This may be our last and final blog. Or maybe we will blog during our LONG layover in London. Unless security actually takes the 5 hours!
Today, our last day of vacation we did a lot in Amsterdam.
We got out of the hotel at 1pm and found a cafe we somehow bypassed yesterday. Actually, yesterday we did see it but it said "Kaffe Huis" on the door and Marc had read somewhere that "coffee houses" in Amsterdam were really places to purchase and smoke marijuana....but this clearly wasn't one of those, so we went in. Actually, we sat at some tables across the street from the cafe on the canal. The girls had apple pancakes (yummy) and hot chocolate. Marc and I both had "old cheese sandwiches"...what's that, you ask? Bread with two pieces of cheese between. Old cheese we were told was "hard cheese", "Young cheese" was soft cheese. We did the old, hard cheese. It was good.

Then we walked around all the boutiques, bought a few things...not much. Emily would have preferred to shop (and buy) all day, but we couldn't leave Amsterdam without seeing the Rijks museum....

So we headed there. This is a beautiful museum, but filled with not our favorite art. We decided to only spend a bit of time in there. We had a pre purchased pass that allowed us to cut the line (essential, because the line was LONG). The best were the room with the Vermeers. Sarah loves this painter ever since reading Chasing Vermeer. We looked for the girl with the pearl earing, but she is in the Hague. We did see some other beautiful ones. We spent a bit of time in the gift shop where Sarah bought a notebook to add to her growing collection (she must have about 20 museum notebooks by now).

We then headed back and because it was starting to rain we jumped on a trolly. The trolly was SO crowded. There were people on the steps when the doors closed. We were so squished we just had to get off at the next stop and bear the rain. We jumped off. The rain already stopped. When we got off we realized that we hadn't paid the fare. Marc read in the guide book that this happened a lot during rush hour (it was about 4:30). Well Sarah would have none of this and refused to walk any further until we had paid our fare. This didn't seem possible. NO other trollies in sight and how could we just get on to pay the fare (we didn't even know the fare). We some how convinced her that we would get the fare to the trolly office (??). We told her we would give it to the concierge at the hotel and they would see that the trolly office gets the money.

We headed back toward our hotel, stopping at an organic bakery we had discovered earlier. We got pizzas for the girls and some bread for the morning.

Our plan now is to go the the houseboat museum but it's 4;40 and the museum closes at 5:00. We drop Emily and Marc off at the hotel and Deb and Sarah go off to find the museum. We know it's at 272 Prisengraft street....and our hotel is at 315. So we assume it's just a bit past on the opposite side of the street. Well it turns out that the canal streets aren't like that. When we get to 273 and cross the street we are at 180. Makes no sense, but we have to walk all the way back down to 272 (about 5 blocks). The museum is about to close, but we make it in and view the small houseboat.

We walk back to the hotel and pick up Em and Marc to go find a paddle boat (the girls' last request!) Sarah reminds me that we need to go pay the concierge for the trolly fare, but I am trying to aviod this. The lobby is busy and smoke filled, so I make an excuse that we will do this later.

We rent a paddle boat (you actually pedal it like a bike and need to steer it with a hand steering thing). This sounds so much easier than it is! It's hard work and then there is the issue of avoiding all the oncoming boats in the canal.

After the paddleboat adventure....managing to keep the boat (and ourselves) intact, we head toward our favorite noodle place for our take out dinner. We eat it in our courtyard of our hotel and the girls have yogurt smoothies. Yum. Our last night.

Marc does deal with the unpaid trolly fare. He and Sarah ask the concierge. She confirms that no one really pays when it's so crowded and that it's OK. Marc asks Sarah if she is OK with this and of course she says "no" with tears welling up in her eyes. So Marc asks the concierge if she will see that the trolly company gets the fare and hands over 4.80 EUROS. We are thinking Sarah is en route to becoming either a Rabbi or an ethicist.

Taxi at 7:30 tomorrow to head out to the Amsterdam airport and then on to Heathrow and home!

It's been fun!!

We actually got the kids back out of the hotel room at 7:30pm so we could go visit the Anne Frank house and avoid some lines. The museum stays open in the summer until 9pm. The Anne Frank house is about 1/4 mile from our hotel. We walk up there and are surprised to find that even at 7:45pm there is a line. We wait, but only for about 20 minutes and go on the self guided tour. It is very moving and very well preserved. The exhibit allows you climb up into the annex and view the living quarters of the family. There are also displays of her actual diaries and some video feeds of people she came in contact with. The diary has been translated into 65 languages and they have copies of all of them.

At about 9pm we go to find some dinner. Deb remembers seeing a "Noodles and Go" restaurant near the hotel. So we go....this is an interesting concept that might do well on University Avenue, or on Main Street in Santa Monica. You pick a noodle type (vermicelli, egg etc) and then a meat topping (spicy chicken, lamb with eggplant, curry tofu etc) and then a vegetable (mushrooms, beans in coconut sauce etc) and then it all goes in to a paper box, one on top on another and then into the microwave.

