Paris Plage

Each summer the government sets up a beach along the river. There are umbrellas, lounge chairs, special water areas and even buckets and shovels to borrow. Happily for us, it is a few blocks from our apartment. We spent many hours at the beach on this warm sunny day. The boys digging, me studying for the GRE and Mamau reading magazines and then doing a little shopping on her own.

School

This afternoon the boys went to a session at a Bilingual school that I had checked out before we came to Paris.  The boys were very excited about going, though none of us were sure exactly what to expect.  The school is an English immersion school, so the teachers were native speakers from England, but also speak French.  I was a little disappointed at first because when I had spoken on the phone with the school, they said that the teachers speak in French, but I  think they meant that they speak French.  I guess “speak in French” and “speak French” don’t seem like that big of a difference when you are not a native English speaker…  The staff ending up being very accommodating and let Owen speak French to them during the session (hm, or is that “speak in French…?)  Also, the French director gave a 1/2 hour of tutoring to the boys as well.   It was a perfect mix, and both boys ran up to me after “class” exclaiming how much fun they had and begging to go back again.

This is Jack’s fire breathing dragon art-work and his French notebook that they sent home with him.

Owen’s notebook had extra subjects and homework!

The French director came up to me afterwards to chat.  She didn’t really speak English, but her points came across.  She wanted to compliment Owen on his pronunciation and speaking abilities.  She also chided me on the fact that I did not send Jack with a coat on such a day.  She absolutely insisted that I take a sweatshirt home with him!  I wore short sleeves all day and wasn’t cold, but it was cold for a French summer, I guess….

After school we decided to head to the Champs Elysees.  The roadway that we walked on had a beautiful rose-garden median…

Complete with parks (but no bathrooms…) 

The area we were in was on the outskirts of the city and full of local  French children (rather than tourists like Luxembourg Gardens.)  Owen quickly asked a boy to play and the three boys had a great time with their pirate game. After the first boy left, Owen tried to join a game of tag with another group of children his age.  They swiftly informed him that he was not going to play with them. Owen was stunned, and sad.  I felt both feelings too (my poor Owen) but then realized - whatever city - kids are kids - and it is hard to navigate social situations in your native language, much less in another one.  So Mamau and I encouraged him to find someone else that felt friendlier that day.  And he managed to find another boy to play with for a bit before we moved on.

And, move on we did!  To yummy cheese and cured meats.  We bought some for later, and moved on again.

This time to the Arc de Triomphe.  No one could fathom climbing another 284 steps today, so we just admired the outside.

Then we admired Mercedes Benz.

(this car had its own guard to make sure you don’t touch it.  My boys did well, but Mr. red shirt below got yelled at…)

And then we happened upon a movie theatre playing Ace Age 4.  So we treated ourselves to this new kind of “museum pass” that involves no walking or stairs.

Tomorrow we head for the beach!

Stairs, Stairs, and More Stairs

Today was the day of stairs.  We started out climbing Notre Dame – with 384 – and ended up climbing many times that by the end of the day.  While this was Day Two of the Museum Pass, the boys were happy to go to Notre Dame and climb up.  It is one of the things from their list that they want to make sure they do in Paris.

The boys really liked this bell.  Jack was a little nervous that it would ring when we were near it because he figured it would be pretty loud.  (It takes 8 men to ring it by hand, so I wasn’t too worried…)

The views were as good as promised!

We also climbed stairs at Saint Chapel church, The concierge (old prison), and the Louvre.  I know, I know – again!  But it just felt wrong to have been so close to the pieces of art that we wanted to see, and not see them.  The boys were a little hesitant at first, but when they realized that the Mona Lisa was there, they were game.  (Ok, so Owen was game, and we bribed Jack with ice-cream…)

The boys liked the artwork much more today and actually asked to stop at several paintings.  Owen was fascinated by the Christ on the cross paintings.  Fascinated in a kind of -awful car wreck you wish you didn’t look at but can’t quite stop yourself from looking again – kind of way.  I tried to hurry him along as he had a hard time getting over a painting he saw yesterday – depicting the bible story with King Solomon deciding what to do with two mothers with one dead and one living baby, each claiming the living one was her own.  But it felt strange telling Owen not to look at these great works of art that were so interesting him.  And the pieces today were not that graphic (certainly we had passed other scenes of hell and some scary looking demons which didn’t phase him at all.)  Jack finally said, “These make my tummy feel funny inside.  I don’t want to look at them anymore.”  And we moved on.

