Christmas 2015

K decided that she wanted to go visit her cousins in Idaho.  She wanted to go by herself or at least she did until the time to leave drew near.  Once she got there she had a great time.  

Not one to stay home alone, I cooked up a trip to Paris with one of the Catherines.  Everybody won!

Cousins in Idaho

Baking Cookies with cousins-My cousin calls herself Mormon Betty Crocker

The French know how to do Christmas

It wasn't all eating and shopping

Drinks at the Peninsula Hotel with the Eiffel Tower in the background

More beautiful French Christmas trees

More trees I like how they sparkled, the blue lights were LED.  Interesting combination.

Charlotte came to visit and the girls made candy houses.  Note the cool L'Occtaine advent calendar in the background.

The Youtube video made this look sooooo simple

Not so simple

Looks like something exploded in the kitchen

Our petite Christmas tree.  I'm going to have to up my game if I want a French looking tree next year!

France for Thanksgiving

I was thrilled when I realized that K had an entire week off for Thanksgiving, actually enough time to take a long trip.  I love France at this time of year.  The weather is nice and it is not crowded.  The Christmas lights are beautiful and I love the charming little marche de noels.  We planned to leave on Thursday evening so K would miss a half day of school.  Our trip got off to a bumpy start.  The day we were leaving K woke up not feeling well so I let her stay home from school and she rested all day.  I figured with some benadryl and some sleep on the plane she would be just fine.  

As we backed down the driveway I heard a huge bump and realized that the back of the car was not closed and luggage was falling out.  I always keep my carry on with me because I keep my valuables in it (well that is a bit of an exaggeration, I don't have any valuables but I do always have my camera in my carry on) but this one time it was in the back of the car.  Camera destroyed.  LV carry on in pretty bad shape.  No problem, I have my new iPhone 4s so I can use it to take photos.  iPhone 4s died (completely died) half way through the trip.  Photos had not been backed up so not many photos of this trip-just the ones that K took with her iPhone.  

We had a layover in Stuttgart and had big plans to take a city tour but ended up having breakfast in the airport and dealing with ATM card problems and luggage issues.  Fortunately this was the end of our bumpy start.  We got to Paris and got on the TGV to Lyon and had a wonderful relaxing train ride. K was thrilled that they had Pringles on the train and I was thrilled that they had wine.  There is something so relaxing about watching the French countryside go by.  It is so bucolic and I like to fantasize about the people who live in the little villages.  

We stayed at a wonderful hotel in Lyon that is a Paul Bocuse training school.  K managed to stay awake for dinner (although her eyes were rolled back in her head).  We woke up the next morning and she was feeling much better.  Some French cold medicine and Disney Channel in French were all she needed.  We did some antiquing that day and had another Paul Bocuse dinner.  

The next day we picked up a car and drove to Isle Sur la Sorge.  K was a great sport about going in lots of antique stores.  The highlight of the day was watching a cat trying to catch some ducks in the Sorgue River.  I had some great photos.  Darn!  The next two nights we stayed in Avignon.

On Monday we went to the Palace of the Popes.  It is amazing how large it is and also amazing that as many times as I have been to Avignon that this was my first visit to the Palace of the Popes. We spent the rest of the day in Saint Remy.

We then headed up to Paris with another relaxing 3 hour train ride.  When we got to Paris we headed to the Bon Marche for a little shopping and then to the Eiffel Tower.  The line for the elevator was very long and because we had dinner reservations we decided to climb to the top.  I like to think I am in kind of good shape but it was pretty tiring but really worth the view.  We had dinner in an Italian restaurant that a friend had recommended.  Really good food and I think K was in need of a break from French food.  K was a great sport about the food the entire trip and was able to find something on every menu that she liked.

The next day we got up and went to the Musee D'Orsay.  K loves impressionism so this was one of her favorite parts of the trip.  We had a wonderful long lunch in the beautiful restaurant.  The room was incredible with beautiful chandeliers, gilded and painted ceilings.  We were seated by the window with a view of the Seine.  I would highly recommend having lunch at the Musee D'Orsay-it was one of the highlights of the trip.  The food was good-they actually have a children's menu so K had boiled ham, french fries and ice cream.  I had fois gras terrine and wine.  Then it was off to the Place de la Concorde to ride the Ferris wheel. The views were stunning and we had perfect weather, although a little foggy.  After that we walked up the Champs Elysee and checked out the darling marche de noel.  We ended the day with some shopping on Avenue Montaigne and dinner at L'Avenue.  We got a great table along the side walk and had a leisurely dinner.  I attributed the great table to my excellent French and the fact that we don't look very American.  K told me that my French is terrible!  L'Avenue has great people watching and kid friendly food.  K had egg rolls, one of her favorites.  

On Thanksgiving Day we started the day at the Orangerie.  A great museum for kids especially because it is not too big.  We then headed to Mariage Freres for lunch.  K was not feeling well so after lunch we took a cab (we are always  metro kind of a girls) back to the hotel.  Poor K threw up before we could make it into our room.  Poor baby slept all afternoon and was feeling fine by dinner.  We went to Rotisserie Beaujolais for dinner so we could have some Thanksgiving type food.  We had yummy roast chicken and the best mashed potatoes in Paris. The restaurant is owned by the same people who own Tour d'Argent and is right next door to Tour d'Argent.  K ate a ton of chicken which she normally will not eat.  And she was entertained all evening by the restaurant cat "Beaujolais."

