Bags Are Packed

We leave the apartment tomorrow, and all of us are feeling a little sad.  Owen cried when he realized that it was the last night that he was going to see his friend from across the street.  Jack wanted lots of hugs and stated, “It is hard to leave.”   And it is.  It has been a good summer – full of lots of activities and excitement.  I worried recently, that it has been too busy and we haven’t relaxed enough.  Then I remembered that I spent almost every day of last summer at the pool and I worried then that the boys weren’t getting enough stimulation.  I guess I will be happy with the idea that the two summers added together are a perfect balance.

I let the boys pick what they wanted to do for their last full day.  They chose to eat crepes for breakfast, go to Parc Floral for the day, and have dinner at a restaurant that they really liked.  At the park the monkeys did the ropes course again and played at the playground.  We also played a mini golf game that had mini versions of various monuments in Paris.  It was a very good last day.

We have one night in a hotel before an early flight in the morning.  I can’t believe we are going to be home so soon!

Rentre (Back To School)

Today I took the boys clothes shopping for school.  There are two stores here that I have wanted to go in, and we were able to find a few thing.  Jack and Owen each tried on pants, with, “nah” and “I don’t like them” for several.  Then they each tried on a pair that they LOVED!  It was funny (but not surprising) to see them know exactly what they wanted.  Owen’s was a pair of skinny jeans and Jack picked a pair of dark plaid pants.

The both wanted v-neck sweaters, and Owen found a winter coat that he really liked.  He was disappointed that it didn’t have fur around the hood like the jacket he has been wearing for the last two years.  I am fine with that…

Jack found a coat that he fell in love with, but I was hesitant to buy it.  It is a sport coat/suit jacket with patches on the elbows.  I finally bought it for him when they didn’t have the correct size at the first store and he was willing to walk to another store a mile away and then wanted to wear the coat in the store even though he was dripping in sweat.  The coat isn’t really going to work in the coldest months, but Jack can wear Owen’s old fur lined one then.  

No photos.  There was no way that was happening…

Orangerie and Giverny

It is hard to appreciate artwork when you only ever see a photo of it in a book.  I have seen Monet’s “water lily” paintings many times, and I found them pretty, but my interest ended there.  When I saw some real works by Monet two years ago, I was shocked at how different and utterly beautiful the real paintings were.  I actually though I had seen the water lily paintings, and had no idea that the ones most people are referring to are massive paintings in a museum called the “Orangerie.”  There are 8 canvasses in two huge oval rooms.  Half of the canvasses are 50 feet long.

Yesterday the boys and I went to the museum to see them, and the three of us were shocked.  All of us sat in complete silence for a long time.  Finally Jack stood up, and I got up to follow him out.  But he simply went to the other side of the room and sat down again.

“I want to go to where Monet was when he painted these!” I whispered to the boys.  “Yeah.”  they both whispered back.  Even later when I explained that we would have to take an long train ride to get there, and give up our plans for the next day – the boys were in.

The town where Monet painted these was called Giverny.  The gardens were his back yard that he designed and gardened.  The y were stunning – I have never seen anything like them.

I did recognize many flowers from grandmother’s yard, and wished very much that she could be there with me.  She would have loved it so much!

The second garden is the one including the bridges, pond, and weeping willows.  The boys and I sat on a bench for quite awhile just enjoying being there.The boys definitely enjoyed the visit, but were much more interested in the “wildlife”  - all the bees on the flowers including the massive bumblebees,

snails,

And a little brown duckling that was so light it hardly weighed down the lily pads when he walked on them,Monet’s funny chickens (Jack named them something funny, but now it slips my mind…grrr)

As the gardens got crowded, the boys got antsy and Jack said, “Ok, we’ve see everything.  The water lily things and all.  Can we go now?”  A large group of 70-somethings got a kick out of this.

But when I showed the boys that I had some art supplies, they were really excited to return to the pond bench and try their hand at creating a masterpiece.

Jack experimented, but was frustrated with the discrepancy between Monet’s talent and his own.  Owen was very serious and focused and was quite pleased with his piece.

We finally left Monet’s lovely property and headed back toward the bus.  The boys started playing in this tree until I realized that the bee that kept bothering Jack was actually a large number of different bees, and there was a hive in tree…

So I found a spot in a grassy field by a brook with a small waterfall. I sat on a little blanket and read and dozed while the boys ran in the field and played spies in the edge of the nearby woods.

Later Jack ordered a cappuccino and hot chocolate for us at a little stand near the bus stop.  It was the best coffee that I have had my whole time in Paris!  The boys’ drinks were amazing too.

It was one of those unexpectedly perfect days that makes you glad you are alive.

Bowls of Hot Chocolate

We started off with a lazy morning at home, and extended it by going to my favorite café for bowls of hot chocolate and coffee and fresh baguettes with butter and homemade jams.

Owen as Pinocchio.

So happy!

