La Villette

During our last week in Paris, we finally made it out to Cité de la Villette, which is even more enormous than I realized. It has several museums, a park, and a geode IMAX theater.

We started with the Musée de la Musique, which Max had really been wanting to see. I didn't know what to expect, and I was quite impressed with their collection of beautiful instruments (4 floors).

The amount of ornamentation and detail on the clavichords is truly amazing.

Blurry photo, but check out the keys on this one! I wish my black keys had stripes!

The blacks and whites are reversed on this keyboard.

We saw guitars that were equally ornate. Inlaid wood necks!

Look at the incredible carving behind the strings. Unbelievable.

Max was particularly curious about this "experimental cello." I wonder what it sounds like?

They have several miniature sets that kept Eva entertained. Just one of many reasons we wished we could have brought Kristen to this museum!

During our visit, we were fortunate enough to see a live musician. We were his only audience for awhile, and he was very gracious. He would stop playing and tell us about his instrument, a théorbe. According to Wickipedia, its English name is theorbo and it's related to the lute. The music was beautiful. He showed us his sheet music, and it was completely incomprehensible to me. Fascinating.

If Jill had a centuries-old grand piano (or clavichord, perhaps), she would need this smashing red & black model!

I loved this little musician's toolkit.

This is a finger gym! A plethora of exercises to keep the fingers nimble and strong. Never seen anything like it.

Max had read about this octo-bass and was excited to see it in person. Nothing could prepare us for how huge it was! We heard a recording of what it sounds like when played and the notes were the lowest I've ever heard.

I was completely smitten with the back of this violin.

After spending a couple of hours in the music museum, we walked through the park over to the Cité des Sciences.

Unfortunately, at this point the hands-on exhibits for younger kids were going to close shortly and they wouldn't sell us tickets for them. Eva especially was disappointed, but we salvaged the visit by going to the vision exhibit.

It had tons of optical illusion type games and all kinds of activities designed to teach about the way our eyes work and respond to light.




Every station had instructions that were, of course, in French, which required my translating skills. This proved difficult as the kids all wanted to go to different stations so they could each be doing something at the same time. At this point I was having excruciating knee pain and could barely hobble around. Needless to say, I was definitely ready to leave before the kids were.

La Villette is a place we will explore further in the future!

T-5 days and counting...

We leave in 5 days to go back home.

We have a long list of things to do before leaving. (I'm referring to the list the kids and I made. Marc has his own, even longer, list.)

On Monday, we went to the Army museum at Les Invalides, which Lucas has been lobbying for now for quite some time. It was cooler than I remembered. Also, Max went to a cello concert at a church that night.

Yesterday, we went to the Musée de la Musique and the Cité des Sciences, which Max has been lobbying for now for quite some time. It was so great, we wish we had discovered it earlier.

Today, we discovered that the museums are all on strike. (Strikes are like a national pastime in France.) Whew! We could not have timed that better!

Also today, we returned Max's cello -- and got all of our 500 euro deposit back! I planned meals and went grocery shopping, strolling down Rue Cler and visiting the butcher shop, the bakery, and two other stores. Then we finally went to Carl Morletti, a fancy, relatively new pâtisserie we discovered. Oh my, oh my. Probably for the best that I didn't go there until now...

Yesterday, my left knee suddenly started to hurt so much that I couldn't take a step without tears coming to my eyes. Max had to take over stroller duty, and I could only walk down stairs by holding on to the rail and holding my left leg straight, actually causing small children to stop and stare. I was stranded way out at Porte de la Villette, where there are stairs upon stairs upon stairs and I actually wondered for awhile if I would be able to make it back to the apartment.

Today when I woke up, my knee had returned to its pre-Tuesday dull pain. I have no idea what is going on.

We have much (to attempt) to do in the next few days. I am trying to balance resting my knee, helping the kids to squeeze in the things on their list, and knocking some things off my list as well. It's a busy time, but a good time.

And I have some very good reasons for wanting to get home. So, once again, Paris is bringing out the conflicting feelings in me...

Friday flânerie

Last Friday, I did some wandering in the Latin quarter. It's an area of Paris I really enjoy, and I haven't spent much time there this visit for unknown reasons.

