Category: Paris

Our last day in Paris. Foggy. Misty. Drips of rain. The weather in Paris has been great, wonderful, and cold – mostly clear with some cold winds. Now the winds are gone and the fog and mist shows us a wetter side of Paris. I am so thankful that we have had the great weather and we have seen the Eiffel tower in many cloaks and we have been able to enjoy walking the streets and playing in the playgrounds. Today after having breakfast with the Eiffel tower out our window, we packed up and went for a walk to catch our bus to Beavvis where our jet is waiting. We had all of our bags and the rains were not falling too hard. The walk was less than 2 miles and took us down the famous Champs D Élysses avenue and past the Arc do Triump. Not so picturesque without sunlight shining through, so we did not dally too long. We exited the Arc area and crossed the Seine River and arrived to catch the bus just in time. Early is always best. The bus ride was rainy but I was relieved to know that we were one step closer. The Ryan Air jet left right on time. We were one of the first ones on the plane after the cattle run for the seats. I love Ryan Air. The sun was setting while we were flying. So beautiful when you fly at this time. We arrived back in Madrid without any difficulties. We were able to navigate the Metro system from the airport which took us back to our place for only 10€. After one change of trains, the Metro dropped us off at Calle de la Palma – Tribunal where our place was just a straight-shot away. So many Spaniards walking around the streets on this early Friday Night. The ability to use the Metro to go to the Airport is awesome. Feels good to be back in Madrid and the weather is definitely warmer here.

Today I woke up early to go and grab a key for our new place – a room with a view. A sweet view of the Eiffel Tower. 7th floor penthouse AirBnB. After securing the room, I walked the gardens in front of the Invalides, Past Rodin garden and the UnesCO building and back to our place. I took a tour of a bus infront of the UNESCO building – the John Lennon Imagintion Peace Bus. Made me start thinking. A very cool concept. This is what we have been doing. We packed up and headed over to our new place, but 1st we had to visit 2 more playgrounds – a sunny one and the merry-go-round playground again. Glad to see Ezra and Viena interacting with each other , playing with other kids at the playground. Good to hear Ezra read books in French. Ezra has been pretending like he cannot walk lately when we are walking aorund the city.A little game of his that no one enjoys playing , especially me. I guess since Viena is such a good walker, she needs a treat. So on we go. Our new place is small but sweet. Viena and I went exploring the nearby Champ-Elysees. Lots of people – cool stores if you are a millionaire. Now the clouds have arrived. Sa La vie. We leave tomorrow.

