We just came home from dinner with my Aunt Olive and cousin John who live in England. It was lovely to meet Olive and wonderful to reconnect with John. We had a bit of trouble finding somewhere to eat because the place that we had chosen didn't begin serving dinner until 7:45 and we were hoping to eat earlier. We ended up at a cafe where we had eaten lunch the other day, Camille's. It was tasty and more importantly, serving dinner.

o.k. back to yesterday. It was "Griffin's day". We started off by going to Jardin Enfants in Les Halles. It's a garden/playground where you drop off your child for an hour and they explore it on their own. We arrived about 10 minutes before the hour and didn't see anybody running it, but there was a class waiting outside. Griffin spoke to the teacher to try to get information, but she didn't know much either. However, at 11:00, a worker unlocked the gate and welcomed the children inside. Griffin connected with some girls in the class and played with them. It gave her an opportunity to speak french with her peers. She enjoyed observing the differences between that class and her experience in the states.

After we ate lunch and Griffin and I decided to trek out to Arrondisement 15, Ballard, to experience Aquaboulevard. It is a water park. It was very crowded with young Parisiens; it was a pretty steamy day outside. It was a large facility that had pools both inside and outside. The water temperature was perfect, refreshing but not too cold. We could swim our way anywhere. They had tide pools and fountains. We played putt-putt golf and then went down the slides. It was dinner time by then and the crowds had tapered off. We were able to go down quite a few of them before heading home.

Todd had prepared a lovely little meal for us, so we stayed home and noshed together.

This morning we had massages. Griffin and I did the Petit Duos, which was a 30 minute massage for a tired mother and her child. Griff and I had Thai massages and then we rested in the quiet room, reading and drinking tea. Todd had the 60 minute hot oil Thai massage. His hips have really been bothering him this trip, so an hour of deep tissue work was definitely in order.

We went to an Italian deli and picked up lunch to eat in the Jardin des Les Halles. Afterwards we wandered around and shopped. They have some great kitchen shops that we poked around in. Our day ends where I began; having dinner with John and Olive. We're not sure what tomorrow holds for us; we'll wait and see what the weather is like before we make a decision. As our time here ends, there are still a few places we would like to eat and things we would like to do.

It's a double or triple entry today as I have begun to fall dreadfully behind. I find myself deciding between blogging and napping and well, you can guess what I usually end up doing. Sunday morning we slept in and arrived at the Marmottan Musee at about 12:00. It is located just behind a park, in a quiet residential neighborhood. It is not a touristy spot and we enjoyed watching local children ride their bikes in the closed off streets.

The museum is housed in a mansion owned by Marmottan, an art collecter. It has an entire lower level dedicated to Claude Monet and art work by Rodin, Gaugain, Pissaro, and Degas as well as visiting exhibits. We followed Rick Steve's through his tour of Monet's pieces. It really is amazing to look at his work up close and far away. Up close it looks like messy, broad brush strokes, but 10 yards away it's an entirely different picture. It truely is part of his brilliance. There was a room with more of the Water Lillies that he was working on as well as part of his Cathedral series and Sunrise. He was a master of light and was the first painter to take his easel and palette and paint "open air". He had to work quickly before the light would change and would frequently have more than one canvas going of the same landscape, with different light. He would just change it out as the light changed, brilliant.

After the Marmottan, which was a lovely place to spend a few hours, we had a sushi lunch. We returned to the place in our neighborhood and ate our fill of sashimi. The salmon was particularly good (I'm not usually a huge salmon sushi fan, but this was like butter). We napped after eating and woke to a gorgeous evening. We decided to take advantage of it and went to point D'Alma to ride the Bateau Mouches, an open air cruise down the Seine. There is minimal guidance, but at this point we were familiar with the majority of the landmarks, so we just sat back and enjoyed the tranquility. The buildings are particularly easy to see because the boat has huge lights all along the side that it projects onto them. We also had a great view of the Eiffel Tower; it twinkles for 5 minutes every hour (it was designed for the millenium celebration, but was so popular that they just left it). It was dazzling; you couldn't help but make an audible sound when you first saw it.

