Day 1 - Thursday, July 21 Nous sommes arrives!
We arrived in Paris in the afternoon about 4 pm. Our apartment is very central, near the Arc de Triumphe. While it is also a loft apartment, it has a very different feel than the apartment in Reykavik. The owner has terrific website developed with instruction guides for every appliance. You can check out the link to see more pictures: http://www.locmyflatparis.com/photos.html
Today we managed to get settled, do laundry and buy groceries. The apartment has a washer and dryer all in one machine. However, the dryer can only do very small loads. So we improvised and the the open staircase to the loft became our official clothesline. On our hunt for the grocery store, we stopped at a bakery to share a baguette and some macaroons. Matthew and Isabelle will be in their glory this week-bakeries on just about every block! Jason cooked us a beautiful meal of new potatoes, steak and fresh veggies from the market and we had Matthew's favorite for dessert -meringes.
Matthew lost the fourth of his ten year molars last night at supper. I wonder if the tooth fairy leaves Euros here in Paris! Isabelle has her own bedroom this week. From her window, she can see the Eiffel tower. Tomorrow we will be heading to the Louvre.
Today we managed to get settled, do laundry and buy groceries. The apartment has a washer and dryer all in one machine. However, the dryer can only do very small loads. So we improvised and the the open staircase to the loft became our official clothesline. On our hunt for the grocery store, we stopped at a bakery to share a baguette and some macaroons. Matthew and Isabelle will be in their glory this week-bakeries on just about every block! Jason cooked us a beautiful meal of new potatoes, steak and fresh veggies from the market and we had Matthew's favorite for dessert -meringes.
Matthew lost the fourth of his ten year molars last night at supper. I wonder if the tooth fairy leaves Euros here in Paris! Isabelle has her own bedroom this week. From her window, she can see the Eiffel tower. Tomorrow we will be heading to the Louvre.
Day 2 in Paris France - Friday July 22 Today we go to the Louvre for a scavenger hunt! Jason says every day "It is only an adventure if you are not sure you are coming back!" So hoping we don't get lost in the Louvre... We're coming Mona!
I stumbled upon http://thatlou.com/ on reviews of things to do in Paris with kids when I was researching for our trip. Our guide, Leslie met us in front this statue pictured here just outside the louvre. She walked us into the museum, explained the rules of the hunt, and helped us get oriented in the museum. Then, she left. Almost fours hours later, we had found two-thirds of the pieces of artwork in our hunt, took the required selfie in front of the pieces (part of the rules), and answered many of the bonus questions (which required doing some reading about the pieces.) We even completely a few of the silly challenges by imitating the artworks ! I would say this is the way to see the Louvre with kids. BIG. GRAND. EXPANSIVE. The Louvre stretches for 6 miles! We walked 13 km today -more than any hike in Iceland! There is no way the kids would have lasted this long in the museum without the fun and the challenge of a hunt. Isabelle took all the selfies. Matthew made sure we followed the rules. Jason navigated us through museum. I read the descriptions of the art and explained the bonus questions. The kids were both really good at being the Hawk-Eyes and spotting the various pieces of art first.We scored 560 of the total possible 850 points. A score over 400 is supposed to be good so I would say we did alright.
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After the hunt, we spotted two ferris wheels in the park across the street from the Louvre. Naturally, Isabelle wanted to go for a ride! (And Matthew wanted to drink a slushie from the safety of the ground below.) Jason and Isabelle had some pretty spectacular views of the city from way up high! This ferris wheel is at least twice as high as the one at Old Home Week.
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DAY 3 IN PARIS FRANCE - JULY 23
Today was our time to visit the Eiffel Tower. It lives up to it's reputation as a site to see. The tower can be seen from many streets and windows around Paris but up close it looms so much larger than life. The crowds line up for hours to buy tickets to enter the tower and again to buy tickets for the elevators. Lucky for Team Lee we have the extraordinary vacation planning skills of Suzanne "Details" Lee. We walked past the 45 minute line for tickets and the 45 minute line for elevator passes thanks to Suzanne's online tickets purchased months ago. If you want a smooth vacation experience in Europe I recommend chatting with Suzanne for some tips. Visit http://www.toureiffel.paris/ if you want to read about the history of this amazing feat of engineering. There are also lots of great tips at this site.( We discovered there is a free audio app to download on itunes before your visit.)
