Paris - September 2009

Day 1 - September 11, 2009

Flying to Paris!



I'm emailing you all from 36 rue Paul Daumer, 16th arrondisement, Paris, France.

We're relaxing comfortably in the apartment of our friends Jen and Deyves. We endured a 7-hour flight which was relatively uneventful, but unfortunately neither Lori or myself got much sleep (it was an overnight flight). What saved us was that Megan slept for 3.5 hours (she had been getting kind of antsy). Since we reached Paris we've picked up Luiza, Jen and Deyves's four-year-old daughter, from school and visited a playground within view of la Tour Eiffel.

Now we're actually babysitting, as Jen and Deyves are attending a parents' night at Luiza's school. Megan and Luiza are dressed as princesses, tossing a (very light) ball around. No damage has yet been sustained. Max and Ruby play on the TV in the background. Luiza's 1.75-year-old sister Juliette is following their every move.

Day 2 - September 12, 2009




Today's adventures began as we boarded the local bus, bound for Luxembourg Gardens. The buses in Paris allow two deployed strollers on board, so it worked out well for us. Of course, Luiza and Megan opted to sit in their own seats, watching the scenery as it passed by (including the eternal flame dedicated to Princess Diana).

We ate our lunch (bagettes, cheese, and wine) next to the beautiful Medici Fountain and took advantage of the surroundings for a few photos ops. According to Wikipedia: "built in about 1630 by Marie de' Medici, the widow of King Henry IV of France and regent of King Louis XIII of France. It was moved to its present location and extensively rebuilt in 1864-66."

We walked to a large fountain/pond overlooking the Luxembourg palace. We rented some boats for the girls and they pushed and prodded them until they sailed under their own power around the pond (during which time, aganist all probability, there was a collision between their two boats).

Further events unfolded, including a visit to an amazing playground (1.60 Euros for adults, 2.60 Euros for kids), a public washroom (0.40 Euros), a pony ride (donkeys, actually; 2.60 Euros), and an ancient merry-go-round with a unique "catch the ring" game. Our adventure in Jardin du Luxembourg ended with a merry game of "find the ex-pats" as Aaron gets lost on his way back from the washroom. Fortunately an attractive young Parisian loaned him her cellphone. In the nick of time Lori recognized him because of his sandals!?

Oh yes, then ice cream!!

Day 3 - September 13, 2009


Slower day for us. We walked to a nice pedestrian-only street, bought some vegetables and fruit and enjoyed a leisurely brunch at a café. (When I say "leisurely" I mean that the service was realllly slowwww.) Our meals, when they finally arrived were amazing. Lori and I ordered les galettes, savory crepes, which weer absolutely amazing. For dessert we ordered glacée for the kids, which was served in cute little vaches (plastic cows). I personally enjoyed the view of the kitchen as seen from the patrons' washroom ;-)

After lunch we walked to a local park to let the kids run around. Then Lori and I took the girls to see an outdoor puppet show (45 minutes`duration) while Jen and Deyves went to visit a local museum. The show was great and filled up fast with kids and parents. It was a very interactive show, with the puppets asking the audience for suggestions as he constructed the details of the ensuing skit. Too bad it was in French! (Or, too bad my French sucks.) I know it was about the planning of a dinner party, during which one of the guests, who I believe was meant to be Amadeus Mozart, doubled the guest list, which was a serious bone of contention. There was also another guy (perhaps Salieri) who at one point has a bludgeoning match with Guignol with sticks, sort of a Punch and Judy type thing. Of course it`s mostly in good fun as Guignol keeps lifting his had to assure us he`s ok (and to crack a joke).

After the puppet show the adults switched roles and Lori and I went to the museum. Although small by Paris standards, Musée Marmottan Monet was beautiful, set as it is in an old manor with some amazing 18th century furniture and other acoutrements (candlabra, etc). It will come as no surprise to you, my kind reader, the highlight was the Monet paintings, the world's largest collection.

I've been to a couple of galleries that specialize in broad collections by a single artist and I find there is so much more to be learned when you can compare the breadth of an artist's work. For instance, in Barcelona I visited the Picasso gallery. Not only did it contain many of his well-known cubist works, it also displayed a large collection of his works as a student, when he was learning how to draw forms and the human figure. It made me realize that even the impressionists and surrealists started out classicaly trained. It`s not as if they took a shortcut and skipped straight to impressionism to avoid learning the basics--they`ve gone beyond the basics of the `paint what you see` paradigm. From this Monet exhibit I learned that he developed cataracts in his 60s which dramatically altered the way he saw the world and therefore what he painted. Instead of painting sharp compositions of green and blue his failing eyesight led him to paint more diffuse works in oranges and reds. When you can compare the works from his 40s to the works from his 60s you can really see the difference. Once his eyesight was corrected (using scary 1920s eye surgical techniques) he destroyed many of those works during his `cataract period`, he despised them so. Click here for more about Monet`s cataracts.

