The Paris Chronicles: First Day + Le Tour Eiffel

Our trip to France, AKA The Paris Chronicles, starts HERE.

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We woke up the next morning around 7am, and headed out for le petit dejuener, AKA breakfast.

Now, some of you may know that I speak Spanish, I actually have a Bachelor's degree in Spanish, but let me tell you in case you didn't know: French is a whole different language. The pronunciation is very different, and to me it didn't make a whole lot of sense that first day. Or the second day for that matter. But I did my best, and we managed to order our very first breakfast all on our own! Croissants, cafe au lait, chocolat chaud, pain et confiture. (croissants, coffee, hot chocolate, bread and jam!)

We taught the boys how to say "S'il vous plaît" and "Merci" and even "Merci beaucoup." When Sawed Off said "Merci," it came out like "mer-whee" but he's young enough that people thought it was cute. We also taught the boys to say "Bonjour, Au revoir" and the basic greetings (which they still use occasionally months later!)


Grandpa met us at the restaurant, and we decided we'd take the metro to catch a bus tour of the city. The architecture in Paris is incredible, everywhere you look. This is the textile museum/factory just behind our hotel.


The metro was just a quick walk from our hotel too, basically just around the corner. I love that you can walk anywhere in Paris, then hop on the metro or a bus or both and get where you want to go. You really don't need a car unless you plan to travel outside of the city!


Here's "our" metro stop. Notice the beautiful tile work, such attention to detail. I love Paris.



I also love how open the French are to art. These posters were everywhere in the metro lines. I wanted to go to the exhibit, but we just didn't have time. (see my boys on the left, below!)


The boys had several discussions whether the naked person in the bathroom photo was a boy or a girl (she's mostly seen from behind, and small-breasted). And once they figured it out, they casually remarked, "oh, there's that naked girl again," but more often than not, they didn't remark at all. It just wasn't a big deal.

Can you just imagine if a photo like this was in PUBLIC in the U.S.? There would be protests and lawsuits galore. The thought of this prudish reaction makes me cringe. Truthfully, it also makes me want to plaster these posters across the U.S.A.!! Have a glass of wine and get over yourselves, people, it's a naked body. =)



Once we were on the metro, headed to pick up the bus tour, we got our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower! The boys couldn't contain their excitement, "LOOK! It's the Eiffel Tower!!" It is their absolute favorite sight in Paris.


To Be Continued...

The Paris Chronicles: An Evening Stroll & Picnic

On the flight to Paris, direct from Salt Lake City, we all took No-Jet-Lag Homeopathic Tablets. I was skeptical, but anything that says it will prevent jet lag and is homeopathic is worth a shot, and Grandpa swears by them. They actually taste pretty good, even the boys like them. H-Bomb would ask me every once in a while if it was time for another "pill," which served as a good reminder for me since you're supposed to take them every few hours.

The other tip we got was to stay awake as long as you can once you arrive at your destination, especially if you arrive during the day. Try to stay awake until bedtime there. So, with an eight hour time difference, arriving in Paris at 10:30ish AM was like being in Salt Lake City at 2:30ish AM. And guess who didn't sleep a wink on the 10 hour flight? =)

After our fabulous lunch, we returned to the hotel to get our bearings, unpack a bit, relax. And I was about to drop. I couldn't keep my eyes open, and it wasn't even 5:pm so we knew we had to get up and go.


With Jean-Claude, I went down to the market on Rue Mouffetard to get supplies for our picnic. My favorite part of this was trying all the different pates at the charcuterie. (and the charcuterie guy wasn't bad, either)


Next the cheese shop for cheese, a fruit stand for some fresh fruit, a bakery for a baguette, and of course the wine shop for wine. All of this on the same little market street! I was so glad I brought my shopping bag, I used it every single day in Paris.


Jean-Claude and I joined everyone else, and we took off on foot through the streets of Paris, headed to Luxembourg Gardens for our picnic.

We passed by Ernest Hemingway's apartment, which had been a goal of both mine and Mary's--the first night! We saw it!


The architecture and the history of the streets of Paris are simply stunning. I have no idea on which streets we wandered, or of which buildings I took pictures, but here are some of the sights.


And here is our picnic at Luxembourg Gardens. Pate, cheese, berries, figs, bread, wine, (juice for the boys). Delicious doesn't even begin to describe it.


I think my absolute favorite thing about Paris is that you can drink wine wherever you happen to be. You can buy a bottle of wine, and uncork it on the street. Or in the park. Or anywhere!! And drink it! I think Americans (and Utahns in particular!!!) have got this All Wrong. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with drinking wine, as long as you're not hopping in a car afterward.


After our scrumptious picnic, we packed up and walked back. We found a gelatto shop for the boys (and us, who am I kidding) who wanted ice cream. YUM. We stopped at lots of fountains.


And by the time we got back to Rue Mouffetard, lots of shops were closed for the night.