The next day we decided to walk less and relax at The Plages a Paris, which is a very cool month long event. They close the fast lane that runs along the Seine and set up beach areas. They bring in pristine sand and set it up with umbrellas and lawn chairs. They also do some boardwalk areas and a version of "muscle beach" (it is a workout area along the way). We set our towels across from Hotel Dieu and enjoyed beautiful weather. It was interesting laying out across from buildings that are hundreds of years old. People were promenading along the fast lane, looking at the beach; and the people on the beach were watching the people strolling by. It was 2 way people watching.

We weren't sitting there for longer than about 30 minutes when Griffin and I were interviewed for French television. It was a news story about the Plages (we were there opening day). I spoke in english, obviously, and then they interviewed Griffin in french. They were quite impressed with her french, especially her grammar (Bianca, you would be proud of her). We don't know if it aired or how to find it, but it was a fun experience.

After a long day at the "beach", we went home and packed a picnic dinner to take to the Eiffel Tower. We walked there, from our place, following the beach route along the Seine. It was a beautiful walk, but it took us about an hour to get there. We sat at the base and ate cheese paninis and cherries. Then we got in line to climb up the tower stairs. We waited until about 10:00, so that the lines would be a bit shorter (it didn't really seem to help). We started to climb the 710 steps to the second level. Although it was tiring, it wasn't as bad as some of the enclosed narrow spiral staircases that we have regularly walked up. Griffin really liked the fact that we were in the structure and able to see it, I liked that the stairs were numbered every 10 steps so you had a sense of accomplishment.

We had beautiful views of the city at night. The most pronounced site was Napoleon's Tomb, not a surprise, but sort of. The gold dome really shines and stands out. Griffin and I were going to go to the top, but we were too late. They closed the line at 11:00 and we arrived at 11:15. Todd had decided not to go, heights are difficult for him, but Griffin was pretty disappointed. We are going to try to go back, during the day, and just take the elevator. It may be a longer line, but if we arrive early it shouldn't be too bad.

I have 2 more days to summarize but we have a dinner date with my aunt and cousin, so I will try to write them afterwards.

Some highlights from the last few days. I have realized that it is getting more difficult for me to blog each day, so I'm condensing things (I'm sure that many of you following are glad for that!)

The day after we returned from Brussels, we spent the day walking the Champs-Elysees. We started the morning with a petit dejeuner at a place called La Duree. The Blondeaus had recommended it to us when we had dinner with them. It was in a great building. We ate in the back room that was more casual. The room made you feel as though you were underwater where the merfolk lived. It was very cool. We had some excellent hot chocolate; it rivaled Angelina's but didn't surpass it. That kind of hot chocolate just makes one happy!

We walked to Place de la Concord and onto Madeleine Church. It is the church with the Roman columns. It's not particularly dynamic, but was interestingly juxtaposed with a modern art exhibit inside. So in front of a statue of St. Peter might be Poisson Homme (Fish man), a sculpture of a fish that was man like. Interesting, huh? After exiting we went into some very expensive gourmet shops. There was also a caviar store nearby with 1,000 euro caviar in the window.

We walked back up the Champs-Elysees and went into a bar for a drink before our tickets to Harry Potter. We watched some of the Tour de France on tv and then off to the movie. It was in english with french subtitles. We all enjoyed it. Our favorite part was when Dumbledore tells Harry to have "his wand at the ready" and the subtitles translated it as "la baguette a la pret". Griffin and I both giggled that wand was translated as baguette. I've eaten a lot of wands this trip! It inspired us to take a dueling picture with our baguettes.

The next day we decided to head up to Sacre Coeur in Montmarte. It is the beautiful white basilica the sits at the highest topographical point in Paris. It was made from the gypsum that was mined locally. Gypsum turns white when it ages, hence the look of Sacre Coeur. We thought it was spectacular, once you bypassed the hustlers trying to sell you bracelets. They literally bar your way up the stairwell. The views as you made your way up were spectacular. The inside was gorgeous. It had incredibly high ceilings and a beautiful altar. We walked through it and then hiked up a very narrow, spiral staircase to the tope of the dome. It was 300 steps up, but worth the effort. It gave us a panoramic view of Paris.

After descending Sacre Coeur, we took Rick Steve's walking tour of Montmarte. We walked through the square, Rue Norvins, where the local painters and artist sell their wares. We had a glace and then walked the hilly streets to see the homes of Toulouse-Lautrec, Pablo Picasso, and Vincent Van Gogh. We wound our way down to the Moulin Rouge and the cabarets of Paris. It had a very different feel than the rest of Paris. Topographically, it's so different. We enjoyed the change.

