Paris 2025

While Meezy stayed in London to work (check out my prior blog post), the kids and I took Eurostar to Paris. It was about a 3.5 hour train ride. The seats were comfy, there was WiFi, and food and drinks were served, so it wasn't too bad! When we arrived in Paris, we made our way to Hotel Villa Nicolo. It's a cute little hotel not far from the Trocadero and Eiffel Tower. I picked it because it was close to a Metro stop and advertised having adjoining rooms. Well, the "adjoining rooms" were next to each other, but they did not have access between them like I was expecting. So, there was a lot of trips into the hallway to go in and out of the kids' room next door. The rooms and bathrooms (and elevator!) were typical for Europe, so definitely on the small side. But, we tried not to spend too much time at the hotel, so all good.

Our first order of business was checking out the Louvre. Previously when my sister and I had gone there, we bypassed the huge lines by going in a little-known side entrance. Unfortunately that entrance was closed for construction, so we had to wait out front with the masses. Once we got inside, I tried to steer the kids toward some of the most famous works, because I knew they wouldn't want to spend the hours it takes to see all the rooms. We checked out the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, Liberty Leading the People, the French Crown Jewels, and the Great Sphinx. My favorite thing to show them was the Wedding Feast in Cana. Head to the room with the small Mona Lisa and then turn around and marvel at the painting that is the size of the entire wall! I think it's funny that people focus so much on the Mona Lisa, while their back is turned to a masterpiece. 

The kids handled the busy museum pretty well, and they always took the opportunity to stop and hover over the floor vents blasting cold air. Haha. 

After we got in as much culture as we could, we grabbed a snack in the cafe inside, and then headed outside for some photo ops. 

My next surprise for the kids included a stop at a cat cafe, called Cafe Miaou. We don't have cats at home, but I know my kids always enjoy petting them when our friends or family members have them, so I thought it would be fun to relax for an hour before our next adventure. The kids were enamored of the cats. It was really cute! We got some drinks and gave out a lot of pets.

To top off our first full day, we attended a chocolate workshop at Musee du Chocolat. We got to create our own custom masterpieces with dark chocolate, white chocolate, and milk chocolate. We dipped some items in chocolate fondue and created chocolate bars with extra ingredients. This was fun for all of us and we definitely didn't mind having our yummy treats available for the duration of our trip! 

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at the Trocadero and enjoyed amazing views of the Eiffel. I really am blessed to have been able to take my kids to this iconic city!

The next day in Paris started at the Arc de Triomphe. I can easily say this is my favorite attraction in the city. It's a sight to see from a distance and close-up, but it's truly breathtaking once you get to the top. It requires climbing quite a few stairs, but I promise it's worth it. You can spend a long time up there just watching the city and people below. You get 360 degrees of views and can see so many famous landmarks. Do it, if you get the chance. 

We ended the day at the Tuileries Garden where a carnival was going on. We rode a log ride together and then the kids went through a couple fun houses and down some slides. I got them addicted to the coin pusher machines, so we wasted a lot of time there! It was a great ending to our short jaunt to Paris though, because there were lots of smiles and laughs.

London 2025

Meezy needed to travel to London for work in early August, so the kids and I took the opportunity to tag along. We departed on a Thursday night and arrived into London on Friday after lunch. We headed to our hotel, the Hilton London Bankside. We booked the Family Connecting Room and it was perfect! There was a large bed in our room and two twin beds in the other, and each room had its own full bathroom. The kids' room had stuffed animals and goody bags and our room had a Peloton (nice touch, but with as much walking as we do in Europe, I don't need more exercise). Hotel rooms are notoriously small in Europe, so it was very refreshing to have space to spread out and not have to share a bathroom with our kids. The hotel offered a scavenger hunt to find hidden foxes, so that was a fun activity during down time.

We did a little bit of sightseeing, visited a souvenir shop, took our first ride on the Tube, and then had an easy dinner at Market Halls Victoria. 

Our first full day in London started with a tour of the Tower of London. We learned of its history, saw some ravens and the Crown Jewels, and got some great photo ops.

After the tour we went to a cinema so the kids could see Bad Guys 2. It had just come out and we thought it would be fun to check out a theater in another country. It was definitely smaller than what we're used to, but the concessions were good, and the kids enjoyed it. (I slept through most of it, oops). From there we headed to what I was most excited about for the day - the Moco Museum. My sister and I had visited this museum in Amsterdam, so I definitely wanted to see it when I heard they had one in London too. Some of the artists on exhibit were Warhol, Haring, Banksy, Basquiat and Robbie Williams. 

                                                 

We stopped at the Golden Carousel on the way to our sunset speedboat ride with Thames Rockets. This tour was super fun. The guides were great, the sights were beautiful, and it was slightly scary, like being on an amusement park ride! 

Our next day in London started with a tour at The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, aka where Wimbledon is held. Meezy and I attended the Ladies Final back in 2010, but we wanted to come back to learn about things behind the scenes and to bring the kids this time. I really enjoyed this tour and appreciated being able to ask questions. The kids liked all the interactive activities. I also jumped at the chance to buy more Wimbledon gear!  

Later that day, the kids and I took the Eurostar to Paris while Meezy had to stay in London to work for a few days. I'll put those details in another post! When we got back to London so we could all fly home together, we did a couple more sightseeing activities. We stopped by Hyde Park to see Speakers Corner and eat some ice cream, took a hop on/hop off bus tour, enjoyed the good weather, shopped at Max + Betty, and took a paddleboat ride. I love being able to show my kids other parts of the world and seeing them have a good time together!