Next up!

Yes, we're about midway through the Paris leg of our journey.  Counting today, we've spent three full days touring around plus the part day we were here and zonked out.  We have three more full days ahead and a partial day/travel day.  It's been great so far!

So, today.

We started by browsing through a farmers market that was on the sidewalk just outside of our flat building.  There were many stalls with produce, meat (fish laying out, etc), clothes, etc.  It was fun to walk through.  I could totally see getting much of my "stuff" at a place like that if I lived in a city like Paris.

The highlight of the day was the Louvre.  Man, that is a spectacular place.  I had forgotten that it started out as a hugh palace.  It's a huge horse shoe (essentially) with this huge courtyard in the middle and even some other big courtyards built into the interior of the building.  Of course there's the very famous glass pyramid as well that is a much more modern addition.  We saw lots of the biggies (Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, some Michaelango sculptures.  And in between those, we saw lots of other paintings as well.  There was a pretty neat exhibit in the basement talking about the Louvre as a palace in the middle ages.  We also liked the wing that had been restored to look like it had when it was the apartments of Napolean III in the early mid-19th century.

After the Louvre*, we walked out through the big courtyard into the Jardin des Tuileries.  It was the first public garden in Paris (1500s) and has a bunch of big fountains/ponds in and amongst the sculptures and trees.  The kids enjoyed renting some miniature sailboats at one of the ponds and sailing them around for a half hour or so.  It was great for them after having had to walk slowly and sedately around the Louvre.

*Oh, it wasn't right after the Louvre.  Immediately after the Louvre we went to McDonalds.  How's that for you?  We're in Paris and eating McDonalds!?!  But we were starved and it was the only obvious restaurant right there and the kids really wanted it.  It was fairly similar to the US.  But they served beer, there was no sweet tea (peach tea instead), the burgers tasted slightly different, and they had other menu offerings.  Cyndie's meal was, get this, a "McBaguette".  Hilarious.

After the break sailboating, we headed to the Musee de l' Orangerie ... an impressionist museum.  It was great.  MUCH smaller than the Louvre, but had MANY more recognizable paintings/artists.  Fun.

After that, we were pretty much spent, so headed home.

Observations from the day ....

• I'm not sure if Timmy spends more time looking at art or taking pictures of art.  I don't think he feels like he's really experienced the place unless he's taken pictures of 50% or more of it!  
• Tim also informed me that there were 22 huge chandeliers in Napoleon III's apartments.  
• Emma is the consumate bargain shopper.  Every time she sees a gift shop, she's there looking for a deal.  I think we've finally helped her understand that it's not always quantity.  That sometimes quality counts too!

Tomorrow, Versailles.

Tour Eiffel

So, let's see, I think this is Wednesday?  I'm losing track between being on vacation and the travel and everything.  But that's a good thing!  We had another great day today.

The high light was the Eiffel Tower.  Long before we came, we knew that one of the lifts was broken, which meant that they had ceased to sell reserved, pre-visit tickets, which means that there are LONG lines to take the lift up.  Fortunately, we hung out with our friends Kristen and Nolan yesterday, and they had been to the tower the day previous to that, and had walked up to the second level with their kids.  So we knew that a) you could walk up and b) you could walk up with younger kids.  So we decided to do that because the wait was significantly shorter.  So we got to the tower around 8:50.  The tower opens as 9:30, so we had a little wait, but not bad.*  Cool thing #1:  we were first in line!  So we walked up.  It was no problem at all.  The total climb (we did two legs; first to the first floor, around 75m, then to the second floor, another 75 or so meters with a total of 600+ stairs) didn't even really work us that bad.  It was fun.  And Timmy did very well (we had been a bit concerned because he's definitely got some heights issues ... he mostly just stayed to the inside of the stairway which was a bit more shielded from the view).  At the second floor (about halfway up the total height), we switched to the lift and rode to the top.  It was a slight bit foggy, but not too bad.  The only bad thing is the fog really washed out our pictures.  Whatever.  After spending a little time up there, we went back down to the first level and had some lunch and relaxed a little.  It was very nice.