We walked and scootered quite a ways (but all downhill!) through town to go to a department store that promised a good selection of toys.  They boys finished their French books, and I promised them something.  While they spent a great amount of time looking in the Lego section, they each ended up with new nai-nai guy (stuffed animal) that they were very happy about.  I was much happier buying something French that will be more of a memory than Lego.

The store we bought the toys at had a roof-top seating area that a wonderful view.   The boys showed it to their new friends.  The big building behind the boys is the opera house.  There are supposed to be beehives on the roof that we were hoping to see, but did see any…. 

Um, this is the inside of the department store!

I really wanted to fit in another activity today – We have a short time left and the boys have a long list of things they want to do before we leave.  I don’t want to cram the last week, and take away the relaxing feel that we have been here for a long time and are comfortable.  I really tried to keep our time in Paris as “we are living here for the summer” rather than, “we were on vacation".”  This has helped me to keep more relaxed with a focus on the boys rather than on the city.  And it has help the boys from expecting ice-cream and carnival rides every day.   So instead, we headed home and chilled out.

Classmate

Owen has a friend Quentin, who went to school with him last year but moved back to France just before the end of the school year. I wrote to his parents hoping that we could get the two boys together for a visit, and we were able to do it today.

While I have talked to Quentin a few times, I had not actually met his parents.  Despite this, they generously offered to have the three of us over for the afternoon and for dinner.

We took a train out to their suburb, and they picked us up and took us to their apartment.  We walked around the town to a park that used to be part of an old chateau of one of the King Louis (The 16th?  I should remember….)  Several of the pieces of armor from the museum yesterday belonged to another King Louis – and Jack asked if all the kings of France had to be named Louis!)

Anyway, we had some snacks and had a lot of fun playing different kinds of ball games, “fishing” in the pond, discovering field bugs,

and playing leapfrog (which was absolutely hilarious).

We walked back through town and the four boys had a great time playing together while the adults chatted.  They kids chatted away in French and the adults spoke in English with Quentin’s dad translating for a little bit. 

(view from their apartment)

We had a great dinner complete with several courses (including a cheese course after dinner– which I really wanted to take a photo of because it was so yummy and fun and traditional!  Don’t worry, I didn’t. 

Sadly, I didn’t get a photo of everyone together.  Other than missing that photo op, it was a wonderful day and I am very thankful and so impressed with how comfortable Quentin’s family made us feel. 

The Tune and the Lyrics

Last night we were walking home and Jack accidentally stepped on the back of Owen’s shoe and the heel slipped off of Owen’s foot.  Owen was tired and irritated as having to stop and fix it, so I tried to say something that would take the focus off the blame on Jack- and hoped the boys would follow suit.

Mama:  “Jack, look how smart Owen is using the wall to help him fix his shoe!”

Jack: “Owen is really smart! He knows lots of stuff.”

Mama: ”You’re right.  And you are smart too.”

Jack: “Yeah, I am smart. Sometimes I know something, and sometimes Owen knows it. It’s half and half.”

Owen: “Yeah, Jack’s smart too!”

Owen’s comment surprised me because he spends a lot of time correcting Jack.    Jack is a big-picture/spirit-of-the-law kind of guy, and Owen finds the details more important and wishes everyone would follow the letter-of-the law.

Owen: “Like, he knows the tune and I know the lyrics.”

That little gem sums up my boys in a way that is so beautiful and poetic.  I will treasure it.

Military Museums

This morning we went to a few military museums that were housed in the same “Invalides” complex.  The monkeys brought their notebooks and made illustrations and “notes” of things that they wanted to remember.  This was Napoleon's tomb.

We went through the WWI and WWII museums and one that had a great deal of knights’ armor.  There were weapons galore and it was the first time in a museum that I was begging the boys to leave! 

If I took a photo of every canon they wanted to remember, my  16gb card would be full!  Here are a few…

And Owen insisted on taking this photo for Lisa (who loves fleur de lei things)  The cannon was one as big as those pictured above.

Afterwards we had a snackish dinner in the grass overlooking the Eiffel tower.  Owen:”Mom, why are you so into cheese now?”

The boys played at a park here, and met all kinds of French children.  At one point they had about 7 kids playing hide-and-seek with them.  One little boy was so enamored with Owen and Jack that he took them over to show his parents.  I am not sure what that was all about – probably that they were American?

We walked over to the other side of the Seine to see the tower from there.  It was fun to look at the tower from this side but it seemed like mostly tourists. 

The boys showed off their bags that I bought a few weeks ago.  They wanted them, and now carry their own water, snack, hand-wipes Band-Aids, and whatever random flyers/sticks/brochures that they feel like they cannot part with.  It is perfect even if it screams that we are not locals…

Awesome Invention

I bought these a few weeks back after a really hot day, and kind of forgot about them.  Today was the day they were meant for! 

The boys played at Luxembourg Gardens park which is almost completely covered in shade. It also has cold water fountains that  you can drink from and fill up your water bottles.   I sat outside writing GRE essays and calculating for x in terms of y and z (or trying to anyway...)  and spraying myself with these little spray bottles.

