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.

Sightseeing in Paris

Day 2 in Paris began with a little more rest than day one - we at least slept more during the night before. However, we rushed out the door after a breakfast of French Frosties (Frosted Flakes) to make sure we made it to the Musee du Louvre before it opened so we could beat the crowds. We ended up making it right on time. We rushed to see the Mona Lisa - not so much because I'm a huge fan, but it was more like, I'm here, it's here, we should see it. We were able to find it fairly easily, and there was only a small group of people around it. What's more, they were letting people take pictures! This was really odd to me, but I didn't question it - so the picture below is of the genuine Mona Lisa as taken by Michelle. They actually were letting people take pictures throughout the museum that day, so we went through and took pictures of a few other paintings that grabbed our fancy, as well as some of the more famous sculptures. All in all, we made it through about two, maybe two and a half hours before we finally relented to the children and went outside.

Dalton enjoyed coming up out of the museum into the pyramid, and after we looked in awe at the Louvre itself (we came in through the underground mall) - we headed to the Jardin des Tuileries, grabbing a bite to eat from a "Paul" which was located nearby. (Click the link for more on Paul - it's probably the closest thing to a fast-food chain the French have.) We didn't spend too much time in the gardens - we instead caught the Metro to Pont Neuf where we got on one of the river boats. The boats take you from the Ile de la Cite down to the Eiffel Tower, and then back up circling both the Ile de la Cite and the Ile St Louis before returning you to the starting point. Some of the views from the river are awesome, and on a sunny day, it was really quite nice. Our guide was bi-lingual, and provided commentary in both French and English, so that was cool as well.

Upon returning back to the Pont Neuf (which, by the way, means "new bridge", but is ironically, the oldest bridge in Paris, dating back to 1607 - the first stone being laid by Henri III in 1578), we went to Sainte-Chapelle. Unfortunately for us, part of the chapel is currently being restored, but it is still quite amazing. The stained glass is absolutely beautiful.

After Sainte-Chapelle we wandered towards Notre Dame, getting a couple of granites (slushies) on the way. We stopped in front of the church and rested in the square there for a bit before heading in. Notre Dame is also quite amazing. We walked through the main chapel, but elected not to do the towers, as at this point the kids were quite tired, and Michelle and I weren't far behind. We did stop in Square Jean XXIII immediately behind Notre Dame, where we listened to a little band play for a bit and let the kids play on a small playground there.

We headed back, and stopped in at a small Italian place not far from our apartment for dinner. This may sound odd, since we were eating at an Italian restaurant (playing American pop music) in France, but it was a great meal - especially since we could get spaghetti for the kids. So, I had some escargots and veal, Michelle had soupe a l'oignon and veal Marsala, and the kids got spaghetti. It was a full day, but fun.

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.)