Paris, 4 (Tuesday)
I got up early this morning and went out to get pastries so we could have a more leisurely breakfast at home. Then--finally--we managed to ascend the towers at Notre Dame. It was worth the wait and hassle. Being up so close to the gargoyles is amazing, as is the view. The twisty stairwell was harrowingly narrow, and the staircase to the very very top was even narrower. You wouldn't want to have any kind of emergency up there, that's for sure.
After we made our way back down, we bought souvenirs at a shop across the street and then got snacks--hot chocolate for Greta, crepe with Nutella for Lucia--and ate them in the courtyard across from the front of the church. The area is full of hungry, scavenging, fearless pigeons, and after watching people with birds on their hands, arms, and shoulders, the girls attempted to catch some pigeons too. Greta had a few on her hands and arms. It made her day.
Both girls were even more excited when we walked past some of the boquinistas near the church, and they spotted a whole collection of small china cats (encrusted with dust, clearly a million attic-y years old) marked 1 euro each. They each chose one and were over the moon. This necessitated a quick stop back at the apartment, because there was no way those little china cats would have survived a whole day in my backpack.
Since we were home at lunchtime, we decided to just have lunch there, using the salami, cheese, and bread we had on hand. (Traveling with kids means we've been to the grocery store on a daily basis.) This worked out well, and everyone was revived when we set out once again, this time for the Musee D'Orsay. This is such a great museum. Since L&G were underwhelmed by the Louvre (?!) yesterday, we decided to engage them more this time by getting them audio guides. This worked out splendidly. They loved looking at each painting, searching out the ones with numbers they could tap into their guides. I don't know how much they really understood of what was said, but they were spending long moments studying the paintings, and we saw most of the biggest works.
From there, we took the Metro to Montmartre. First, some gelato and macaroons for a snack, and then a ride on the carousel outside the Abbesses Metro stop. Then we wound our way up the steps toward Sacre Coeur. It's such a spectacular view. We spent a while just traipsing around, looking down. At the bottom of the hill was another carousel, which L&G rode. Then we Metro'd back to our apartment (well, to a stop that turned out to be extremely far away from our apartment, but L&G walked miles today with nary a complaint).
We were all pretty tired by that point, so we relaxed briefly at home before going out for dinner. We chose a restaurant near our apartment, Les Deux Palais, and sat outside. It was a lovely meal. We did the whole thing, soup and meals and desserts and a bottle of wine. There was a "children's menu" of sorts, offering two things--fries with minced beef, or fries with ham--neither of which seemed quite understandable. I got the girls the fries and ham, which was basically a plate of fries with three thin slices of cooked ham. They loved it. The waiter also gave them coloring pages and colored pencils and gum and candies, as though someone in the restaurant had done a study of how to have a kid-friendly establishment. Anyway, the girls had fun, and they had their AG dolls with them, and they devoured most of my creme brûlée, declaring they'd get their own tomorrow.
And instead of watching CNN for ten hours, we went to bed before the returns even started coming in, hoping we'd wake up to good news.
After we made our way back down, we bought souvenirs at a shop across the street and then got snacks--hot chocolate for Greta, crepe with Nutella for Lucia--and ate them in the courtyard across from the front of the church. The area is full of hungry, scavenging, fearless pigeons, and after watching people with birds on their hands, arms, and shoulders, the girls attempted to catch some pigeons too. Greta had a few on her hands and arms. It made her day.
Both girls were even more excited when we walked past some of the boquinistas near the church, and they spotted a whole collection of small china cats (encrusted with dust, clearly a million attic-y years old) marked 1 euro each. They each chose one and were over the moon. This necessitated a quick stop back at the apartment, because there was no way those little china cats would have survived a whole day in my backpack.
Since we were home at lunchtime, we decided to just have lunch there, using the salami, cheese, and bread we had on hand. (Traveling with kids means we've been to the grocery store on a daily basis.) This worked out well, and everyone was revived when we set out once again, this time for the Musee D'Orsay. This is such a great museum. Since L&G were underwhelmed by the Louvre (?!) yesterday, we decided to engage them more this time by getting them audio guides. This worked out splendidly. They loved looking at each painting, searching out the ones with numbers they could tap into their guides. I don't know how much they really understood of what was said, but they were spending long moments studying the paintings, and we saw most of the biggest works.
From there, we took the Metro to Montmartre. First, some gelato and macaroons for a snack, and then a ride on the carousel outside the Abbesses Metro stop. Then we wound our way up the steps toward Sacre Coeur. It's such a spectacular view. We spent a while just traipsing around, looking down. At the bottom of the hill was another carousel, which L&G rode. Then we Metro'd back to our apartment (well, to a stop that turned out to be extremely far away from our apartment, but L&G walked miles today with nary a complaint).
We were all pretty tired by that point, so we relaxed briefly at home before going out for dinner. We chose a restaurant near our apartment, Les Deux Palais, and sat outside. It was a lovely meal. We did the whole thing, soup and meals and desserts and a bottle of wine. There was a "children's menu" of sorts, offering two things--fries with minced beef, or fries with ham--neither of which seemed quite understandable. I got the girls the fries and ham, which was basically a plate of fries with three thin slices of cooked ham. They loved it. The waiter also gave them coloring pages and colored pencils and gum and candies, as though someone in the restaurant had done a study of how to have a kid-friendly establishment. Anyway, the girls had fun, and they had their AG dolls with them, and they devoured most of my creme brûlée, declaring they'd get their own tomorrow.
And instead of watching CNN for ten hours, we went to bed before the returns even started coming in, hoping we'd wake up to good news.
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