It all started very early in Paris
It’s been a little less than a week since little one and I returned to Paris from our vacation in Austria. I of course took pictures, and have my head buzzing with stories that I wish to share. I took some notes at the end of our trip, and well I do not want to rush things, so over the next days and weeks I will share some of our holiday adventures.
It all started very early in Paris. Everything was ready, when I finally woke up little one to dress her and put her into the wrap sling, she is 18 months old, and we still love it best this way. Then off to the bus stop. Paris was just waking up, the street cleaners were still at work, but it was not too early anymore, because there is a time of the day when the only souls roaming the streets are the cleaners.
Looking sheepishly out of the window, my eyes fell onto the Moulin Rouge. Do I have your attention now? Well seeing the Moulin Rouge, I had the feeling that there was a blogpost begging to be told. This place prominent in movies and books, visited by tourists and Parisians alike, just looked, just looked well, shabby, run down, outdated. Looking at what is probably the world’s best known cabaret, I had the feeling that it has lost its charm. It was like a girl waking up too early in the morning, after a rough night partying and with her makeup in bad need of fixing. The morning hours had robbed the glamour of this place. But not only the Moulin Rouge, the whole of Montmartre does not seem fit for mornings. Thinking of it, I do not want to know what the early wakeup call had done to my facial features.
Did we arrive on time at Gare de l’Est? Of course we did! We arrived way too early…
Settling down in our train, a very modern and nice TGV, a train started to roll into the station. Not just any train. It was the Orient Express! I tried to take some pictures, but I was sitting on the wrong side, and did not want to draw too much attention to myself…
The train ride in itself went quite well. Except that little one only decided that sleep was in order an hour before we arrived in Munich… Everyone loved her on the train, she made friends with people from various horizons. There was just one strange lady with a dog, but that is an entire story on its own.
After 6 hours of train travel, my dad’s cousin (I think that’s my uncle to the 2nd degree) picked us up in Munich, as we were going to spend one night in Germany before travelling onwards to Austria. His sister was in town with her daughter, who is a distant cousin of mine and thus an aunt of little one (to the 3rd degree I think) and is only six months older than my daughter. The two took to one another right away, and it was such a pleasure to see them play together.
After a long day, starting in France, we finally went to sleep in our nice bed, in Germany. This was the first time that little one has left France, and stepped onto the soil of the other country she is a national of.
Have you taken the train recently and encountered little kids? How do you travel with your children? Have you ever seen or even traveled with the Orient Express ?
© Solveig Werner 2016. All rights reserved.
Solveig Werner 
I’ve been to Paris 3 times but never to the Moulin Rouge. Actually, I’m boring and have never gone to any cabaret or a show of any sort while there.
Trains? Except for the subways, the only times I’ve traveled by train is in Europe. Unfortunately it is just as expensive, sometimes more, than traveling by airplane yet takes longer. If I lived closer to Boston I would most likely take the train when traveling to the east coast cities.
I’m sure it was great for your little one to have someone to play with.
Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the trip.
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I have never been to it either, a girl in my class once went and bragged about it for weeks…
Often there are some great offers for travelling by train, and for some destinations taking the plane is cheaper and less time consuming.
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My brother lives in Philadelphia and does a lot of business travel to Ne York city and DC. He travels almost exclusively by train, it is so much easier than flying for those short hops.
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He’s right to travel by plane. I hope that in the US the railway network will keep getting better. I once flew from Philly to DC but we had a flight to take there. Still it felt a bit strange for such a “short” distance ( I guess from a European viewpoint it’s a long distance).
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Sounds fab!
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Thank you 🙂
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I recently travelled on the East Lancashire railway which is dedicated to preserving old trains, particularly those from the vintage “steam” era. On the day I visited we were pulled by a beautifully gleaming burgundy coloured steam train and for an old times like me it was pure nostalgia. I intend to take my two year old grandson on the railway in the not too distant future.
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Ah, speaking of steam trains, there will be a post soon featuring pictures of one of those. Where I was in Austria there are actually two historic railways. The more impressive one, I didn’t manage to catch on photo, but it will be mentioned 🙂
Thanks for commenting 🙂
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Would be so fun to see the Orient Express, just because we’ve all heard of it. I’d have probably been that annoying person who’d climb over my seatmates to get a better photo. LOL
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Those who know what it is generally take a picture. But often people are actually clueless, at least my fellow passengers were. And at 9am I don’t want to engage into a lively conversation about crime on trains 🙂
If I see it again (which can happen), I will make sure to get a better view, but travelling with a baby made me not want to step outside again.
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LOL context does matter, even in real life. Our should that be, especially in real life?
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maybe 🙂
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How lovely for you and your little one to travel aboard a train! I love your description of Montmartre; I used to live really close when I first moved to Paris. I’ve never seen the Orient Express but once traveled on an old looking train in Kenya, where staff was dressed in black and white. I spent one night on board and it felt out of everything I had ever experienced. Trains are that special. I’m looking forward to reading about Austria soon!
Also speaking of train I love the Train Bleu at the Gare de Lyon in Paris. One of my favorite places to eat when I lived there. Have you tried it?
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I have not tried or even heard of Le Train Bleu, but I will make sure to check it out.
A friend of mine used to live in Montmartre , but in the back of the hill, thus in a less touristy and more residential area.
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Oh and I forgot to mention that I once organized a party at the Moulin Rouge for my company. It was fun and I must say that the quality of the show was far better than I expected. Much more classy!
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I’ve only ever seen Moulin Rouge on the stage or on a TV set (the Movie). Sounds like the real thing has lost its appeal.
I’d love to travel on the Orient Express especially when they do the murder/mystery trips. Murder on the Orient Express is such a brilliant movie.
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I did see the movie, and well there it is so beautiful. But I think that there will be another post that will mention the moulin rouge, to make up for my rather negative observation…
I have not even seen Murder on the Orient Express, but I guess seeing the train does sort of make up for it. I would definitely love to travel on it, even if it will take days to reach the final destination.
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I take the train to work each day, but I hope to take longer train journeys with the kids when they are a bit older. I’m now wondering if we could do a massive train journey round Europe at some point. Just off to research ticket prices!
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I don’t know how old they are, but until a certain age they are free in all countries and then it’s country specific. In Germany Kids are free until 12 or 14, and only from the age of 6 onwards they need their own ticket. In France they are free until 3 I think but they need their own ticket. You should go on train trips with them. It’s a lot easier as hey can walk around and are not going to sit for the whole trip.
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