The next day was more shopping and a late lunch at Laduree.  

On our final day K was a good sport and went to the market at Port de Vanves with me.  She had some early morning French fries which attracted a lot of attention.  We spent the rest of the day at the Paris Flea Market.  

We had a very early morning flight the next day with a very short connection in Zurich.  We have been a couple of jet lagged girls this week.  Blogging without photos is not so easy!

The restaurant at the Musee d'Orsay

K enjoying some wonderful weather

K's photo from the Ferris wheel, can you see the marche de Noel?  The little buildings look they are made from Lincoln Logs.  They sell French crafts, cheese, hot spiced wine, jewelry and lots of regional French gifts.

A photo that K took from our table while we were having lunch at the Musee d'Orsay

I think this is a great photo that K took of the Eiffel Tour from the Ferris wheel

K very early in the morning the day we left.  We had breakfast at this little restaurant named Bert's.  One of our cats is named Bert and we both realized how much were missing our pets.  We were on City Jet to Zurich which leaves from a very small remote terminal at CDG.  No detax.  Not good.  Need to plan another trip to France so I can get my tax refund!

Where's Waldo

Standing in line at the Louis Vuitton store

A room with a beautiful view of a clock tower and river

Watching a demonstration-really pretty tame, there were bands and snack bars had been set up

Hotel with a lovely courtyard

Incredible sycamore tree

Buying antiques

On a train with way too much luggage and boxes of purchases

Adorable hotel room

Buying more antiques

Did you guess France?  Just back from a week in Paris, a couple days in Lyon and several days in Avignon.  The strikes were not nearly as bad as depicted by the media.  We did some antique shopping and hauled home lots of paintings.  Sorry about the blury iPhone photos!

Eet ees feeneeshed

Our last day in Paris and yet another park. The apartment that we rented was not available the last night of our trip so we moved to a hotel. We stayed at the Lutetia and found this darling park across the street. The hotel is art deco-not exactly my taste. It was the headquarters for the Nazis during WWII. It was kind of creepy but the rooms were nice and the staff could not have been nicer.

We did not leave until late in the afternoon so the girls got some time to play and run off some energy. They were angels on the way home. We were seated in the front of the plane and they were seated in the back but all was well.

K decided that the playground was too babyish so she took some time to draw

Winston!

Last Night In Paris

Our last night in Paris turned out to be a magical night. Our first attempt to go up in the Eiffel Tower earlier in the trip was unsuccessful because the lines were so long. We had heard that the lines were not so long at night so we decided to give it another try. Unfortunately the lines were as long as they had been during the day plus it was really cold. I wanted K to see the Eiffel Tower light up but it was only 8 o'clock so we had to figure out how to kill a couple of hours and keep two little girls awake. K had a barbe a papa and Olivia wanted ice cream so we headed to Ile de la Cite. As we were walking around there was no line for Notre Dame so we convinced the girls to go in. To our surprise there was an incredible concert underway. There was a soft glow in the cathedral because the only light was candlelight and the music was lovely, almost ethereal. The cathedral was breath takingly beautiful. After the concert we headed to Place de la Concorde because it is a wonderful place to view the Eiffel Tower when it lights up. Just as we got out of our cab the Eiffel Tower started it's show. It never fails to take my breath away. K let out a gasp when she saw it. After a strategic trip to the bathroom at the Hotel de Crillon we piled into a cab to head home. I commented that the Place de la Concorde looks so pretty at night when it is lit up and just at that moment the lights came on! We all gasped. A perfect ending to a magical evening and a magical trip.

In Search of Swings

Our search for swings landed us at the Tuileries again. No swings to be found but a lot of fun, dangerous looking playground equipment! This played perfectly into our pots de vin (bribe) scheme which became more elaborate as the trip progressed. We planned our days so that mid day we would end up on the metro and the Georges Cinq stop. As we ascended the steps we would be right in front of McDonald's. Yes, on this trip I became one of those Americans I swore I would never become! Frequent stops at McDonald's. We perfected out routine. After lunch we would stroll down Avenue Georges Cing. Catherine and I would get a chance to look in the windows of Armani, Louis Vuitton, etc... and we would end up at the Four Seasons for a bathroom break. Much better than McDonald's bathrooms. Catherine and I loved the flowers and the people watching and the girls LOVED the bathrooms. It was hard to drag them out, they couldn't get enough of the great smelling soap and lotion. I am glad that K did not find out that there is an indoor pool and 2 stations of cartoons at the hotel. That made for a whole different system of pots de vin when I stayed at the Four Seasons with my nephews a few years ago. Pre recession-those were the days!

French Fountains

Love the architecture, love the fountains!

Deyrolle

One of my favorite places in Paris is Deyrolle,the 170 year old taxidermy store on Rue du Bac. Unfortunately they had a terrible fire last year and much of the first floor was destroyed. They have restored the damage from the fire but sad to say many things have not yet been replaced. We took the girls but there was a sign that said no photography. These pictures are from when I took my nephews a few years ago.