August 16 – Farewell Paris, Hello London

We said a sad goodbye to the Paris apartment early this morning. It has been a great home away from home. It was also hard to say goodbye to Jessica at the airport, we enjoyed such a great week together.

The girls and I had such a long layover in London that we decided to go into the city for a tour. We had fun viewing many of the famous sites atop one of the typical London tour buses.

Evelyn was excited to see the famous red phone booths that always appear in story books and shows about London.

I was also surprised how much she had heard about Big Ben, so we were sure to take many pictures during this part of the tour.

Finally, the flight to Seattle came and we are back here in the United States. Like many experiences, the trip feels long and short at the same time, yet this is an experience we will never forget. We are all thankful for this special time this summer.

August 15 – Parc de la Villette and Galleries Lafayette

For our last day in Paris we took the girls to a new park, Parc de la Villette, which did not disappoint us – there were all sorts of new playground features that they had not seen before!

We also saw a large format dolphin and whale movie in Paris’ version of an omnidome theater.

For the afternoon, we went on to the flagship Galleries Lafayette department store for some final shopping and to enjoy the view of Paris that they offer from roof of the eighth floor.

We all had a great dinner together at the café right out in the square in front of the apartment. Evelyn has fallen in love with the French Croque Monseur sandwich, so I’ll have to be sure to learn how to make this at home!

August 14 – Versailles Palace

Today we had a relaxing day trip out to Versailles Palace, which was constructed by Louis the 14th and was a royal residence up until the French revolution. The gardens behind the palace are beautiful in the summertime. We packed a picnic and had a great lunch right in the gardens.

Afterwards we had fun on one of the small rowboats that are on the garden pond. The girls enjoyed feeding bread to the swans and ducks up close, as well as having a turn at the oars.

From the gardens we toured both the petit palace getaway that was constructed for Marie Antoinette as well as the main chateau; room after room of portraits and high ceilings, including the famous Hall of Mirrors. It is hard to imagine what this monolithic palace was like when it was full of as many as 5,000 royals!

August 13 – Disneyland (Part 2), the Louvre and Montmartre

The girls and I spent the day full of Disney “magic”. Carolyn had her dream come true of wearing her Minnie dress in the happiest place on earth. I was ready to go at their speed and return home when they were tired (particularly after the Nice excursion), but they surprised me by going to distance to the light parade and nightly fireworks show – which completely awed both of them!

Meanwhile, Jessica spent the day touring the Louvre and then walking through Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur cathedral.

August 12 – Monaco and Mediterranean Sea

While Jessica took the girls to the beach this morning, I took the quick seaside train ride over to the small country of Monaco. I spent a few hours doing a walking tour of this small county, which dramatically tumbles down the hillsides into the sea. There is plenty of yacht gawking and beautiful view points here.

I also walked around the palace, which continues to be the prince’s residents.

To finish, I toured through Monaco’s central cathedral, which includes centuries of Monaco royalty buried around the back of the transept, including Grace Kelly.

For the afternoon, we had fun exploring Nice. We found one of the gelato shops that makes the flower cone (one of the to-do’s on Jessica’s list).

Then we took a boat cruise around the bay off of Nice. We were able to see some of the neighboring beaches and villages, as well as some of the mega villas that super stars like Elton John and Sean Connery have built there.

We ended the day picnicking on the train and watching the views back to Paris.

August 11 – Nice is nice!

We fell in love with Nice the instant we stepped out onto the large promenade bordering the Mediterranean. After spending the morning on the train, it felt great to get on our suits and play on the beach.

The beach at Nice is pebbly, yet thousands of people are there enjoying it, and we did too. The water felt great. I was surprised to see how much Evelyn enjoyed laying in the sun!

We found a great Nicoise restaurant for dinner and enjoyed a great meal of bouliabaise, salad, truffle sandwiches, country chicken, and more. After dinner, we were again astounded as how much activity extends into the night. The girls had fun riding a carousel all lit up with lights and there was a stretch of the road by the sea that they blocked off and turned into a performance pavilion. The seaside was full of people out enjoying life!

August 10 – Champs E’lyses, Arch de la Defense, Rue Monteguel

We started the day with a royal hot chocolate at Angelina’s. This historic patisserie was started nearly 100 years ago by a pastry chef from Vienna. It has a beautiful interior that is worth the trip. Jessica and I shared a pastry with lime infused cream and layers of puff pastry – it was exceptional!

After the hot chocolate break, we worked our way through some of the shops on the Champe E’lyses. The highlight for Carolyn was a new Minnie mouse dress which she has been plying for since our last visit to the shop. While not very Parisian, this may end up being her favorite souvineer from the trip. She plans to wear it to Disneyland on Thursday, so there will be more on this later…



We all had lunch with co-worker of my Dad’s from the Paris Rio Tinto office. She gave us great insights into Paris and it was fun to hear about what she likes and doesn’t. She grew up in Paris, but has also lived in Tokyo, Sidney, and London, so she has had a lot of opportunity to compare Paris to other cities!

Our Paris address

While Merideth is off-line down in Nice, I thought I'd put up the google map of where we stayed. Our apartment is accessed through that open red door. It opens up to a little courtyard and leads a stairway that goes up to the place on the 3rd floor (that's the fourth level in American numbering).

With the map, you should be able to click around and see the neighborhood.

--Matt


View Larger Map

August 9 - Eiffel Tower, Seine River cruise, Bercy Village

We got a nice early start this morning to the Eiffel tower. En route we stopped at Trocedero square to view the tower from accross the river.

The lines were not too long - especially for Jessica and Evelyn who decided to take the stairs up the tower!

After taking in the views from the tower we settled in to a park on the Champ de Mars and enjoyed a gourmet picnic while the girls played.

After walking the Eiffel tower neighborhood a bit, we took a cruise on the Seine that circled down around Ile de Cite and Ile de Saint Louis.

For dinner we headed over to the Bercy village area and enjoyed some shopping, including a sweet shop and the pet shop, where we purchased a souvineer for White Paws back home. The dinner together at the cafe was a wonderful time, and both Jessica and I enjoyed some entrees that we had never had before.