Day 15 - Museé Carnavelet and Fête de Musique

On Tuesday we had an easy day.  The kids and I went to Place des Vosges to play in the park located in the Marais district and on the way to Jack's work.  It is a beautiful park with a fountain in the middle.  They had a playground and the kids were happy to share with the many school aged children.  It started to rain but one would never have know because the park is outlined with old trees manicured to make a canopy so we stayed dry while playing.  The buildings surrounding the four corners of the park used to be houses for the wealthy in the 17th century.  They are gorgeous.  Victor Hugo lived in one which is know a museum.  There are many art galleries, cafes and a hotel today.  A wonderful place to have a respite.  On our way home we went to Musee Carnavalet, Paris' history museum.  It is a great find.  The museum is 2 buildings, a home that belonged to a wealthy merchant by the name of Kernevenoy and the former site of Hotel Le Peletier de Saint Fargeau.  This museum is dedicated to Paris' history and have artifacts dating back to the prehistoric times.  It was a great place for the kids and I to see after watching Midnight in Paris because there were paintings and rooms dedicated to the different periods shown in the movie.  Additionally, they have a model of what Paris looked liked when it was established to only the island that Notre Dame sits on.  It shows how there were houses on top of each other and the homes of the bridges.  We have heard about it several times but the kids couldn't visualize it until they saw it on the model.  There were paintings of the1889 World's Expedition in Paris which we are reading a book about.  Lastly there was an area dedicated to the Bastille, the prison cells, guillotine models and the Temple prison where Maria Antoinette was held prisoner.    It was very educational and worth another trip someday.  We meet Jack at home for dinner but couldn't resist taking a walk around the neighborhood because it was Fête de la Musique, a festival of music.  Music is played through the city on every street corner and cafe....a grand celebration.  Jack and I enjoyed hearing the different bands and sounds.  The kids found it loud and overstimulating.  Fortunately at first, but unfortunately after a few hours, we had "Stomp"-like band playing very close to the apartment which went from rhythmic to repetitive after the 20 thousand times hearing the same sound with drums.  But it ended early by Fête standards, like around 11 pm, and the kids fell asleep.

Day 14 - Relaxing & Minuit à Paris

Today we slept in.  I said goodbye to Mary and mom and went back home back to bed.  It was raining hard in the morning, and we were very glad to have no where to go.  Jack had the day off so we relaxed at home.  Jackson finished his book.  Grace gave me a pedicure.  We haven't said much about our apartment other than it is noisy.  We live on the 2nd floor.  Once you get through the big blue door, you enter a lovely courtyard with lots of very large potted plants.  I believe there is a magnolia tree, hibiscus pots and other type of green trees.  There are different entry ways but ours is A.  Go up 2 flights of stairs.  The stairs are curvy and crooked.  Jack describes them as going up a set of stairs in a Dr. Seuss book.  There are 3 main rooms with a bathroom and kitchen.  One of the rooms is a bedroom which the kids are sharing and another room has a pullout couch that Jack and I are sharing.  In between is the common room where we eat, do ironing or hang our clean clothes.  The bathroom is connected to this room and the kitchen.  Not a very good layout for us and we have had to overcome some pet peeves like taking our meals through the bedroom or bathroom.  The bathroom is very fancy since it has a chandelier.  The kitchen is small but functional.  There is a washing machine that looks like a garbage compactor.  No dryer so all our clothes are hung to dry.  We learned that in Paris it is against the law to hang your clothes outside your window.  They call it "going Mediterranean."  The district in which we live--the 3rd Arrondissement--is very nice and close to so much that we haven't taken the metro as often. It's a much different Paris than the one we knew in 2009, when we lived literally in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower and packs of tourists (like us). This year we're in an actual neighborhood with an endless stream of little shops and markets and cafés along each block. Here's a view from our apartment. Café de la Poste is under the awning at the bottom.

We caught the 3:20 PM showing of Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen (pic below).  It was playing in English with French subtitles.  The kids weren't certain they wanted to see it but Jack thought it would be good for us to watch it in Paris since we are big Woody Allen fans.  Jackson spent most of the movie playing his DS. As we were leaving the movie, Jackson said he stopped watching it after the opening scenes "because it was about love and kissing."  Grace on the other hand was glued to the screen the entire movie.  The movie was very good and fun with lots of sites that we recognized. It was one of Allen's better films in recent years—hilarious in its portrayal of Americans' romantic notions of Paris (definitely hit home!), of Americans' botched attempts at speaking French (definitely hit home!), and of Ernest Hemingway.  The kids got a big education with the French previews--not quite the PG-13 of the feature film.  For dinner, our friend Julia who is in town for work, met us.  We went to Le Baromètre on rue Charlot.  It was very good and as Julia proclaimed "very French."  The kids shared a meal but had separate desserts.  Grace had a chocolate cake with molten chocolate inside and vanilla creme on the side.  Jackson had a jar of fresh strawberries with some sugar and lemon.  He loved it!