* Side note.  The metro rides are not at all bad.  We have week long passes, so we don't have to purchase tickets daily, which is nice.  Navigating around is really easy.  And the trip from our flat to where ever, has been no problem at all ... 10 - 20  minutes, depending upon destination and number of transfers.  Yea!

After the Eiffel Tower, we walked through the Tracadero and grabbed a metro up to the Arc de Triumphe.  That was fun.  We walked under the big 12 lane roundabout to the center, and then up to the top of the Arc.  There were great views there, down all twelve boulevards that radiate out from the Arc.

After the Arc de Triumphe, we walked down the Champs Elysees a bit.  We stopped for a break at a little cafe, ordered some goodies, and sat in the little chairs/tables on the Champs Elysees and ate our goodies and watched the people.  Fun stuff.

Then we hopped on the metro again and went back down near Notre Dame to see the Conciergerie.  The Conciergerie is a building that started as a palace and later became a government building and jail.  It is the jail that held both Marie Antoinette and Maxmillian Robespierre prior to their executions during the French Revolution.  It's supposed to be one of the better examples of secular gothic architecture in Paris.  Anyway, the kids thought it was cool because it reminded them of the great hall at Hogwarts (Harry Potter) and because it was a jail.

After that, we were all beat so we headed home for dinner, baths, and bed time.

That's it for now ... from Paris with Love!

That's more like it!

Yep, that's more like it.

We had a great day today.  Let's see, what's the scoop.  Last night after posting, Emma and I investigated the swimming pool (swim caps and pre-swim showers mandatory), but didn't partake.  We came back, and Emma "watched" a Scooby Doo to unwind before bed.  I say "watched" because she fell asleep before the show finished.  Cyndie was also in bed by this time.  I was just wrapping up some reading and thinking of heading to bed when  Timmy started stirring (it was around 8:30 p by this time.  He'd been asleep since around 4).  So I went over there and rubbed his back and tried to get him to go back to sleep.  No dice, he was up.  So I made him a little dinner, and let him watch a little bit of Scooby Doo.  Emma stirred a bit during this time, and talked some random non-sense, but stayed asleep (thankfully).  Timmy ended up going to bed fine after the show.  Cyndie woke up during this time and was a bit refreshed, so we made some tea, and drank it in bed, looking at the Eiffel Tower as it lit up.  It was great!

This morning we got up fairly early, ate some breakfast, and then headed out to Notre Dame.  It was very cool.  While there we met up with our friends Nolan and Kristen Isaac (friends in Engineering with me at JBU.  Cyndie and I came with Kristen to France in 1995 to help her missionary parents with a project) and their three kids.  Their oldest, a girl, is Tim's age, so Emma, Tim, and Kailyn played really well together.  So we did Notre Dame, Saint Chappell, had lunch in the Spanish Quarter, visited the Jardin du Luxembourg, and hung out together.  It was great!  We decided by about 4p that everyone was pooped, so we split ways and headed home.

When we were talking at dinner about highlights of the day, I decided that mine was probably going up the towers of Notre Dame, something we had not done last time we came to Paris.  Cyndie really liked the stained glass at Saint Chappell.  It was a much smaller church, but had a TON of stained glass windows all packed together.  It was about 3/5ths through a restoration process, which really highlighted the difference (in clarity and brilliance) between the old and the new.  It was pretty cool.  Emma liked climbing the little spiral staircases (400 or so steps) in the towers of Notre Dame.  It was interesting to see how worn, some as much as a half inch or more, the steps were with use.  The cathedral is celebrating 850 years next year.  Timmy liked the stained glass and the gargoyles (which we learned are scary creatures who function as rain spouts) and chimeras (which are just general, non-rain spout scary creatures).

So there you have it.  Paris, Day 2, just, or mostly, as planned!

Best Laid Plans

Well, right.  Best laid plans and all.