We headed home to eat foods that we had bought at the local market that morning. We were on a hunt for olive tapenade, Kristine had served it with breakfast in Belgium and Todd loved it. We eventually stumbled on a small Italian restaurant where we waited for about 10 minutes while the cook went down to their basement kitchen to hand pack a little jar for us to purchase. It was very tasty and a fun local experience.

Tomorrow, we're off to the Marmottan Musee and a walk around in the afternoon.

Hello, we have returned from 4 days in Belgium. As I said earlier, we went to visit friends, Kristine and Pat McDevitt. They have been living over there for the last 3 years and we were able to catch-up with them before they headed back to the states.

After arriving on the train from Paris, we went back to their home, in a suburb outside of Brussels. It is a lovely marble floored, open home. We had amazing weather and spent the first evening in the garden catching up, enjoying great food, company and Belgian beer. It is so tasty. We thought that it had more flavor and much less carbonation, making it a lovely accompaniment to our meal.

The next morning, the 2 boys, Alec and Patrick, had swim camp and the girls; Kristine, Bevin (11 year old daughter), Griffin, myself and Todd (yes, I realize Todd is included in the girls list :) all headed into Brussels. After Paris, Brussels seemed a bit provincial, but it had a lovely square and the staircase gables atop the guild buildings (the kind you see in all the collector towns). We ate belgian waffles for a snack - delicious, we got the works; strawberries, chocolate, bananas and whip cream. It was a bit of overkill, but when in Rome... We walked around and saw some of the local sites; Mannequin Pis (the statue of the little boy peeing), a lovely little square with lavender bushes (the girls followed the locals and collected a handful to bring home) and capped off the afternoon with a Leffe, Belgian beer, at an outdoor cafe. We picked up the boys at swimming and then read/rested a little before dinner. Kristine is an excellent cook, so the evening meals were delicious.

The next day Bevin, Griffin, Todd and I headed off to Brugges. Kristine had some documentation to take care of so she sent us with maps, recommendations and well wishes for the day. Brugges is very quaint. It is largely a tourist town, but it is still enjoyable to amble through the little streets. We visited a "gated community for women", actually it was a place for women who were widowed and pious, but not nuns. These houses were built around the church where they could live and serve, without becoming a nun. It was a peaceful quiet place to visit. We ate lunch nearby and had wonderful traditional flemish food. I had a dish called waterzooi (sp?), it's a light chicken stew, an oxymoron, I know, but really tasty. Todd had lapin, or rabbit, in a rich red wine sauce. He loved it. The girls had lasagna and salmon penne pasta - both delicious. Of course, there was beer. We walked up to the square and climbed the clock tower. It was 384 steps and provided a great view of Brugges. There was only one stairwell, so navigating people coming up and down was a bit challenging. It was also quite steep. We ended our day with a boat ride through the canals. The ride wasn't terribly informative, but helped us get our bearings.

The next day we headed into Gent. It is a university town and livelier than Brussels. Pat works there. It is not an easy commute, though, about 1 hr. 15 min, by car. The unfortunate part about our visit was that the entire city seemed to be hidden behind scaffolding. There was a huge music/street theater event starting this weekend and the temporary buildings were in the process of being erected. Even so, through the tent posts you could tell that Gent had a lot of charm. We visited a medieval castle, climbing our way to the ramparts. It had suits of armor, weapons, and torture devices. We finally saw a guillotine; we haven't seen one anywhere in Paris - out of sight, out of mind. We went into a lovely gothic style church with a beautiful side altar and a painting done by two flemish brothers. The statue of the brothers is in a small park by the church. The final stop was the chocolate shop. We purchased some dark chocolate and an assortment of filled ones. The shop had an area where the floor was glass, so that you could see the making of the magic. We went out to dinner to Kristine's and Pat local italian place, La Bruschetta. It was delicious! We sat by the pool, it abutts up to a pool company :) Great ravioli, penne and pizza were enjoyed by all.

We finished our trip with a visit to Waterloo. There is a large monument, it is a huge green mound with a lion atop it that was built by local labor. Women carried buckets of dirt and piled them up until it was 41 meters high. It is a 226 step climb, but at the top you can look out over the fields where the battle took place. We also watched a couple of short films that took us back to the battle and chronicled the day, June 18th. It was fascinating. The area has been preserved as historical land and it looks pretty much the same as it did then. You could really imagine it.