Day 13 - Sunday in Paris

The day started with breakfast at our apartment with mom and Mary.  We walked together to Marché Bastille.  While mom and Mary shopped at the market, we meet up with the von der Felsens at their hotel.  We walked to the bird market near Notre Dame.  The kids really enjoyed themselves.  Jackson and Kai were in a trance watching birds fight over their perch.  Grace and Amely played with the bunnies.

We had a nice picnic in the park behind Notre Dame.  Mary and mom met us but Mary had more shopping to do so mom stayed with us.  We said our goodbyes to the von der Felsens.  They had to return to Brussels.  It was a very nice visit.  With mom with us, we went to Shakespeare and Company bookstore, which was originally founded by Sylvia Beach, then closed during the Vichy years and reopened in its present location along the Seine. In its heyday the bookstore drew famous and eventually famous ex-patriot authors throughout the English-speaking world, such as Hemingway, Joyce, and Fitzgerald. To this day the bookstore is a haven for writers to meet, borrow books, and even sleep, still with beds nestled upstairs among tightly packed, wooden bookshelves. There is a collection of new and used books.  The children selection was limited but in a cozy corner so we read a few books while listening to piano music.  As we passed over one of the many bridges in Paris, we saw lots and lots of locks locked to the bridge.  Jack explained that couples attached the lock to the bridge throwing the key into the Seine as a symbol of their love to each other.  This has the kids perplexed as to why anyone would profess such a thing, which we tried not to take personally!






To celebrate Mary's birthday, Mom and Dad's anniversary and father's day, we ate at Bofinger.  Bofinger is the classical brassiere with a beautiful Tiffany dome in the middle atrium and waiters dressed in long white aprons.   It is a very fancy place, the right place to celebrate so many things.  We arrived early so we got to eat in the middle room with no reservations.  The food was excellent and a highlight for all of us.

Day 12 - A Saturday in Paris

Today was action packed.  Mary and Mom went shopping at Galleries Layafette so we were on our own.  Our day began with the von der Felsens meeting us at the apartment.  After some kid playing time, our journey began.  We were determined amissed the peroidic shower to walk through rue Montongueil to taste the "best eclair" in Paris at Stohrer.  On our walk we had many surprises like the flea market near Republique actually outside Hotel Paris France, the Statue of Liberty monument in front of the Musee art de Metiers and most importantly lunch at Eat Sushi.   Kai wanted to go to the restaurant because it was raining.  The food was very different because they had some traditional rolls but most were a fusion of many flavors like mozzarella cheese with tapanade and basil or curry chicken with avacado.  They charged you based on the number of specific color plates left on your table. Here's what Jackson has to say about the place: The yellow plate cost 2.50 euros, the orange cost 3 euros, the green 4 euros, the blue 5 euros, and the red cost 6 euros. The sink in the bathroom changed colors, so when you were washing your hands it would look like you were washing in multi-colored water.  The owner and Jackson made a deal that Jackson would open one in the States after he finished collage.

Next we went to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo.  The kids were able to walk right in front of the Mona Lisa, which was very nice since it was very crowded.  Grace watched her eyes very closely to make sure they followed her as she walked past it.   We didn't stay in the Louvre very long - long enough to see the 2 things and the amount of dust on the statues.  Anja pointed it out layer after layer of dust in one specific wing.  We decided each area gets dusted once a century.  It also gave us an idea for a book that the kids and I are going to work on.  We meet Mary at the Tuilleries Gardens for a chocolate tasting comparing Belgain and French chocolates and to eat the eclairs.  It was very crazy and hectic because the kids were either melting down or wound up.  The conclusion for the best chocolates: they all tasted great.  The eclairs were delicious.  Hard to tell if they are the best, we must try more eclairs.  In the middle of our tasting, we heard an endless thundering noise like being in the pits at the Indy 500 but it was thousands of motorcyclists parading down Rue Rivoli.  Kai loved it.  Jackson said he was glad he had a lot of wax build-up in his ears.  

Mom wasn't feeling well so Mary and I took her dinner while Jack and kids ate dinner with the von der Felsens at Cafe Indiana.  

