The Lewonczyks Take On The Louvre

Many of us know that I am obsessed with my young nephew who is mainly a mad genius and the sweetest thing in history. So while I was very much looking forward to the arrival of several family members over the Thanksgiving holiday, the fact that my 5-year-old phenom would be joining just made it all the better. My brother, sister-in-law and baby boy arrived in Paris the day before our celebrated American holiday. As they made their way from the airport to a lovely Airbnb in Montmartre, I was finishing up yet another lawyer meeting to conquer my visa situation. I hightailed it over to their part of town and found them wandering around a small park, home to the Wall of I Love You: a perfect place to meet the fam.

Our main mission for the rest of the day was to hit up the Louvre. Wee nephew wanted to see the Mona Lisa and the rest of us are never adverse to the arts. However, since this particular part of my family are avid New Yorkers who love walking for miles and miles and miles wherever they go, we spent the larger part of the afternoon sauntering from Sacre Coeur down to the Seine. We spent a few minutes at another little park so that Nephew could get out some of that energy he had built up from the 7-hour flight. He ran around the playground while we watched him try to talk to the other kids, one of which he very quickly became smitten with. Sadly, while he knew they all spoke French, it wasn't quite as clear to him that none of them spoke English, so his little heart was momentarily broken.

Onward forward, however, past Madeleine and Opera, through the long avenues of central Paris and finally to our destination. After a few minutes of trying to skirt the system by searching for a less conventional entrance, we realized that there really was no option other than the great glass pyramid. Happily, November is an excellent time for tourism in that the crowds are practically nonexistent, so there was little to no line. Our first priority was to get our guest of honor to the painting he so desired to see. With stuffed toy gingerbread man in hand, Nephew spent a whole second or two pondering the great Da Vinci's masterpiece while his mama was able to snap one of those coveted pics with no one else around.

We had our fun for the rest of the afternoon, admiring great art, laughing at absurd paintings, taking fun photos whenever we saw fit. Admittedly, I find the Louvre a bit mall-like, with its lack of oxygen and wandering crowds, but we still made sure to have our fill of craftsmanship before we departed. Because it was just a tad early for dinner, we decided to sit in a café for the first of many glasses of wine over the course of the week. We chatted about life and decided on our dinner plans while looming jet lag began to take hold. Nephew rambled something adorable I'm sure as he climbed onto his mother's lap and within seconds had passed onto that sweetest of oblivions, sleep.

Our plan for dinner was to head up to my favorite dumpling place of all time and gorge on the cheap and delectable treats I have often raved about. Nephew was completely out, but since we still needed to eat food and keep the adults up passed 8pm, we carried sweet little boy into a cab, propped him up at our dinner table, and indulged in gobs of dumplings while he dreamed of Parisian art.