July 29 – Luxembourg Gardens, Pantheon, Paris fast food, Louvre, and Paris at Night!

We had a great morning and afternoon at Paris’ Luxembourg Gardens. En route, we managed to find the famous Poulane boulangerie and stock up on items for lunch, including croissants (perhaps the best I’ve ever had), brioche (just a tad better than what I make) and sable butter cookies (definitely better than mine)! We also topped it off by sharing an excellent chocolate tart from Christian Constant - it was so rich that just a few bites for each of us was just right. I'm starting to make some good progress through the Paris Pattisserie guidebook that I bought in preparation for the trip :)

The gardens adjoin an historic 17th century palace which now houses the French Senate.

However, the girls found the playground much more interesting. Indeed, it was the most extensive playground we’ve ever seen with many pieces of play equipment that were new to us. In particular, the girls loved a tower of ropes to climb as well as a revolving zip line track.

After a visit to the Pantheon, Matt took the girls back to the park to see a classic French marionette show. While the puppets spoke French, the action was entertaining, and featured kittens, so the show was a hit for them :)

After dinner Matt took advantage of the late hours night at the Louvre to see some new rooms that he had never had time for before. After he returned, he surprised the girls by taking them out at night to Trocadero square to view the hourly lighting of the Eiffel tower at dusk. They all had quite an exciting time!