Paris

We are enjoying our "spacious" apartment in Paris. It's at least 190 square feet, which is about 180 square feet larger than our last home. We are thrilled with all this space! It's in an area of Paris that up until a few years ago only saw tourists of the lonely businessman type looking for a little temporary companionship. The apartment owner told us that this area was so bad that Victor Hugo mentions it repeatedly in his writing as being hellish amongst other things. It's undergone gentrification and is really great, with few tourists and lots of young artsy type Parisiens. It is a pedestrian-only street that is lined with little shops to please us discriminating foodies as we shop for dinner.



Allie and Noelle were excited to see Paris and we have attacked the must-sees with a vengeance. All of the other tourists have too--don't they know that this is the off-season? First stop: Eiffel Tower.



We then went to the center of Paris, walked around a bit, then got the Notre Dame out of the way.


Is that an Eiffel tower growing out of your head?





Jolene's second favorite hobby: shopping for books. Reading them is her first.




We came across this cool church which looks just like that one in the Disney cartoon about the deformed loner bell-ringer guy. Noelle is sick of history lessons so I'm dumbing things down a bit to keep it interesting. This morning we hit it hard again, only this time we hit the Arc De Triomphe and Champs Elysees then finished off with the Louvre. Heavy stuff. The most interesting part for us was watching the insane traffic come together in the chaotic roundabout surrounding the Arc. The Gypsies were out in force as well and we also got a kick out of them harassing unsuspecting tourists. We are seasoned travelers and too wise for their evil trickery.




The stroll down the Champs Elysees was interesting as there was a building on fire and the acrid smoke was blowing down the sidewalk, choking up all the well-dressed people and driving them from the cafes.






The smoke was very heavy so we didn't take our time looking in shop windows. Our one goal on the Champs was to find a famous bakery that we had heard about and get some lunch items for the park. We nearly reached the end without finding the bakery, doubled back until the smoke was too thick still without luck, so we gave up and got food in the park. Later in the day back at the apartment I looked up the Paris news and found out that our bakery was where the fire started!

Another interesting thing happened to us as we neared the Louvre. This probably did not make the U.S. news yet so you are seeing it here first. We heard some screams and turned around just in time to see the most hideous sight--a giant foot was smashing the Eiffel tower! I'm glad that we climbed it on our first day.




You can't do Paris without getting some new clothes. Allie and Noelle modeling the latest fashions.






While they were touring Paris' finest shops, I picked myself up a hoodie pullover from an Algerian street vendor.

We hit the Louvre late in the afternoon when the crowds were supposed to be thinner. They weren't and we were pretty beat after a full day so we hit the highlights (Mona, Venus, and a few of their friends) and caught the Metro home.