We headed back on the train and arrived "home" at about 5:00. We had a great time in Brussels and it was a nice change. It did feel good to come back and know, kind of, our way around again. We unpacked, washed clothes and headed out for a dinner on Place des Vosges. We went to a place that served traditional french food. It was very good and it was a beautiful night to be eating outside.

We came home and were reading when an awesome storm blew in. It went from breezy to blowing with huge raindrops and then hail, in about 2 minutes. The hailwas quarter sized. We watched the chaos that ensued. People were frantically trying to take cover. It had been a balmy evening, so a lot of people were outside. The streets flooded and the sky rumbled with thunder and lightening. It was a sight. It only lasted about 10 minutes, but it was amazing. It also cooled everything down and made for good sleeping weather.

The first museum tour has officially ended. We went to the Louvre on Friday. We planned the entire day and were prepared to be overwhelmed. It was extremely crowded in some areas, but not so in others. It was actually quite manageable, as long as you set realistic expectations. We did not come close to seeing all of it. We spent the majority of our time in the Denon and Sully wings. Those wings contained the "biggies" as well as other pieces that we were interested in seeing. We saw Venus de Milo and learned about her perfection, in terms of ancient Greecian statues. There was also a very cool winged goddess of victory, missing her head and arms. I can't remember the title, but it was one of those sculptures that evoked emotion from every angle.

We saw Mona Lisa, and were prepared for her size so it wasn't shocking. What was humorous was that she is placed on a faux wall, in the middle of a large room, behind glass, behind a rope that stretches 10 feet in front of her. You can get a good look at her, but not a good photo (plus there are a zillion to be purchased that are better than anything your camera is going to get), yet it was like a Hollywood opening. Cameras clicking all over the place, nice expensive ones to cell phones. I can't imagine that any of them really got a good picture. Needless to say, we didn't bother, we just soaked up the atmosphere, and her mysterious smile:)

One of my personal favorites was in the Italian Peintures' wing. It was an enormous painting of Napoleon's coronation as emperor. Paintings, at that time, were used to record events. The coronation took place in Notre Dame with the Pope presiding over it. You wouldn't know it was Notre Dame though, because Napoleon had a facade erected that made it look like it was happening in Rome. In the painting he is crowning himself, much to the chagrain of the Pope. Normally the Pope does the official crowning, but Napoleon took it upon himself to do it, as supreme leader.

We also went to the Egyptian exhibit. It was quite extensive and made me want to begin planning a trip to Egypt to see the pyramids. Griffin studied a little about ancient Egypt this year so it was of particular interest to her. The painting and detail on the funeral masks (I think that's what they were called) were gorgeous. The blues and blacks were so rich.

We took a break in the middle of they day and had middle eastern food for lunch. The entry to the Louvre is in a mall so getting out and getting something to eat was easy. We also did a little window shopping. After our afternoon tour, we walked out into the courtyard and through the Arc du Carousel. You can stand under the Arc and look passed the Place de Concord to see the Arc de Triomphe. It's pretty cool.

Food highlights for the past few days - ANGELINA'S- I write that in caps because it deserves it. Chika, a friend from home, had recommended that we go there for a cup of hot chocolate. It was amazing. It was, what I imagine drinking from Wonka's chocolate river would taste like. It was an unseasonably chilly day and rainy when we stopped in. It was like drinking liquid love. Thick, rich chocolately. We immediately felt calmer and more relaxed. I was happy for the entire rest of the day. A must have in Paris. We are planning one more cup before we leave. It is a bit pricey, but who cares, totally worth it.

Yesterday we took a left bank walking tour. The left bank is the original artist's quarter. We wound our way through streets stopping at the run, down shabby hotel where Oscar Wilde died (it's been restored since). He was sick and miserable in the end and in typical Wilde fashion left us shortly after saying "Either this wallpaper goes, or I do". Georges Sand's home where she went after leaving her husband and children to pursue writing. The Deux Magots, a cafe where many literary greats of their time, wrote, drank and discussed. We ended up stopping there for a glass of wine and tarte tatin (carmelized, upside down apple pie). The people watching was good, as well as the parking jobs. Smart cars are a must if you want to drive in Paris, which we don't ever want to do!

