Sacré Coeur

{My parents went home on Saturday. sniff. I always hate it when they leave, I feel so loved and supported whenever they're around. Anyway... I still have a couple of things to post about their visit.}

The kids and I took my parents to see Sacré Coeur, as they had never been there. It's a little far out there, but we didn't venture down into the garment district, and certainly not into the seedy Pigalle area, so it wasn't too long of an excursion.

Eva brought some baguette remains to feed the pigeons. It's amazing how entertaining she finds that, and shockingly, we even found a couple of cute ones. (I know.)

I like taking pictures of Dad taking pictures. Here, he's getting down to get a worm's eye view of the birds.

Will I ever tire of ironwork? I hope not.

It's interesting how rust can be sort of picturesque. You know, if it's not on your car or your grill or anything.

Apparently these kids were on a field trip. I thought they were so darling!

You know what's not darling? Art pushers. They come up with a big sketch pad and try to start drawing you or your kids so fast that you can't refuse. Then they charge you for the drawing that you didn't want in the first place. (I only fell for that once when Max was 18 months old. Now they don't have a chance with me.) Or the guys that walk up to your kids and slip a loop of embroidery floss on their finger, only to hurry and make a friendship bracelet before you can stop them. We were stopped by at least 10 such pushers that day. I would politely but firmly say, "non, merci!" and then they would say -- oh it's not for you, it's for my friend here! Right. People that prey on innocent children (and their parents' wallets) really burn me up. But I digress...

Once again, the kids delighted me by playing and interacting so well with each other. That is probably the single best thing about living in Paris -- they don't have anyone else to play with, so they really hang out together.

You can get some great views from up on that hill!

I had promised Eva a ride on the carousel (the same one she rode on for her 2nd birthday). Max is her designated carousel go-with guy, she won't accept anyone else. Strangely, she keeps wanting to ride them, despite their terrifying nature. What the?

Lucas wanted to race the tram down the stairs. Dad went with him. They won. I was totally okay with riding the tram and losing that race.

I love these old shutters. I find it so interesting that I find these old peeling shutters so attractive, yet if my shutters looked like that, I would surely want to replace them. What's up with that? I guess maybe they look like they go with a 17th or 18th century building, not so much with our circa 1977 house...

We passed a little shop with these sodas and Max had to try one. He bought himself a bottle of green banana flavor. (I liked the flavor, but it was a little too sweet for my taste.) Love the bottles!

book club adventures

Yesterday we went to Montmartre. As Max said (when he was 6), Sacre-Coeur is pretty cool, but it's in a crappy neighborhood. That's just how I feel as well, but I like Sacre-Coeur enough that I'm willing to go there. Plus, I kind of enjoy the crappy neighborhood. It's not the kind that is scary in a crime sort of way, and it does have some cool shopping. Jill, however, would tell you otherwise. I think it was the combination of the heat, the crowds, and the sex shops lining the street on the way to the Moulin Rouge that just about did her in. She said she was questioning at that point whether or not she even liked Paris anymore! Yikes. I definitely regretted taking them on that expedition...

On the bright side, Amy had scouted out some cool fabric/notions stores and about half of us had a heyday looking at buttons, ribbons, trims, and fabrics, oh so pleasing:


Yesterday was also Eva's 2nd birthday. Since Marc and the boys are out of town (they took the students on a week-long trip), we didn't celebrate it yet. But it felt so strange to me, because all day long I was thinking about the fact that it was her birthday, as well as harking back to the day she was born (do all mothers do that on their childrens' birthdays?). We did take her on her first carousel ride...

and Jenn actually bought her a gift. Eva was ever so pleased with her new, very soft teddy bear.


Today, May Day, is a very big holiday in France. It is their Labor Day, and is one of only 3 or 4 holidays when most everything shuts down. The city has seemed at least twice as crowded since Sunday or so, and I can only assume that many people have traveled here for the holiday. We had to figure out somewhere we could go today, with all the museums being closed, and settled on Giverny (Monet's home and gardens). It seemed like a perfect plan, until we got there and realized that it must have reached out into the collective unconscious. Our 1/2 day trip turned into a full day excursion due to the extremely long lines.

(Collette was wise to bring a book.)

By the time we had taken two Metro rides, a 40-minute train ride, waited in line for an hour for the bus to take us from the train station to Giverny, and then waited in another line for over an hour just to buy a ticket to see the gardens, this is how we felt:


Fortunately, the gardens just don't disappoint. The grounds are so beautiful, and there is something wonderful about seeing the very pond with water lilies that Monet painted, as well as the Japanese bridge festooned with wisteria. All of the gorgeous flowers made us all want to go home and hire groundskeepers!



After touring the gardens, we found a bench in the shade to rest our weary feet. It took some convincing to get Jill and I to leave that comfy spot.


We then reversed the journey, minus the two hours of waiting, and collapsed when we got back to the apartment. We left this morning at 9:30 and didn't return until nearly 7:00 p.m. Needless to say, we were not all as chipper on the train ride home as when we left this morning!

Jenn worked her magic with Eva and managed to keep her entertained the whole way home. Apparently she is not only the baby-whisperer but the toddler-whisperer as well.

Eva only managed to nap for about 1/2 hour the whole day and really needed to go to bed. I really needed to ice my knee. So we stayed behind, and everyone else went out to dinner.

They just returned a few minutes ago. Jill smuggled me back 1/2 a cheeseburger wrapped in a napkin (it is frowned upon to ask for a doggie bag) and they brought me a beautiful pastry from the patisserie down the street. About 10 minutes after they walked in, they all put on jackets to go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. There was a reprise of Jill's fake crying -- she does it for comic effect, but it expresses perfectly the weariness you feel at the end of a day like today. Hopefully the trek out there will be well worth the effort...