Day 3 (2025) - When One Choice Is All You Need

Today was a busy day. Brian arrived on the red-eye from JFK a little after 8:30am. We had already planned to go to the Rodin Garden when he got settled, then we had tickets to see Notre Dame at 1pm and to go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower at 3pm, with dinner planned at Le Relais de Venise (more on that later). But yesterday when Debbie and I were walking around Le Marsais we came across the Picasso Museum. We tried to get in yesterday but it was too busy and we would have had to wait in line for over an hour to get in. So in the evening I looked online and they had tickets available at 9:30. Brian’s flight was actually supposed to land at 9:00am, so we figured that by the time he got his bags and cabbed to the hotel we could be there and back. 

But, as I mentioned, Brian actually arrived a half an hour early so we told him we would meet him back at the hotel when we were done. The three of us headed out, stopped at a local patisserie where we got small quiches and I got a small coffee, and we then took the metro to Le Marsais and headed to the Picasso museum. As mentioned in a previous update, we are not a museum family, and the Picasso museum confirmed this. We purchased a couple of audio guides, which helped a little but, in reality, while all of the Picassos certainly looked like Picassos one kind of blended into another. After a short time we just kind of walked our way through while skipping turning on the audio guides and finished up rather quickly and headed back to the hotel.

I think we have a version of this in our kids art bin from Community School

At least we can say we were there

Upon arriving back at our rooms, we found Brian fast asleep (not surprising). We stirred him awake and once he was ready we headed out towards the Rodin Garden. When I organized all of the events for today prior to the trip, I had only planned on going to the top of the Eiffel Tower at 3pm and then I got tickets for Notre Dame at 1pm (I got free tickets two days beforehand). Rodin was not part of the original plan, nor did I think to look up the location of the Rodin Garden in connection with plans for the rest of the day.

Once the group was ready to go we headed back to the metro for the ride to the Rodin Garden. This trip required a transfer, and evidently our first metro ended somewhere in Paris while it seemed the second metro was somewhere close to Abu Dhabi.  We got a ton of steps in, even with the help of a long walking escalator thingy, but eventually we made the transfer and walked over to the gardens. I don’t believe I had been to this museum before, but Debbie was here on her trip after college. Her recollection was that you could walk through the gardens without a fee, but if you wanted to go inside there would be a fee. While that may, or may not, have been true in 1990 it was most definitely not the case in 2025. There was a fee to enter, regardless of what you were there to see. I, somewhat reluctantly, paid the fee and we went in. I say “somewhat reluctantly” only because we were really only there to see one or two statues – The Thinker and The Kiss. 

We walked into the garden, and pretty much the very first thing you encounter is The Thinker. We snapped some photos and kept going, where we very shortly thereafter found The Kiss. So, after maybe 10 minutes we were really kinda done. But the gardens were pretty and there were a lot of other statues to look at. While we didn’t really know exactly what we were looking at for each of them, they were nonetheless quite impressive in their detail. The muscle tones, the realistic expressions, etc. were really amazing. Not so amazing that we would be spending hours admiring them, but amazing anyway.

Two great thinkers

Could we be more touristy?

We wrapped up our tour of the gardens after probably no more than 30 minutes, and headed back out to (a) look for somewhere to eat and (b) head towards Notre Dame. But remember that comment about not researching the various locations? Well, we could very easily see the Eiffel Tower from the Rodin Gardens.  Notre Dame? Not so much. We ended up pretty much retracing our (many, many) steps and doing the Abu Dhabi to Paris metro transfer in the opposite direction to get to the Notre Dame area. And since there was nothing to eat in the short walk from the Rodin Gardens to the metro, we decided to look around the Notre Dame area.

However, the shops and dining establishments in the Notre Dame area are very touristy and nothing really appealed to anyone. So, despite having a couple of (young) “hangry” members of our traveling party, we decided to eschew any food for the moment and just head directly to Notre Dame, as it was getting close to 1pm anyway.

