France Trip Day 7: P.A.R.I.S.

This was another day where we didn't even want to sleep in. We jumped out of bed at 7:30, packed up our backpacks, and downed a fab breakfast (the typical croissant, baguette, bread, hot chocolate, and oranges - free with the stay!) in the little hotel breakfast room. Gary and the kids stashed our suitcases in our rental car in the garage where it was parked while I settled the bill, and then we were off on the metro! Stop #1 and ultimate goal of the whole trip: the top of the Eiffel Tower. Of all of us, only Gary had been to the very top before. It was a highly anticipated quest!



Some clouds filled the sky, but no rain like yesterday (mercifully). Gary taught the kids a pigeon kicking game (yes, we're animal lovers) and ran them around a bit while I waited in the line, which was much shorter than I'd been lead to expect. We waited for a total of maybe half an hour before stepping into the elevators.

I admit, I got a little vertigo as the elevator went higher and higher, and the supports around us grew slimmer and slimmer. It was thrilling though. And when we got out, in spite of the wind and clouds, a lovely view awaited us!
This is the view down the Seine towards Notre Dame, clear in the distance. And below, you can follow the biggest, curving road over to the Arc de Triomphe.


On our trip, it was foreordained policy that if we came across free toilets of any kind, the whole family would use them. At the top of the Eiffel Tower, guess what? There were free toilets! So we all availed ourselves of their use. And yes, when you're sitting there 1,000 feet off the ground, you CAN feel the sway of the building in the wind. Kinda trippy.

Next we descended the Tower and grabbed a chocolate crepe to keep up our blood sugar (that was my favorite excuse) and while I was ordering it, Gary took this video of Spence. It's one of my favorite clips of our trip, and captures Spen all over:



Here's Soph at the Arc de Triomphe, in the Place d'Etoile. Can you tell why they call it the Place of the Star? Look below for a clue (thank you Wikipedia):

I think I counted 12 major boulevards opening up to this famous circle, including the Champs Elysses, one of the most celebrated boulevards in the World. That's the biggie you can see from the top left to the bottom right.


We were SO proud of our kids - they did some major walking today! They walked from the Eiffel Tower, to the Arc de Triomphe, where we sat and ate an early lunch (baguettes, cheese, drinkable yogurt and fruit again) while watching the passersby (nuns, protestors, chic shoppers) on the Champs Elysses. There Sophie taught us a song in Gaelic, to the tune of the Farmer in the Dell, that sounds like "Ta ma la va te" repeated. Spencer proceeded to sing this tune down the entire stretch of the Champs Elysses while alternately walking and riding on Gary's shoulders. American kids, in Paris, singing in Gaelic - I love it!

We kept thinking that we'd hop on to a bus or metro when the kids had had it, but they just kept on going so so did we! The motivation was getting to the Tuileries Gardens ice cream stands. Along the way, we saw shimmering metal reflectors they've hung from all the trees along the Champs Elysses to make the whole place shimmer; insane lines at the Abercrombie and Fitch flag store (was Jedward there signing copies of the A&F catalogs or something?); and moped-pulled open carriages at the Place de la Concorde.



We found the kids' playground in the Tuileries Gardens (never had a reason to go there before now) and let the kids go crazy for an hour - somehow, no matter how tired they are, if there's a playground wham! off they go. They enjoyed it though. Sophie made a slew of little french amies - no surprise as she is kind and social. But then it was time to move our now-achy feet on a few hundred meters to the Louvre, above.
Alas, this is as close as we got to the Mona Lisa - it was taken in our breakfast room in our Paris hotel. Upon consideration of our time, energy and budget limitations, we decided not to enter the mammoth museum. Tired kids + acres of museum to run through = guaranteed meltdowns. So we betook ourselves to the underground shopping center beneath the Louvre, where the kids and I got ice cream (see Spence below) and Happy Meals while Gary ran to the Virgin Megastore for some big boy happy time. He came back with dvds of our favorite French movies, La Gloire de Mon Pere and the Chateau de ma Mere. Great idea!