The five days here went fast in Paris. Actually we are still on day number 4. The eiffel Tower, Lets start with yesterday. Viena and I went on our own little adventure. We found out what time the sun rises in Paris – around 7:45AM. Late. Late. I kept checking the clock and checking the hue of the darkness out of the windows to ensure we left at the proper time. I did not want to be walking around the dark deserted early morning streets of Paris. The METRO starts at 5:30AM, but we were out the door in time to catch the 7AM METRO from Commerce – right by our place, about a 3 minute walk. This would be our first test of the Paris Metro system. Lots of sleepy French people aboard. Many exited at Concorde, we stayed on until Richard Drouot, which made me think of Richard Dreyfus and Richard the guy who ran for President, not NIXON. I absentmindedly left the PAris map on the bedstand. Ooops. I knew I should have packed the map away the night before. Oh well. Who needs a map!? Sometimes it is good to reach for that feeling of lost. As soon as we exited the Metro on the street, we could tell which way was East from the light on the sun and I knoew I needed to go North. The good thing was, we were able to see our planned destination up on the hill, but only for the first 100 meters of the walk – the Sacre Coeur. There it was. Not lit up by sunlight yet, but showing itself above all everything else. So North we walked and quickly the city buildings crunched together and blocked our view of the Sacre Coeur. Up we walked – rue des Martyrs -to the Funiculaire. And then the sight. By this time, the morning sun was striking the angelic white face of the Sacre Coeur. Beautiful. Viena is such a good walker. We have not done an early morning adventure in a while and she was up for the challenge. The 200 steps up the Funiculaire were no match for her. Coming down was even more fun. And the experience inside – unforgettably ethced in my soul. Absolutely moving. No photographs were allowed because they were holding worship. French carols of Nuns leading a service in the most beautiful church I have ever been in.Thank you. 10Euros for a big candle blessing, 2 Euros for a small candle blessing. Not in Rome anymore where the blessing are cheap. On the way down we hike past the Notre DAme de Lorette and the Opera House and the Royal Palace on the way to the Louvre Museum. And yes, we saw the Mona Lise. The Mona Lisa was the only masterpiece we saw besides the masterpiece of human art of humans running around like ants from here to there up and down. An interesting culture here in the Louvre. What about the rest of the people on Earth who have not even heard of the Mona Lisa. SO I try. Well, all the people were too much for Viena who really only wants a small puppy or something to cuddle. We left and departed – saw the cool elevator working. Walked throught eh gardens of Tulleries on the way to the Concorde Metro. We were home in no time, around noon. Just in time for another adventure. I wanted to return to the Louvre tht aafternnon, since WEdnesday the Louvre is open until 9PM, but Dwana was not feeling well so I took Viena and Ezra out. What a beautiful day with beautiful weather. We walked down towards teh Seine River, but before we could cross, we found a playground tucked in by all the tall skyscraper housing buildings. there are no big office skyscrapers, only for housing. A concept. Ezra and Viena lover the small merry-go-round. All the french children played nice. The sun was setting so we struck out for the Seine River again, just barely catching the last bits of sun near the statue of Liberty Mom or Twin sister. Lots of boats in the water. Of course, all Viena wanted was Cotton Candy and the Carosel – and then the iffel Tower. We were able to see the boats as we walked right down quayside. The water was nice to look at. The wind was blowing, but not too bad. Everyone was bundled up thanks to Dwana’s good packing skills. Their jackets have come in so handy. We are 1 week away from the heat of Brasil. I do not need a coat, but I was glad for Dwana’s windbreaker. Ezra and Viena rode the twirlly balloon carosel. I took lots of photos. We saw another Japanese princess and Chinese bride near the carosel in full dress. Must be the thing to do. The walk home was long but we live within a mile of the Eiffel Tower – which is nice. Dwana was in charge of bedtime.

We woke up at 8AM. Our day in Paris. I assured Dwana that we would try to find a bathroom every hour. I had heard that Paris, unlike the rest of Europe had recently upgraded their public toilet accessibility – but they have not upgraded enough – I found that out near the end of the day – 3:30PM. We arrived back at our place. Ezra was faking tiredness by lying in the streets of Paris. I tried to talk him out of it – to keep him going, but he was 4 years old and he was done. His 4-year-old mind had had enough of this city walking. We found a cool playground – well not really, but a fairy wood that would go on forever if we would have had forever to go on. Reminded me a little of the trails in the woods I had as a kid growing up in West Columbia. I remember my time spent in the woods, just playing. I need more of those memories. We saw so much on this circular walk out into a shorter circle. We saw the mini statue of the liberty on the small island. And who knows what else – the park Citreon. So many photos. And now we rest up for the Strong who ill go out again once the sun sets to see th Eiffel Tower at night and eat cotton candy and ride on the merry-go-round Carousel.

Viena. I love you. You are growing so tall. I watch you smile. I listen to you sing. You made my day. The sun is big shining down upon you. I enjoy the things that you color, paint, and draw. Thank you for all the nice work. Love Mom.

Dear Ezra. Thank you for giving Mom a kiss in the airport. I really enjoy listening to you talk about your Dragon School. You make me laugh and smile. I never have a hard time hearing you. Lets always dream and imagine fairies. I love you. Love Mom.

Funny. Just Funny. Around the world in 80 days. Staying in one spot for 80 days – in the same spot of the world for 80 days. What have we learned? – To be and to progress and to move forward. Who sets these goals – these ideals? Something catches eventually. Today – we traveled. Traveling is always an entire day for us. We woke up early, especially early, to catch the METRO to the train to the plane to the Jet of RYANAIR – the heirs of Ryans – a full day. We were lost in the Metro first thing. I think that if a person (Viena/ Ezra) is too young to operate the Metro ticket area, they should be free. 4.90 Euros each for the Metro to the airport compared to a 35 Euro taxi ride. Like always, we arrived early to the airport. Lots of people were using the Metro which goes all the way to the airport – a great system. So convenient. I am not a Metro person. The thought of traveling underground scares me, and all the unfamiliarity of schedules and which way that way confuses me, but the Metro is growing on me. So efficient, and so convenient. So, the Metro is not so scary anymore. And then I was thinking about the job of the the engineer who spends his whole work day underground driving trains and then they leave the dark underground world and darkness has arrived in the city.

