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.