We paid our 5 euros to use the bathroom there, and compensated for not going into the museum by going to its bookstore. The kids all picked out the postcard version of their favorite art work there, and I bought a Louvre coffee table book to go with the ones I'd purchased at Versailles and of the Loire castles. The kids have since used these as their "textbooks" when they play school at home. That, and the statue galleries open to view from the escalators, was all we saw of the Louvre, however. Still, a very successful day on the whole!
Even their ice cream is pretty!
The kids playing on the inverted underground pyramids beneath the Louvre.
We emerged from underground to make a pilgrimage to our favorite patisserie on the Fauborg St. Honore across from the Cour Carre of the Louvre. It has amazing food, bread, and pastries! We had one last, long, lingering picnic on the courtyard by the Palais Royale, gazing up at the Louvre and savoring our last Parisian baguette and camembert, orangina and pastries while watching a variety of young (and old) men doing rollerblade demonstrations.

Then we took the metro back to the Gare de l'Est, got in our car, paid the exorbitant fee to get it out of the garage ($60 for 28 hours? seriously?) and... got stuck in traffic up the Rue St. Denis for the next two hours trying to make our way to our Beauvais hotel by the airport.

I had never taken a tour of Paris' Little India quarter before, and the saris in the store windows were absolutely lovely, but after it had taken us almost an hour and a half to go 4 kilometers we were all going bonkers! After some accidental wrong turns and strange commands from the GPS, we were ready to just get out and walk. But eventually we made it to our hotel, slept well, got up early, returned our rental car, and boarded our plane to go back to Ireland. Ta da - all done. And what a ride it was! I love my husband and my kids! Thanks lads for a great time!!!

France Trip Day 6: Chartres, Versailles, and Paris River Cruise

On this day we all got up early, driven by adrenaline that on this day we would be seeing Versailles and then PARIS! Okay, let me say in advance that my camera ran out of battery while at Chambord, and we had no way to charge it. Tragedy! Oh well. Most of these pictures, therefore, are taken with Gary's ipod, and are slightly grainy.

And let me also apologize for my pathetic, wobbly, rushed video clips. If I had my brain turned on I would have slowed down and taken my time to more adequately document this amazing voyage with my family in Europe! Alas, this is what you're stuck with (and did I really pronounce "Chartres" as "Chart"? You'd think I'd never spoke a word of French. Geesh.):



First stop was Chartres - we got there so early that there were no tourists, we found a great parking place, and the church doors had just opened. Chartres is THE gothic cathedral studied in all art history classes. Okay, all those who took Julie Hewlett's humanities class, see if you can spot the following items:

*flying buttresses
*ribbed vaulting
*gothic arches, lancet windows
*nave, transept, apse, chapel
*clerestory, triforium
*rose window (behind the scaffolding)


Not only was the cathedral transcendent, but the village of Chartres surrounding it is charming, clean, and aesthetically pleasing. Major eye candy - another place I could have spent a happy holiday. Too bad my camera was dead!

But welcome to Versailles!



The little French cd we've been listening to talks about going to Versailles, so the kids had heard of the golden balcony, statue of Louis XIV, Hall of Mirrors and King's Bedroom well before we actually got there. Sophie had her checklist in her brain of these four things and as we saw each one she ticked it off. The lines were long and by the time we got to the Hall of Mirrors and Marie Antoinette's room, we could barely find room to stand. Which was sad, because the kids were so interested in seeing the beds and furniture. We just hoisted them on our shoulders and moved along in the herd! Sophie's cool bed fetish continues, and this one is, of course, her favorite:
Just fyi, Versailles has a mere 2,300 rooms and 67 staircases.
We were looking forwards to a row on the Grand Canal and smelling flowers at Marie Antoinette's hamlet out in the corner of the grounds... until we looked outside and saw that it was pouring rain! Argh! We sat down in a covered archway, had a picnic with the bread, cheese and apples I'd brought with us, and waited for it to stop. Which it didn't. So Gary ran to the car and brought back our umbrellas; we had already purchased tickets for the Hamlet, and I wasn't about to end our Versailles experience after a 45-minute walk through slammed rooms. I wanted it all!
So we plowed through it! Bought our fare on the little train that goes (almost) out to the Hamlet, dodged the advances of a friendly (or should I say, hungry) swan by the Petit Trianon, walked the rest of the way, then savored in the atmosphere of this lovely place:



The kid did pretty well, all things considering. We were all soaking wet, muddy, and cold, but while we were at the Hamlet they were as entranced as I was and we went around each building, discussing its possibilities and picking out the ones we'd want to inhabit (I liked the Mill, Sophie, liked the one with the light house, and Maggie wanted the working cottage with the chicken coop.) Gary's foot was hurting so he waited for us at the biggest house. And shot the video. Mission accomplished.

After a soggy, rather muddy trip back to the Palace, skipping the train (it really isn't that far) in favor of walking up through the gardens and seeking a certain outdoor amphitheater that Gary had read about in his studies. Many of the gardens were closed off, and it was far too blustery to rent a boat for the Grand Canal. My overall opinion of Versailles is that it is very impressive, but with better management, it could be a world-class attraction. They need to open more of the castle (we only saw about 15 rooms, really) to help with crowd control, and provide better toilet facilities and eating options. And the buildings of the Hameau really could and should be opened to the public, even if there's no furniture inside. It's just a little disheartening to make the trek out there and not be able to enter into the charming little cottages. I looked through windows, and most are bare and cobwebby. Imagine if they were brought to life by somebody with the right taste!

For the number of people we saw there and for the amount we paid to get in, there should be more. But, the kids had a great time, so we crossed it off the list, changed out of our wet clothes in the car, and drove to

PARIS!

The view of Paris as you come out of the tunnel connecting Versailles to Paris is stunning - there's the Eiffel tower, boom, right in front of you! We were so excited! Only our GPS took us right through the heart of downtown to get to our hotel by the Gare de l'Est. Really? There was no simpler way? Oh well, at least we got to see a lot on the way in! Our hotel, Amiot, was in a shady area, but we were pleased with our family room (four twin beds pushed together to make two big beds, and an en suite bathroom complete with bidet. And a view from our 7th story room to both Sacre Coeur and the Eiffel Tower - sweet!) We only were in the room long enough to drop the bags though and hit the pavement, or, in this case, the metro, to see the City of Lights!

First stop: Pizza Hut by Les Halles. I know, you're thinking, really? But it makes the whole family very happy, let us sit down for a bit, and was a great springboard for the rest of the evening. Rule #1 when traveling with kids: make sure they're as well rested and fed as possible! And always use the free toilets when available! Plus, the kids meals came with huge free desserts - we got two Floating Islands (I had purchased one of these, a sort of marshmellowy cake floating on a sea of sweetened creme anglaise - yum! - at one of our gas station dinner stops and the kids ate it up before I could) and one Chocolate Mousse. Mmmm.

The goal of the evening was to get to the Seine River boat cruises by Pont Neuf - it was the perfect way to introduce the kids to Paris. They LOVED being on a boat and seeing all the bridges, and having the tour guide commentary was helpful to everyone. Our pictures didn't turn out so well, but here are a few:

I told Sophie she could film a bit when we got to Notre Dame. Of course Maggie wanted in on the action as well... life with kids.



After the cruise we took our tired yayhoos home on the metro for some sleep - they were beat! But happy to be in Paris!

France Trip Day 5: Collecting Castles!

Prepare yourself for much viewing of pictures, because today was castle day! Yesterday we entered the Loire River Valley, playground of the rich and famous circa 400 years ago (and still quite lovely today!) Along the banks of this smooth, broad river and it equally civilized tributaries lie castles. More than three hundred of them! They range in architectural style from early Medieval to Empire, and some mixes of everything in between. We spent most of our time in the chateau of the Renaissance, characterized by light and lovely chateaux with graceful lines and refined elements, rather than ponderous defensive structures (like Carcassonne).