We went to the Archeological Crypts under Notre Dame. To be honest, they ranked up there with the Cluny Museum for us. They were confusing, missing labels on exhibits and broken lights. They also smelled like our cat Mojave had marked them as her territory - yuk! Griffin and I sped through them in record time, about 15 minutes, Todd took a bit longer, but we were all glad when we surfaced.

We are off to Brussels this morning to visit friends, the McDevitts. Todd went to high school and college with Kristine. They have 3 children and it should be a nice time. We are planning on touring Brussels, so I'll be back with information on our wanderings.

The museum update. I'm not going to break it down day by day but rather by museum.

The Orsay - It is set in an old train station. Todd read that it was going to be torn down but Orson Welles was here shooting a film and wanted to use it. The time it took him to shoot the movie gave people the chance to get it registered as an historical site and saved. It has been beautifully renovated. It is a living museum. The huge train clock and the beautifully detailed ceilings cause you to just pause and take in the setting before you even begin to look at the art. The Orsay picks up where The Louvre leaves off, historically speaking. It has some of the conservative, romantic art of the past, but most of the museum is filled with realism, sculptures and the impressionists. The impressionists are the stars in this museum and we saw a lot of the classics. They were amazing. Griffin's favorite was Van Gogh's Bedroom at Arles. We were surprised by the beautiful works of Alfred Sisley and Camille Pissaro; artists that we'd never even heard of! My favorite was the sculptured caricatures by Daumier. He made 8-10 inch high busts of all the people in the Academy and Salon, accentuating their most pronounced feature. These were the conservatives who controlled the art scene at the time. Todd enjoyed Rodin's "Gates of Hell". It took 35 years to sculpt and he wasn't able to complete it. We laughed at the conversation between Rodin and his wife/and or mistresses - "Are you still working on that Gates of Hell thing?", "Yes, almost done...".

We spent two half days at the Orsay and we think we saw it all. The second time around we took some goofy pictures of Griffin "being" the art. I'll try to post them. I'm in the process of figuring out how to put on some pictures.

L'Orangerie - or L'ingerie as I kept pronouncing it, much to Griffin's chagrin.
This musuem was designed to house Claude Monet's Water Lilly's. He painted them especially for it. He worked on them, in his later years, out at his house in Giverny. He never lived to see them put up. They are huge and awe inspiring. We spent a good deal of time just sitting and absorbing them. On the lower floor, the exhibit is Paul Guillaume's personal collection, an art dealer from that time. It contained Cezanne, Van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, and Rousseau. Griffin completed a work book, in french, for kids visiting the musee. It asked her to reflect on the art and do some sketching of her own. She had fun doing it.

Rodin - Rodin's museum is set on the grounds where he lived. You can walk through his beautiful gardens and mansion. It was one of my favorite museums (we were a bit over paintings at that point!) and sculpture is a medium I love. It was an indoor/outdoor experience. The Thinker was in the garden as well as many other well-known Rodin's. It truly is amazing the feeling and motion that his sculptures evoke. He would work on many different versions before he would create a final product. One of his sculptures was so realistic that he was accused of putting a mold onto the human body. Critics didn't believe that he could have sculpted it. That's probably the best compliment he could receive.

Musee D'Armee at Invalides - This is where Napoleon's tomb is housed. It was interesting to see. We also visited the WWI and WWII exhibits. We sped through WWI, as it was really just a precursor to WWII, and then spent some time absorbing all the primary sources recounting the events. The exhibit was from the french perspective so there was a lot of information that we hadn't learned. I didn't really know the importance of Charles De Galle's role in it. We also saw the uniforms of the time and the different ammunition used. There was a mini motorcycle in a case that was parachuted down so that when soldiers landed they would find the suitcase and be able to go off on the motorcycle. It was very cool.

We are attempting the beast of museums tomorrow; The Louvre. We have planned the entire day, with a substantial break in the middle of the day for lunch and relaxing. It is open until 9:00 tomorrow evening.

Hope all is well with everyone who has been following this blog. We enjoy and appreciate the comments; they help us stay connected.