Day 10 - Walk to Notre Dame

Today was very exciting for the kids because we had visitors from the States.  My mom and Mary are here and staying in a hotel that Mary and I stayed in 20 years ago.  It is on the same street as our apartment.  Lot, the desk clerk, was very helpful and told us about some of his favorite chocolatiers, one just down the street famous for caramels called Jacques Genin.  It was my mom's birthday so she planned the day.  We walked to Notre Dame passing through a few shops including a toy store and an English bookstore called the Red Wheelbarrow.  Grace wanted to climb to the top of ND but the line was crazy long, maybe another day.  It is a simple walk from our apartment, down Rue de Turenne to Rue St. Paul and across the river via Ile St. Louis to Ile de la Cité.  Once in Notre Dame, the kids sat in chairs and drew pictures of the stain glass windows.  It was very calming.  On our way home we stopped at a creperie for lunch and leisurely strolled home.  We sat on a bench by the river and watched the boats go by.  The kids ran down the stairs to get closer to the banks of the river.  An older French man was about to follow the kids down because he was very concerned and told me in French to watch them because it can be dangerous.  I was touched by his concern and there were no mishaps.  It is amazing how many clothing stores and restaurants there are here.  We walked through Rue des Rosiers, an area dedicated to Jewish cuisine.  There is a famous fallafel place called L'as Du Fallafel which is suppose to have very good food at a good price.  We made it back to the hotel to check in and check out their room.  It is on the 5th floor and very secluded.  I think the kids are getting tired of me.  They chose to stay with Mary and mom who were resting then go grocery shopping and back to the apartment.  We regrouped for dinner which we had at the apartment.  Jack bought 6 different tarts to celebrate Mom's birthday.  All agreed there were 2 tarts that were the best:  pear and chocolate.

Day 11 - Giverny

Mom and Mary were ambitious enough to get up early to catch a 10:20 AM train with us.  Giverny, Monet's home, is a very popular tourist stop.  Not only foreigners from around the country but also as we found out yesterday many preschoolers.  Giverny isn't a straight shot on the train.  We took a French train to Vernon, a quaint town located on the oppisite side of the Seine River.   There is a bus that connects Vernon to Giverny but all the tour books recommend by passing the bus and taking a taxi.  After seeing the line, Mary acquired a 9-person taxi.  It was a smart choice because we arrived sooner than all the people on the train which was so crowded we didn't sit together.  Since we had purchased our ticket online, we walked right it.  It is amazing.  Rows and rows of colorful flowers all in bloom.  Some of the flowers we reconized but there were just as many that we didn't.  The walking paths are designed so you can't really meander.  If you follow the crowd, it will take you to the bridge with the water lilies blooming in the pond.  It started to mist so the view was more like his paintings.  We toured his house, a comfortable place with a bright yellow kitchen that feed 14 at the table.  Grace liked Monet's living room that had big comfty chairs with lots of sun.  Apparently, Monet and his Alice had 8 children combined from previous relationships that lived in the house.  Monet was first married to Camille, his model, and they had 2 sons.  She had died young.

We returned to Paris around 4 PM just in time for a goûter (snack) at the much acclaimed Jacques Genin chocolaterie.  Mary ordered several pastries including a double eclair chocolat, carmel eclair, coffee puff and vanilla creme.  We also ordered cappuccino, but it wasn't your typical cappuccino. It had lots and lots of chocolate and lots of cream in it. Apparently, there were several tea choices as well that had chocolate in it.  The double chocolate eclair was the favorite.  The store/cafe was very chic.  They only have a few chairs and tables set up more like a living room.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a couple get up to leave and a man from a different table stole the chocolates from their table.  I don't know why I was so surprised; yesterday I saw a very clean-cut man taking several loaves of baquettes from a garbage can.  Anyway, the kids were very excited because Kai, Amely, Jan and Anja were in town for the weekend.  The night ended with dinner at Le Toumilou, recommend in a kids-in-Paris book for good French food that has exsisted for over a century, with the von der Felsens, Mary and mom.  The girls got beef bourginone and the boys ordered liver.  The beef bourguinon was very tender and good.  Jack thought the sauce on the liver was good and would have been even better without the liver, which he orders every decade or two to see if he might eventually like it.  The appetizers were full of flavor.

Day 9 - Versailles

We went to Versailles with Jack and the students.  It started with a 1/2 hour walk from our apartment to Notre Dame.  It was just....fantastic.

The kids were excited because we had to take the RER C line to Versailles.  Grace was insistent that we sat on the top level.

We spent the entire day at Versailles.  The weather was beautiful and Jack planned time to walk around the gardens before a big lunch and then an audiotour inside the palace.  The kids loved the mazes in the garden and tried to make a game of it.  We saw many famous fountains like Neptune.  The gardens are free for anyone to walk around and really a fun place to stroll....not really running because there are many people.  You can rent bikes or row boats.  Jack and the kids took a turn on a row boat.  We meet with the students at Flottille to eat.  It was a planned meal.  We had a salad with goat cheese, salmon and rice and an apple tart.  The kids had chicken nuggets and chose the apple tart over ice cream.  It was very good.  

The visit inside the palace was good.  We had lots of fun thinking about the different things we would do with each room.  We all agreed a trampoline room, basketball court and a ballet barre in the Hall of Mirrors were a must.  Jackson and Grace were both in awe of the bedrooms for the King and Queen.

For dinner we went to Ile St. Louis for banana splits.  When we got back to the apartment we found out that there was a lunar eclipse that night, but the weather was too cloudy to see.  A great day all and all!