Here I am, sitting in the flat blogging again for your reading pleasure.  Cyndie and Emma are out hunting for groceries.  There's supposed to be a "normal person" grocery store up around the corner, so they are off.  The original plan was for all of us to go.  However, Timmy hit a wall when we tried to wake him up from his nap on the second flight.  He made it back here to the flat okay, but is now zonked out on the couch.  So we're hoping to be able to wake him up for dinner and maybe the pool tonight, and then get him back to bed for a normal get up tomorrow.  You know, best laid plans and all!

The flat is nice.  Cozy.  It's very clean, not very big, but with an awesome view.  We've already seen the Eiffel Tower as a result of that view.  Since I have a little time to kill, here are a couple of pictures I just took ...

Okay, best laid plans and all.  For some reason my computer is not acknowledging the SD card from the camera.  You're out of luck on the pictures!

Back with a bang!

So here I am, sitting in the Dublin airport waiting for our flight to Paris.  The flight over didn't go great.  I think Cyndie may have slept an hour, and the kids and I didn't sleep at all.  We'll see where that takes us.  So far we're doing okay at least.  The kids both spent some of their money getting stuff here.  Emma a souvenir key chain (she's decided that she's going to get key chains from everywhere she goes and decorate her backpack ... a pretty creative idea if you as me).  Tim wanted to get some cookies like he'd had at the Irish lunch at school that they had for St. Patrick's Day.  And he found those.  So, so far so good!  Hopefully we'll all at least cat nap a bit on the second leg (I think it's only about an hour and a half), and then run on adrenalin to get to the flat and get some groceries and get to a fairly decent bed time!

More as it happens ...

School Starts!

Well, we got the kids off to school today. Everything went pretty smoothly. Up at 6:45, showers, breakfast, no TV (without too much complaining), teeth brushed, lunches made, and out the door. Timmy was pretty hesitant last night, but a little less so this morning. We got there early (7:45, school starts at 8:30) to help with a coffee time for parents, and a couple of his friends were there already, so when he saw them, he was fine. Emma was more excited. She had a little time of nervousness when she got to her room and there wasn't a good place to sit near some of her friends, but she sat next to a new girl (who was sitting alone) and I think that made her feel good. She likes to be the leader/introducer, so being able to do so with the new girl was good. I saw her a couple of times (previous to the sitting incident) leading new kids around and helping them find their classes ... right down her "mommy complex" alley!

Cyndie and I enjoyed the coffee time in the gym with lots of friends (who are parents). Good times. We were all ready to be back in the regularity of school. It was just another great example of why we love the small school. We were just all hanging out there, drinking coffee and having a good time. Not that that doesn't happen in bigger schools, but it's just a great community at Woods.

Now, back to work. Soccer starts tonight at 4:30!

Fun morning

Bragging for Emma today. We went out on the boat ... the four of us and Auntie Jane. We were very disappointed when we got up at 6 am ... first because it was still dark (I guess we haven't been getting up very early lately), and second because it was 15 - 20 mph winds. We decided to head over anyway, just to see what we would see. It was by no means perfect. On "our" side of the lake, the north shore, there were pretty big waves from the wind. We went across to the south shore and it was quite a bit better, though definitely not of the quality we're used to in the mornings. So we went. I wakeboarded and Cyndie skied, then Emma gave it a go. She had previously maxed out at about 20 or 30 seconds at a time. She wasn't having any problems getting up, but was, I think, getting scared when she thought she was going toward the wake, and so she'd just drop the rope. So I convinced her last night that she a) wasn't going to go out of the wake unless she tried to, and b) could turn herself just like she does when she snow skis. So, the first time, she dropped again after 20 seconds. I think she just forgot what we'd talked about. But after that, she was a champ. She stayed up for minutes, and only dropped under duress (wake from other boats knocking her down). She skied all over the lake, including making some big looping turns when we got to the end of the sheltered part of the lake and needed to go back. She even skied half the way back to the north shore where the water was starting to get really rough again! So while she was a "kind of" skier before, she is now official!!!