Paris trip prep

Sophia and Brady were very helpful with our packing. They discovered that our extra large suitcases made perfect little beds to play in. At first they were just hiding inside them and playing peek-a-boo. Then came the pillows, followed up finally by the towel blanket. The kids did pretty well with our departure, but we're not sure how well they comprehend "9 days". Hopefully we'll be able to bring back some fun toys and dress up clothes that will make up for it all. :)

Our flight over was pretty uneventful. AirFrance is a really nice airline, and the plane was packed. The meal was really good, and HB and I had a French red wine with our meal to kick off the vacation. They have a pretty advanced entertainment system for each seat that includes the choice of a handful of movies, about 10 different games and the standard TV and music. The remote detached from the seat and you could hold it like a Nintendo controller for the games. Its amazing how a nicely a game of Solitaire can help the time and miles slip past.

Yesterday was a French holiday to celebrate the end of WWII, so a lot of shops were closed, but more importantly there was no traffic from the airport to our apartment. We shared a cab with a retired couple from Naples FL who were staying about 5 minutes from our studio. It was sunny at the airport, but the clouds collected as we neared Paris and we ended up unloading in front of our studio in the rain. It was a light sprinkle, but enough to discourage exploring the immediate surroundings. So we decided to take a short snooze since we didn't get much sleep on the flight over.

Around 12 we started out towards Chuck and Coryn who are staying near Place Monge on Rue Jussieu. There were plenty of shops and sights to see on our way from Place De La Bastille homebase. By this time, some shops had opened and the sun had appeared to greet us, making for a perfect day for a walk. We took back streets to arrive on Pont Sully which took us to the new Arabic museum which has an amazing front facade of windows filled with metal apertures to regulate the amount of sunlight entering the museum.

Heather and I met up with Chuck and Coryn in a cafe located just next to them for a small lunch snack to get us through till dinner.

Here are a few more pictures that I took as we walked around on our first day. I'll need to add some further detail to them tomorrow morning, because to my surprise, HB is ready to leave after only 70 minutes!!! WOW.


Heather and Coryn lighting a candle in Notre Dame.


During our walk home from dinner we passed through Place Des Vosges which has a collection of cafes and art studios. We'll be heading back there to look through a few of the studios and their art work.