Paris

During our time in Paris, we stayed at a delightful bed and breakfast through Alcove and Agape. Our host was Claudine who spoke just a tiny bit of English, but who worked hard to help us out and make sure we had what we needed. Her apartment was small, but we had what we needed. Above, you can see how she'd serve us a typical French breakfast of bread, spreads, and cafe chocolate.
Being with Claudine was a great way for us to get more deeply ingrained in French life. We were able to see how she organized her day and her week, and how she worked in her Tiny French Kitchen, and learn the basics of French life.

We purchased a 3-day museum pass which allowed us access to many of the city's museums. We highly recommend it for anyone traveling with children! With it, you can follow your children's attention span.
Below, you can see the boys and I hunting for dogs at the Louvre. They were pretty excited that day, and I think were ready to go in about a half an hour. We made sure they got a chance to see the Mona Lisa. (That was a surreal experience--people crowding around, but no one gazing at the painting. Rather, everyone was pushing to get a good spot to get a photograph. They didn't seem to understand they could get a better photo from the giftshop or even online, yet this is their chance to see the paintings with their own eyes--without any filter.)


We spent a bit more time in the Musée de l'Orangerie. Like the Louvre, it is situated on the Tuileries Garden which was probably the boy's favorite part of our day. They got to run and play in the grass, dirt, and fountains (and they got ice cream).
At l'Orangerie Charlie spotted this working artist (below) and exclaimed, "Hey, she's painting Abstract!" That really impressed me. His first-grade art teacher was teaching more than I realized--and it stayed with him.

Monet is my favorite painter, so we spent a good amount of time in the water lily room. All four walls are covered in his grand canvases. You might be able to tell from this photo that I was the family member most taken by his art:


We also purchase a 2-day hop on/hop off bus tour. This took us to the front door of most all the top Paris sites. It worked great in combination with our museum pass, because we could ride as much or as little as we desired. When it was sunny, we rode on the open top deck (which has been a wish of Charlie's for the past two years), and when it was drizzly, we were dry in the cabin below.
We attended the Episcopal American Cathedral in Paris on Sunday. The boys looked forward to attending Sunday School. That day the Cathedral completed their fund raising for Haiti and the children sung a song about Haiti during the offering. Here you can see Charlie and Luke joined in like they'd been practicing with everyone for weeks. Thanks, Sharon, for giving our kids a great children's choir which makes them comfortable singing wherever they go:

Here we are strolling through one of many Paris parks we found. Most of their walking trails are dirt rather than paved which caked our clothes and bodies in a deep layer of dust the whole time we were in Paris. Here, you can see the boys enjoying one anothers' company:

Another stop during our days in Paris was the national Museum of Anthropology and Natural History. It had great displays of comparative anatomy, evolution, and even had the real Lucy stuck back in a corner.

Ah, here's the view out our window at Claudine's house. Such a beautiful place.