I took a bus over to Rue Vavin, a delightful little street that connects to the Jardin du Luxembourg. I decided to eat lunch at the Café Vavin. It's a little corner café that Marc likes, and I've only been there once before, when my book club went there to celebrate Jana's birthday. It had been awhile since I sat down and ate something besides a sandwich, and they had a lunch menu for 14,90 euros, so that sealed the deal.

The special was veau Grand-mère -- literally Grandma's veal, or veal cooked Grandma-style. It was absolutely delicious, as were the mashed potatoes (not the usual French-style purée, runnier than we're used to, but pleasantly lumpy). It totally cracked me up that they put guacamole and tortilla chips on the side. What the? That didn't seem to go at all, but at least it was really good guacamole...

There was a choice of desserts, and I chose chocolate mousse. I chose well, because I think it might have been the best chocolate mousse I've ever had.

I loved sitting out on the sidewalk, watching the people go by. I also pulled out the cute little polka-dot notebook Hannah gave me and made some notes and sketches of things I didn't want to forget (like the darling family tree toy I saw at Du Pareil au Même, a favorite children's clothing store).

I couldn't take pictures inside, but luckily they had these owls in the window display. I love them! They come in all different colors and patterns and they don't look too hard to reproduce, either.

I thought this felt window display was a cute idea, too. Right as I was focusing my camera, a saleslady came over and thrust her arm in front of the display, so as to ruin my photo, but fortunately I snapped it super-fast and got an armless photo. HA! Take that, killjoy!

A nearby florist had these decorative cabbages out with the roses. I love their colors!

This photo shows some of the ubiquitous signs of Paris. RATP is the symbol for the transportation department, bus or metro. Tabac indicates a tobacco shop, where you can also buy stamps. Loto is for lottery tickets, also available in a tabac. Also visible in the background are bank, coiffeur, clothing store, and pharmacy signs.

I rediscovered a fun plastics store that I remembered from our first sojourn in Paris. One side has brightly-colored plastic items of all sorts, and the other has oilcloth (plastified) fabrics. I really loved these plates, which show princesses recounting the many ways in which they demonstrate good table manners. There was a boys' set as well.

For you, Mom! I've seen quite a few peace sign motifs in Paris as well. Here, on a hot pink shopping cart.

I bought a meter of this fabric to make a bag. Or something. Boy, was it hard to decide.

When I stepped outside and saw that this crêperie had purchased this green dot fabric to use as tablecloths, I half regretted my decision. I'm a sucker for polka-dots. And green. (I think I was trying to branch out. But occasionally branching out is regrettable...)

This window display made me think of you, Denise!

Why are small things so pleasingly cute? I wanted all of these tiny ceramic dishes.

I passed by these vanilla cakes cooling in a bakery window and was struck by the presentation. I think having a vanilla bean sticking out is brilliant!

And then, suddenly, there I was in front of Pierre Hermé. One can hardly just walk by Pierre Hermé, so I went in and bought some macarons. I shared them with Max and Marc later, and discovered that the white one that I bought because it was irresistibly iridescent was truffle-flavored. As in, truffle mushrooms. Luckily, Max and I shared that one, because at least we like mushrooms. But not so much savory macarons. Sorry, Pierre.

I enjoyed seeing these accessories, made out of one of my favorite Liberty of London fabrics. I would love to make Eva a spring dress out of that pink dandelion print!

I stumbled upon a nearly-invisible passageway I'd never seen before, complete with Christmas lights. This is the kind of thing I love about Paris, these little picturesque discoveries.

I saw this line of rubber ducks in two different stores that day. Sure it's cute to see rubber duckies in polka-dots or peace signs or skulls, etc. But here's the kicker: 15 euros. That's over $20, peeps. Who in their right mind would spend that for a rubber duck? I don't get it.

This store also had an Eiffel Tower cookie cutter that I was coveting, but when I discovered that it was also 15 euros, I had to pass. I just couldn't justify spending that much for a smallish, aluminum cookie cutter. But just imagine those cookies...

I found this herb shop I had read about online. Apparently herbal teas here are sold in herb stores. The thing is, the herb stores are medicinal in nature. So the saleslady just did not seem to get that I was looking for a tea that just tastes good, not for some specific remedy. Anyway, I did get some. It's not the best tea I've ever had, but it's good, and I have been enjoying having a soothing cup of tea.

