La Fin

We ended where we began. A picnic at Place Des Vosges. And of course walking. And eating ice cream. Cross your fingers that the taxi shows up when and where it is supposed to tomorrow morning. We're always guessing our way through transactions here. Au revoir Paris. A toute a l'heure, gator.

Le Pere-Lachaise

The storm came and now we're cool and breezy again. Teen daughter navigated and narrated a stroll through the Pere-Lachaise Cemetery today, reading from a Paris Walks book. We visited the graves of Balzac, Richard Wright, Max Ernst, Gertrude and Alice, Proust, Wilde and of course Jim Morrison. The cemetery has huge trees, cobblestone alleyways and it's been a lovely day. Cross your fingers for the Blues tonight.

Le Chaud

It's only super hot in Paris for about 15 days of the year so it's great to know we've been in town for all 15. But a storm's a brewin and we should cool off for our last few days. We walked down Montparnasse this morning checking out movie theaters that had movies in v.o., version originale. Je T'aime was playing at 11:15 and I asked if the film was in english. The woman told me (in french) that the majority of it was in english, with some french. We headed in and the movie had already started. It was all in french. At first I thought, geez louise, can nothing be easy? But then I felt the cool air conditioning and the film, full of short vignettes from famous directors, became not too hard to follow. We think we got the gist of most of the stories, especially the few that had some english lines. The unifying power of film. I think I've heard someone use that phrase before and it seems appropriate here. We also walked around Au Bon Marche, tres cher department store, also air conditioned. Everything I looked at was tempting, but I bought nothing, despite #1's constant prodding, "Mom, pull the trigger! Pull the trigger!"

Le Nom

We toured the Pantheon today. We loved the chilly coolness of the crypt. In one small alcove, we stood between the tombs of Victor Hugo, Emile Zola and Alexander Dumas. #1 son pointed to the crypt of Dumas and whispered to me, "What a drag to have the name Dumbass."
Teen Daughter wasn't too happy when she found out why I was laughing, so we sauntered off to this nice spot along the Seine and had some premier Parisian ice cream. Then over to the Cluny to look at artifacts from the Middle Ages. They have a real plethora of ruins over here. Last week we meandered into a small park for a rest and noticed we were surrounded by old ruins tossed along its border. The name of the park..."Garden of Old Stones." Tonight we meet some pals for dinner after some champagne and strawberries at the apartment. I'm heading home to sweep the floor. My housekeeping skills have really gone down the tubes this month. But guess what else??? I finished another chapter of that which shall not be named, just this morning. Ooh lala.

La Coupe

Today we spent a hot but fun day walking around the gardens at Versailles. We got there in time for the fountain show, where they have all the fountains going and classical music is piped in. Then we headed over to Le Hameau, or hamlet, of Marie Antoinette. She had a little village built so she could pretend she was an earthy peasant every once in awhile.
Last night France won another World Cup game and the partying was raucous outside our apt. I fell asleep eventually but Husbandman reports three guys sang the same song over and over, until about 6am. I am hoping the Blues go all the way. That will be a sight to behold.

La Maison

J'aime museums that are in the artist's houses. This is Musee Zadkine, a small museum, in the home of the late Ossip Zadkine. He was Russian, but hung out in France most of the time. After checking out his place, we headed over to Xmen 3 (excellente!) this afternoon, then trekked around the neighborhood a bit. One week left of this bonne journee.

Le Temp

Back from Lyon. A lovely trip. Today we are back in the game. We saw the windows in St. Chappelle, had some lunch in the Marais, and then braved the line at L'Orangerie. #1 son was not happy about that, but we made it through. After we finally got our tickets, we walked downstairs to see the famous waterlilies. Teen Daughter reminded all of us, "Monet really took his time with these." As usual she was right. The two rooms of waterlilies were bright and shimmery and there was a happy vibe there with lots of happy viewers. I liked the Modiglianis and the Matisses too from the Guillaume collection. Paul Guillaume knew how to acquire the art. We can all learn from his example.
p.s. There's extra excitement in town since the Blues are doing so well in the World Cup competition. Yay.

La Parapluie

We spent the weekend here at Etretat, storming the shores of Normandy. It's quite beautiful up there and we spent the first day hiking on these cliffs and laying around on the rocky beaches, eating bread and cheese. Teen Daughter swam and we watched. Our second day was rainy so we headed to ruins in Jumieges which were stunning and then we toured some way old churches in Rouen. We only had one umbrella, which I claimed as my own. Unfortunately, #1 son kept taking it from me and doing Gene Kelly imitations. So I found that frustrating. And I continously asked him to either use the umbrella as rain protection or return it to me.
Tomorrow we're off to Lyon where Husbandman will work and we will play.

Le Mer

Top of the Eiffel Tower this morning. That is a good way to start your day. Then we ate sandwiches and crepes in the Tuileries and then we went to Jeu de Paume for a Cindy Sherman retrospective. The line for the Orangerie was wicked long and I was almost glad. Speaking of long lines, there's a new museum in town that just opened today called Musee De Quai Branley. There was a 2 hour wait to get in so I hope to slip in some time next week. The building is tres tres cool. Poor husbandman had to work in the math compound. Tomorrow we'll head out to Normandie for a few days at the sea.

La Fete

La Fete de Musique is a must for all of us next year. It's like a gigantic free Lotus, with a zillion musicians perched around the Latin Quarter. We heard music of all kinds and when the streets got way too packed we started snaking our way home. #1 heard some band playing Seven Nation Army down the street and took off running. He stopped about 20 feet ahead and yelled back to us, "Come on!" So we all ran to hear that last song. Well worth it. Today Husbandman took kiddos to the Pompidou and to St. Chappelle. I made progress on that which shall not be named and then we walked to this here Pyramid. Tres joli.

Le Mort

We could not find this guy in the Montmartre Cemetery. We looked for him and for Man Ray and for Sartre and for de Beauvoir and for Tristan Tzara. They're all in there, but there's some crowding going on, let me tell you.