First, and our hands-down favorite, was the Chateau d'Usse, one of the less well known but most family friendly of the castles. We stumbled across it in someone's blog and I'm so glad we did- it was fabulous!

It bills itself as the Sleeping Beauty castle, as it is reportedly the castle Charles Perrault had in mind when he first penned the fairy tale. And was reportedly one the artists at Disney studied to design the palaces for Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. All sorts of history happened here as well, including a group of Royalists who as early as 1813 started plotting to get the Bourbons back on the throne.

It has charming corners everywhere, mannequins in all eras of period dressed placed strategically through the rooms to create atmosphere, and acts out the story of Sleeping Beauty up in its higher turrets (again with mannequins). My poor photos can't do it justice, so if you want more info here's its website:

http://www.chateaudusse.fr/

All chateaux of a certain size were required to have in perpetual availability a room for the king. This is the king's room in Usse. The dresses are all real, and you can get close enough to see the hand stitching on many of them. Fabulous!

Thank you Jeeves, we're ready for the first course. Dessert, anyone? Yes please!
The passage way leading to cellars, and to the secret tunnels leading out of the castle in case of invasion or romantic persecution.
Maleficent curses, and Prince Charming kisses.



One of the many reasons why I loved this castle was that it let you go places I always wanted to go in other castles, like the attic (above) and the nursery (below). We climbed to the very top of several turrets and examined the interior woodwork reinforcing the tower structure, then to the bottom of the dungeons where inscriptions of the condemned can still be traced on the walls.

This tunnel was so cool - it opened in the wall in the lower gardens and we don't know where it ends up - we went in fairly far, before my claustrophobia kicked in, and even with the light of our camera flashes and ipod, we couldn't see the end.
Our "engagement" picture. :-)
Loved the carriage house - little signs gave the history and specific use for each carriage. Very informative. I wanted to pull a Jane Austen and just climb up inside one of them for a little jaunt!
I love the gardens - yes those are bamboo trees on the left. They also had a number of massive cedars of Lebanon hundreds of years old.

Evidently the owner lives in the other side of this wing, the part that they are renovating. Lucky, lucky guy! I wonder if he has a grandchild I can marry off one of my kids to someday.

This whole area is punctuated with limestone cliffs, which residents for generations have carved to make houses, garages, stables, and even hotels. The chateau had an impressive array of its own caves, but they were also to be found as part of every dwelling along the autoroute as we were leaving town!

Our other goal for the day was to make it to Chambord, so in spite of the temptation of numerous other turrets and crenellations beckoning to us from sundry artistic corners of the landscape, we only stopped for photo ops at a few of the most important while making our way northeast towards the massive Chambord. Along the way we passed Azay le Rideau,
Amboise (I want to spend a month here someday),

an unknown but imposing castle on the other bank,
and then Sophie threw up but we were prepared with a bag so we just threw it away when we got to...

(da da da dum) Chambord.
Huge, isn't it? It is officially the largest castle of the Loire valley. The great Renaissance king, Francis I built it to be close to his lady love and put the nose of his rival, Charles V of Spain, out of joint. It has a mere 440 rooms, 365 fireplaces, and 84 staircases - just a summer cottage, really. As it was the end of the day, we were somewhat pressed for time and only caught fleeting glimpses of most of these as we raced up and down the da Vinci-designed double helix stairway to see as much as we could before closing time.

Our favorite part was the roof, with it's black and white stone work and innumerable turrets, and the nutella and mint chocolate chip ice cream crepe we got afterwards because we were starving and all the restaurants nearby were all too $$$ and swanky for our plebian tastes. We later got dinner at the grocery store, as usual, on our way to our Chartres Formula 1 hotel.