We were able to pass to pass through RyanAir security without any troubles. Believe it or not, we were first in the queue. Another interesting phenomenon – Ryanair does not have assigned seats – first come – first served. Who though up that saying anyway? So, no one is at the counter, no line, but everyone knows that there will be a line or a mess of people, but no one wants to be the first one to start the queue. Just for fun, I started the queue in Vienna – real early – before the mass energy started building. Mass energy – one person steps forward and then busts out of the woodwork to be the second person in line – like herds of water buffalo trying to cross a raging river. So, we were near the front. RyanAir does not give families with small children priority – crazy since they have the addition of no assigned seats. What would have happened if I did not try to be one of the first in the queue? Ezra loved weaving in and out of all the legs of the standing water buffaloes.

We made it onto our flight in our window seat on the starboard side. The flight was cloudy with a blue horizonal line – not like the RyanAir Flight to Vienna that flew low over the land. Only a 90 minute flight. “So green down there!” – Viena. Moving forward. We landed north of Paris and had to catch a bus (16€ per person). The bus was not at all frantic like Terravision Buses in Rome – everyone had a seat. Hopefully the same is thecase on the return bus ride. We did see some sort of line at the return terminal. But let’s not jump ahead of ourselves, we have just arrived. The Eiffel Tower. The Arc do Triumph. Our first sights. Viena keep saying “I’m not too excited” or ” This is not very exciting.” But I can tell she was just tired and excited all at the same time. We ate and we walked. Which way to the Eiffel Tower ? A hand gesture. The Arc do Triumph. Late night walking. Good thing Ezra had a nap, but even with a nap he was our slow pole. So slow at times. What can we learn from this? We arrived at around 6:00pm and had until 9:00pm to meet up with our new home-stay host. Fast-forward. As the church clock struck 9:00pm, we were punching in the code on the wrong apartment building. Luckily our host was walking by and saw the bags and recognized us. Flash-back. We ate at the CarreFour. I love that place. Feasted, like the French – used to feast. Now they do CrossFit and interval training up the Trocadero. The food tastes better in Europe – even the snickers bars. So, on we walked through the night. I thought we would have an extra hour of daylight, but daylight savings was yesterday. Bummer.

Actually, everything worked great. The lights of the Eiffel Tower, all of the people, Snap! Snap! Photo! Photo! Each step we took the Eiffel Tower grew in size – until we were underneath and through to the other side – of the machine. “How do you get in there?” – Ezra. He was trying to figure things out. He was especially trying to figure out how to receive another ride on the merry-go-round-carousel. He was the saddest little boy in his bi-plane that did not go up and down. Viena was in a twirly tub – a must ride. So we walked and walked, with the Eiffel Tower now becoming smaller and smaller in the distance until we finally forgot about it. We were staying near Rua de Commerce near the end of the park. The street was lit up very well with lots of shops, but we could not stop to shop, we could not stop for another carousel ride, we could not stop for McDonalds. Onward to our new place. We found what we thought was the place just as the church bells were ringing nine times. You know the rest. Saved. Thank you. To think, now we are safe inside our new place, after a full day of traveling – such a good feeling. And the weather is clear, windy, and a little colder. Dwana wonderfully packed the children all their cold-weather clothes. After showering the day away, Dwana and I fell asleep not caring what Ezra and Viena were doing. We have not done this in forever – letting the Kindle be the babysitter. I awoke to Dwana yelling “Help! … Get them off of me!” And sure enough, both Ezra and Viena had fallen asleep atop Dwana – 1am. I had a villain in my dreams, but not so bad. I then thought about all the other AirBnB places that were haunted. Good Sleep.