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We recently went to Paris for 4 days to get Reese’s US Certificate of Birth Abroad and passport. Another reason for our trip was to have Reese circumcised. They don’t normally do circumcisions in France but a friend of ours told us that we could take him to the American hospital in Paris and they would do it there. We took the train to Paris and stayed in an apartment that we found on Airbnb. The apartment was nice and it was so much more comfortable being in more of a “home” setting with 2 kids.
We arrived on Sunday and went straight to the Champs Elysée. The street was closed off to traffic and the shops were open (most places are closed on Sundays in France), and there were police at every side street checking people before they entered the busy shopping area. After walking around a little we checked into our apartment and then went out for a hot drink. Makenna loves to get chocolat chaud (hot chocolate)! The next day Reese had his surgery and we spent the rest of the day at home recuperating. (funny side note- after his surgery the nurse kept saying congratulations to us and I was so confused why she was saying that…I think she thought we were Jewish and it was a religious thing for us!)
On Tuesday we did some exploring around Paris. We went to see the Eiffel Tower and Makenna was so excited to see it again, especially since she has a little Eiffel Tower statue at home and talks about how she saw it in Paris. Then I had to go check out the British store Marks & Spencer because they had some cute kids clothes. While we were out, Ryan’s friend from college sent him a message that him and his wife were also in Paris, so we met up with them and walked around the Champs Elysée again and then stopped for a drink. They were both really nice and I was so happy to meet them! Makenna really liked them, too! After we said goodbye to them we headed to Galeries Lafayette to see their Christmas display and it was beautiful. The store itself is something to see, with a gorgeous stained glass dome ceiling and pretty balconies all around the center. There are 7 floors and many mini shops within the store, most of them being very high-end brands like Chanel, Cartier etc. We have a Galeries Lafayette in Clermont but it is nothing like the one in Paris!
Our last day we had an appointment at the US Embassy to get Reese’s certificate of birth abroad and his passport. While we were there they told us we couldn’t have Reese’s middle name Joseph on his documents because it wasn’t on the French birth certificate we received after he was born (the French don’t really do middle names so I think there was some confusion when we filled out his documents for the French birth certificate), and that when we returned to the US we would have to pay to change his name. Luckily we have since received a call that they would process the documents with his middle name, phew! The lady at the Embassy gave Makenna 2 American flag stickers, so she put one on her shirt and one on lovey, it was so cute! When we left the Embassy, Donald Trump was just announced the winner of the presidential election and a news reporter came up to me asking if we were at the Embassy because of the results of the election. She then interviewed me on my thoughts, but unfortunately I didn’t ask her what newspaper she wrote for so I don’t know if my quote ever got published.
After stopping for lunch we went to the train station to head back home. There was a piano in the lobby for anyone to play and there was a man playing while we waited for our train. I love all of our simple, yet memorable, experiences we are having in France!
The Pawlowski's Go To France 