Paris September 2013

Jacob and Abi had a Friday off for a Teacher training day so we decided to make a long weekend of it in Paris. We looked at staying in a B&B but the two I wanted were both full so we booked a place on the main train line in to Paris that had a pool. Unknown to us we had stayed there 3 years ago - on our return from the Falklands. It had been done up and they had added a very good Italian restaurant. We had all of Saturday in Paris. We did the sewer tour - interesting but smelly! I thought the best part was how they cleaned the sewers - some are cleaned using a huge wooden ball that pushes all of the rubbish along the pipes. After we had a walk around and found the Ethiopian restaurant that we had googled. I have to say a good thing has come out of the Simpsons - a few weeks ago Jacob and Abi watched an episode where the Simpson family ate Ethiopian style so, since then, they have wanted to go and eat proper Ethiopian food. We had a huge plater and ate it with

pancakes - no cutlery. It was delicious and the whole family loved it, will have to look for an Ethiopian place in Brussels as Paris is that bit further to travel to! We walked around the Eiffel Tower and Arc De Triomphe. I also managed to meet up with  an American friend from Girl Scouts and go to an event where Abi got to do some crafts with Girl Scouts based in Paris.
The children swam each day and on the Sunday we popped to an outlet mall that was very close to the hotel. We then drove back to SHAPE stopping for lunch on the way. So quite a relaxed but fun long weekend was had by all.