TGIF

I can't believe it's Friday night already...one full day left in Paris..Grace is a little sick so she is ready to be home.. I love Paris but I will be happy to get home too.. Today we tried to 'take it easy'. We slept in then headed to the Left Bank- we tried going to Ste. Chapelle but we got there when it was closed for lunch. So we had lunch at a cafe across the street- Grace had a grilled cheese sandwich (it had melted cheese on top and a slice of unmelted swiss cheese in between the slices of bread..) and I had the roasted chicken with frites (almost everything comes with frites/a.k.a. french fries although there is never any salt on them!). Then we walked to the Notre Dame. It is a magnificent cathedral. It is free to go inside so we went in and sat for a bit and said a prayer for our safe journey home and for our Cousin Bob's continued recovery. Grace decided she didn't want to go up to the towers (and there was quite a long line for that) so we didn't get to see the gargoyles up close or catch a glimpse of Quasimodo (but we also missed climbing all those stairs!).. I took out my telephoto lens to try to get some photos of the gargoyles. I like this one the best. Behind the Notre Dame there is a little park and in the park is the Memorial des Martyrs de la Deportation- a memorial for the 200,000 French who were deported to Nazi concentration camps and never returned. It is a moving experience. The French woman who job it was to make sure everyone was quiet (no cellphones, etc) and respectful was trying to tell me something about Grace- I think she was saying something to the effect that she was too little ('petite') to understand the significance of the memorial. True, she doesn't know about the Holocaust, but I do think she was able to appreciate the power of the memorial. From there we walked across a bridge to the Ile St Louis- under the bridge we saw a pair of swans so we walked down the steps to get closer to the water and fed the swans (and seagulls, ducks, and pigeons) some burnt toast and leftover bread from lunch that we had packed just for the occasion (Grace is easily entertained by feeding the birds). A man walking his (wet) dog walked by- the dog was so cute- he put his paws up on the edge and was looking down at the water just like Grace. The man said something to me in French- when I told him I spoke English he said his dog was "Entirely trustworthy". I thought that was cute- in the U.S. we would say "Don't worry, he won't bite". But I like "Entirely trustworthy" much better. After we ran out of bread we went in search of the famous Berthillon Glace (ice cream)- I chose White Chocolate and Grace chose Mango.. Tiny little scoops, but oh, so delicious. Then we walked down the street window shopping. Behind a glass door of a restaurant we saw a beautiful Siamese cat! (he is only the 4th cat we've seen this whole week...compared to countless dogs!)..We headed across another bridge to the Latin Quarter and walked along the Seine where there are vendors selling used books and prints and postcards. I finally found something worthwhile to buy as a memento of this trip- I like to find a small painting or piece of art to bring back but so far I hadn't seen anything that I really liked. Today I found a small etching of a cat (I know, it has nothing to do with Paris but I will remember where I bought it) and it was only 5 euro! The biggest bargain of this vacation so far! So I am pretty content and now we don't have to go to the world's largest (and I'm sure overwhelming) flea market tomorrow! We stepped into the Subway restaurant across the street to use the bathroom (which cost 50 cents and the toilet paper was on the floor). Grace wanted a sandwich so we sat down and ate. There was a very friendly asian Canadian girl in line behind us and some trendy young Americans at a table next to us. It was strange hearing English being spoken.. Then we walked to Place St Michel where there were African drummers playing. We walked through a few of the streets of the Latin Quarter- very narrow cobblestone streets with restaurants (mostly gyro places or traditional French restaurants) and souvenier shops. By this time we were both quite tired of walking so we headed back to the Metro..Instead of getting on at St Michel we walked to the Chatelet station and took the train to Hotel de Ville. Then changed trains and got off on the next stop (Rambulet). We did a lot of underground walking between trains..I'm not sure in the end it saved us any steps! We hung out at home for probably 2 hours- I addressed postcards and uploaded photos while Grace started on her homework assignment (she wasn't really in the mood for it though). Then we went out to find some dinner. We walked by the restaurants that were suggested by the man who rented us the apartment but they looked too fancy. So we ended up going to a cafe that is pretty unpopular (most of the cafes on Rue Bretagne were packed tonight) but the man speaks some English and is nice (we had dessert in there once before) and we had the place almost to ourselves- Grace had an omelette, tomato salad and hot chocolate. I had a club sandwich and Diet Coke. We stopped in the grocery store to buy some soda for tomorrow and outside the store was a young man bundled up in a blanket selling little things made out of wire. Sitting next to him was a gray persian cat! So in the store we bought a container of Sheba (cat food) and Grace gave it to him (along with a few Euros) and he let us pet his cat. The young man who was talking to him at the time happened to speak English (he was French but said he lives and works in London now)- and he said that the cat was very nice (which he was).. Then about 15 people dressed in costume (from the Roman Empire) walked past us- this was very exciting to Grace- she wished she could follow them! She is sure they were headed to a show somewhere.. Now Grace is sleeping (which is good because it is past midnight)..and I should be too...