Look, our hotel left the lights on for us! (down there on the left, past the bicycle)


Rue des Gobelins takes on a certain charm at night, as does the rest of Paris.


We fell into bed, exhausted, and fell asleep to the sounds of a wonderful city.

Au Revoir...

Just a note to let you all know that I'll be gone for a few weeks...can you guess where? The whole family, me, Number One, H-Bomb, Sawed Off, even Grandpa & Mary are heading to France to visit our dear friend Jean-Claude. We are beyond excited.

We'll be in Paris for about a week (the picture above is NOT from our hotel), then we'll travel by train into the country in the South of France, where we'll stay in Jean-Claude's country house, walk to the village, play with the neighbor's goats and eat some of the neighbor's cheese (I hope).

While I won't be blogging, I will be eating fabulous food and drinking fabulous wine and taking lots of hopefully fabulous pictures! I'll tell you all about it when we return.

Trip to Michigan

It's not every day you pack up two little boys and drive over 1,600 miles. That's what we did on July 1st, and I can't believe I'm just getting around to it here. We drove for about three days; luckily H-Bomb and Sawed Off are excellent travelers, and I had loaded the van with a few new DVDs: Enchanted, Ratatouille, (which they had seen before but only once or twice), The Aristocats, and 101 Dalmations, (which they hadn't seen before), along with the standards: Finding Nemo and Shrek. They really help the miles go by, and this time the boys even let us take turns so we could listen to NPR, the news or 80's hits!

We left at 4:30AM, and got stuck in some sort of time warp. We left the first town, just an hour away, after breakfast at 7:30AM. Who knows what happened there. We took lots of snacks and a cooler for picnic lunches, and we tried to stop places where the boys could run around. The first night was spent in Nebraska, where we ate a great steak dinner at Whiskey Creek, then took the boys swimming in the hotel pool. They need to expend some energy after behaving themselves and being strapped in their seats for hours on end. We always look for a hotel with a pool.


We were heading to Michigan for two events: my 20-year high school reunion (please don't do the math), and a surprise 60th birthday party for my mom. As well as lots of swimming and fishing and canoeing and visiting my relatives. Number One and I were looking forward to our Annual Night Out. I wish I were kidding, but we rarely get to do ANYTHING that's just the two of us, so we try to take advantage whenever my parents are available.

I do have to tell you what happened the second day. We were bringing food that I had made ahead of time, for both the reunion and the surprise party, and I had it all frozen and in a cooler with dry ice. I think the cooler wasn't closed all the way and the first batch of dry ice didn't last as long as it should have. Everything was still frozen, but we needed some new dry ice. I had just heard about a new service from Google, GOOG 411, so I decided to try it out.

Can I just tell you how amazing this service is? You dial a toll-free number, 1-800-GOOG-411, tell Google what city and state you are in, and what you are looking for (grocery store, Walmart, or dry ice) and they give you a list of options, with addresses and phone numbers. They will connect your call for free, and/or text you the information, and/or send you a map to the location!

GOOG 411 ROCKS. They helped us find dry ice in the middle of Nebraska (where they don't sell much dry ice anymore, evidently) and the dry ice didn't cost us a cent! We got between 10 and 20 pounds from a grocery store (which we never would have found on our own), and the girl gave it to us for free. She hauled it out to our van, let us pack the cooler FULL, and said "Have a nice trip!" How awesome is that?

The second night we spent just outside Chicago, in Orland Park. We pushed to get to Chicago, so the pool was closed when we got there. (why do they "close" hotel pools? There's never a lifeguard anyway!) But, I had some top-secret errands to run that morning, so Number One took the boys to the pool while I went to Trader Joe's for a case of wine and then to Costco for paper plates and everything for the surprise party. (yes, I did my research before we left. I knew where every Costco en route was located, and there was just the one Trader Joe's). Both stores in Orland Park were less than 5 miles from the highway, and wouldn't you know there was a hotel with a pool just off the highway at that exact exit. Love it.

We stopped at my parents' neighbor's house to stash all of the surprise party supplies, including paper products and many containers of frozen Prairie Fire beans and ziploc bags of Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeños! and arrived at my parents' house in time for dinner. H-Bomb and Sawed Off were so excited to see Grandpa and Grandma!!

We went to the beach the next day. H-Bomb and Sawed Off have never really been to a shallow beach before, so they LOVED it. H-Bomb has been to the ocean in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, Pompano Beach, Florida and Santa Barbara, California, but hasn't been to a beach where he didn't need to wear his life jacket the whole time. We do have our reservoir, but it's basically paved and then drops off, with no real "beach" area. The boys had so much fun playing in the lakes and building sand castles, finding little shells, throwing rocks, etc. It really made me wish there was water around here so they could grow up around lakes and have that experience.

My high school reunion was on Saturday night, and after helping to plan and organize everything, it was just a relief to visit with everyone, drink beer, have a nice potluck dinner and have fun! About half of our graduating class turned up, and it was really great to see everyone.

