Paris

One advantage of traveling for an extended period is that one is able to spend time in one area which allows you to get a real feel for the life and pace of a particular region.  Virginia and I really enjoyed our time in the Dordogne.   The Dordogne reminded me of home.  Lush, green rolling hills and a slower pace made for a wonderful week.

Following our week in the Dordogne we dropped our rental car off and it was back to rail travel for the Henderson/Avery family.  For a family of four with all too many bags the one announcement you do not want to hear is “pour votre connection, prenez le tunnel sous terrain.”  Unfortunately that was the order of the day again for our connection to Paris but we made it through the hectic transfer.

We were very excited to be heading off to Paris as we were meeting two of Virginia’s friends for the week in the City of Lights.  Grace and Lily love it when we have visitors from Canada as it offers a change of pace from hanging out with mom and dad every day.  For Virginia and I it is awesome as the girls are much more willing to tag along on a cultural outing if we have company.

We rented an apartment one block from the Louvre in the center of Paris.  The location couldn’t be beat.  It was a little noisy being right in the thick of things but after the first night, I became quite acclimatized to the traffic noise.  Staying in the first Arrondisment also allowed us to walk everywhere which gave us a great understanding of Paris’ streets.

Our first full day was spent wandering the streets with stops at Musée L’Orangerie, another visit to the Laduree macaroon restaurant and climbing all the stairs to get to the top of the Arc de Triomphe to get a different perspective of Paris.  We all found L’Orangerie to be an extremely peaceful gallery.  The girls loved Monet’s “Les Nymphéas”.

Our original plan for Tuesday was to catch the train to Versailles but as a result of major train delays, we decided a change was in order after spending an hour on a platform.  We headed over to the Musée D’Orsay.  Unfortunately, it seemed that everyone had the same idea as us and the lines to enter the museum were immense.  I managed to find a sympathetic ear and the six of us were skirted in a side entrance avoiding the droves of tourists standing in the rain.  This was probably my favourite gallery that I have seen in Europe.  Seeing a multitude of works from artists such as Van Gogh, Gauguin, Degas, Cézanne and Monet made for an amazing afternoon.

Wednesday we made the trek out to Versaille which was quite impressive.  Once again I headed to a secret door and presto we bypassed the masses once again.  The scale of Versailles is overwhelming as well as the number of visitors that you share the experience with.  This was one day that I decided that I had had enough of traveling.

Thursday, the 14th of July was Bastille day and though we decided against going to watch the parade we were lucky enough to have all of the jets go right over our apartment.  We also witnessed a bit of the celebrations as all of the tanks, motorcycles and armoured vehicles went whipping by our residence.

Our friend Bobbi had come prepared with a list of activities to do.  July 14th was spent ticking off a couple of them as we had a great lunch on the very cute Rue Cler and then a wonderful picnic dinner with the rest of the parisian crowd on the banks of the Seine.

That night we enjoyed the summer evening in the Jardiin Des Tulieres, appreciating the sunset and then watching the fireworks display beside the Eiffel tower.  It was one of those moments where I had to sit back and I realized just how lucky we have been this year.

We spent Friday relaxing and celebrating my 44th birthday.  What a great day it was, capped off by what Bobbi declared as the best birthday cake she had ever had.  Doesn’t get much better than that.

On Sunday, the 17th of July, we left Bobbi, Wendy and Paris and made our way to  Brittany for our last adventure.