Today we activated our museum passes. You pay one fixed price and it gives you entrance to most of the museums in Paris. There isn't a huge financial savings, but it allows you to skip the lines. We have found it to be very beneficial. Our morning began at Sainte-Chapelle. It was a church built in the 1200's by Louis IX to house the relics of the Passion of Christ. The most famous relic it housed was the Crown of Thorns. It isn't there anymore; it's kept in the treasury of Notre Dame. It has 2 sanctuaries; the one on the bottom floor was for the monarchs' servants to worship in while the one on the top floor was for Louis and his friends. It is built in the gothic style, but unlike Notre Dame, the arches have been painted. The ceiling of the lower sanctuary has fleur de lis painted on it, so that the servants would worship the king with God and the upper sancutary has stars on it. The monarchy were closer to God. The stained glass in this church is unbelievable! It has 1,113 scenes in 15 windows, telling the story from Genesis to Christ's resurrection. It has a rose window across from the altar. It is spectacular, especially when you consider that it was built primarily to house the Crown of Thorns that Louis purchased from Constantinople. It is a must see when visiting Paris. My description doesn't do it justice.

Afterwards, we went next door the Conciergerie; the palace and prison. It was a palace during Louis IX's time and a prison during Louis XVI reign. The focus is on the prison time. It was where all the prisoners were housed during the reign of terror from 1793-1795. Marie Antoinette was kept there before she was led off to Place de la Concorde for her beheading. They had a guillotine blade on display as well as re-creations of prison cells. There was a shrine dedicated to Marie Antoinette on the spot where her cell had been. Further down there was a mock up of her cell with furniture that would have been there as well the original wallpaper. I'm somewhat fascinated by prisons and it fit the bill. It's worth a visit, and it only takes about 1 hour, tops, to go through.

We came home for a break; eating, reading and napping. We left at about 3 pm and headed to Musee de Egoutes (The Sewer Tour). We followed a tour, led in english, and learned about the Paris Sewer system. It was really interesting. We learned about the evolution of the system and how it all works on the same "flushing" premise. They figured out many ways to clean the silt out of the sewer pipes. I am not mechanically minded, so I am always fascinated by these discoveries. Paris, as did many cities, had trouble dealing with the garbage and sewage. They went from throwing it out the windows and on to the streets, where it flushed into the Seine, to the first underground sewage system. When Napoleon 1st claimed that he wanted to leave Paris with something, his friend and engineer, told him to give them clean water. That's when they began to create the system that exists today.

We were planning on going up to the Eiffel Tower tonight, after a picnic, but some clouds started blowing in and we thought it might be uncomfortable. We changed our plans and visited the Arc de Triomphe. It was originally built to honor Napoleon's troops who had been victorious in the battle of Austerlitz, but took so long to build that Napoleon was dead for nineteen years before it was finished. It now honors all French soldiers. The tomb of the Unknown Soldier burns at the bottom of it. It is 284 steps up to the top, but it provides you with a spectacular view of the city. It was beautiful! They also had a map, denoting the landmarks, which helped me orient. It was a great way to end a busy day!

Happy late 4th of July. I hope that you all celebrated it with a barbeque and some fireworks. We did not. We began our official museum tour. We are planning on hitting a lot of them in the next 6 days, before we head off to Belgium for 4 days. We started by going to Musee Carnavalet, right around the corner from our apartment. The focus on the museum is the history of Paris. None of us know a lot about it so there was a huge learning curve. Understanding some of the history also helped us put a lot of the city landmarks in context. I hadn't realized that they were involved in so much fighting; essentially from 1789-1848, with a few years respite here and there.

The museum took most of the morning so it was time for lunch and we decided to pack a picnic and head to the Luxembourg Gardens. They are a large green space with gardens (duh), mini sailboats, tennis, playgrounds and a carousel. They have green chairs for people sit in and people watch. We spent a while outside of the ponds and then went to the playground. Griffin loves playgrounds. It was pretty cool and she spent about 45 minutes running around. After she took a ride on the carousel. It wasn't a large old one, but it had a cool twist. They give all the outside riders a baton, stick, and they try to skewer a metal ring as they pass by it. The goal is to collect as many as poosible. It wasn't as easy as it looked and Griff thought it made the ride interesting.

We walked home and picked up roasted chicken and potatoes. It was good. It was our first Sat. night, but we decided to stay home (the days of walking and standing can be pretty tiring). As I said earlier, we are staying above a cafe on a pretty lively corner and it was really rocking. I don't think it got quiet until about 2:00 am. Surprisingly, we are able to sleep through it, but it does make turning in early difficult.

