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Les Bannetons de Charonne

When I researched the available breakfast options near our Airbnb, the closest was Les Bannetons de Charonne (literally across the street). This place received mixed, and somewhat negative reviews, but I still wanted to try it due to its sheer convenience.

There seemed to be a light, but steady stream of customers, which I took as a good sign. The smell of freshly baked goods wafted into the street corner.

I attempted to use a couple of French phrases while ordering, and the older woman behind the counter smiled and said “good”!

I brought back plain, chocolate and raspberry croissants to eat for breakfast. They were so light, it did not feel like we were consuming tons of butter-haha. The prices were quite reasonable compared to specialty bakeries around here (e.g. the raspberry croissant was 1.40 euros).

There was a small learning curve, but we successfully navigated the Metro around Paris. Once we bought the Navigo Easy Passes at a station with a live attendant, it was easy to track/refill all of our passes via the app. One tip is that you only have to tap your card when entering a station, not on the way out.

Musee d’Orsay

The Musee d’Orsay was originally a train station (Gare d’Orsay) that opened in 1900. In preparation of our visit, my son read The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick. We also watched the movie Hugo, which is based on the book. The story is set in Gare d’Orsay, and it was neat to recognize parts of the building.

Gosselin Saint-Germain: A Great Lunch Near Musee D’Orsay

After an art-filled morning, we were ready to fill our stomachs again. I found a boulangerie called Gosselin Saint-Germain that is a quick walk (<5 minutes) from Musee d’Orsay.

We had a little dilemma regarding dessert because everything looked so delicious, but we also had to be careful of the kids’ nut allergies. I had a pocket-sized card explaining their allergies to the woman behind the counter, but the language barrier did not leave me feeling too confident about her suggestions. We settled on eclairs (coffee, vanilla and chocolate), and they ended up being a tasty and thankfully nut-free choice.

Seattle Lunch Pick: Fresh Off The Boat Poke Bar

We had reservations for the Space Needle at 12 p.m., so we picked up lunch from Fresh Off the Boat Poke Bar on the way.

We ordered two large poke bowls, which ended up being plenty for the four of us. I like how poke bowls are so aesthetically pleasing.

We were the first ones there and no one else was in line, but the service was quite efficient to the point of being curt. As you can see, there are a lot of ingredients and toppings to choose from.

How hilarious is this choice of toilet paper in the restaurant’s bathroom? Someone actually busted out a label maker! I had to take a picture to share (after I washed my hands, of course).

We took our poke bowls to go and ate them on a bench near the Space Needle. We all agreed they were one of the best poke bowls we have consumed. The ingredients were fresh, the bowls were packed, and the flavors were on point.

Seattle Space Needle

Going to the top of the Space Needle is one of the activities D and I skipped when we visited pre-kids. I think we thought it was too pricey at the time. Looking back, I am glad that we were able to experience the Space Needle for the first time with our kids.

For this trip, we purchased City Passes, which includes admission to five different Seattle attractions. City Passes are available in several big cities, and their purpose is to save you money and time. In our case, there were no lines at any of the attractions we visited. However, I can see how having a City Pass would be helpful when it is crowded.

Once we reached the top, we were greeted with amazing 360 degree views of Seattle. It was a clear day, so there was excellent visibility.

There was a nice indoor seating area where we rested our legs and enjoyed the air conditioning. We also took advantage of the water-filling station to replenish our water bottles.

After you are done looking around the top floor, go down a flight of stairs to experience the revolving glass floor. As someone who experiences motion sickness, I could only stay for a little while before feeling dizzy.

This is also the floor where you catch the elevator down.

k wanted to see how far she could keep one foot on each side of the revolving floor.

The City Pass actually allowed us to visit the Space Needles twice in one day. The ticket said that the second trip should be after 6:00 p.m., but the ticket office said the second visit could be at any time that day since it was not crowded. Although it would have been nice to go up to the top during sunset, it would have been too late for us (since the sun did not set until around 9 p.m.!) Therefore, we made our return visit after completing our other stops for the day.

After we checked into our hotel, we did an initial visit to Pike Place Market. I plan on writing one long post to combine all of our visits to this Seattle landmark (3 in total!). We walked back to our hotel and rested for an hour. D had reserved four $10 tickets for us to watch the Seattle Mariners play the Oakland A’s at T-Mobile Park for our first night.

Pre-Game Dinner At Paseo

The game started at 7:10, so I had us grab dinner beforehand at Paseo. Our walk ended up being longer than I had anticipated, and the weather was unusually warm for Seattle that day (mid to upper 80’s!).

We were able to find seating in their outside patio. It took a while for our food to be ready, but we had just eaten at Pike Place, so we were not that hungry. Our order consisted of two Paseo Caribbean Roast Sandwiches, one order of Famous Roasted Corn, and one order of Caribbean Fries. Their sandwiches have been voted one of the best in the country, so I was eager to try them. Here is their description:

The Paseo Caribbean Roast is a legendary & beloved Seattle sandwich. Bursting with intense flavors, the Caribbean Roast harmonizes juicy slow roasted pulled pork, garlic aioli, fresh cilantro, crisp romaine, pickled jalapeños, & caramelized onions.

It was, indeed, a delicious sandwich. Unfortunately, we were not hungry enough to fully appreciate it. I think the roasted corn was the best I have ever had, and the garlic aioli served with the fries was excellent. It was worth the walk!

Seattle Mariners Baseball Game

After dinner, we backtracked to the baseball stadium. Good thing we did not have to pay for parking! I think that attending a baseball game is a good way to get a feel of the local atmosphere.

I did not think that we would make it in time to receive the freebie they were handing out to the first 5,000 fans–PJ pants. However, we lucked out and they still had some left. Too bad they were all size XL! I’ll have to figure out how to do some tailoring.

n couldn’t wait to try them on. D and I also showed a picture of our vaccination card and received a free SEA Us Rise t-shirt (modeled here by D and n).

Our seats in right field were up high, but perfect for viewing the sun set over the Seattle skyline. I would recommend seats in right field just for that view. There was a lot of space between fans, which was nice.

Even though I was not familiar with any of the players, the game was pretty high-scoring and exciting.

It was still light out at 9 p.m.! We ended up leaving after the 7th inning stretch after the A’s went on a run streak (Mariners lost).

We went to sleep way past our usual bedtime, but it was fun to be out on the town for one night.

Now we have night clothes to remind us of our time in Seattle. Thank you, Mariners!