Paris Finale

I know you have been anxiously awaiting to hear how our trip to Paris ended, so here goes....

On our last day in Paris, we of course had to spend loads of money on gifts for friends back here so we treked on over to Galleries Lafayettes, the Parisian version of Macy's, Bloomingdales or other regional department stores. On Stacy's directions, we took a bus to the front of the old Opera where we took photos and got cash from an ATM.



Alise, Nicole and I spent a good bit of time in the touristy section of the store buying up all kinds of trinkets for family and friends. It took us almost as much time finding our way out of the labrynth/store as it took us to pick out gifts (I think this is their way of keeping you trapped inside so you have to be bombarded by images of stuff that you 'must' have and buy...coming soon to a theater near you "Escape from Galleries Lafayettes!"). When we returned to Stacy's, we had another yummy lunch then packed up our bags so that we wouldn't have to do it late at night or too early in the morning.



From that point on, we were on a sprint to see how many more things we could fit into our stay in Paris. We walked to a cafe that served some fantastic hot chocolate. Stacy and Alise bought the kind that you mixed at the table...it came with two miniature pitchers one with hot melted chocolate and the other with warm milk. It was fun to watch both of them mix the concoction at the table and discuss the best way to do it. I ordered a chocolat chaud avec chantilly so Nicole could eat up the fresh whipped cream. After this brief but worthwhile stop, we wondered around a bit, were turned away from Jardin de Luxembourg (it closed up before we made it there), bought some galette sablees (the original shortbreads that the girl scouts are trying to imitate) and stopped to drink a vin chaud while Nicole napped in the Jeep stroller. Finally, it was time for a last great Parisian meal and we settled on a restaurant, La Durer, named after a French artist that is located in Montmartre. I had been there many times before most notably the last time Jay and I visited Paris. The french onion soup was sublime! Even Stacy ordered some of the soup ignoring the thought that there might have been beef stock included that would normally offend her vegetarianism. I honestly don't remember what I had as an entree because the soup was too memorable. I know we had dessert, too...probably ice cream.



We sleepily made our way back to the apartment and into bed to be ready for our journey home. Truly the only notable thing to mention about the trip home is that Nicole was a dream traveler....she was so well behaved that I got numerous compliments about her behavior that I am sure surprised everyone....I think she handles the hours of traveling better then I do.

We interupt...

...this program...
I need to finish my posts about the trip to France, but Nic was pretty funny yesterday and it does relate to the trip. Nicole was quite impressed with the Louvre and still talks about the highlights of the Louvre, the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and Winged Victory. While driving in the car yesterday after dropping Jay off at the airport she called from the backseat saying, "Momma, who am I acting like, now?" I told her it was difficult to figure that out since I was driving and didn't want to get into an accident. She was persistent and asked again when I was at a red light. Upon turning around, I saw that Nicole was sitting perfectly still with her hands crossed in front of her with a half smile on her face...her impression of the Mona Lisa. Next, when I could look again, she was trying with some bit of struggle to shove her arms behind her back and gaze off in the distance...this was her Venus de Milo. The funniest thing was when she said to me, "Momma, how can I act like I don't have a head or arms, because Winged Victory doesn't have a head?!" One look in the review mirror revealed that she was trying to scoot her shoulders higher then her head in hopes that it would miraculously dissappear between them. I told her that spontaneous decapitation was out of the question. She of course asked what that meant and I told her she was too young to understand at this point...

