A funny thing happened on the way to the Eiffel Tower...

Except for this one to make me feel better, there are no pics in this post.

picture from here

There could have been... if I'd had a camera. But that would've meant I had the backpack, which would've meant I had the food and the warm jackets and the money and the tickets for the Métro and the keys to the house... and then there would be no story :P

As you saw in the previous post, the early part of our day was fantastically amazing! That Cité des Enfants just rocked the kids' respective worlds. Big, gigantic several thumbs up on that place. You should consider flying your family of young'uns all the way to Paris and enduring days and days of jetlag just so you can take them there. Ha! I'm kidding. But it seriously is a very, very cool and fun place... you saw the pictures.

The plan was to regroup for the afternoon and then head on out after dinner to the Eiffel Tower to see the sunset and then the sparkly madness that happens after dark.

We all bundled up... except me because I was carrying the two-year old in an Ergo so I just had a simple fleece pullover on, figuring she would help keep me warm. I handed hubby all my money and told him that was what was being done. Then I handed him the little wallet-thingy containing the Métro tickets for the family and told him that was what was being done. He grabbed the backpack of extra jackets and snacks and water, grabbed the keys off the hook, and away we went.

This house has a big, automatic, hydraulic gate that requires a clicker thingy or indoor button pushing. At the gate, Big G says, "Should I bring my bigger coat?" "Yes," I said. He went back into the house to fetch it and I told hubby I'd start on over to the station (THE only station) with the three younger kids. We'd meet the two of them there. "Okay," he said. "We'll hurry right on over."

Five-minute brisk walk. At THE station. The four of us hang out around the stairwell... feeling a little like a pack of suburban hoodlums. We amuse ourselves looking at the Métro map and the neighborhood map RIGHT THERE. And we look in the pharmacie window that has a few toys in it... RIGHT THERE.

Where are they?

We go down into the station. There is only the one staircase. They are not waiting in there for us. It is warmer in there, so we wait a bit inside... about 3 minutes or so (which is an eternity to a 6-year old). Then we figure they must be waiting for us on the street level. We go back up. Nope.

We go back down. Nope.

We go back up and figure they must still be at the house. Maybe they couldn't get the gate to close? Maybe they had a father-son 'dispute' and felt that the Eiffel Tower just wasn't going to happen that night? WTF?

We walk back to the house. Nope.

We walk back to the station. Nope.

At this point, Baby X was in tears, worried we were going to need to make a sign saying "j'ai faim" (I'm hungry) and beg to get food... that we'd be poor and hungry... and that daddy and I would get in a big fight and need a divorce. Poor girl :( I had actually thought of doing that about 5 minutes before she brought it up! lol

We decide to wait in the station because it's warmer and we have no extra jackets. They are in the backpack. Surely Big G and hubby will be back soon when they remember we have no tickets or money. Oh, no! Maybe they got hit by a truck or something? Maybe they were abducted? Maybe they think we were abducted? Where are they? Why is this happening?

Ninety minutes later... really... we decide to walk back to the house to see if, somehow, they managed to sneak by us or be hiding out in the house the whole time... or something. Nope.

We walk to the elementary school and sit on the steps... much to the dismay of the local teenagers who had been hoping to drink their beers there while listening to pop music (which they were able to do tonight)... which are on the route between the station and the house so we can see if they walk by... which they don't.

After sitting there for about 20 minutes while Miss C runs around having a blast in the dark, we realize how cold we are and go back to the station to wait. After another 20 minutes in the station, Daddy and Big G arrive.

Needless to say, it was a rather emotional reunion. But no one was abducted or hit by a bus, so we just keep reminding ourselves that all's well that ends well ;-)