Adventure playground!

Today was a joyful day!  Our kids were very excited to return to Bois de Vincennes to try out the zip line adventure course at the Parc Floral.  Yesterday was more of an adult day with a concert and cafe sitting, so today was all kid.  Entry to the park is free during the week, and it was a lot more crowded today than on Saturday.  The perfect weather today probably encouraged the crowds, but the playground here is huge so it was not a problem.

We are all harnessed up and ready to head up.  The instructions were all in French, but apparently we understood the most important concepts, as we survived!  I took a turn first, then Nik got his chance.  This took me back to rock climbing days.  There are 3 courses (low, middle and high).  Henry was pretty nervous at first, so he did the low course twice, after which he was very confident and did great on the middle course.  Noticeably absent was any consent/ release form or any deposit or credit card required for taking out the harnesses.  You pay for 2 hours on the course, and return your harness at the end, all apparently on the honor system.  These aspects of French culture are quite refreshing!

Henry on the low zipline.  So much fun!  He quickly figured out the "life line" that stays clipped in for the entire route, the second carabiner line that gets moved as you move through the course, and the pulley that is only used on the zipline portions (it gets clipped to the harness for the other sections.)  It's pretty amazing to see really little kids managing all of this.  

Nik and Henry tackle the middle course

Madeleine is in the background on the high course, that she did twice.  Nik did the high course once with Madeleine, and he admitted to sweaty palms on the tightrope part.  It was strange to see my family walking among the trees.

Last run on the middle course.  So fun and addictive, it was hard to turn the harnesses back in.

The adventure course gave Henry so much confidence that he made a beeline with Madeleine to the top of this structure that he did not like much two days ago.

Happy climbers.  

This playground has it all!  We all took turns at ping pong.

Henry and Sully enjoy their five minutes in the ball pit.  The ball pit attendant (!) did not speak English, so I did my best to translate the rules: no running and no throwing balls.  Where's the fun in that?  Oh, the French are so civilized.  Obviously these guys had a blast anyway.

Nik and I lounged and drank wine by the lily ponds while the kids ran around and around, until we closed the park down at 7:45.  A park worker on a bike with a very loud whistle drove everyone out. 

Lotus?!  Beautiful.

One last Skuut ride among the ??? before we headed out.  Our kids did a great job tiring themselves out.

We stopped at our new favorite pizza/ kebab place in Vincennes for salad and sandwiches before heading back to central Paris.  This day felt like vacation.  Tomorrow we plan to visit the famed Notre Dame cathedral and then take a tour of the Catacombs of Paris.  .  .

- E