France, Paris, Picnic @ Parc Floral

The sun was smiling brightly on the day Cedric and Elodie planned for us a picnic in the park. Elodie baked some really yummy bread and chocolate cake (which a non-chocolate eater like myself ate 3 slices!!!!!) and packed salad, ham, beer (but of course!), snacks etc. As Elodie was exhausted from running around for the past few days, she didn't join us for the picnic but rested at home. And today we witnessed how forgetful was Cedric.
First, he forgot his wallet when he went to buy gorcery with Clement in the morning. He placed all the stuff on the conveyer belt, dug his pockets, and started to put everything back to the basket. When Clement asked him, he sheepishly said he forgot his wallet so Clement picked up the bill for him. Then, he totally forgot about the picnic bags when he alighted from the metro and I picked them up. Last but not least (literally), he lost his blackberry in the park! Thankfully, a very kind lady picked it up and Cedric retrieved his dear phone after about an hour of anxiety and searching. Well, well, well.
Parc Floral is a very nice park for picnics. The weather was great! It was cloudy and windy with occasional sun. The moment we reached the pond area, the children dashed to see the swans and started running around happily.
The moment we laid the mat and spread out the food, they flocked in and asked for bread.... to feed the birds! We said NO NO NO! They could only take the left overs for the birds. The birds DO NOT eat before us. So, the children gobbled down the food and asked for bread. We were busy eating and hence didn't notice what they were doing with the bread. Only when they came back for more servings of the bread then we realised that they were feeding all the animals in the park. And we had to stop them. We haven't had our sandwiches yet!

Cedric hadn't noticed that he lost his phone in this picture.

Our family pic. :)

After Cedric found his phone, and we had finished all the food while waiting for him to find his phone, we moved to the playground area where the children further expanded their energy.

Well, so did the old boys.

Pam's children were running a fever. They rushed to the nearby clinic when the fever spiked to 41 deg. Cedric had to made phonecalls (1, to ask where's the nearest clinic to Parc Flora and 2, make a phonecall to the clinic to make an appointment. Yes, in France, you cannot just walk into the clinic. You need to make an appointment. And you need to get your medicine at the pharmacy, which is not inside the clinic) and bring them to see the doctor. So Yeow Seng's family and us stayed in the park to do some cycling and have a cuppa tea while waiting for them.

It was a really relaxing afternoon for all of us. There is no need to spend a lot of money and the children had lots of fun while the adults had a relaxing time chilling out (except for Cedric~), enjoying the weather, the fresh air and the company.

After the children had seen the doctor, we took the metro to Belleville, where the Chinatown is, and had our cravings satisfied. The food here is GOOD! And Elodie joined us for dinner. We saw a notice written in Chinese put up at the restaurant entrance. It was an appeal for the Chinese to join a demonstration against being bullied in France. It said something like "The Chinese should not be victims of robbery, theft, extortion and exploitation! Let's unite and let our voices be heard! Chinese people are not weaklings. United we stand!". I can't remember the exact content of the notice but it's something like that. Wow. Yes! 我们不是东亚病夫！