It’s hard to believe that we’ve been back for two weeks from our trip to France. The jetlag was more difficult than I expected both coming and going. Returning home, we all settled in after a day or so to the change in time zones, but we were all physically spent for the rest of the week.

Of course, France was wonderful. Robert and I could have easily spent more time there, although the kids were glad to get back. Cole seemed to be the least impressed by the experience, but should I expect anything less from a newly minted teenager? Unfortunately he came down with a nasty cold soon after we arrived and spent a couple of days in bed sleeping and recovering. As a result, I have learned that one should ALWAYS take medicines on trips. I brought the requisite Advil and TUMS but what I would have done for some Dayquil on Nyquil.  Interestingly, in France, you get your over the counter medicine from a pharmacist. The only items you can pick up yourself and bring to the register are cosmetics and skin care. Even aspirin must be bought from the pharmacist. The first pharmacy we went to wouldn’t give us any cold medicine (and it was a trial trying to communicate that in my extremely limited French) because Cole was too young. She would only give us saline spray and throat drops. What???  That did him no good. Eventually we found a pharmacy where we asked point blank for a particular cold medicine (we spent some time studying the boxes behind the counter before approaching the pharmacist). She sold it to us without any questions.

Anyway, we were still able to get out and about and see a fair bit in Paris where we started the trip. We stayed in an apartment in the Latin Quarter which was steps from the metro station but on a super quiet street. Naturally, we hit the highlights: Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Notre Dame, Versailles, Orsay. What did we enjoy?

Cole: “The military museum was really cool, especially the armaments from WWI and WWII”

Lena: “Seeing the Mona Lisa at the Louvre was really neat”

And Robert and I? Going to the farmer’s markets and strolling around and shopping in the St. Germain district. The farmer’s market in Paris was beautiful. The stalls have so much more variety than here in the Bay Area, and the items were so beautifully displayed, with products stacked into pyramids and little chalkboards with prices written out in the elegant French script. The produce (vegetables and fruit) however, didn’t taste as good to us as here in California. But the cheese? Oh my… and the charcuterie – Yum.

Shopping in St Germain (and the Marais) was a blast. Unlike here, most stores in Paris are mom and pop selling specialty items, not chains. We picked up a few really neat items: White limoges porcelain desert plates, cutlery, and lots of pots of tapenades, chocolate sauce, etc.

Below you’ll see some photos of our trip:

 

We took a ‘Behind the scenes’ tour of the Eiffel Tower where we learned that it was actually built and financed by the Americans for a world fair and that the main architect was a German. Interestingly, wireless communication got it’s first uses from the top of the Eiffel Tower, as it was developed by the French. The government and industry didn’t see any use for wireless telegram, but the military keep developing the technology, only to sabotage it in WWII to keep the Germans from using it. We also got to see the cables and gears used to pull the elevators up to the different platforms, which is basically a hydraulic system. Needless to say, it was packed with tourists. Apparently, the Eiffel Tower is THE most visited monument in the world.

 

Next up, the Louvre:

 

 

Not much to say about the Louvre. Way too much to look at. We were exhausted just going through the Ancient Egypt section (so many sarcophagus!). Lena greatly enjoyed the ancient Greek artifacts and Cole liked the Islamic section with the ornately bejewelled swords and the large carved doors and woodwork from Persia and India (think Taj Mahal).

We also went to the Orsay, which is an absolutely gorgeous former train station on the banks of the Seine.  Even the museum café was gorgeous.

 

 

We saw Monet’s Water Lilies, Renoir’s Picnic scenes, and this painting by Bartholeme, which is life size and the colors were rich and life like. This image does it no justice:

 

Water lilies:

 

 

Versailles- which was magnificent and depressing, with regards what Marie Antoinette had to endure while she lived there (and how it all ended) – was a really fast tour and much smaller (as a tour) than I remembered. You can see some rain clouds gathering in the distance in the top picture. This was our last day in Paris and we hit a 3 day patch of rain as we headed to Brittany the following day.

Hall of Mirrors

Generally, the restaurant food wasn’t that great in Paris. We either didn’t know where to go or we didn’t order the right things. I relied on Trip Advisor as much as I could, but often we were trying to find a place to eat spontaneously while we were out. Of course, French food is much heavier than we eat here in California with lots of duck, rabbit and mussels which is not something we generally eat. We discovered that it is not an easy thing to order a decent steak in a French restaurant, even if you’re paying premium prices. Robert and I ate at one outdoor restaurant that served food from the region between France and Spain, which was fantastic. This is a fairly common thing in Paris – restaurants that specialize in regional foods.

We did eat at a charming restaurant near us which is on a very touristy street – Rue Mouffetard – and the food was fairly good. The restaurant was charming and our host more charming still. Cole was fairly taken with the host’s appearance – very Euro with the open shirt,  hairy chest, and necklaces. Rob snuck a picture of him when we went back the next day (he’s the man in the center, as though that isn’t obvious):

 

 

 

And, final image – Lena and I at the Annick Goutal perfume shop near the Orsay. I could have spent all day there. The perfumes are amazing…

It goes without saying that 6 days was nowhere near enough in Paris. There was so much were were unable to do or see.  After Paris we left for Brittany, which I consider to be the highlight of our trip to France. I will write about that in a post to follow. In the meantime – A bientot (Until later)!