It was good that we had our tickets already, as the stand by line was quite long and we easily would have risked a mutiny if we had to wait in that line. But we showed our tickets and walked right in to the newly renovated Notre Dame.

It was quite crowded inside (so much for limiting access) and we joined the crowd on our walk around the inside of the cathedral. Many photos were taken, but none when we joined some people in the middle of the cathedral who were sitting on chairs. We sat down with them to get a little rest and I took out my phone to snap some more photos. But before I could even unlock my phone a worker told us that no photos were allowed where we were sitting. The seats were only for praying. For pretty obvious reasons, praying was not an option so we got up and rejoined the crowds.

They may be smiling, but they are thinking - I wanna eat!

More photos were taken of this spectacular building, and we then found ourselves back outside, with the “hangriness” only growing. As mentioned, this was a pretty touristy area, but in the interest of family harmony, I made the executive decision to eat at the very first restaurant we saw on a corner next to Notre Dame. While I knew that this was likely not going to be a place to write home (or blog) about, I also knew that food was the priority at this time. As expected, the food was fine, nothing exciting, but it served its purpose and the “hangriness” subsided.

By now it was well after 2pm and we had tickets for the Eiffel Tower at 3pm. For the third (or fourth, I lost track) time today, we trudged to the metro and weaved our way to our next destination. We arrived at the Eiffel Tower a little before 3pm and hustled over to the tower, since our tickets called for 3pm entry. But we soon learned that just because our tickets said 3pm didn’t mean at 3pm we were going to be in an elevator to the top right at 3pm. First we had to wait in a line outside, where it was pretty cold, to get inside where the first elevator was, then once we got inside we had to wait in another line to get into the elevator. Once we finally got into the elevator, it took us to the second floor, where we (once again) had to wait in a line where now it was quite cold and windy to get in another elevator to the top.  After quite a wait, we finally made into the elevator to the top, and got out. 

Thankfully, this level was enclosed so at least it wasn’t cold. We walked around for a short time (way less time than we waited in any line to get to this point), took photos, walked up a short flight to an even higher level – which was not enclosed and was cold and windy - and then (wait for it) got in another long line to get into an elevator going back down to the second level. Once we got back to the second level we (I know you know what’s coming) got in another line to get the elevator back to the ground.

I know that anyone reading this who has been to Paris will say that this was a waste of time, and it may have been, but the kids had never been here before, and now they can say they have been to the top of the Eiffel Tower. They don’t have to do this again should they come back at some point, but I bet that if they do come back years from now with their own kids they will likely do the same for them. Or at least I think they will.

What was originally expected to be a short up and down was anything but, and my dinner plan for the evening was to go to a Volk family tradition – Le Relais de Venise. My parents have been going there every time they have come to Paris, and they took us on both of our family trips and I told Alan Nadel and Todd Sycoff there when we came after college. This is restaurant that serves one thing – steak and fries. No menu, no options. I can’t say that Debbie and Amanda were all that excited about going there, but I feel like it was my responsibility to give it a shot.

We took the metro from the Eiffel Tower to the area of the original Le Relais (they have another location in Paris, but I wanted to go the original) and were a little early. My notes said that the restaurant opened at 6pm, and my parents had told me that we would have to get in line before it opened to make sure we got right in. It was a cold night so I wasn’t sure there would be much of a line, but I didn’t want to take the chance. But when we got to the restaurant the sign on the door said they opened at 7pm (although at looking again at their website it said 6:45), not 6pm, so we were REALLY early. 

We decided to walk around and explore the area, and at the end of the street we found a little café. There wasn’t much else around so we went inside and ordered hot chocolates. We sat for a bit, maybe until around 5:45, and we headed back towards the restaurant. There still wasn’t anything stirring there, so we decided to go to a golf shop I had noticed on the way back to the restaurant from the café. The golf shop was open, but was pretty small and we couldn’t just wait inside and do nothing, so Brian and I went to their little putting area and tried out some putters. One of the store workers came over and struck up a conversation and actually pointed out the type of putter I should use based on my putting stroke, which was helpful.