Day of Disney and Drama

This morning the alarm was set for the earliest it has been since we landed in France- 8:00...I figured we should try to get to Disneyland shortly after they opened in the 10:00 hour...Once we were showered and dressed we headed for the Hotel de Ville Metro.. I have been trying to take a slightly different path on the way to and from home just to see different streets. This morning's path put us in front of a Starbucks. Since we didn't have breakfast we stopped in...they have pancakes in their pastry section but I chose a pain au chocolat and a chai tea, jus de pomme and a chocolate muffin for Grace. We took the Metro to "Nation" station and then got on the RER train which ends at Parc Disney. Grace was in a great mood and as the train headed East the clouds burned off and we had blue skies and sunshine.. There was a short line at the ticket gate..they were a little confused by my Expedia vouchers (why I bought tickets ahead of time online, don't ask). Right away we saw Santa as Goofy and waited in line for a photo...The Christmas carols were blasting and the park was all decorated for the holidays. I heard a lot of Spanish speaking tourists there.. Grace wanted to ride on the Carousel first, then the Teacups. The Alice in Wonderland 'ride' is a labyrinth you walk through but she liked it...I sort of tricked her into riding on the Peter Pan ride (shorter and less scary than in the U.S.).. We saw Snow White singing and Princess Aurora dancing, caught a glimpse of Belle and the Beast. We even saw Cinderella and Prince Charming but they had closed the line to meet them. We watched Mickey and Friends do a dance party, and then I hoped to ride more rides since the park was not crowded at all (barely any lines!)..But Grace had a complete meltdown when I took her to the line for the Snow White ride...We're talking MAJOR MELTDOWN... For some reason she thinks that particular ride, the Pinochhio ride, and Pirates of the Carribean are frightening..I tried to explain to her that just because they were scary when she was 2 or 3...doesnt mean they are still scary at almost 6.. She wouldn't accept any logic from me though and decided it was time to leave. So that's what we did. So we didn't make it past Main St and Fantasyland but that was her decision. She admitted on the way home she was really tired and fell asleep on the train. When we got back home we chilled out for a bit- she was singing "One Day My Prince Will Come" with her stuffed animals...Then we got some take out sushi, mango, edamame, calimari salad at the Sushi Shop and got dessert (lemon cheesecake) at this wonderful little place across the street from our apartment called Cococook . We ate dinner then I struggled with uploading pictures (the internet connection is not as good as home and it takes forever) and then we were in bed, lights out, before 10. Of course now it's midnight and I am awake again. I swear I don't sleep here unless I take an Ambien...not sure why.. I feel pretty damn exhausted...

The (dreaded) 40th Birthday...

