Gypsy....Circus?

I can honestly say that I was not looking forward to babysitting all day on Saturday.  It was both of the kids, and spending an entire day with them is intimidating.  I felt like I should keep them entertained, which is hard when one is 12 and the other 3.  Friday night went well, Marie-Césare and I had fun doing things like putting on our pj's together, brushing our teeth together, fixing each others hair, and exchanging stick-on earrings.  

Typical girly, sleepover things to do.  I watched NCIS in French with Gaspard after I put Marie-Césare to bed.  Of course I had already seen the episodes in English, but that actually helped me out a lot in figuring out what was being said!  

Franck left around 8:30 Saturday morning, and the 3 of us piled up on the couch to watch some Saturday morning cartoons.  Of course, those cartoons were in the form of Playhouse Disney so that Marie-Césare could watch and not have bad dreams the next night!  Dora, Strawberry Shortcake, Wonderpets (yes Melanie, you can't escape those precious singing animals even in France!), and some talking four eyed creature that I have never seen before.  

Marie-Césare and I left around 11 to go to the library and the supermarket to get some things for lunch.  I figured Chloé would like the fact that we went to the library instead of sitting at the house all day.  ha!  I called a taxi for 3 pm to take take us to the circus.  It was at Porte de Champarret which is not far, but with Marie-Césare sometimes it is easier to take taxis.  We walked up to the gate which opened up to a bunch of rv trailers and little kids with loads of makeup riding tricycles.  I know that Franck wouldn't have sent us to something that wasn't legit, so I trusted his suggestion and we walked through the circus "tent."  It was a bunch of brightly colored sheets all sewn together.  We chose our seat (on the front row of course) and waited another 30 minutes for it to begin.  A middle aged lady with a bright green sweater, lots of jewelry, a skirt that looked like the circus tent, and a few gold teeth came to greet us and take our tickets. At this point....I wasn't sure what I was in for.  The kids didn't seem to mind or notice, but I of course couldn't help to check out the surroundings.  

In the middle were 2 huge carpets...that looked infested with dust, germs, and animal hair.  Every time someone would walk across it you could just see dust fly.  And yes, I will probably be sick in a couple of days...just give it time.  The circus began with lots of loud music and singing, a little belly dancing 7 year old, and the grandfather proudly introducing the circus of his family members.  I was surprised at how many people had come from the city to see the circus....I would say a good 200.  An hour and several acts later, Marie-Césare fell asleep in my arms.  She just couldn't take it anymore.  She's pretty cute when she's sleeping!  

Gaspard enjoyed the second part though so it was worth sticking around for.  And I'll have to say, overall....they did a pretty good job.  The performers looked like they were having a good time and I'm sure they were all related in one way or another.   Pictures were not allowed, so we snapped these at the beginning before anyone noticed.  Clearly the lighting was not good.  

Afterwards, the crowd was invited for beignets and vin chaud (for 2 euros of course).  I was glad to be heading home with a sleepy Marie-Césare in my arms.  Franck arrived a short while later and I went and met Kerry and Ashleigh for dinner.  They had gone to Chartres yesterday and had just arrived from the train station.  

This morning, we all met back up again for church.  Kerry went with us this time, and Angelika as well!  It's always nice to have visitors.  We searched for a good place around Montparnasse to have lunch but ended up just grabbing some savory crêpes...ham, nutty comté cheese, and a runny egg.  Nothing better! Being a dreary day, with not much energy in any of us, we turned to the closest thing, Tour Montparnasse.  Tour Montparnasse is a giant skyscraper right smack dab in the middle of Paris.  Their advertisement is for 360 degree views.  It hasn't been on the top of my list of things to do...mainly because I think it is probably one of the ugliest things about Paris and I find it quite an intrusion in such a beautiful city.  

We boarded the elevator similar to the one at the Empire State Building in New York.  Ears popping twice, we flew to the 56th floor in a matter of seconds.  The views were pretty amazing, even on a cloudy day.  It always amazes me how small this city is.  You look over to see so many familiar places, that are so close together!! We take the metro everywhere because its easy and convenient, but you could easily walk the city in a day.  

I don't know if you can see the Pompidou Center in the photo, but with our eyes...it looks like a McDonald's playplace in the middle of the city.  

And a pretty decent view of the Eiffel Tower with La Défense in the back.  La Défense is the industrial business district of Paris-but we will save that for another day!  

Yes, Ashleigh is cut out of our self-timing picture...but the other one was absolutely terrible so this was the only option! 

Not much else to see around Montparnasse besides the cemetery so that was our next move.  Walked through an outdoor antique market along the way we found some really neat buttons, a guy that creates art on old metro tickets, and century old teapots.  

There wasn't anyone too famous in the cemetery besides Samuel Beckett...and again about 10 people to whom metro stops are named after.  Also a French singer-songwriter who has a head/ears like cabbage....so people come a bring heads of cabbage to place on his grave.  

Also found this strange tree trunk/pelican statue on someone's grave.  So random and unique.  

It was 5pm or so and we were all exhausted and wouldn't even be able to sit through a movie or anything....so decided to go home!  I needed to blog anyway...and am hoping to Skype Laura Cassie Redfearn Yancey tonight!!  

This week should be good...just Marie-Césare to look after and will have Wednesday afternoon off after I take her to art class.  Am hopefully meeting another new au pair tomorrow for coffee...from Dallas!  Hope everyone got caught up after daylight savings time.  We don't have it for another two weeks so for now there is only 6 hours difference between us!  Funny how that works....