We woke up this morning and decided to take advantage of "first Sunday of the month is free" for most museums. We headed off to Pompidou, the modern art museum, about 5 blocks away. It is a crazy looking building; all the insides (duct work, wires, tubing etc.) are on the outside. We spent about 3 hours looking at the permanent exhibit and plan on returning for the special Kadinsky and Calder exhibit. Three hours seems to be our max at museums, we all start getting crabby and hungry. Some highlights were the Henri Matisse works, Constantin Brancusi sculptures, Calder sculptures and the works by Picasso and George Braques. We all like modern art a lot, so it was fun. We all decided that the film, as modern art, wasn't our cup of tea.

We went out to lunch and had sushi. It was quite good. We are planning to return for another meal before we leave. The seafood in Paris is yummy. Afterwards we decided to head out to the Cluny Musee. It is a medievel museum on the left bank, by Sorbonne University. We decided that if you are in Paris for at least 6 months, we would recommend it, othewise skip it. It is housed in a architecturally interesting building, but it was too hot and didn't contain enough weaponry for our tastes. The best part was the Roman bath and the reclaimed heads from Notre Dame (some zealous citizens had decapitated them during the Revolution mistaking them for French monarchy-someone buried them in their yard and they were discovered in 1977).

Dinner is leftovers at home with fresh bread and wine. Tomorrow we will continue our museum quest. C'est tous pour maintenant.

We missed a day yesterday, so this may be interminably long - bear with me or log out - the choice is yours :) I left off on Wed. afternoon. We went to an outdoor market near the base of the Eiffel Tower. We had lunch at a cafe; Cobb, Caesar, and Club sandwich. The Cobb and the Caesar were very different than the states, but tasty nonetheless. After lunch we walked down by the Seine and decided to go to the Champs Elysees to check it out. It was really hot, about 90 degrees, so we found some sprinklers in the park and had a quick run through them before marching on.

The Champs Elysees reminded me of 5th Ave. in NYC. It's wide, commercial, and entertaining. We walked up to the Arc de Triomphe which is pretty spectacular. The reliefs on the facade are amazing. We didn't go up it today because we were planning on doing it another day, a bit earlier in the day to avoid some of the crowds. There was a band playing underneath the Arc. We weren't sure why they were there, but it added to the ambiance. We walked back to the metro and then grabbed some sandwiches and cold drinks for the evening. We knew Thursday would be a busy day; Versailles and dinner with Jack Lee's friends.

Thursday - Versailles. Our day started very early. We wanted to be at the Chateau by 9:00. We found the RER train and made it to our destination on time. A few things had changed since Rick Steve's 2008 book, so we had to make some minor alterations to our tickets, but it all worked out. It wasn't that crowded; the weather worked in our favor 90-95 degrees kept away all but the hardiest of tourists. The castle was amazing. The hall of mirrors was, well there aren't really words to capture it, um.. breathtaking. The thought of all this opulence during a time when the majority of people were living in poverty, well there's no wonder there was a revolution and uprising!

After exiting the chateau, we went down to the gardens. The heat really was oppressive and the idea of walking the grounds was depressing, so we left. No, just kidding, we rented bikes and they saved the day. We rode around the cross shaped lake and out to Marie Antoinette's Domaine and working farm. I can see why she wanted to live there. We saw a lot of field trips to the castle. Griffin was listening to the teachers and the kids, and we decided she has clearly mastered "field trip french". She said that the teachers reminded her of the TAs at Normandale. One of the man-made ponds at the farm is loaded with carp who sit right at the surface with their big mouths open waiting for food. I watched a class of about 20 4th graders come traipsing across the bridge and much to their delight discover the carp. The boys, primarily, pulled out any food they had and began chucking it into the water while the girls giggled and screamed. They were all leaning over the railing, and we, of course were laughing at the sight. The teacher turned around and said, "Cauchemare", which Griff translated as "Nightmare". I knew that when they returned to school and had to write their paragraph about Versaille almost all of them would choose the fish as their favorite part!

We found a shady spot by the large body of water that Louis XIV had made in the shape of a cross and sat down to read. Griffin and I are reading a book that we bought here called The Red Necklace. It takes place in Paris, 1789 and contains murder, magic, secrets and the blade of the guillotine. It was perfect. We dipped our feet into the water and cooled off. I dropped my sunglasses in, and nearly had to jump in to get them, but retrieved them just before they sank. I was fully prepared to go in for them, they're prescription!

