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We went to Paris Wednesday for a few days to enjoy one last hurrah before school starts on Tuesday! We stayed in an apartment in Saint Germain - it was so nice to have a kitchen and den in between our sightseeing excursions!
Gant and Henry at the metro as we made our way to Notre Dame
It is so beautiful and so big it really gives one a sense of perspective!
The carvings are amazing
They began building this 850 years ago and they have mass here a few times a week. Hard to imagine going to church here! It would really be amazing!
Lots of people lighting candles for special prayers. It was very reverent and relatively quiet for the hundreds of people in there!
Those gargoyles aren't too inviting if you ask me!!
Walking back from Notre Dame we saw this musician playing in the middle of a foot bridge. We kept wondering how he got his piano there? There are street musicians all over the big cities here.
We went to this restaurant for our dinner the first night. The food was really good and it was very close to the Eiffel Tower (pronounced here -La Tour FL) so we came around a corner walking to dinner and saw this- it took my breath away!
Then every hour on the hour at night they make it sparkle and glitter! It is beautiful! So we ran outside of the restaurant at 9:00 to see this amazing sight.
Is this what we look like to the Eiffel Tower? Ha!!
The next morning we split up for a few hours. The boys went to the Museum of Science and Industry.
A triangular mirror fascinating Henry! Then they saw an IMAX movie about
WWII in French- they weren't sure how much they grasped!
I was on a shopping excursion to Printemps and Galleries Lafayette- two big department stores!
The inside of Galleries Lafayette- such beautiful surroundings when I was just buying tee shirts and lipstick!
The National Academy of Music near the Opera House I walked by after shopping. The buildings are just so beautiful.
We met for lunch and Henry had his first escargot (snails) which he loved!
I don't know if Gant was really planning to share them!
One of our favorite games usually played at meals while we PATIENTLY wait " you can't make me laugh!" Oh yeah? He usually breaks in 5 seconds!
Meals do take a LOT longer here. It's just a cultural expectation that you will sit and enjoy your meal and not be in a rush at all. No one eats on the run. EVER.
Heading to meet our friends for dinner we walked through the Luxembourg Gardens. You can see the main house way in the background. The gardens and house were the summer home of Catherine of Medici - pretty nice for a second home!!
The HIGHLIGHT of our trip- seeing our oldest Greenville friends, Tiffany and Franklin Guerrero. Gant and Franklin studied for the bar together in 2001 the summer we moved to Greenville. It was such a treat to have a nice long meal together catching up! What a blessing to see familiar faces and just have a relaxed visit. Tiffany brought me contraband- English magazines and flavored coffee!! I was soooo excited!
On our last day we went to this adorable teeny tiny place for lunch. I read about it on a blog my mom shared with me called Habitually Chic. The restaurant is Frenchie to go. It was the most American place we have been since we have been here!
A delicious drink- we assume it's British. It was amazing!
Then we went to the VERY touristy but fun Love Locks Bridge- Pont des Arts.
You buy a lock and write someone special to you, lock it onto the bridge, and throw the keys into the Seine River.
There is the Seine in the background.
Henry's lock- " Hen's buddies" ☺️
Afternoon snack- macarons!
We couldn't believe how much English we heard in Paris! But we are in the car now headed back to Clermont where we get to practice our French all of the time!