While waiting for my bus, I walked into one of the many tourist shops and found at least 3 more scarves I wouldn't mind buying... I just don't know how many scarves I can justify having, especially when I don't need them as much as home.

The sun going down on Notre Dame and neighborhood...

London -- Friday

On our last day in London, we went to Portobello Market. Very enjoyable, and great fodder for photos.

This seems to be London's version of a dollar store. (I just made that up, of course.)

Now that's my kind of graffiti. If you're going to deface something, might as well do it with Scrabble tiles and words!

This scene just made me smile. The black table and chairs, the gingham cushions, the remains of tea for four.

Another great vendor of vintage type letters and numbers. If money were no object, this would have made a great souvenir from London.

We saw this kitty sitting on top of a wall, and Eva was beside herself with excitement. Kitty was only too happy to oblige, offering himself for petting galore. Marc shocked me by petting it (he is super allergic). The man can still surprise me.

You know I loved this!

I didn't even go in this shop. Just the window was enough to give me a thrill!

We passed a churro stand. Eva hadn't eaten anything yet, and she loves to get churros from Costco, so we stopped. They were unbelievable. They cram at least a dozen of them into a little cup, pour sugar all over them, and then give you a little cup filled with incredibly good, warm chocolate sauce for dipping! Seriously. We all shared them. I'm still dreaming about them. They were that good.

I read this saying by Churchill again recently and was struck by it anew. It's been on my mind, so of course my eye went right to this banner. Now I'm wishing I'd stopped and asked the price -- wouldn't that have made a fabulous souvenir?

This woman walked by and I whipped around to snap a picture of her skirt. It was actually pieced. I've never seen a pieced quilt article of clothing like this before.

Can you believe I didn't buy any of this ribbon?? I don't know what got into me. I didn't buy one single thing in London, other than food. I didn't even think about it. Not like me at all. It's interesting, I'm finding I get enough satisfaction from taking pictures, I hardly miss the actual buying. (Mostly.)

Just a happy sight.

I saw two gay guys picking over these shoes, holding several pairs in their hands. Drag queens, perhaps?

We were all thirsty and stopped to buy drinks. Marc was curious about this ginger beer and had to try it. I like ginger, but oh did this pack a whallop!

Lucas discovered a love of strawberry Fanta while in London. This can cracked me up, doesn't the Arabic look all bubbly? Funnier still was Lucas's attempt to pronounce whatever this says!

By the time we finished with Portobello Market and had lunch, it was getting late in the day. We had originally thought of going to the Tower of London, but discovered that it closed early and we would only have half an hour or so by the time we got there. Marc proposed going back to the Natural History Museum so that Max could see it and we could see another portion of it. The kids were excited. I was really disappointed about missing the Tower. Another maybe someday item.

We walked through the giant mineral hall, where Lucas was more excited than I would have suspected. He took a million photos. This is a display of all of the known colors of diamonds (200+). Who knew?

A close-up of some mineral I can't remember. I just thought the texture was really cool.

We re-visited the creepy crawlies exhibit. I saw on a bench and rested my tired feet. I looked up and saw this! I can't even describe how much I hate 'pedes of all kinds. Talk about creepy.

Of course we had to revisit the dinosaurs.

After leaving the museum, Marc and Lucas took off to go see The War Horse. We wanted Lucas to have the opportunity to see a show as well, and when presented with several options, this was his choice. The woman at the box office said that it is perfectly geared toward 10-ish boys. Apparently it has life-size puppet horses that are amazingly convincing. They both raved.

Max, Eva and I went back to Wagamama. (I picked up a Happy Meal for Eva on the way.) Max got seafood ramen, where he had fried tofu, Japanese fish roll, and smooth dory for the first time. Thumbs up on the smooth dory (anyone know what that is in the U.S.?), thumbs down on the Japanese fish roll, and a meh on the fried tofu. He loved his dinner, though. When did one of my children get this adventurous with food?? I love that. Someday, someday maybe it will rub off on his siblings.

Click here to see all of my photos from London. (Jill, I've already heard you in my head asking why on earth I didn't take more. The answer is Eva.)