We returned our bikes and walked through some of the gardens before leaving at about 5:30. We walked into town and found an Irish bar, O'Paris, with a lovely, shady outside eating area. We had a few beers and iced tea before calling Stephan Blondeau, Jack's friends, for dinner. We made one interesting discovery while at the bar. Griffin and I were playing cards and the waiter came over and asked us to put them away. It is illegal to play cards at a bar; apparently there was quite a bit of gambling going on, so they made it illegal. The waiter was a bit sheepish when he asked us to stop, clearly we weren't gambling.

Stephan picked us up and brought us to his house. He and his family live in a duplex with a lovely garden. We had a great time. It was so nice to be in someone's home, especially after a very touristy day. The conversation was stimulating and they have a daughter about a year older than Griffin, so it gave her some "kid time". They also had 4 week-old kittens who were adorable. The food, as you would expect was fabulous; lamb on the barbeque, taboulehi (sp?), ratatouille, salade, and a fruit tart for dessert. We wrapped up the evening around 10:30 and caught the last train back to Paris. It was midnight before we arrived home. It was a packed day, but really enjoyable.

Friday we slept in and then headed to a local outdoor market to buy some food. We found a great one; Marche du L'Aligre. We bought some fresh pasta, sausage, tomato, basil, and mozzarella for dinner. It is definitely cheaper to eat in at night. We will do a few nights out, but after a long day it's nice to stay "home".

We took a short walk around the neighborhood and took a picnic, falafel's, to the Place de Vosges. We spent a while lounging around, people watching, and relaxing. We were all pretty wiped out from the day before.

I think that I'm caught up. We haven't planned tomorrow, yet, so I don't know what it will bring. We'll keep you posted.

This is a combo entry. Yesterday and some of today. On Tues., we went out to St. Germain en Laye to have lunch with Jack Lee's, a friend of ours, Aunt Joyce. It is a cute suburb about 25 minutes out by train. We had a bit of a problem getting our tickets. We needed tickets for the RER, a train that travels out to the suburbs, but we mistakenly ended up in the line to purchase tickets to Belgium or the like. We figured it out when she asked us first or second class. Griffin was helping us, and it wasn't her french that was the issue, but rather the fact that she's never purchased train tickets before and doesn't know what to ask. We realized that we are not only asking her to translate for us, but that we are asking her to perform tasks that she's never done in her native language. Anyways, we found the right line, but it was quite long and we had about 4 minutes to catch the train so that we would be at the station to meet Joyce (we had left all her contact info. at the apartment!). Griffin and I tried to navigate the ticket machine while Todd held our spot in line. Griff came to the rescue again, but this time it wasn't her french but basic problem solving skills (she located the english button and we sped through the process!) Long story short, not really, we met Joyce at the RER station; only about 4 minutes later than we planned.

We walked through the town square and stopped at the outdoor market to purchase some fresh fruit and flowers. We also went into a beautiful fromagerie (cheese shop) to buy Camembert and the patisserie for fresh baguettes. We had a wonderful lunch with Joyce. It was a typical french lunch with the following courses: starter - tomato, basil and mozzarella salad (Griff made this with Joyce's directions), poached salmon with mushrooms and zucchini, camembert, and a fruit tart for dessert. It was delicious food and stimulating conversation. Joyce was a wonderful host and it was nice to be in someone's home. We finished our time at St. Germain de Laye with a walk in the King's gardens, behind his chateau. It offered an amazing view of Paris.

When we returned home, we took a nap. It was a sultry evening so we decided to eat in with our french staples of bread, cheese, fruit and wine. Travel seemed to have finally caught up with Griffin, as she fell asleep at 8:00. We listened to the street music and chatted late into the evening.

The next morning, Wed., started early. We went out for chocolat au pain (chocolate croissants and coffee). We then headed off to the Musee Picasso. It was really interesting. The museum is designed so that his works are grouped by his phases in life. We had read about Picasso's life, which gave us more insight into his work. It is pretty amazing how prolific he was with art and women. He continued creating works of art until he died at 91. I hadn't realized how many different mediums he worked in. We were fairly familiar with his cubist works, but I hadn't seen many of his sculptures.

We just took a little break and are now heading off to Rue Cler. It is a pedestrian street filled with markets and shops. Looks like it's time to eat again!