I'm baaaaaccckkkk!!!!! I should have been at least writing a bit of some posts during the week because now I am looking at all this time passing with my parents and how can I possibly remember it all and fit it all in this blog?! I enjoyed having them here so much, and I will never forget the time we spent in the city together even though it seemed to pass so quickly!
Sunday morning Chloé took me out to the airport to pick them up bright and early at 7. It was a very generous offer of her, and I'm sure that's the last thing she wanted to do on her Sunday morning! We parked and went in, as we assumed customs and getting bags would take a little while. 30 minutes later they rolled out of the airport with so much stuff! Including some delicious fresh blueberries from Granny and Papaw's blueberry bushes! After hugs and bisous, we got back in the car to what seemed like a very long ride to their apartment. Their apartment was very nice, on Rue Vieille du Temple in Le Marais. First floor and no stairs which was convenient for the knees. After a short nap to let them catch up with the time here, I practically forced them out of the apartment insisting that they could go to bed early tonight and catch up that way.
We didn't venture far, but over to Hôtel de Ville, across the Seine, and to Notre-Dame. They were both so impressed with Notre-Dame as it is quite surreal to think, "yes, I just saw Notre-Dame." We walked across to Ile-St-Louis down through the shops and to Berthillon ice cream. I had mirabelle and mom had salted caramel. Pat chose to forego the delicious cone. On our walk back we tried to find a boulangerie, fromagerie, boucherie, and a wine store of course. It was Sunday, so we had that to our disadvantage, but I think they found it overwhelming we had to go to so many different places to put together a simple meal. We ended up with a baguette, a small quiche, some slices of meat, and a delish vino for what I would have considered a great first meal in France. I let them turn in early to get some sleep for we had a lot to check off of the list still!
Since the Louvre is closed on Tuesday, and it was a little drizzly, we decided to hit the Louvre first thing Monday morning.
We of course saw the main attractions, then mom and I explored the Egyptian collection while Pat did a little bench sitting. As we walked out of the Louvre to see the pyramids, I pointed out Tuileries and Place de la Concorde....which then followed up to the Champs Elysées. I asked if they wanted to take the metro or just walk. Pat wanted to just walk it...so onward we marched.
Turns out it was a little farther than they expected, but that's the thing with Paris. Everything looks much closer than it really is. I was glad they ventured out through Tuileries though, and to get the full effect of the craziness that is the Champs Élysées by walking all the way up instead of popping out near the Arc de Triomphe. I think they found the Arc most impressive, and I pointed out the axis of Paris with the arc at the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, and the Grande Arche at La Défense. We had a pricey lunch with a 6 euro bottle of water to share between the 3 of us, as well as Ladurée macarons. Mom had Citron, Pat Pistache, and I had Granny Smith Apple. They were amazing...as usual. In France, when you approach a counter at a boulangerie, pâtisserie, or such else, you are expected to know right then and there what you want to order. If not, the French get their panties in a wad because they have to wait on you to decide. This also threw mom and Pat off, because they were never ready when asked what they wanted. Ladurée was no exception. The man got so tired of waiting on us to decide, that he handed our ticket off to the next girl with a huge sigh so that we could be her problem, not his. Of course, this didn't hurry our decision at all.....
The next day began with a little bit of a lie in and a trip to the Musée Marmottan Monet. Since mom is a big Monet fan, and it is one of my favorite museums in Paris, we headed out there. Once we arrived, I realized that many of the normal artworks were missing, as we passed downstairs to what now is a Dufy exhibit...I was so disappointed to find the entire room filled with Dufy and not Monet. I had bragged on this museum for months now, and while Dufy is impressive, not quite as impressive as rooms and rooms filled with Monet's water lilies and japanese bridges. Huge disappointment for me.....Needing a pick-me-up we decided on Montmartre for the afternoon. The weather certainly wasn't sunny, but the forecast proclaimed no rain until at least 6pm. After showing them the "Wall of Love" we took the furniculaire to the Sacre-Coeur bypassing the hundred-odd stairs to the top. It began to drizzle just as we stepped off, so we wandered to Place des Tertres to get some lunch and wait out the rain. Its a good thing we did because just about the time our food arrived, it began to pour! It did allow us to sit and enjoy our meal because no one was in a hurry to get up and get to sightseeing thats for sure. And Pat was just ecstatic that our carafe of water was free for lunch and we could drink as many of them as we wanted!