Four hours of 97 degrees is almost enjoyable with one of these !  I sprayed water on me, and then turned on the fan for a dose of double-cool.  The best was when Jack got bored and would come out and spray me – a free spa day! 

Natural History Museum

I think we may have won the temperature war (Paris vs. Seattle) with a high of 98 today.  The day was beautiful but the dispositions were not pretty.

We had planned to go to the Jardin de Plants to see the Natural History Museum or the little zoo there.  But I worried about being outside in that heat.  I suggested an alternative that involved riding the metro and a beautiful air-conditioned building (ok, it was a mall, but it was a pretty one and was air-conditioned in 90 degree heat in a city who is completely unaware of the invention of ice!!)

The boys complained that “we always do what you want to do!”  and while the boys could not remember going clothes or shoes shopping for Mama, or having a maid clean the house while Mama read a book on the couch, or eating at a fancy restaurant, somehow they won the argument…and we headed to the Jardin de Plantes.

The monkeys insisted on riding their scooters and it wasn’t long before Jack was dripping with sweat and wondering why Notre Dame was only a block away and we had been gone “forever!”

It took quite awhile to get there, and much pain and protest, and a large amount of euros spent on semi-cold drinks because there were no water fountains along the route to fill our bottles.  Everyone around us looked miserable and lethargic, so it helped me feel a bit better.   So did the fact that mopey kids still look cool when we have to rest in places like this!

There was one point that we crossed a very big vent (which usually throw off hot air from the metros) and it was pouring out very cold air like we were in front of an air-conditioner. I think it was the smiles that gave away our secret and other began to head our way to experience our little vent of heaven.

Sweaty Jack

The Natural History Museum was a real treat.  First I have to show you how cool their “bag check” was.  They had different sized lockers and you typed in your own secret code to lock it and unlock it.  See our scooter and helmets and bags there?! (the one next to Jack) Tres cool.

The majority of the animals and creatures in this place were real. As in really real – stuffed real. With the fur and marks on their skin and everything.  It was slightly creepy, and so darned cool.  It was amazing to be able to compare the size of the real animal to yourself.  Especially those you don’t usually get to see right through glass if you see them at a zoo. It was just amazing!

The lighting was really low, I assume to protect the objects – like at an art museum.  It made it hard to take photos (of course, no flash allowed) but it was so tempting to take photos of everything anyway.

Like this one - the moose.  The photo is fuzzy with the bad lighting, but it is for Dock!

Most of the big animals were just out in the open and it was on faith that people wouldn’t touch them.  Some of the smaller animals and creatures, like beetles and birds were mounted in glass cases so that you could see them from either side.  Some big extinct or rare animals were also in glass cages.

The building itself was pretty cool.

Owen became very studious and took notes the whole time – writing down the names of interesting animals and sketching them.  

Jack made up stories about the animals – generally hunting them or being hunted by them…

In the end, the building was air conditioned and it made all the difference on our dispositions.  Tomorrow is supposed to be hotter than today.  We all agree that we will stay in our apartment of go somewhere air-conditioned!

More Swimming

With temperatures at 89 today, we decided that we needed to go swimming in an outdoor pool.  I figured that I could manage a pool now…

We started out a bit rocky when I tried to walk in the door of the pool.  The worker told Owen to wait outside on a platform (Owen asked why which really bothered the worker.  He switched to English.  “Because that is what you do!,” he said sternly.  I know asking why is a little rude, but poor Owen gets his feelings hurt.  He just doesn’t have to vocabulary to say, “Is that the line?” or something like that…

The platform we waited on was a kind of line.  When the pool is at capacity it is the overflow area.  Luckily the line went really quickly.

We were pros at taking off our shoes for the foot bath. (An American woman that we met said that her two daughters scaled the little walls on the way in.  Opps.   At least we’re not the only ones to feel out of the loop.)

We were pros at suiting up in the proper gear.

We were pros at swimming together with no lifeguard.  How amazing that this pool is right on the Seine?!  I think it is on a permanent barge on the river.  Very cool. (and very warm water!)

This pool had a two hour session which included all of the time that you were in the building.  So the swim time was limited to about 1 1/2 hours if you were on fast-change mode.  

There was a life guard chair here, but the only time I saw someone use it was when one of the workers moved it to face the sun and then he climbed up and played on his phone.  The workers must be watching the pool somewhat because when I came out of the locker room with my camera, they yelled something at me.  I am not sure if it was because I had a shirt and shorts on then or because the camera didn’t walk through the footbath…

On our journey home, one bus drove passed us for some reason.  Since they only come every fifteen minutes, the boys convinced me that they needed an orange soda. Their negotiating skills are getting good here…

We rode home and the boys knew it was our stop as we pulled up.   Love that!

It was almost 9 o’clock when we got home so we went for quick dinner.  Jack got a Gyro from one place on our street.

And Owen got a pizza slice from another.

Only 12 days to go.  I can hardly believe it!