Day 6

This is our hotel. 

Took it a little easier this morning since we were out so late and started the day with lunch at EntreActe, right across from the Opera Garnier.



Huge crock of very sour garlic gerkin pickles, sandwiches, and of course wine.  Kendra ordered lemonade but what came was a drink called "Pschitt", which was exactly the sound it made when it was opened. 


The English Language tour of the Opera didn't start until 2:30 so we walked across the street to Froganard Perfumery (and museum) and got some Mothers' Day gifts for Nana and Grandmom. Definately the best smelling museum. Ever. This picture was taken while standing next to the Opera Garnier. The black sign is the the museum and our hotel is down that road on the left.

The tour of Opera Garnier was about an hour and a half and took us all around the public area of the Opera. No, we didn't get to see the water under the building, backstage or any of the rehearsal rooms. Although, there was a woman in our group who had once danced there. I am so glad we took the tour so that we understood how the different areas of the house are used. It is still a working Theater, but mostly ballets.

The chandelier. No, it has never fallen, although the counterweights have.

A private box.

 Setting up for the next show

The view from outside.

We next walked down Boulevard Haussmann to the Arch de Triomphe. An 8 lane road, no lights, in a circle and even bikes swerving between the cars. Crazazy.
There is NO WAY  I was going to try to cross this road. Phew, there is a tunnel. It is hard to see in this picture, but there are people on top. Kendra reaaaallly wanted to climb to the top. But we had walked about 2 miles to get here and it was a pretty warm day.





Hey, look, someone in a beret.

 

Next we walked down the Champs Elysees to----McDonalds. Kendra had a cheeseburger (nothing else on it just cheese-they got it right!). I got a 4 piece McNugget Happy Meal with "petit tomats" and "petit kiwi". Which was grape tomatoes and a kiwi on a stick. I ordered a 1664 for Jeff (we assumed correctly that it was some sort of beer) and she asked me "would you like that on the burger?". Beer? Apparently she misunderstood me and when I explained what I was ordering we had a little giggle. Jeff had a burger. No, Big Macs are not called La Big Mac and Quarter Pounders are not called "Royale with Cheese". But they do put mayonaise on EVERYTHING.

Kendra has decided she would like a 2nd floor in her bedroom, and would like crystal steps like these at the  Swarovski store.

There is always room for Crepe.



Day 5

Up early enough to board the Metro at Opera to Pont Marie and get in line for the 10am opening of the Towers at Notre Dame.  We arrived at Notre Dame about 9:50am and the line was already about a block long. While waiting in line, we struck up conversation with the family behind us. "Where are you from?" "Boston" "Us too, but really Needham" "What, we are from Wellesley!" (the towns border each other). They had a 9 year old 3rd grade daughter and she and Kendra were able to talk their way through the 2 hour wait. Kendra learned that the Needham girl was actually in the same class with a girl Kendra knows. (iasw).


Kendra and Jeff took a little walk to find a croissant, and when they returned I took orders and went across the street for crepes (Nutella and banana, of course). Once in the tower, there are circular stairs to the 1st level of one of the towers, then you cross between the towers, and climb stairs to the top of the 2nd tower. A beautiful view. (Even though this guy seems a little bored with it).

I don't think I would like to see this guy at night.

Zoomed in to Sacre Coeur (the highest point in Paris).

 The Opera house way in the distance.

The line to get into the church.

Emmanuel.

At 1pm a bell rang (somewhere) and I looked around and found myself alone in the bell tower, even the staff person left. Somehow I was left alone in the bell tower for about 10 minutes. Just me and Emmanuel. I just sat on the floor and enjoyed the peace. Kendra finally came up and found me.

We left Notre Dame (we would visit the inside of the Cathedral on Easter Sunday) and headed toward the Louvre. But first a stop for a Carousel ride.

The line at the Louvre was very long. I found some American kids at the front of the line who told me the had only been waiting about 10-15 minutes to get in. Not bad. Turns out it took about that long and the delay was the security check. All bags go through a detector (like at the airport). Pretty easy though.


Once inside there was a crowd of people just pushing through the hallways. These people were definately not there to enjoy what was around them. The just pushed. We just walked next to the crowds and enjoyed.

And we found what they were looking for.  Mona. The crowd was very thick and Jeff said "I don't know if Kendra is going to get a chance to see her". My response was "Hey, someone has to be up front, might as well be Kendra".  So we found our way to the front and took some time to look at the lady.

Here is the crowd of people. Really what most people were doing was pushing into the room, holding their cameras in the air and taking a picture, then leaving. I don't believe most of these people actually even saw the painting. Sad.

Kendra was very interested in the animal in the pictures. 



The Pyramids.

 OH NO KENDRA HAS NO ARMS.

This is in the "basement" of the Louvre. The walls are the originals from the castle that stood in this location before the Louvre was built. (this is a model of it).



Under the Pyramid. (See the crowds under the steps and behind Jeff). But on this side it was kind of quiet and not as crowded.

It was getting to be a little too much time in an art museum for Kendra, so we started playing "pose like the statues"

I love the hair in this one.

 This one was tough because there are no legs.

And off we went to visit the Eiffel Tower.

I found it a little scary that the tower was built to be temporary, but here it stands 125 years later.

 The line to get to the elevators was long. I, again, went to the front of the line, found some Americans, and asked them how long they had been in line. 40 minutes. Not too bad.

 The elevators are actually 2 story and carry about 50 people at a time. While we were standing in line the "Summet" (top) was closed for "congestion"; but, by the time we bought our tickets, it had opened up.

 We made our first stop at the 2nd floor (I think the 1st floor must have been really congested). A beautiful view.   Kendra was pretty excited to be able to TOUCH the Eiffel Tower, after spending a day at a museum where she couldn't touch anything. I kept reminding her at the Eiffel Tower "Touch it, touch it!".

Looking up from the 2nd floor to the top.  The line for the elevator to to top was about a half hour long. But we didn't dare not go to the top-right?

It was pretty windy up there, but not too cold (we had gone back to the hotel for jackets and pants, smart move).

Kendra (and we all) loved the hourly sparkles.  We started up the tower about 8:30pm and it was midnight when we finally got to the bottom and saw the sparkles. Taxi back to the hotel.