We spent almost the whole day (time) walking and lazing in the park yesterday. Our hotel is just next to the green lungs of Paris and so I decided to bring her to the park for a walk. I am not sure if I was at the wrong section of the area, but Bois de Boulogne looks like a haphazardly grown wood more then a man made park. Maybe that was what it is supposed to be, natural.

I spent about one hour walking before I found Jardine d’Acclimatation, a big playground/theme park for children. It must be a very popular place; there were lots of children there. I felt like an odd one out, everyone else seems to be a local except me. Yauyau wanted to climb onto all the kiddy rides, but when they started moving fast, she cried and screamed and wanted to come down. The operator had to stop one of the moving ride to save her from the entire trauma.

Maybe the pasture is really greener on the other side of the world. The grasses allows people to laze or lay around to embrace nature. They are not like our cow’s grass which grows sparsely with mud dirtying your bums, or like the carpet grass, which pokes you and makes you itch. They are just nice and fluffy. And no ants, no centipedes or creepy crawlies to worry about.

The summer in Paris is not exactly like what I have imagined. I thought summer means a similar weather like what we have in Singapore; plenty of scorching sun and humid air. I didn’t check the weather forecast before we left. I wanted to ask the locals what kind of summer is this? So chilly and no sun! I assumed too much.

I brought all the wrong clothing, well, save for a long sleeves and pants, all the rest are either sleeveless or spaghetti straps tops, for both the kid and myself. The weather would be perfect if I packed the right stuff, so I ended up buying warmer clothes for the kid…. and goodness, they are expensive.

Just as I thought the weather is going to be chilly for the rest of the trip, summer returns suddenly! The sun is out, and it is warm again. So unpredictable, now I don’t know what to put on when I step out of the hotel.

We had a very smooth plane ride from Singapore to Paris. Yauyau didn’t give me much headache throughout the flight. I was advised by many friends to take a night flight, and luckily we did, she was asleep for almost 2/3 of the time.

I also asked around for reviews regarding the bassinet for young kids. Some told me that the bassinets are so small that that they can be useless. The child either couldn’t fit in, or they will have their legs dangling out. However, the SQ flights provide bassinets of different sizes. Maybe it was also because Yauyau is not a tall one; she fitted into the large bassinet just fine. It would have saved me from having to carry her for the whole journey if not because of air turbulence. For safety reasons, the flight stewardess insist I carried the soundly asleep child in my arms and fastened the seat belts. Argh, my legs and arms went numb.

Although we had much more leg space at the front row seats, I hated the fact that the armrest attached to the seats cannot be removed; it was such a big obstruction when I needed to cradle her. The kid is so big and long, I couldn’t nurse her unless I turned and sat sideway. So unless the kid can fit into the bassinet, I don’t think it is advisable to take those seats.

We ordered baby food for her, and they really did provide baby food, those mushy mushy jar food. Our mistake, should just make do with partial adult food. She has outgrown that mushy stuff and won’t take even a spoonful. So I let her have my noodles instead. She much prefers them, but they were really tough noodles, extremely chewy. Well, can’t expect too much from in-flight meals.

The in-flight entertainment programmes amused her greatly, but because of the bassinet, the screen was at an awkward position. She was manageable most of the time, except during takeoff and landing, when I was supposed to strap her in. The roaring takeoff sound terrified her too. Nursing her helped pacify her a great deal. On our trip back, I will make sure I latch her on before takeoff and landing.