I think we will stick with the Monet’s water lily paintings or the like,  for the time being!

We all enjoyed Jack’s bribe…some ice-cream from a shop across the street from our apartment.  (one that makes your ice-cream into a flower on the cone – will have to take a photo!)  Somehow we have passed this store several times a day and neither of the boys have figured out it was there!  It was so good that I am afraid I will cave the next time the boys ask for it!

Tourist Time

My mom has gone into full-board tourist mode for two days.  We bought a 2-day museum pass (fairly evil) which lets you go into as many museums as you can within two consecutive days.  So today we went to Versailles Chateau and the Louvre.  We are pretty good at walking long distances now so Versailles, with it’s miles of gardens and outer buildings was doable and actually quite fun.  The Louvre was open late tonight, and we rented oversize strollers for the kids, so that pleased them (though somehow we spent the majority of the 2 hours there checking out the various elevators and stair-lifts – and very little art.

I have a gazzilion photos (though I doubt any of them are actually of the chateau – ooops) that I will have to sort through the day after tomorrow when Maumau allows us to sit down…  think I might just peek at a few now…

Oh look, the Chateau!  (It is way, way in the background…)

scaling the Cheatau walls, I’m sure it is perfectly safe…

Sweet Jack-Attack (right after a guard asked him not to climb the outside banister of this staircase….)

Owen, the photographer

Owen, the adorable

Jack, “Most of the stuff that we are looking at is kindof boring, Mom.  Well except the fish.  Those are AWESOME!”  They were insanely packed together in one of the brooks competing for food.  I told the boys that I thought they were called carp, but I wasn’t sure.  That left room for their own creative ideas.  “Hmmm Owen, let’s call them Moustache Face Fish.”  Jack’s name won.

The swans were also well-liked.

A rare pause…

Yikes, better get off to bed.  I’m a tourist tomorrow!

Luxembourg Again

Today was a beautiful sunny day.  We walked to Luxembourg Gardens and the boys played  at the special playground all day.  I did what the Parisan parents do, and paid for the kids to go in, but stayed outside the fence and read in the sun with Mamau.

The boys spent the majority of time in the sand, and were completely sandy at the end of the day.  There is a water fountain in the park that lets you fill up buckets of water to make the sand damp enough for sand castles and sticking to clothes.

At the beginning of the day the boys were wearing long sleeves.  By the time we decided to stay at Luxembourg, the weather was in the high 70s.  Since Mamau was able to stay with the boys, I ran home and got shorts and shovels and pails.  It is so different that 1/2 mile seems close enough to “run home.”  

With Mamau here I was also able to “run over” to a nice store and get some more yummy cheese and bread for dinner.  (Sadly we had to forgo the wine I bought since I left the corkscrew at home – boo-hoo.) 

Tomorrow we are off to Versailles!

Important Vent in Paris

Today we took the metro over to the montmartre district to take a little train up to see the Sacre Couer Church and a great view of Paris.  We wanted to take a little train that Jack and Chloe and I took a few years ago which starts in front of the Moulin Rouge.   There is some kind of vent by the train which has a fairly constant and strong upward draft that the boys thought was hilarious.

Their shirt and coats flew up, and when they took off their coats, those flew off too. After our train trip, the boys got even more creative with their fun, and had us laughing by making invisible people dance with them.  We finally left when Jack let go of his coat and it flew so high for such a long period of time, I wasn’t sure it would ever come down!

The train took us on a little tour naming sights along the way (Jack and Owen we not impressed by those landmarks and called out the important sightings of cool and cooler motorcycles that they saw.)

