Passport to Paris

Arriving in Paris on the Eurostar speed train.

There were performers in the Paris subway passage ways. In August, street performing is legal and encouraged. It was a big part of our Paris experience. We heard some great stuff.

Paris is a city we definately fell for. Yes, I know, it's a cliche to say that, but it really did happen. I don't think think you can find another city in the world this large, yet accesible without a car, full of amazing history and architecture.

This is our Paris apartment we rented for the week. We are on the second floor (with the window open), just at the end of the street is La Place des Vosges. This is in Les Marais, a kind of hip area in the city.

The Georges Pomodou center was so fabulous, in spite of not going inside (next time). We literally ran out of time to do everything we wanted. Seven days will get you the essence of Paris, but not enough to dig in.

We came here at the end of the week. These pictures are not in order.

Georges Pompidou ( a past president of France) really liked modern art so they named this center and museum after him.

At the Hotel De Ville, just down the street from our apartment, we discovered this Gustave Eiffel exhibit. It was clearly intended for locals, nothing was in english, but we muddled through just fine. There were lots of models and art of the tower.
Bird cage Eiffel Tower
I bought a notebook with a picture of the Eiffel Tower in the gift shop. It was made in............San Francisco (oh, the irony).

This is a framed drawing, behind glass.

Derik and I took Ford to Le Invalides to see the Army museum.

Napoleon I is buried here. He was brought here after he became a romanticized figure after being a reviled figure.

At a subway stop in the Montmartre district. This had an Art Deco entrance.

Seine River Cruise

We were walking in our neighborhood and just a couple of streets away (they felt like alleys) was the Jewish district, which was packed full of people the day we walked through.

This Fallafel place had a line down the street.

Madeline and I came back another day to try one. The line was much shorter during the week. Madeline remembered that in "The Devil wears Prada" Christian tells Andy, while they're in Paris, "I am going to take you to the best Falafal place". Turns out this place is pretty famous and for a reason, this is the best Falafal place, double yum!

This is another place we happened upon just walking around the neighborhood our apartment was in. It is L'Hotel Carnavalet, which is now a museum devoted to the history of Paris. It was once a private home, mansion.

A couple of doors around Paris.

Notre-Dame. Our apartment was just a five minute walk away. I finally got to see the flying buttresses I'd heard about all my life.

In all their glory!

We came upon this open bird market.

In the Montmartre District

Sacre-Coeur

This flower shop was just a block away from the cafe featured in the movie Amelie, what a charming area of Paris.

We actually got to witness a public lover's spat while in the Montmartre district. Loud shouting in French (thank goodness, I'm sure it was all profanity) and the man actually tried to physically attack the woman. After his second attempt to chase her down, some men next to the scene all jumped in to stop him.

Derik and I went back to the Montmartre district another day to see the Salvador Dali museum. It was surreal!

We came to the tower a second time to see it light up. It was beautiful.

We ate a picnic while waiting. I love that they serve hot dogs in a baguette. We bought this next to tower.

We stopped at a cafe on Rue Claire on our way to the Eiffel Tower and got some food to go. We bought quiche and it was divine.

Our Macaron class in Montmartre.

I don't know what this is called or exactly where it is. It was somewhere near Le Halles subway station.

The inside of our apartment.

The view from our apartment window. The day before we left Paris we heard loud sirens right outside our window. The kids ran to the window, to see right below it, that a man on a scooter had been hit by a car...blood, stretcher, ambulance, chaos, but it looked like he was going to be alright.
Our favorite meals were cheese and baguettes. We had a croissant everyday too. Derik became quite the crepe maker. They have crepe mix in the stores there.

The Louvre, need I say more.



Madeline and Mona Lisa

Crepes in the Tuilleries after the Louvre

We continued our walk after the Louvre down the Champs de Elysse to the Arc de Triumph.

oops, back to the crepes before the walk.
Madeline on Champs de Elysse

This is a street on the way from our apartment to the closest bridge to us (the one of many you can use to get to Notre-Dame)

At night the bridge is closed to vehicles so musicians can play and these massage students set up shop for free massages. This was definately one of Ford and Grace's highlights. We went back another night too.

On the bridge before the sun went down. We had an ice cream each time we went. Definately a tourist favorite.

The view from the bridge at night.

On a train on our way down to Versaille

This was taken with the pano app. on my iphone in the gardens at Versaille.

It was as obscene and fabulous as I expected.

In the gardens of Marie Antoinette's chateau

My favorite experience at Versaille was riding bikes through the grounds. We first visited Marie's chateau and then took the loop around the grounds. It was a two and 1/2 hour excursion with minimal stops. We ended the day with a tour of the palace.

You can see the palace in the background (above Ford's head).

More Eiffel Tower

We were amused at all the designs of these chocolates, almost too pretty to eat. They were as good as they looked.

We went on a sewer tour, which was a funny experience. It really did smell down there. I just wanted the full experience in Paris. We got the full experience when we saw a few very large rats (not in the sewer though) throughout the week.

We even watched a few short movies about the sewers at the end of our tour. I thought it was fascinating info. The kids thought we were crazy at first to bring them there, but they got quite an education about sewer systems.

Au Revoir Paris, Don't miss me, I will be back!