Up at 6:30, out the door by 7:45. We took the metro out to Disneyland to be at the gates for the 9am opening. The train station was a two minute walk from the main entrance, which made the whole thing painless. They do it right here. All the details are spot on. We hacked the lines all day by going through the single rider lanes. Saved ourselves 120 euros per person on the skip-the-line passes, and a 75-minute wait turned into 15 minutes as a single rider. Half the time we ended up on the ride together anyway. The boys' favorite was Crush's Coaster.

We packed bread, cheese, cold cuts, and cucumbers from the apartment and had a standing picnic for lunch. Water stations everywhere made it easy to keep the bottles full. Another great hack. 18,000 steps by the end of it.

Mom has always wanted to go to Disney, and at 65 she finally knocked it off the bucket list. This was Cheryl's last day with us. Can't believe 10 days are already gone. Tomorrow we drop her off at the airport.

The kids stopped at the shop and treated themselves with the euro money they got from family. A bunch of shopping happened.

Back at the Airbnb to scrounge up dinner and pack. Grabbed one more crepe from our neighbourhood creperie before calling it a night.

Took the metro to Sacre-Coeur for the first time and it was an adventure in itself. Cheryl's Canadian kindness kicked in at the platform and she let someone go ahead of her, which meant she and Chad didn't make it onto the same train as the rest of us. The kids were worried. We waited at our stop and they pulled up less than five minutes later. All good. Welcome to the Paris metro. Montmartre was a slow walk around the basilica and the square, really nice photos. Grabbed crepes for lunch. We thought it was going to be an easy day but still hit 17k steps. The hack to keeping the kids happy on this trip is a non-stop flow of croissants, macaroons, gelato, or crepes. Whatever works.

On the way back we split up. The girls went near the house to shop for beauty products and groceries. Lukas and I hit up a couple of Pokemon stores. Found a really cool spot at Fuji stores, two shops right beside each other with awesome singles in French and Japanese. Lukas bought a few packs because he wants to grab one in each language we travel to as a keepsake. Then we picked up some baguettes and headed home to have pasta for lunch.

Afternoon iced coffee and people watching. Just the two of us getting some adult time while Cheryl hung with the kids. These are the last couple of days with Chad's mom on the trip so we're soaking it in.

Chad found a great place for our first real dinner in Paris. Red wine, duck, creme brulee. The whole deal. Nice way to close out the night.

Started with coffee and people watching on the morning walk. Noticed the park where they filmed Emily in Paris, which was fun. Hit up Notre Dame early, then jumped on the hop on hop off bus to get around the city.

Hopped off at the Eiffel Tower, grabbed baguettes, croissants, and macarons from a bakery and had a little picnic. Very French of us. Back on the bus for more touring after that, but eventually the day caught up with us and we grabbed an Uber back to decompress for a few hours.

## Arc de Triomphe at Sunset Headed back out for dinner at a local spot. Ordered a few things to share and a few things came out that we didn't order lol. But it was all very very good. Then up the Arc de Triomphe as the sun was setting. Incredible views of the city.

Walked down the Champs-Élysées to close out the night. Sofie dragged us into the biggest Sephora I've ever seen, and she was in heaven. Finished with late night crepes that were sooo good. Busy day but we ticked off all the boxes. 🥐

Travel day. Made our way to Paddington, caught the Tube to King's Cross, then walked over to St Pancras International. On the way out of the Tube, Cheryl overheard a man clock Chad and say, in the most British accent, "I wouldn't mind getting a piece of him myself either." We were dying. Not the first time he's drawn that kind of attention. 🤣 Took the Eurostar to Paris. Super convenient, super fast, absolutely terrible wifi. Had grand plans to hammer through some work on the two-hour ride but settled for a nap instead. 🫠

Walked out of Gare du Nord and grabbed a taxi van immediately. Thought our timing was still impeccable. It was not. The taxi dropped us off in the 15th arrondissement instead of the 11th. Just as the driver finished unloading all our bags, we loaded right back up. Twenty more minutes in the cab. We finally arrived at a newer building in a neighborhood off the beaten path. Got into our little apartment, I dove into the work I couldn't do on the train, and then we headed out for a quick bite and groceries. Paris, day one. Low key.