European Vacation - Day 10 (Paris 3)

Today we're back in full-on exploring mode.

First we shipped a package back home with our London maps and guides, as well as most of the souvenirs we picked up in London. While Heather and Erich were doing that, Jeff and Matthew bought the tickets to Nuremberg for Monday.

We met up back at the rue Cler and tried another cafe. Another great choice. It is incredible to be able to pick nearly any little cafe or bistro and find food about which the entire staff cares.

We then hopped on the metro to a spot along the Seine where we could see the miniature Statue of Liberty replica on the Ile de Cygne (Isle of swans). The took a double-decker RER train to the Musee d'Orsay. It has been great exploring these museums with the boys, since they have been so excited to see the paintings that we have been reading and talking about. They have even been remembering paintings from prior museums. Matthew, for example, saw the painting of van Gogh's bedroom and yelled "that's the yellow chair from London," since we had seen the yellow chair in London's National Gallery. It floors me how into the art they are, and how much they are remembering.


After the Orsay, we walked across the Seine to the Louvre. Heather and I spent about 6 hours in the Louvre the summer after we met about 18 years ago. Not much has changed, it's just a lot busier and the Mona Lisa has more viewing space. We had watched a 50's era French documentary about the Louvre before we left (rented from the library). Amazingly, the boys had watched it multiple times and remembered the architecture and a lot of pictures. We saw the holy trinity (Winged Victory, Mona Lisa, and Venus de Milo) with a lot of other great art thrown in for good measure.

At this point, although Matthew and Erich were still being patient, they clearly needed a change of pace, so we let them run through the garden between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde (chasing pigeons, of course).

In the Place de la Concorde, the have an enclosed Ferris wheel set up for the holiday season, so we rode that and got to watch the lights of Paris turn on as we rode.

Back home to Team Norton comfort food for dinner - - sushi. It was nowhere near as good as the place in London, but it was very simple and light. On the way home, we stopped for pastries (how could one not?). They were awesome.

Tonight's bedtime stories were about the Musee d'Orsay, and the boys loved pointing out the paintings they had seen today and remembering their favorites.