A Bus Trip to Paris

For those of you who don't know, we've been in Paris for the last six days. I'm breaking down our visit by days, since if I tried to say it all in one post, it would be one long, long post. As an overview, I can only say that Paris is truly a beautiful place, and I, for one, never encountered any of the rudeness that people accuse the French of having. Michelle says that is because I speak French (un peu - I took about five years of French during high school and college, but haven't spoken it since - until now). I will say that my French was rusty when I got there, and improved over the course of the week, but was still not what I would've liked when we left. There's always next time I suppose.

Anyway, we did, in fact, take a bus - mainly because it was the cheapest way to get us all there. I have since promised both myself and the rest of my family that we won't be doing any more long bus rides on vacation. The trip over was less than restful. We left Victoria coach station at 11 pm for an arrival in Paris the following morning at 8:30. We ended up sitting in front of one guy in particular who decided he was going to talk all night. I have to say that it seems like there is always someone like that on any long trip, but it was still just awful to try to go to sleep, be almost there, and then have him pipe up and say something, waking you up yet again. As this repeated over and over (and over and over) again, I think the frustration starts to keep you awake almost as much as the annoying person who can't seem to be quiet. It was even more annoying because it was clear that everyone else on the bus was going to sleep.

Beyond that, we also had to get off the bus when the bus got on the ferry. The ferry itself was huge, with basically a little shopping mall on it, but we found a little couch off to one end and the kids and I went to sleep. Mich, who had Maggie's head on her lap, couldn't get comfortable, and ending up staying awake for the ferry ride. We then got back on the bus, where Talking Guy kept talking for another hour or so before falling asleep himself. So, upon arrival at the bus station in Paris, we weren't exactly fully rested and ready for the day.

Nonetheless, after figuring out where to go on the Metro to get to our apartment, we headed there and dropped off our bags. Our apartment was located on the Rue de l'Ancienne Comedie in the St Germain des Pres district, which I thought was a neat little area. We then went out to have our first dining experience in Paris. We went to a little street vendor on Rue de Buci, where we got a hotdog-monsieur for Dalton and Maggie and some baguette sandwiches for Michelle and myself. We headed down to the Jardin du Luxembourg for a picnic on the park bench. Dalton proceeded to exhibit his usual enthusiasm for different foods - which is to say, none, while Maggie seemed to quite enjoy the hotdog/sandwich. Afterwards, we wandered through the gardens for a bit, admiring the Fontaine de Medicis built in 1624 before going to the Pantheon, a Neo-Classical church completed in 1790. It is also the location of Foucault's pendulum for those of you who enjoy science or Umberto Eco.

It was a beautiful, warm and sunny day, so we stopped in Amorino for some gelatos, which we ate in the Jardin du Luxembourg. I rented a sailboat for an hour, and the kids pushed it around in the pond right behind the Palais du Luxembourg. By this time, I had pushed the kids and Michelle close to the end of their endurance, but managed to get them to agree to head down to the Fontaine de l'Observatoire, another fountain at the south end of the gardens. Afterwards, we headed back to the apartment, and I went to the local grocery store for some foodstuffs, dining that evening on fine French pizza. (Mich and I also had some wine and cheese.)