Nutella Day

We started the morning walking around Montmartre on another wonderful Stacy-guided tour. (It was this morning that I got the full affect of what the Cosby’s had seen the night before upon exiting the metro…way too many neon signs with the word ‘sex’ in the title!) I was determined on this day to eat a crepe with Nutella and brought Alise down with me. She was pretty impressed and had a worried expression on her face when I mentioned she could probably find Nutella at any grocery store in Austin…it is pretty addicting. Nicole rode another fanciful carousel at the base of the Sacre Coeur cathedral and then we visited a pretty church right near the Metro stop, Abessesses. Due to the fact that we were really ‘burning the candle at both ends’ it was not surprising that Nicole was ‘running out of candle to burn’. So after a quick successful walk in search of a quant restaurant, La Durer, that Jay and I enjoyed several years ago, Nicole and I returned to Stacy’s for a nap while Alise and Stacy visited La Conciegerie, Sainte Chapele and Notre Dame. It was the ladies' turn for a night on the town, so after I dropped Nicole off with the Cosby’s, Stacy, Alise and I headed for dinner at Closerie des Lilas. Many travel books describe it as THE place to eat since several famous, and infamous, people have dined there. One of the reasons I wanted to return was to get another taste of the steak tartare that Jay and I had eaten on recommendation from a Parisian friend. I split foie gras ravioli with Alise then ordered the slab of raw beef. Alise had some succulent beef in a rich wine sauce and Stacy had some pretty tastey fish. (I would say the ravioli outshined the steak tartare on this visit). We had some decaf coffee but we were way too engorged for dessert…good thing because they brought us some tiny tartlettes and dried mango anyway…just enough sweet to end the meal. Alise and I retrieved Nic from the Cosby’s place then rode a taxi back to Stacy’s just in time to harass her for a few minutes before slumber.

Late to Bed, Late to Rise...

Today we started out slow because we didn’t go to bed until after midnight (including Nicole). We had a nice breakfast including yogurt, hard-boiled egg, café mocha and toast. Nicole had the usual, PB & J and yogurt. We took our time getting dressed and had the pleasure of our tour guide Stacy again today. We took the Metro over to Bastille where Stacy bought some dance tickets. After we found an ATM, we also found a patisserie which was a first on this trip to Paris. Stacy and I both had éclairs while Nic had a huge meringue and Alise ate a peanut/honey/praline type tart. From there we walked to Place des Vosges where Nicole played with some local children climbing monkey bars, sliding, playing on a teter totter and just blowing off some steam. Stacy decided to find a café to sit and write letters while Nic, Alise and I visited the Carnavalet or Museum of Paris. It was a fascinating former private residence that had some really lovely decorated rooms. I especially like the shades of pink, green, blue and yellow that were used alternately much the same way I would like to decorate Nic’s room. We met up with Stacy then went in search of nourishment. Since it was Saturday, the Sabbath, and we were in the Jewish part of Paris (at least one of them) we had to wander around a bit until we came to a dead-end street and chose the Café to eat some lunch. Nicole and I ate some of the best hamburgers I have ever had. The meat must have been ground on the premises because of how fresh they tasted. After that much needed food, we meandered down this street and in search of Centre Pompidou or Beaubourg. Once you get close it is not hard to identify the museum by its bizarre architecture that makes the building look like a cross between intestines or a building without an exterior. The fountain is really cool, also because of the sculptures inside of it...one if which is funny because it depicts a mermaid, which Nicole loves, with water shooting out of one of it's breasts...good thing Nicole didn't understand because she would have been talking about it incessantly on the bus, on the metro or anywhere she could get an ear to listen to her.



It was getting late and we had to head back to Stacy’s in order to pick up a few things to head over to the Cosby’s to shoo the parents out the door and out to have fun. Since the Chinese food place that was recommended was closed, I picked up various things such as grilled chicken breast, ready-made rice, veggies for salad and some bread and Nutella to make a feast of our own. When Monica and Doug returned I realized I had mistakenly sent them out the wrong metro stop. I am sure it was a shock for them to walk out of Pigalle and be bombarded with neon signs about sex (Sexorama, Sexodrome, Moulin Rouge, etc.). I meant for them to exit at Abessess which would have been more like being surrounded by hip SoCo in Austin instead of the strip in Las Vegas. Nonetheless, we had a great time hanging out with the kids and didn’t leave the hotel to return to Stacy’s until after midnight…another late night and late morning…