Farewell, Paris...
That wacko keyboard kept me from updating while in Paris. Anything I tried to type took 3 times as long because I had to keep going back to fix things. Annoying! Anyway, here's how the rest of our week went:
Monday - We walked up the Champs Elysees to take in the view of the Arc de Triomphe. Along the way, we got a big surprise when it turned out that this was the day that the Olympic torch was passing through Paris. So, we got to see the torch and the protests that went along with it. The big debate this year is centered around the Olympics in Beijing and the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Right next to us, the police took down a protester who was waving the Tibetan flag from atop a bus stop. Very exciting!
Tuesday - We spent this whole day out at Disneyland Paris. It was Disney. It was expensive. It was tons of fun for the kids. What more is there to say?
Wednesday - I forced the family to go to the Musee D'Orsay. After the day at the Louvre, they weren't exactly excited to hit another art museum, but I really wanted to see the impressionist masterpieces. We saw Whistler's Mother and Van Gogh's Self Portrait and lots of Monet's works. I loved it! In the evening, we took a boat ride and, although it was cold, we thoroughly enjoyed seeing beautiful buildings all lit up. The family favorite was the Eiffel Tower, of course. Just as it came into full view, the sparkling lights came on - it was as if they waited for us to be close enough.
Thursday - This was predicted to be a beautiful day, so we made our way up to the Sacre Coeur. It is definitely my favorite church in Europe. It's beautiful and welcoming and magical. This time, there was a choir of nuns singing as we entered and it just made the atmosphere perfect. Afterwards, we walked to the square nearby where the painters hang out. We had a dozen offers to do sketches of the girls (for 50 euro a pop!), but all that Marisa wanted to do was create her own art. She lost her little mind when we couldn't produce blank paper and markers.
Friday - We decided to have another kid-friendly day, so we headed for the Cite de la Sciences at the Parc de la Villette in northern Paris. This is the most amazing children's museum ever. There was so much neat stuff to check out! We had fun for hours.
Saturday - To make the most of our last few hours in Paris, we took an early morning walk around the Seine islands. It was so cool being so near to Notre Dame this whole week. I loved the majesty of such a big church and the girls loved the little playground in the park behind it. There was this rotating disk that could have amused Jillian for hours, if we had been willing to stay there that long. But we had to say "Good-bye" and head up to Gare de l'Est and get on our train back to Germany.
It was a great trip! Renting an apartment is definitely the way to truly enjoy Paris...