We left the golf shop and headed back towards the restaurant around 6:10. We were on the other side of the street and this time I did notice some stirring so we decided to go there and see what the story. Good thing we did. There were a few people already in line (after some context clues we determined we were 4th in line) and within minutes of us getting in line more and more people kept coming and getting in line. Within no time the line stretched most of the way down the street towards the café. It was like moths to a flame – they just kept coming.

Glad we got here early
You can spot Amanda at the front of the line in the white coat

At 6:45 they opened the doors and quickly stuffed everyone into tables. The line was so long by this time that many people didn’t make it in for the first seating and had to wait outside until we all finished. We were seated in the back right of the restaurant near the windows to the street, and I am almost certain I had been at that table before.

Now the fun began. The waitress came to our table and simply asked “how do you want it cooked?” My almost 36 year recollection from the last time I was there was that it was served family style, so I just said medium to make sure it worked for all of us, and she took out her pen and wrote “M” on the paper tablecloth. It was at this point that Amanda realized that when I said all they served was steak and fries, it meant one kind of steak. She assumed that while all they served was steak, there would be options on the kind of steak to order. 

First, and within minutes, the waitress served us all salads, with a delicious horseradish infused dressing. We all devoured them, and then after clearing away the salads the waitress came back with our plates of steak with pepper sauce and fries. 

Just the beginning

Plate #1

There wasn’t a ton of either on the plate, so I started to question my recollection of it being served family style. My one memory, which I was questioning, was of a large overflowing platter of fries. So I texted my mother to ask if this was it or if there would be more offered. Thankfully she responded right away that not would there be seconds, there would be thirds, or fourths or more if you wanted. 

If you recall from earlier, I was a little concerned that Debbie and/or Amanda would not like this meal. But to say that concern was unwarranted would be quite the understatement. I believe the word Amanda used was “fire” – which if I am not mistaken means she liked it. 

After we cleaned our first plates, or maybe even before we finished, the waitress appeared with a large overflowing platter of fries, which made me pleased that my memory was correct. She loaded us all back up with fries then came around with another round of steak. By now everyone was in hog heaven, or cow heaven. Everyone kept eating and eating and I think Debbie had thirds, but I was too busy enjoying my own meal to keep track.

Debbie's Plate #2 (or #3, I lost track) - Before

After

We finally had our fill of steak and fries, and moved on to dessert. Here you actually had choices. I had updated my mother about our status, all the while making her a little jealous and likely hungry, and right after we ordered two desserts she told us which one she always ordered, the “la tulipe.” Good thing she suggested that because I think that was Debbie’s favorite of the three – not that the other two were shabby.

The "after" version would have just shown three empty plates
My mom's favorite is at the upper left

After polishing off the desserts, and after a perilous climb up a very narrow spiral staircase to the bathroom, we headed out. I am sure those waiting on line were glad to see us leave.

They now understand the appeal of this place

One of Amanda’s goals was to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle at night, which it does at the top of every hour for 5 minutes. Her friends who had already been to Paris recommended viewing it from the Trocadero area. We took a short metro ride to that area and made our way to the viewing point. Clearly this was not a secret location as there were tons of people there waiting as well. The moment finally arrived and the Eiffel Tower did its sparkling on cue and many a photo and video were taken.

Yes, we are tourists

Was a bit chilly at this point

Happy camper

Can we go now?

Lit up and sparkly

After getting the shots Amanda wanted she was quite happy and we all headed back to the hotel. Brian was thrilled to finally be done for the day, as he had been up for countless hours, other than his short nap upon arrival, and was tired and cold and happy to go to sleep.

Tomorrow we leave for Vienna in the afternoon, but first the Volks will visit the Louvre. Wonder what we might see there?