So off we went up the double decker elevators straight to the second platform, about 150 meters. At this height there is nothing blocking your view in any direction. The city of Paris sprawls out in ever direction as far as the eye can see. Suzanne & Matthew were happy to not go any further up so we explored this level on all sides and moved down to the first level (92 meters) for another look around. There are restaurants and seating areas. We took in a short video in a closed room that showed images like an IMAX. After lots of picture taking and sightseeing it was decided we needed some french cuisine, or at least a burger, so off we went to traditional french cafe to sit on the sidewalk and watch the people walking by. After a nice meal we split up and the boys went home for a quiet afternoon and the ladies went shopping. Vive La Paris...
Today was our time to visit the Eiffel Tower. It lives up to it's reputation as a site to see. The tower can be seen from many streets and windows around Paris but up close it looms so much larger than life. The crowds line up for hours to buy tickets to enter the tower and again to buy tickets for the elevators. Lucky for Team Lee we have the extraordinary vacation planning skills of Suzanne "Details" Lee. We walked past the 45 minute line for tickets and the 45 minute line for elevator passes thanks to Suzanne's online tickets purchased months ago. If you want a smooth vacation experience in Europe I recommend chatting with Suzanne for some tips. Visit http://www.toureiffel.paris/ if you want to read about the history of this amazing feat of engineering. There are also lots of great tips at this site.( We discovered there is a free audio app to download on itunes before your visit.)
So off we went up the double decker elevators straight to the second platform, about 150 meters. At this height there is nothing blocking your view in any direction. The city of Paris sprawls out in ever direction as far as the eye can see. Suzanne & Matthew were happy to not go any further up so we explored this level on all sides and moved down to the first level (92 meters) for another look around. There are restaurants and seating areas. We took in a short video in a closed room that showed images like an IMAX. After lots of picture taking and sightseeing it was decided we needed some french cuisine, or at least a burger, so off we went to traditional french cafe to sit on the sidewalk and watch the people walking by. After a nice meal we split up and the boys went home for a quiet afternoon and the ladies went shopping. Vive La Paris...
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Girls afternoon in Paris - The boys went home and rested up while the girls went to find where teens shop in Paris on a Saturday afternoon. Isabelle and I had ourselves an adventure. Patti Sue will be pleased to know that Isabelle found a few new tops at the Forum des Halles. After an hour or so, we then thought it might be fun to try to find a dress for the grade 9 closing dance. We asked a few salesclerks who then would redirect us to another store. After afew dead ends, Isabelle took a screen shot of the type of dress we were looking for. Two young clerks at a shoe store told us we needed to take a subway to the Opera station to find such a dress. So, we did just this. And then we walked into the nearest women's clothing store for more help. A lovely young women took us out onto the street and showed us how to get to this shop. Descendez la rue là-bas. Au-delà de la Banque. Tourner à droite. Le magasin se trouvera sur votre gauche. Isabelle had a chance to really practice her French listening skills. (She let me do all the talking! ) Did we come home with a dress? Short answer: no. Long answer: The French do not have such year end dances like we do in North America. So the supply of dresses in this shop was limited and the price was very high. We found a lovely bejeweled chiffon dress that we both liked very much and looked very sweet on Isabelle. The cost: $450 euros! (and that was with the 50% discount but before taxes.) There is absolutely nothing wrong with our tastes. We walked away with a priceless mother-daughter experience in Paris.
