New York, London, and now….Paris
It is our third major world city in just over a month. For the girls, it is all becoming a bit of a muddle as to what happened where. Homeschooling is a bit of a misnomer in that it is more like walking schooling. We walk a lot!!! Today, our first day in Paris was no exception.
We arrived in Paris last night after dark. Our host Eric, was kind enough to meet us at Gard du Nord (North Station) and walked us (yeah rolly suitcases) the three or four short blocks to he and his wife Cecile’s apartment. Thankfully they are on the second floor, with an amazing stair case (no elevator/lift). The apartment is wonderful. I feel so lucky to be able to stay in a real Parisian family home.
It was a good day of seeing Paris, but a bit of a frustrating day with regards to sightseeing. We started walking down the street to find a patisserie. Mission successful, but no place to sit, so we walked and ate. Then we walked in what felt like random directions, until we arrived at the backdoor to the Louve. Jeff had it figured out.
I adore this picture of Jeff on the left.
When you travel with kids there is a fair amount of horsing around. “Please don’t fall in the fountain.” It was very cold today.
We were out earlier than usual as our hosts were getting their house cleaned and the cleaner arrived at 8:30 am. There were very few people out when we started out for the day. So when we arrived at the Louve and people were not going in, we thought perhaps we were just early. Unfortunately for us, they are closed this Tuesday. So off we go to find the Eiffel Tower.
Luckily the Eiffel Tower was open, unfortunately it was very foggy, so visibility at the top was about 50 feet. We decided to walk the stairs to the 1st level, about 330 stairs (57 meters). That worked so well, we decided to go to the second level, about the same # of steps we’d already done, thus a total of ~ 660 stairs total (115 meters). Eliana will need to confirm this as she was very focused on the number of stairs going up and down. Then began the negotiations about going to the top (324 meters).
Eliana wanted it! Emeline did not. Jeff was tired and I needed to eat. So we took a little break and had some pomme frites (potato fries), quiche lorraine, and pizza to fortify us for the assent to the “sommet”. Then we embarked on the journey only to discover that the only way to the top floor is elevator. Yippy! That was just fine with me and the others. We couldn’t see the ground at all, but it was interesting being at the top. If life should present us with the chance to go to the top on a clear day, we’d like to do it again.
My hope for the day was to go see the Rodin Museum, the line was crazy long, or the D’Orsay museum the power has gone out so that was a problem. And finally a proper Creperie, oddly enough we had a bit of trouble finding one. We did manage to get one from a small vendor outside the D’Orsay that despite the power outage, the griddle was hot enough to make 1 more crepe for exact change as they couldn’t use the cash register either. It would have to do. Tomorrow we will continue our quest for awesome crepes under the direction of our hosts.
We did see a beautiful Rodin sculpture on our walk from the Louve to the Eiffel town. That is the kind of delightful surprises you don’t see unless you walk.
Eric and Cecile allowed us to take them out to dinner. We planned on a very nice place, but as the restaurant was closed we ended up in a wonderful little neighborhood place that was relaxed and warm. The music was the Mama Mia soundtrack in English. The hostes/waitress/ owner(?) was delightful. She catered to the girls with special meals, a funny disney jewelry set, glow in the dark bracelets and way too many sweets. Us grown ups had a lovely meal of swordfish and sweet/white mashed potatoes with a diced tomato topping, shark with a dark onion sauce, ravioli, poached egg in red wine, a bottle of red wine and a pear crumble for dessert. Jeff had a different dessert, but I can’t remember what it was. The meal was just what we weary travelers needed. This last picture is of Jeff, the girls, Eric and Cecile outside the restaurant.
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Hi Leanne. Fantastic job on the Day in Paris. Yes,I also like the picture of Jeff that you pointed out.However, I loved the one of you standing behind Jeff with your arm around him. Those two connected bodies and happy faces say it all. Carpe diem!