We take the boxes of noodles and some drinks back to our hotel. There is a lovely courtyard with tables and chairs. The night is unbelivably clear (in contrast to the cloudy day) and warm enough to sit outside with jackets on. Marc runs upstairs for some glasses and waters and we eat our noodles with chopsticks in our hotel courtyard. One of our best meals yet.

Back to the room to eat the chocolate that housekeeping has left on our pillows and maybe even a movie on the TV.

Tomorrow the Rijks museum..

Our first day in Amsterdam. The city of canals and bridges. We wake up a bit earlier. Deb finds the ultra modern gym in this hotel. We venture out to find breakfast (lunch) at about noon. We walk down Priesengrat and come upon a tiny cafe with two outside tables. We figure if we sit at both of them (they are small) we can prevent our breakfast being ruined by smoke. Small (exquisitely small) menu. The girls order omlettes with cheese and tomato, or what they believe to be omlettes. Well, they are called omlettes on the menu. Marc orders a fried egg sandwich. The menu here is limited to about 4 different egg preparations and some cheese. I try to get some toast, because I figure I will share some of the girls' omlettes. The old Dutch woman says, "toastie?" I say OK...and she says "with ham and cheese?" I say "no, just plain toast"...no toastie for me.

When Sarah's "omlette" comes it is white bread with a hard cooked egg on top with ham and tomatoes cooked with the egg. Not good for anyone. I pull off most of the ham, but we try to explain that we ordered cheese and tomato omlettes, not with ham. She doesn't understand. Can't fathom not having ham. So she comes out with Emily's and it still has ham on it. It is obviously with the same one, just ham removed....we see a remaining piece of ham on it and she reaches in to the egg and pulls it off....

So we order two more with JUST CHEESE AND TOMATO please.....two more come. Emily refuses to eat it so we get her some lemon yogurt from a store up road. Marc and Deb eat all the remaining "omlettes" and fried egg sandwich....yes, all three. Sarah does eat hers with removed ham.

We get ourselves up and make our way over to the Van Gogh Museum. It's about a 20 minute walk (this city is so small!)....past shops and things. The museum is terrific. The flow of painting reflecting his life of art (and the influences of others: Monet, Gaughin, etc.) is really interesting. Amazing that he had only been painting for about 10 years when he killed himself.

We stop in a little park for lunch for the girls (Deb and Marc are still digesting the eggs): baguette with mozzarella and tomatoes. Ice cream cones for dessert. We walk to a boat dock and take a 75 minute boat cruise through the city via all the canals. It's great. The girls especially love the houseboats along the canals. They want to live on one.

We walk home to our hotel by about 6:30. We are trying to decide: Ann Frank House today or tomorrow? Dinner? We will see. Stay tuned.

The train ride was really nice. They fed us twice. Once between Paris and Brussels. Then, an hour later, between Brussels and Antwerp.
We got into Amsterdam at about 2pm. Cloudy, but not too cool.
We managed to get a taxi to our hotel...not an easy feat. A whole line of taxis but they each had an excuse..."I'm too big, get a smaller one" "He's ahead of me" pointing the cab across the way. But finally we get one to take us in to the main part of the city...right through the red light district, of course. When he turns down the street (the canal) where the hotel is located, there is a truck blocking the way with its hazard lights on and doors open. A line of cars behind it. No one's moving. He turns around and tries to get at the street another way but we get caught in another traffic jam. A tour bus is just sitting in the road. No one is moving here either.
Finally after about 5 minutes of sitting, meter running, our driver just says, "why don't you get out here?" So we do. The hotel is only a block away. We have all our bags and stuff, but we can do it....we did it this morning through the streets of the 5e.

The hotel is really lovely. It's right on the Prinsengracht. It's a series of old canal houses connected together and very updated. We have two connecting rooms, but no kitchen. We miss our Paris apartment.

We end up just hanging out in the room for awhile, reading and relaxing. Trying to figure this city out with our maps and books.

We venture out for dinner down a nearby street. Look in several places before deciding to try a place that looks empty but a passerby says spontaneously "it's really good". We have what maybe a dutch meal, hard to tell. A lot of seafood on the menu. And meat. Just after we ordered Sarah notices something furry by her feet. It's a cat. It sticks to our table...it must know. We try hard to ignore it so that it will go away. It finally does, after the waitress almost spills an entire tray of waters after tripping over it. A few minutes later we see a dog in the back of the restaurant. What's next? A bird?
We do finally eat....
Mushrooms on toast + broiled salmon with potatoes (Marc)
Smoked salmon on toast + tomato soup (Em): she may turn into a smoked salmon by the end of this trip
Chicken in a pot with salad and french fries....(Deb and Sarah)

It's all good, and during dinner the sky opens up (for the umptheen time on this trip!) and it is really raining....we did bring one umbrella, but no one has rain coats at the restaurant!! BUT, by the time we leave it has stopped raining and we walk home dry.