Sadly we had to wake to an alarm on my birthday because we had reservations to see the Renoir exhibit at the Galeries nationales du Grand Palais 11:30. Now 11:30 doesn't sound too early but we stay up until at least midnight...then have to shower, walk to the metro, ride the metro, and figure out where we are going upon exiting the metro...it's hard to get anywhere before noon.. And this morning was no different. We got there around noon. The exhibit was a bit crowded- and it seemed like they were all French. No obvious tourists (besides us). No one taking photos or speaking English. The paintings were fabulous, I'm not sure if I've seen many real Renoir paintings in my life..They had a lot of information on his life and photos of him (did you know he had crippling rheumatoid arthritis? I didn't).. Grace was a little impatient to go see the Mona Lisa so we didn't linger (besides, it was crowded) although I did stop in the gift shop for some cards. Of course my favorite painting wasn't featured on any of the postcards. Go figure. So we headed down Champs Elysee (walking since the sun was shining)- they are setting up a Christmas market with little white cottages all along the road (opening on Friday)..walked past the Obelisk in the Place de la Concorde and entered the Jardin des Tuleries. There we came upon a man selling pony rides (promenades). He had 4 ponies and 2 donkeys. Grace took a ride on a white donkey but two others got to go along for the stroll (see picture). I tried not to notice the horrible lameness the gray donkey had.. poor donkey. Then we picked up a tomato/mozarella sandwich and crepe avec sucre and stopped at a pond to eat.. Grace saw a man feeding the birds...so...well, you guessed it. She decided she wanted to join in. Suddenly she made a million feathered friends- the duck, seagull, pigeon and sparrow variety! She was squealing with delight.. The people trying to enjoy a rest by the pond were not as delighted.. The birds enjoyed our leftover crepe and bread. Then we finished our walk to the Louvre.. We were lucky; the line to get in wasn't long at all..First you go through the metal detector, then you can buy a ticket at the automated machines. We went straight to the Mona Lisa (of course).. And she did have a crowd around her but it wasn't horrible. They keep the rope pretty far away from her.. no one can get close. Grace was pretty psyched to see her nonetheless. Since there are 11 miles of gallery space in the Louvre I asked Grace what else she would like to see. She said "statues". So we saw some more marble statues. The Venus de Milo was closed though so we didn't see her. Then we tracked down the Egyptian Antiquities.. mainly because I am a fan of the cat mummies..and Egyptian art in general.
After the Louvre we went in the direction of the Metro..did you know there is a shopping mall underground adjacent to the Louvre? I didn't. The first thing I think we saw was Starbucks. Then the Apple Store and Virgin Megastore. Crazy. Grace kept saying "Mom, don't get extracted". She means "distracted" but I don't correct her because it's cute. We had to get back to our place before 7 because we had a tour picking us up... So back to the Metro we went and got off at Hotel de Ville and hiked back up to Rue Charlot.. Got some takeaway food (traiteur) at the Enfants Rouge Market on our corner (chicken kebab, couscous, etc).. At 7 our tour guide Eliza picked us up for our night time Illuminations tour and Seine cruise. Only one other person was on the tour. He was an Indian man in Paris on business.. He kept wanting her to stop the car so he could get out to take pictures but she couldn't- it was a driving tour. The traffic in Paris is ridiculous. There are World Cup qualifying soccer games going on this week and there were crowds out and police in riot gear. Anyhow, our tour drove us past many places we've already seen in the daytime (Grand Palais, Champ Elysee, Louvre, Opera, Galeries Lafayette, Eiffel Tower) and some we haven't seen yet (Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame)..Then she dropped us off for a 1 hour cruise on the Seine.. That capped off a long but lovely day/birthday...

Musee de Tuesday

I am nearly too tired to blog but if I don't do it tonight I will have two days tomorrow...and tomorrow is my birthday...and I don't need extra 'work' on my birthday.. Today was a pretty fabulous day in Paris.. A little rainy/drizzly but not cold..We slept in...made eggs in the morning..then headed to the Metro. Along the way we stopped at a baby boutique that was having a sale and bought a couple of gifts for some babies we know that are coming in the new year...In the metro station we met a jack russell terrier..he wanted to play with Grace's stuffed cat on the train..it was cute..We changed trains and on the next train there were two musicians playing- one clarinet and one sax...they sounded incredible.. (usually it is extremely QUIET on the train)..I took a little sideways video...We took the metro to the Musee de Orsay...then spent the afternoon taking in the amazing works of Van Gogh, Cezanne, Renoir, Degas, etc...Grace loved all the marble sculptures..We had lunch in their 'cafeteria'- ordered quiche but they were out so instead she brought us some mushroom soup (sadly G didn't like it) and a 'tart' with chicken and salmon. It was very French. I liked the chicken side better than the salmon side.. I swear I don't know how the French stay so slim when every restaurant also gives you a basket full of bread with your meal! (no butter though...) When we had our full of art for the day we headed back towards the metro station. We stopped in a souvenier shop and met a man with a Tibetan Terrier named "Osgood". He used to live in the states (the man) and that is where he got Osgood. He loved that I was a vet and asked why his dog's hind legs sometimes shook. He said he never had a dog before him and didn't know what he was going to do without him when he died.. It was so sweet. Then we walked past a patisserie and went in to buy some treats...pomme tart and framboisine...mmmmm....
The metro line went to Abbesses at Montmartre so I decided we should head over there...we took the little train (funiculaire) up to the foot of the Sacre Couer and took in the amazing view and sunset....Then we walked to the Place de Tertre where the artists are ... most were wrapping it up for the day as it was getting dark (sad for me because I really want to find a painting to take home)...Grace had to use the bathroom so we found a restaurant to have dinner in..We ordered a margarita pizza and chicken with frites and french onion soup (that wasn't very nice)..Grace loved the pizza though.. And the service was very friendly.. And we used their bathroom twice.. We checked out some souvenier shops...(at this point I have about a million postcards to write and send!)...and headed back to the metro..Once back safe and sound at our apartment we ate our treats and played 'Old Maid'...Grace won both games.. In the morning we are going to see a special Renoir exhibit at the National Gallery and walk over to the Louvre..Grace has been asking to go see the Mona Lisa EVERY day! We also got good news today...Our cousin Bob is getting discharged from the rehabilitation hospital... Happy Birthday eve to me!

