around the neighborhood. We started with a visit to our car to refill our supply of dog food. We’ve been incredibly fortunate with our parking opportunities thus far. This one is a secure garage next to the science museum. So we visited the car and then walked around some more to see what’s in the hood. We dropped Oliver back at home because it was raining off and on, and he didn’t see happy about it.

There’s a bridge across the canal directly in front of our apartment. We walked across it and 3 minutes into the park to a playground. The centerpiece is a huge dragon slide. I didn’t think there was any way either of our kids (or myself) would go down it. Lillian surprised me by doing it numerous times! She could have stayed another hour, but we dragged her away to explore the park more.

Lunch is available during a short window of time, usually 12-2. Stefan found another awesome place that looked good and was close, so we walked over there. Les Bancs Publics was the coolest little corner bistro! We took one of the last tables and gorged ourselves on delicious avocado salad, spinach soup with mussels and vegetable linguine. So so good. For dessert, rhubarb pie and rhubarb/cherry cake. The lunch menus here are completely reasonable too. Highly recommend.

//Stefan Note: I tried calf liver because i was feeling adventurous and thought that it might be a little close to duck.  But it wasnt.

Today is one of the first days we took time out for a long afternoon nap. Even pappa slept. It was a nice break from all the activity.

//Stefan Note: Nils Olaf was sad and than he was ice cream.

Around 5, we headed into town to walk along the Seine. The national music festival is today, so we hear there will be bands throughout the city playing for free. It took a couple hours for the bands to start, but we go in a gorgeous walk. JR, the artist we saw at the Pompidou yesterday, just did an interesting piece at the Louvre, making the pyramid “disappear”. Very cool, and the kids loved riding their scooters around the plaza.

The city is a playground. Everywhere we went, Lillian and Oly found a way to make it fun. I love that.

We found a restaurant via Yelp along our walking route. It looked super cheesy and wasn’t very full. But the food and house wine were still very good! Especially good value.

//Stefan Note: the key to Paris is the d’jour.  You can either spend 45 bones or 100 bones for the “same” meal.

Upon our walk, we found several bands. Very different from each other and all entertaining. There was a huge poppy party in a square near Notre Dame.  Upon our walk, we found several bands. Very different from each other and all entertaining. There was a huge poppy party in a square near Notre Dame.

//Stefan Note: It was awesome paris hipster music.  One homeboy in a hammer suit singing french words with a mixer and some girl looking sad hitting a drum.  It was really good.

Oly was ecstatic to find a flower to take home. The city was one big party. Parisians crowded the streets. Groups of friends merrily drank wine or beer as they walked around between music groups. It was very fun, but we stayed out way too late.

//Stefan Note: Me and Ll were ready to stay out all night.  We were both upset to head home.  Terribly upset

I don’t think the kids have seen the sun go down in months.   Subway home and quickly to bed. What a fun day.