We also saw a couple of special photographic exhibitions, including Lucien Clergue, famous for his nudes, and photos of dying Spanish bulls (fresh from the ring), and various other dead and decomposing animals. Here's some Google results of his works (be warned they do include nudes): click here. The other photographer whose work was on display was Yann Arthus-Bertrand, who is famous for amazing aerial photography, particularly of Paris. Our final experience at the museum was to watch a 1/2-hour video which was inspired by Arthus-Bertrand's photographs. Essentially it's a serious of aerial footage of Paris from a helicopter. Absolutely stunning. It would be the ultimate DVD keepsake for anyone visiting Paris. I shot some video of the video, which I may post in the blog if it turns out to be decent.

Then: back to the apartment for a delicious spaghetti and homemade Italian sauce (Jen`s comfort food). Later in the evening Lori and I went for a walk to l'Arc de Triomphe and then up and down the Champs Elysée (including a brief visit to La Duree, home of the macaron, where we discovered a cool blue-tinted bar), then back to Trocadero to watch the Eiffel tower sparkle (which it does on the hour every evening) at midnight.

Day 4 - September 14, 2009

Ugh... Daddy woke up with a sore throat. Merde.

Our big excursion today was to the Cine Aqua, the Paris aquarium. It's literally a ten minute walk away at Trocadero. I won't go into great detail, except to say that I've uploaded lots of interesting pics to Flickr. Also, the aquarium seems to experience a bit of an identity crisis. Mostly it's an amazing aquarium, but it's one-third Planet Hollywood, with lots of life-size replicas of movie monsters, robots, and dinosaurs. It even has a cinema, which today was playing the Spiderman movies back-to-back!

Dinner: home-made enchiladas! How much more Parisian can you get?



Day 5 - September 15, 2009

Aaron's dreams:
- Roger Waters as David Bowie
- Mike Morton re-launches Showcare under a new business model: making thneeds! (because a thneed is what everyone needs!)

Today`s activities:

Walk through cemetary - Megan and Daddy walked through a local cemetary. I know it sounds creepy, but...well.. ok, it was creepy. When I told Megan where we were going, she told Mommy, "we`re going to see dead people, Momma." As it turned out the dead people were all entombed within very expensive mausoleums. No doubt a very expensive cemetary in which to take up residence. Afterwards Megan and Daddy walked to a park where rue Paul Daumer and rue de Passy converge.

Boatride on the Seine to Ile de la Cite - the whole entourage marched to the Eiffel Tower where we caught the Batobus for a boatride down the Seine. The Batobus is a commuter boat. We jumped off at Isle de la Cité and visited the childrens section at Shakespeare and Company before walking across Pont au Double for a quick tour of Notre Dame. We made sure to point out the scowling gargoyles to the girls, as we were planning to watch The Hunchback of Notre Dam later in the evening.

Crepes! - Jen took us behind Notre Dame to a beautiful park where we ate crepes (Daddy's was stuffed with banana and Nutella) while the kids played in the playground. One thing I never realized about Paris (since this is the first trip viewing Paris through the eyes of children) was that there are playgrounds strategically placed throughout the city with many innovative and different types of equipment.

Winding down the day - We left the islands and returned to the mainland, exploring briefly the area of Paris called The Marais (in English, "the Marsh"), a name rooted in the area's origins; in the 12th century the Knights Templar first cleared the wetlands on the right bank of the river Seine for habitation. The area is now home to a strong Jewish community but also contains significant Chinese and gay communities as well as several museums.

After a trip back to the Eiffel Tower on the Batobus and a final spin on the carousel, we walked back home.

Day 6 - September 16, 2009

- L'Arc de Triomphe
- Champs Elysée
- Place de la Concorde
- Jardin de Tulieries
- trampoline et al
- Louvre Pyramid
- Palais-Royale
- Opera House
- Galerie Lafayette

Day 7 - September 16, 2009

- EuroDisney (the girls)
    - commentary by Jen Osti-Fonseca

- Vimy Ridge (Daddy)
    - commentary TBD
    - photos are uploaded (view)

All other Paris-related photos can be found in a separate set (view).