a very full Wednesday

On Wednesday, I had the brilliant idea to leave the kids at home so that Jill and I could go to a nearby café for a quiet lunch.

It was a delightfully rainy day and we headed to Rue Cler, a semi-pedestrian street (don't ask) that we love and which is conveniently located very close to our apartment. (The arches over the street are the newly-installed Christmas lights. I think when you don't have to contend with Halloween and Thanksgiving, you can get an early start on Christmas.)

We ate at the Café du Marché, a little place we have been to a few times to have salads. Undeterred by a little rain, we ate outside, because it's just so fun to watch all of the action of passersby, dogs, shops, etc.

Jill ordered rigatoni and I ordered the salmon brochettes. We were both a little disappointed with our meals as they were both a little on the bland side. Still, you can't overestimate the greatness of getting out alone and just sitting and talking in a café!

Fortunately, Jill suggested that we order hot chocolate, so that we could sip something out of little cups like all the coffee-drinkers we pass every day. {Photo by Jill}

It was the best idea ever, because not only did we enjoy our hot chocolate, but the woman sitting next to us asked Jill if she was a food photographer (she was documenting, of course). We ended up talking to Patty & Bernard for the next hour or so, and it was just the most enjoyable, serendipitous conversation. Definitely the highlight of the day for me!

We got pastries on the way home because after all that, we were a little hungry! Jill had gotten one of these Framboisines a few days before. I'd never had one, but I tried hers and it was de.lic.ious. I had to have my own.

We gathered up the kids and, after soliciting their input, decided to go to the Louvre. Instead of taking the metro, which would have been very straightforward, we decided to try a two-bus route. It definitely wasn't the fastest or most direct route. Lucas was irritated by that. Max handled it pretty well. Jill thought it was awesome that we were out wandering in the rain. How can you not appreciate a guest that takes this view?!

view from inside a bus stop

bus stop self-portrait

foggy bus window

Finally!

This room holds a series of 24 large paintings that the Medicis commissioned Rubens to do for their home. Riiiiight. Here's the really crazy thing: he painted them all in 3 years. 3 years. 24 large paintings. I was stupefied.

I just love coming across artists sketching or painting inside of museums. How cool would that be?

Detail of a painting: this one is for you, Mom -- I knew you would approve of these silk shoe ribbons and the color scheme!

Seriously. This seems wrong on so many levels. I wish there were an explanation of this scene (and these head coverings) on the plaque.

It was gratifying to me to know that even young legs can get tired from all the city walking.

That is a boy with attitude.

Another woman sketching. It's like happening upon a little treasure.

I could walk through the Louvre looking only at the frames and still come away happy. They offer classes, and I've always wanted to take the one about frame selection.

It seems that every time you come across a window, you find a new and different wonderful view. Here, a section of the Tuileries, beautiful fall foliage, the Arc de Triomphe, and La Défense in the distance.

Jill can't go anywhere without tidying things up a bit. She's cool that way. She suggested that perhaps the employees who sit in the rooms of the museum looking bored could have some Windex and paper towels and make themselves useful.

We looked down into the sculpture courtyard and saw this art class sketching a model. Love that.

This painting reminded me of my grandpa, who loves cows. I don't love cows, but I still want to step into this idyllic scene.

chairs in the rain

At this point, I had to take the kids home so I could help Max find his way to seminary. On Wednesdays, the Louvre stays open until 9:30, so Jill got to stay and look at her leisure.

On our way to the metro, we passed Sephora. Here's a little eye candy for you.

{Tip: when going to the Louvre, it's so much faster and easier to enter via the Carrousel du Louvre (an underground shopping center with a Louvre entrance) rather than the outside pyramid. Trust me. Go walk around the pyramid, take pictures, then go down to the Carrousel and enter where there a lot fewer people. You can even buy your ticket at an automated machine and not have to stand in any lines at all! Plus, it's fun to look at the shops.}

If you need a bathroom, however, I recommend waiting until you are actually inside the museum. Or, if you're feeling adventurous, you can go to this little bathroom boutique -- it has walls of colored toilet paper, and you can pay 1 euro for a regular stall, or 1,50 euros for the "Japanese spa" experience. I have no idea what that means.

We had given Jill directions for getting home. We told her to take the line 1 in the opposite direction of La Défense and then change at Concorde. Imagine our dismay when we got down to the metro and saw that you actually do take the La Défense direction! I was worried until she walked in the door!

My night took a turn for the hellish. Marc was out seeing a play, and I had to help Max find his seminary teacher's house. (They meet together once a week here, and this was the first week he could make it.) We walked in the door, he gathered his materials, and we immediately left again, leaving Lucas and Eva at home (I thought I would be back within an hour). Max's teacher had told us to take the 69 bus, and we had to walk a ways to get to a stop. Then, we had to wait for at least 20 minutes for the bus to arrive, since the intervals between buses are longer at night.

We got to our stop and found the right street. But when we found the address and rang up to her apartment, we entered the building and were perplexed. She had told Max to take the elevator, and it was out of order. We walked up to the fourth floor. She had said that there was only one apartment per floor, but there were two, neither of which gave any response. Finally, we figured out that we had to go through another set of doors and cross a courtyard to find the working elevator and the correct apartment.

By the time we got there, they were just wrapping things up. We met the teacher, asked a few questions, and went home. This time we walked home, and it only took 15 minutes!! Argh.

We got home at 9:00, I put Eva to bed, and was about as tired as I've ever been. (Well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I was really really tired.)