Monday in Paris

Well our second night of sleeping was better for Grace, worse for me.. Woke up (WIDE AWAKE) at midnight....couldn't fall asleep again until after 3am...and G woke up sometime between 2 and 3.. Needless to say, we didn't get up again until basically lunch time.. But we're on vacation.. It's ok to sleep in.. And since the clock is not set in the apartment and my cell phone is dead (and didn't convert to local time anyway)...my sense of time is all distorted...It's weird not knowing what time it is, but not really caring at the same time.. It's also strange not checking for text messages every 5 minutes...I finally figured out how to set the laptop to local time so I do actually know the time when I am in cyberspace...
The first thing on our agenda today was the grocery store...We have an apartment so we can actually save on breakfast/snacks/drinks...So we headed to the store down the street to get some essentials..(in my life that is peanut butter, bread, diet coke, cereal, milk)...It's amazing going to grocery stores in other countries.. First of all, if you want to use a large cart it will cost you 1 euro. So we used a basket. The first thing we saw was an entire aisle of yummy refrigerated snacks- chocolate mousse, pot de creme, rice pudding, flan, etc... I wish I could take them home! The cheese section is also amazing but Grace wouldn't let me linger..she says "I HATE CHEESE". There is even an actual cheese shop on the corner I haven't had the chance to go in yet. France is heaven for wine drinkers..There are wine shops everywhere. Sadly (or luckily) for me I don't really care for wine. At the checkstand the cashier got angry with me because apparently you are supposed to weigh your produce (in this case, 4 bananas) and get a sticker with a price before you get in line. And unfortunately she didn't speak English (and I don't speak French). So she had to do it for us.. C'est la vie. Now I know.
After unpacking the food and having a snack we set off to try to catch the Batobus to the Eiffel Tower (even though now it was nearing 2 and the Batobus only runs until 4:30)..We walked down to the Seine at the Hotel de Ville..Then we waited at the place to catch the boat but got tired of waiting so G suggested we take the Metro instead (which is cheaper). We had some leftover Metro tickets our neighbor Tesa gave us.. I am not sure if 5 year olds have to pay but I did because I'd rather not get in trouble for not paying for her (and it's not worth trying to ask when you don't speak French). We had to change trains and somehow we screwed up and exited the station so we had to use two more tickets! (Lesson number two of the day)...The next train took us to the Trocodero station where we exited and got our first view of the amazing Eiffel Tower. We made our way to the tower (first taking some pictures and letting G ride a carousel) and waited in line for tickets.. The top of the tower was closed (lame)..but G was having a hissy fit saying she changed her mind and didn't want to go.. Well for me this one was non-negotiable. She reminded me of when I was a kid waiting in line with my dad to ride a roller coaster at King's Dominion and deciding I was too scared to ride it. My dad said "Tough. You are riding it". And I did. And I was fine. So we got to go to the second level and the view was amazing.. Even though it was an overcast day. After leaving the Tower we were walking to the nearest Metro station but decided to take a bus instead (they use the same tickets). We caught a bus that took us to the Opera house past the Place de la Concorde and Place de la Madeleine. I wanted to show Grace the largest Department store in Paris- Galleries Lafayette. It was all lit up for Christmas and had amazing Christmas window displays (like Macy's in NYC). We had dinner on the 6th floor (there are many restaurants in there- we wanted sushi but settled for chinese because the sushi restaurant was closed. I did not tell her there was a McDonalds on the 5th floor). Then we checked out the kids floor. Found a baby gift for our new niece who should be arriving tomorrow and then splurged on an outfit for miss G. It will have to go under the Christmas tree.
When we left the shop we finally saw our FIRST CAT! He belonged to an old woman who was homeless and he was wearing a jacket and sitting on a carrier. We gave her all our change and she kissed Grace's hand and let us pet her cat. I wanted to take a photo of him (he was a handsome brown tabby) but I didn't want to be rude. We got back on the Metro to the Marais and found our way back to our neighborhood. Grace decided she wanted ice cream so we found a cafe that was still open and she got framboise glace and I got a melted (death by) chocolate treat with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Grace wants to play a game of Old Maid that we bought at the store tonight so I have to wrap this up...3 advil and 1 ambien should = a good nights sleep. Let's hope. Until tomorrow...

