Postcards from Paris: The City of Light through my children's eyes!

Paris through my children’s eyes

We got our girls a camera each just before we left for Europe, as a reward for an amazing school year and wonderful results and achievements that they had had all year. But mostly, we wanted them to take ownership of their travel snapshots. We wanted them to see new places with their own lenses so to speak, so here are my favourite photos of Paris which they captured with their own cameras. They are especially precious to me as I was able to see what they had observed while I was in hospital for my emergency eye surgery and couldn’t be with them!

At the Lourve museum, we did a very unbecoming thing, as parents. To get them laughing and giggling, I suggested a Lourve expedition with a twist: we would look for as many statues, sculptures, statues and paintings with boobs and bums. After seeing the Mona Lisa and the standard ones, what else was there to enjoy at the Lourve, its vastness gets tiresome after all and one gets easily museumed out,( plus it wasn’t the first time for M and I) so we were being naughty parents indeed. Rather than memorising dates and artists' names, their 'slightly twisted' and naughty experience at the Lourve was more fun, more real and definitely less boring!

I noticed that when children have their own cameras, they then have the desire to create their own narratives. We learned that as they photographed what they saw, felt, touched and sensed around them, their self-actualisation and awareness became stronger and more vivid. Belly Boo has now been able to re-produce Degas' ballet dancers and all three can easily sketch out Paris's key landmarks from memory. They also use their own photographs as fodder for sketches or paintings which they did later on.

At the Notre Dame, I noticed S taking a keen interest in the stained glass patterns and the history and description of each painting or dyptiches on the walls. Belly Boo was keener to take action shots so there were lots of star-jumping mostly throughout Europe. Little T had our SLR camera most of the time, and from his wee height, he managed some cool photos too, especially later in Brugge.

Plus they notice wall murals better too!

Enjoy their photo-journey encapsulating the joie de vivre that is Paris!...

Wall art in the Quartier du Marais

Well-decorated vespa

Ladybird at the Place des Vosges

All is lost for France with Hollande the clown?

A pic of Daddy on the Eiffel Tower with a bird's eye view of Paris

Oh no! It's Spidey on Champs Elysees!

The view from our window at our Marais apartment. Perfect for recuperation.

Our favourite Paris roundabout taken from the Lourve!

Stalking Mummy through the Marais!

I got you, under my skin.