Ah Paris!

We are in Paris now! Sindhu begged us to go, she learnt French this year and was intensely interested in visiting France even though she doesn't understand more than a few words :-)  It was very difficult to find a reasonably priced place in Paris so I opted for an apartment (http://www.holidays-france-rentals.com/)  in the Montparnasse area. This quaint 1 bedroom place that is hardly 47 sqm is apparently valued at 550K Euros and it's not even in the heart of Paris! Nevertheless it's perfect for us, it's near a metro station, grocery stores and is modern, neat, clean with internet access. I remember 10 years back when we came with Sindhu, we stayed at a tiny dumpy hotel room somewhere in the outskirts of Paris, this is far better. We took the metro to reach the apartment from the airport and regretted it immediately, although we saved a bundle (metro prices were less than 1/2 the usual price last night) but we were exhausted by the time we arrived at the apartment. We experienced the same feeling 10+ years back when we dragged Sindhu in the rain on the subway station after arriving jetlagged off the plane. Like last time, we'll probably take a taxi to the airport on our way back :-)

London was fabulous as always except for the weather, it was rainy and cold most of the time, I thought we had guaranteed warm weather towards the end of June but apparently not. (Paris seems to be the same). The kids had a wonderful time with their cousins and were inseparable all 4 days.  We visited South bank, Queen's park (amazing park next door to Shailaja's place, went there every day) , Kensington Palace, Science Museum, malling, Kungfu Panda 2 and an adult's dinner while Shailaja's nanny watched the kids.  Shailaja whipped up some elaborate meals, we watched movies and chatted late into the night. We'll be back at the end of our trip for a few more days.  A good friend of mine told me many many years ago that her relationship with her cousins was different from relationships with her siblings and friends and was a special relationship on its own. We always lived too far away from our cousins as children and could not really appreciate what she meant but seeing S&R with their cousins always reminds of what my friend said. Living in India for the past few years has also strengthened my relationship with my cousins and I wish we could have had similar memories when we were younger.

Monkey bars at Queen's park

Subway

Mandatory piggypack picture

At Southbank (near all the main sights and museums)

Kensington Palace -  Excellent museum for children, they had a great time there.

Sindhu's new look - Wigging out

Queen's park

Cool tire ride at Queen's park

Sachin - Don't mess with me

Trampoline in Shailaja's backyard

Soccer match at Shailaja's backyard