Taking photos in front of the basilica  seemed too cheesy, so this is what I ended up with for photos…)

In the church, you are not supposed to talk.  The boys became very serious and interested in the decorations and goings-on inside.  Mamau bought a candle for each of them to light, and I explained they could light it for someone special and think nice thoughts for them. 

Owen: This is for my Grandma Mary and my daddy – they’re not here.

Jack: Mine is for my Mamau, and my Mama and Owen and Daddy and my whole family.

Jack wanted to sit in the church and look around, so we did.  Owen was delighted to realize that the small medal he chose for a souvenir was a copy of the ornate ceiling.  

We ate a great meal at a café and meandered through the streets on the way back to the metro. 

14th of July

To celebrate my dad’s birthday (and Bastille Day), there is a military parade in the morning.  I promised Owen soldiers and guns, and he worried (secretly hoped) that one of the guns would “accidentally” discharge… ahh, boy thoughts.

The military parade began with this amazing display just above our heads as we headed over to find a spot for the parade. 

As we walked, every kind of military plane flew overhead – the boys loved every new formation with sounds you could almost feel. For me, it made it much easier to imagine just how terrifying it must have felt like to have foreign planes buzzing in to bomb during WWII.

As the plane section of the parade ended, we came to an area that was outside  the parade route- according to the information that we had.  But we couldn’t go any further toward the route, nor could we see the street.  Because there were official barriers and such a crowd, we figured the parade must come partly by the area.

The boys and I climbed up to a window ledge above the heads of the crowd and had a perfect view as soldiers began to march by.  It was quite a good view and thrilling for the boys to be so high up.

The soldiers sang as they marched and they were very entertaining.  It was more of a song than an cadence.  After a few groups had marched by, Jack complained, “Mom, you lied.  You said there would be guns and they only have swords!”

Soon, these guys (below)marched past.  But they didn’t seem to be part of the parade.  They actually seemed more like crowd control??  These soldiers were right in the crowd that was watching the parade.  They were actually brushing shoulders with the public as they walked by…The boys were thoroughly impressed!

After the soldiers, came every type of vehicle - tank, jeeps, and even olive green bulldozers.  The fun part for me was that they were driving at crazy speeds!  Since we were across the Seine from where the parade officially was, I  am pretty sure that the parade  was more-or-less over and it crossed the bridge toward us to head back to base.  The were done with waving and smiling and were outta-there!  I thought it added to the show of power for the military.

During the parade, it got quite cold and windy and  we were huddling together to stay warm.  I asked the boys if they were ready to leave.  “No.”  Owen said.  Then Jack added emphatically, “Not even close!”

We walked back home, rested, then headed the few miles toward the Eiffel tower.  The boys couldn’t take their scooters because it was going to be really crowed for the fireworks that we were headed to, so we decided to take several hours to meander.

We bought a picnic and ate it at a park.  (picnics in Paris are sooo yummy!)Then walked visiting other parks along the way.  We stayed at one for a very long time because the boys found a French friend and played and played without wanting to stop.  For those of you who wonder, Owen talks with his hands in French as well as English, and also has an impossibly long list of rules for games in English and French too…

We made it to our final destination and found a perfect place to sit.

I didn’t take many photos of the actual fireworks because I held Jack up so he could see, but these photos give a small glimpse of what it was like.  It was absolutely spectacular! The fireworks are designed to be watched from the area where we were sitting.  We considered viewing the show closer to the apartment since the Eiffel Tower is 2.5 miles from home, and we knew we would have to walk home close to midnight with the boys.  We finally decided just to go for it, and I am so glad that we did!  The fireworks behind the tower were one-of-a-kind, and unlike anything else I have seen.  It was nice to have music with the show, and the energy from the crowd was great.

The boys loved the day and it couldn’t have been better (ok, maybe a little warmer – but I won’t complain!)  We walked a little over 8 miles total, and the boys did great (amazingly, a lollypop bought us 2.5 miles of fast-paced walking at 11:30 at night, with only one solitary request to be carried!)