Zoo-La-La

Paris, France -- Day 2

Everyone slept late this morning. We must have been worn out from all the travel excitement of yesterday. During my morning run, I happened to pass a huge building near the Vincennes Park. With base relief images of animals covering the giant front wall, I guessed this was the zoo, and decided that might be a fun morning activity. I learned later that that building was actually a museum of immigration history, having nothing to do with the zoo, which, coincidentally, just happened to be a block away.

We didn't finally make it out to the zoo until noon, enjoying the 80 degree weather and blue skies. Little Cole has been a real joy to travel with. He is good natured and really seems to adore his bigger playmates. Sweetly, he's taken to calling Kylie, “My Kylie Girl.” We've also learned that in his world, anyone on a bike with a helmet is a "good guy" and anyone without is a "bad guy." Safety first.

The zoo was a definite hit, and fortunately not very crowded on a Monday afternoon. Highlights included the Penguins, Vultures, Rhinos and huge black panther. Unfortunately, for Cole, no tigers.

True to our normal pattern, we caught the bus back to the flat for the afternoon to rest and recoup. It was then when I learned that I, apparently, was in charge of dinner plans (since I hadn't been completely thrilled with last night's falafels). Nevertheless, it was made clear that the group's strong preference was for Thai food. This would commemorate the original plan of meeting Mike and Ely in Thailand. The evening agenda kept fluctuating, but we eventually decided to take the super convenient Metro out to the Eiffel Tower and eat dinner nearby.

I had tried to get tickets to go up in the tower yesterday and was surprised to find the first available tickets (for the third and highest platform) were not until September 22nd!  Instead, I settled for the tickets to the second platform (less than half as high)... at 11:00 p.m... tomorrow.

Even though we couldn't go up in the tower until the next night, it was pretty cool to see the tower up close. Mike and Ely had seen it before, so they took Cole on a nearby merry-go-round while we waited in the security line to get a closer view. Before getting in line, we were careful to inconspicuously remove our Swiss Army Knives and give them to our accomplices, Mike and Ely. We weren't sure how long the heightened security had been in place, and wondered if it was in response to the recent Paris bombings and the Bastille Day attack.

What, no roller blades?

The Yelp-recommended, Thai restaurant we finally made our way to, had to be one of the tiniest in Paris. We just barely made our way in through the door before wedging ourselves into a corner table. Curiously, of the other few tables we could see, no one else was actually eating food. We couldn't quite figure out whether eight-thirty was too early or too late. 

In the end, the food turned out to be spectacularly tasty (Tom yum soup, green curry, pad Thai, and chicken satay). We were a bit mystified, though, with where they actually had space to cook the food. And, given how incredibly long it took to bring it out -- one dish at a time -- we decided there was undoubtedly only a single burner stove tucked into some corner somewhere. It was a great evening, and by 11:00 were were on our way back home. Another fine day in Paris.