They were awestruck by the Sacre-Coeur as most people are, and I love how every time I go in there I notice something new and different. That happens to me often when I revisit things here in Paris. Continuing in rainy day fashion, we all went back to their place for a quick nap and a change of clothes because we were meeting Chloé, Franck, and Marie-Césare for dinner. I was so excited for all of them to meet, yet incredibly nervous. I'm not sure what I was nervous about, except for the fact that my two worlds were about to collide into each other. I knew the conversation probably wouldn't go to deep, and there would be a lot of translating, and you all know how I feel about Marie-Césare at a restaurant. Alas, on we went to a very chic restaurant inside the Hotel Amour in the 9th. Franck can translate his foods very well in English, so he felt as if he had won with a trip to a restaurant. Chloé kept Marie-Césare occupied with drawings and blowing out the candles on the tables, etc. The food was delicious and Marie-Césare not too bad. There towards the end she got a little cranky and fidgety, but overall a pretty good evening. The conversation was kept light and we had a sleepy 3 year old to keep us entertained. And I might add, one of the best desserts I have eaten since I've been in Paris!
We finished up the evening with a nighttime view of the Arc de Triomphe, this time popping up right at the entrance for convenience purposes.
I was a pretty good tour guide throughout their stay, and although I couldn't answer all of their questions (which I might add, were pretty specific)....I usually had somewhat of an idea what was going on. And at least if I couldn't answer those properly, I could pop them directly out at any location they wanted to go on the metro. And, since some tourists spend half their trip on figuring out where they're going, I figured that to be a very useful tool.
I'll leave the last few days for another time...you've been waiting this long, what's a few more days?!
Since the Louvre is closed on Tuesday, and it was a little drizzly, we decided to hit the Louvre first thing Monday morning.
We of course saw the main attractions, then mom and I explored the Egyptian collection while Pat did a little bench sitting. As we walked out of the Louvre to see the pyramids, I pointed out Tuileries and Place de la Concorde....which then followed up to the Champs Elysées. I asked if they wanted to take the metro or just walk. Pat wanted to just walk it...so onward we marched.
The next day began with a little bit of a lie in and a trip to the Musée Marmottan Monet. Since mom is a big Monet fan, and it is one of my favorite museums in Paris, we headed out there. Once we arrived, I realized that many of the normal artworks were missing, as we passed downstairs to what now is a Dufy exhibit...I was so disappointed to find the entire room filled with Dufy and not Monet. I had bragged on this museum for months now, and while Dufy is impressive, not quite as impressive as rooms and rooms filled with Monet's water lilies and japanese bridges. Huge disappointment for me.....Needing a pick-me-up we decided on Montmartre for the afternoon. The weather certainly wasn't sunny, but the forecast proclaimed no rain until at least 6pm. After showing them the "Wall of Love" we took the furniculaire to the Sacre-Coeur bypassing the hundred-odd stairs to the top. It began to drizzle just as we stepped off, so we wandered to Place des Tertres to get some lunch and wait out the rain. Its a good thing we did because just about the time our food arrived, it began to pour! It did allow us to sit and enjoy our meal because no one was in a hurry to get up and get to sightseeing thats for sure. And Pat was just ecstatic that our carafe of water was free for lunch and we could drink as many of them as we wanted!
They were awestruck by the Sacre-Coeur as most people are, and I love how every time I go in there I notice something new and different. That happens to me often when I revisit things here in Paris. Continuing in rainy day fashion, we all went back to their place for a quick nap and a change of clothes because we were meeting Chloé, Franck, and Marie-Césare for dinner. I was so excited for all of them to meet, yet incredibly nervous. I'm not sure what I was nervous about, except for the fact that my two worlds were about to collide into each other. I knew the conversation probably wouldn't go to deep, and there would be a lot of translating, and you all know how I feel about Marie-Césare at a restaurant. Alas, on we went to a very chic restaurant inside the Hotel Amour in the 9th. Franck can translate his foods very well in English, so he felt as if he had won with a trip to a restaurant. Chloé kept Marie-Césare occupied with drawings and blowing out the candles on the tables, etc. The food was delicious and Marie-Césare not too bad. There towards the end she got a little cranky and fidgety, but overall a pretty good evening. The conversation was kept light and we had a sleepy 3 year old to keep us entertained. And I might add, one of the best desserts I have eaten since I've been in Paris!
We finished up the evening with a nighttime view of the Arc de Triomphe, this time popping up right at the entrance for convenience purposes.
I was a pretty good tour guide throughout their stay, and although I couldn't answer all of their questions (which I might add, were pretty specific)....I usually had somewhat of an idea what was going on. And at least if I couldn't answer those properly, I could pop them directly out at any location they wanted to go on the metro. And, since some tourists spend half their trip on figuring out where they're going, I figured that to be a very useful tool.
I'll leave the last few days for another time...you've been waiting this long, what's a few more days?!
I'm so glad to see you back here. Good beginning to the week's touring. Did you have the week off while they were there? Or did you still have to fit M-C into the mix for getting the parents around? Anyway, I am thrilled to see you back online, and I'm thrilled that you got to spend a wonderful week with Terri and Pat.
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