On Sunday, a bunch of us met at another lake with all our kids for Reunion: Part II, and we were joined by a great guy who had moved away a year or two before graduation, as well as by one of my college roommates and her daughter, who is just a year younger than H-Bomb. My boys enjoyed the lake and the hot dogs and the playground (all of which, except hot dogs of course, are somewhat of a novelty). Anyway, it was just so much fun to catch up and see everyone. I'd say the reunion was a success.


My roommate and her daughter came home with us and stayed the night at my parents'. We stayed up late looking at old pictures ("who is that??" "I can't believe you still have that picture!" "etc.") We all went to the beach the next morning despite the clouds. The kids had a blast, swimming and playing and catching minnows.


My dad secured a little fishing boat for us to use while we were there, and lakefront property from which to launch the boat onto a very nice small fishing lake. Number One and I had actually looked at a house for sale on this lake a couple years ago, so it was great to be able to spend some time on the lake. We took the boys fishing, Number One securing fishing line and hooks to some little sticks and letting the kids throw the baited hooks in the lake. They both ended up with a tangled mess, but they had a great time. Number One went fishing almost every morning, and some evenings accompanied by my dad and occasionally H-Bomb, for whom he bought a little fishing pole. When my brother and his family arrived later in the week, Number One and my brother went out one morning and actually brought some fish home! Unfortunately not enough for all 10 of us to have a meal, so we didn't get to eat any of it.

Incidentally, I was participating in a blog event for which I had signed up before our trip. I was hoping for some fresh fish to try out this grilling recipe, but instead we ended up having Grilled Margarita Tilapia (fabulous!)

My dad started off building wooden boats as a hobby (and comes from a long line of carpenters and boat-builders) and now that he's retired from his "real" job, he works in a custom boat shop, rebuilding and restoring old wooden boats. It's pretty cool. We took out my dad's canoes one day.

My dad and Number One took out the gorgeous cedar strip canoe with H-Bomb in the middle.


I took the single-person canoe, with Sawed Off. It is made of Kevlar-reinforced aircraft Dacron, and it is sweet. It is practically see-through, and just beautiful. He made two of these, as well as a wooden kayak for me. When we stopped at the mouth of the river for a snack and a break, Sawed Off decided he wanted to ride with Grandpa and Daddy and H-Bomb, so I had the lovely canoe all to myself. I even rescued a soaked beach towel from the bottom of the river (in perfect condition after washing!) while they all searched in vain for baby turtles.


I would love to have my dad make another cedar strip canoe for me and Number One, but apparently it was a pain in the butt and he refuses.

The usual route is putting the boats in at the beach on one lake, about 5 minutes from my parents' house, canoeing across the lake to the mouth of the river, down the river and then halfway down the next lake to the boat ramp about 5 minutes from my parents' house. It's a great route, takes two or three hours.


H-Bomb really wanted to bring home a baby turtle or two, but we just couldn't find any. As it was, we traveled back with several minnows and a couple frogs in our cooler. One minnow survived, and now resides in our fish tank. We can't wait to see what kind of fish it will turn out to be. Two frogs survived the trip, but didn't last long in the frog/toad tank.

Below is a boat they were working on in the boat shop while we were there.


There were so many things to do! One of the neighbors has a fish pond on his property, within walking distance of my parents, so we took the boys down there and they caught frogs, fed bluegill minnows to the bass, fished and saw Snappy the snapping turtle.

My brother, his wife and our two nephews came to visit (also to help with the surprise party) and my grandma came and stayed the weekend also. All my aunts and uncles came for the party, and several of my mom's friends were my partners in crime to help get everything done. Busy, busy, busy!

I can't think of what else we did. Number One and I had several much-needed "nights out" as we met friends at the local lakeside bar. We had planned on all of us taking a pontoon boat out one day, and grilling hot dogs on an island on yet another lake, but the day was too windy and cloudy for that. Maybe next time!

On the trip home, we left late, after noon I think, so we didn't quite make it to Des Moines, Iowa. We had to keep driving because every hotel we stopped at was full (but they must not believe in "No Vacancy" signs in Iowa...) We did bypass a creepy looking hotel on a hill somewhere, it was very unoccupied and just didn't look...safe. We ended up in another time warp, this time of the motel variety, somewhere in Iowa. It was cheap, no pool, and extremely dated. Let me show you:


The next morning we drove all day to North Platte, Nebraska again, and ate at Whiskey Creek, again. This time we stopped at Buffalo Bill's Trading Post (next door to Whiskey Creek) and let the boys run around before we made them sit nicely in the restaurant for dinner. And then we kept driving because it was still light, and made it to Denver. We swam in the morning after breakfast, then stopped and saw an old friend of mine who hadn't made it back for the reunion, then we drove home.

All in all, we had a great vacation, and we can't wait to go back.