Encore une fois (or one more time)

I started to wax philosophic over our travels, but caught myself in time. At any rate, this past weekend we returned to Paris - this was originally supposed to be a surprise, but with both children in school, I decided that I should let Michelle know well in advance, so that while she was surprised when she first found out, by the time this past weekend rolled around, the surprise had long ago dissipated.

So on Thursday night, we gathered our things, and got on the Eurostar to Paris. It was quite a different experience from heading over on the coach. We arrived in Paris about two and a half hours later, found our apartment (only one block over from the one we had previously stayed in), and called it a night.

There wasn't really an agenda for our visit, so on Friday, after an early awakening by the kids, I headed out and picked up some croissants and pains au chocolat. We then headed over to the Musee d'Orsay, where we spent a few hours looking at works by Monet, Manet, Renoir, and Rodin. After that, we wandered back towards Notre Dame, and popped in to Berthillon for what I have heard is the best ice cream in Paris, and it was pretty tasty. We ended the night with a little feast in our apartment, with a bottle of wine (for Mich and myself, not the kids), some roast chicken, and French cheese.

Saturday we went to the Eiffel Tower and went all the way to the top this time, basically because Dalton wanted to. I can now tell you that there is no significant difference between the second floor and the top - you can see just about everything the same. We then went back to the Jardins du Luxembourg and saw a marionette show before going to Au Beaujolais for our dinner, where Maggie succeeded in making a Frenchman fall in love with her.

Sunday was short - we made it to Saint-Chapelle before leaving, but then it was time to catch our train home. Pictures below.