A Sunday Stroll in Paris

Well our first night of attempting to sleep in Paris was terrible- between the crowds and the cars below the hotel and Grace not being able to sleep until well past 3am there wasn't much sleep to be had.. In the morning we took a walk up to the Rue des Abbesses and found a cafe to have some breakfast. We sat outside at a tiny table on tiny chairs and had eggs (omelet with cheese) with salad (?!) and bread of course. While playing with her straw, Grace accidentally splashed some hot chocolate on the woman's black suede boots who was sitting next to us. She was talking on her i-phone and gracefully pulled out some wipes to clean her boots. When we left she spoke in perfect English and told Grace to have a nice day. We have been treated very nicely here. The cafe's are a great place to people watch- the Parisians are very stylish, beautiful and fit. So are the dogs. I have challenged Grace to try to photograph every dog we come across.. So far the Jack Russel Terrier seems to be a favorite here. We did meet some cute apricot poodles whose owner stopped to let G get a picture of them...We have also seen bull terriers, a boxer puppy, a dachshund, shih tzus and a yellow lab or two.
We got back just in time to catch our cab to the Marais district. We had instructions to meet Chris at the Cafe Charlot at 1:00 where he would walk us to the apartment we are renting for the week. I think Chris is an ex-patriot...and he is very fond of this cute apartment.. If anything is spilled on the (antique) rug he wants us to notify him right away. He also wanted to make sure that Grace was past the 'writing on walls' stage. (Normally he does not allow children in this rental). Anyhow, to get to the apartment you enter through two huge red doors, go through an iron gate, down a hall, through a courtyard and then you see it.. It's a studio apartment with wood beam ceiling, stone walls and wood floors.. Super cute and cozy. Grace is happy it has a big tub. After showing us how everything works and going over a local map where the best restaurants, bakeries, cheese shops, etc are located we were free to unpack. Grace wanted to take a nap but I knew if that happened we would probably end up awake all night so I decided we'd go out and explore the Marais. We checked out the nearby food market that has all kinds of ethnic 'fast food' that you can take to go or eat there. We walked to the Picasso Museum and found out that it is closed for renovations until 2012. The Picasso Museum was the highlight of my previous short stay in Paris 19 years ago..it is even better than the Picasso Museum in Barcelona. We came across the Musee Carnavalet and checked out an exhibit on the French Revolution. Then we walked to the Centre d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou and the Stravinsky Fountain. On the way we stopped for crepes- sucre and chocolat...Our feet were getting tired so we started heading back (Grace really wanted to go see the Eiffel Tower all lit up but I wasn't really in the mood to navigate the Metro so we'll do that another night)..we ate at a cafe on the corner of our street- we shared tomato and mozarrella salad and penne with tre fromages. Grace took a bath when we got home and I made her go to sleep before 8... Now look who has the jetlag! It's only midnight although it felt like I slept all night....She is snoozing away next to me...I might need to watch a movie on the laptop...