Our other stroke of good luck came our via bicycles-about 170 of them! Our host Philippe was so kind as to let us know about the Tour de France's arrival time (just a block from our apartment) so we could include it in our vacation plans. We watched the race railside for a few laps and then sat at a sidewalk cafe for our "Sundae Supper" to watch the rest of the race. I am hoping to get Isabelle to make another video of the race in a few days. We are all off to bed early and up early tomorrow because we are going to DISNEYLAND!
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DAY 4 PARIS JULY 24 Today was a day filled with luck and happy coincidences. As luck would have it, two of my former students were visiting Paris a few weeks ago and one of them posted on facebook some pictures of this great walking tour they had just completed. I happened to see her post and asked her to send me information about the tour. Unfortunately, the tour that she did was unavailable on Sundays but the tour of the street art on the left bank was available today at 1 pm. We gave ourselves lots of time to get there for 1:30 pm ! Ooops! I realized my mistake just as we walked out of the subway and Jason got our NextStopParis app loaded with the address to get to the start of the tour. And so the running up hill to catch the tour began! I felt like we were in an episode of The Amazing Race. Lucky for us, the guide and the four others were still at the beginning of the tour and we caught up. The work involved in creating the more elaborate pieces of street art is quite something. Most pieces are painted using stencils and layers colors of spray paint. Our tour guide was genuine, thoughtful, and well-informed about the pieces, the artists and the street art movement. If you like art, I would check this out: streetartparis.fr/left-bank-street-art-tour/
DAY 5 PARIS -DISNEYLAND July 25
Disneyland, Paris, is a place where dreams are "under construction." The kids were very excited about their day at Disney. Not even the 7:00 a.m start to find the bus stop via subway and foot deterred their enthusiasm! We arrived via a uk tour bus to the park gates at 10:00 a.m., just in time for the opening of the gates. You will see from the video (when it is created by Isabelle) that the day was filled with much joy and excitement. Matthew got to meet the Chip and Dale (which he thought was extra special since Isabelle has a pet name for Matthew-"chipmunk!" ) Isabelle took both Jason and I on thrilling roller coaster rides. Jason and I got to experience the magic of Disney through the kids' eyes. We walked over 18 km yesterday. In part, this was because we didn't really have a master plan. But also, this was due to the fact that a large portion of the rides were closed. Stars Wars was being built and won't be ready until 2017. Thunder Mountain and much of Adventureland was undergoing repairs. The Pirates of the Caribbean had technical problems. All in all though, the kids had a great day and we went home weary at 8 p.m. We are going OFF THE GRID. We have safely arrived in the south of France in a little spot outside of Arles. It is a tree house complete with a composting toilet but no wifi. So I will continue to document the journey the old fashioned way-with a pen and paper....and catch up on my online travel diary in a few days. Please, if you are reading and sharing the journey with us. leave us a comment on the home page. We would love to hear from you. Leaving the free wifi at the Golden Arches (a.k.a. Mc Donald's.) Over and out.
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DAYS 6 THROUGH 9 IN SOUTHERN FRANCE-
Almost no internet (we did stop at McDonald's twice to confirm our reservation in Italy and check in with people staying at our house.) I did enjoy the days unplugged but I missed being able to share the journey and upload some of the best pictures. The internet is still very slow (think dial-up) so I can't publish any videos and uploading a single photo seems to take forever. The kids are still sleeping after a long day of travelling so I will see what I can share before they wake up and we start our days in Italy in earnest.
Almost no internet (we did stop at McDonald's twice to confirm our reservation in Italy and check in with people staying at our house.) I did enjoy the days unplugged but I missed being able to share the journey and upload some of the best pictures. The internet is still very slow (think dial-up) so I can't publish any videos and uploading a single photo seems to take forever. The kids are still sleeping after a long day of travelling so I will see what I can share before they wake up and we start our days in Italy in earnest.
After eating at La Cafe La Nuit, we walked through the town square where the kids could rent hoverboards for 5 euros. So now we know what Matthew wants for Christmas ! :)
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La Camargue - National Park Visit - We love the flamingoes!