We come back, order up hot cocoa and some desserts and we all watch a movie.

We are on for either the Van Gogh museum or the Anne Frank House tomorrow or maybe both.....hopefully the weather will clear.

More on that later.....

Here we are on the train. If it's Monday, it must be Belgium?. We've stopped in Brussels. We are in first class, which is nice. We got a little breakfast. Complete with a toothpick (Em wants to save it for Bop).

We left the apartment this morning....walked with bags to the hotel to drop off the apt key. Took at taxi to Gare du Nord. Arrived JUST in time to catch the 9:55 train.

More from Amsterdam.

We set two alarm clocks this morning. 7:30am...earlier than our usual awakening.

Last night we decided we should venture out. The rain had stopped around 7:30, so at 8pm we went out to make sure we knew where we needed to drop off the apartment key. We also had in our plan the ice cream store that makes the cones in the shape of a flower.
On our way toward r. Mufftard we walked by a restaurant with "biologique" in the window. More importantly we see the sign for "non-fumer" in the window. Espace non fumer. These are few and far between.
The place is right out of Berkeley....or Santa Cruz. All vegan/macrobiotic....very crunchy.
There is tofu and seitan on the menu. All sorts of grains and things. Very interesting.
We decide to sit a a table and try it out.
Soup: legumes (Deb, Sarah) and Miso (Emily)
Assite de crudites (all to share): all sort of cabbages, beets, marinated etc....some tofu, rice, some unrecognizable grains and things.
Marc gets some rice/grain bowl with garbanzo beans, tofu and not sure what else, but no fois gras for sure.
It's quite good. And I would have to say, the polar opposite of L'atelier de Joel Robechon.
Very funny for our swan song in Paris. The place is full....mostly English speaking patrons, one Italian. The Italian man actually gets up in the middle of his meal to go outside to smoke.
Very crunchy....very earthy. Very funny.

We leave in search for glace. We find it.
Melon + Mango: Emily
Kinder (some type of chocolate chip)+ Chocolate: Sarah
Noix de coco + Praline: Deb and Marc.

We walk home. The night is so clear and warm. Tons of people are out.
We come back to the apartment. Try to turn in early.

Off to Amsterdam this morning via Gare du Nord.

Back earlier today in anticipation of tomorrow's early departure. It's 6pm and we've been out since 1pm (our usual).

No matter what we do we can't seem to get out of the apartment in the morning earlier than 1pm..
Today we metro-ed to Bastille and walked to the Musee Picasso. Much is closed in this area on Sunday.

It starts to rain just as we are entering the Musee.
This is Deb's favorite museum of the trip so far. I think the girls like it, but some paintings more than others. The gift shop is a hit. Sarah buys a notebook for her collection and some stationery. Emily buys a small pocket mirror and a magnet for her locker. Also some post cards to frame for her wall at home.

We leave the musee and look for a place to eat lunch. We find a cafe in a small Place near the musee. Satisfying lunch of sandwiches and salads. Emily the salmon fumee and Sarah with her mozzarella\tomato salad. Marc has his favorite: Chevre choid (bread with broiled goat cheese on top, on top of greens). I have poulet/fromage on bread, toasted.

We walk toward the Beauborg, stopping at a bakery for small little macaroon cookies on the way. The sun is now out, so we sit outside the Beauborg and gaze up. There are some street performers, but not a ton...probably the rain earlier. We go inside, ride the escalators up to the top...the very top. Take some photos and ride down. Great view today...the clouds have cleared some and the sun is coming in. It's hot on top! The girls veto the art museum, so we leave and find a bus that takes us almost all the way home. It starts really raining while on the bus. We walk home in the rain from r. des Ecoles. We have to get ready for tomorrow.

We are contemplating staying in tonight....especially if it keeps raining. We will see. We could alway venture out for a quick crepe or glace.

Tomorrow to Amsterdam.

It's Saturday night. We are just back from dinner with our Santa Monica friends. They are here for the year, living on Ave. Emile Zola in the 15th. We met when Emily and Isabelle were in 3rd (and 4th) grade together. Paula and I were room parents for Lisa Bartoli's 3rd grade class. Paula's husband, Jean-Laurent is professor of economics at UCLA (and now Cal Tech) taking a sabbitical here in Paris. They also have a 4th grade daughter, Juliet. They were here 4 years ago for a year and they come every summer, Jean-Laurent is 1/2 French and grew up here.

We met at a Vietnamese restaurant very near by on r. Dante, just off of r. St. Jacques and Saint Germaine. We were seated in a non smoking room below...great! It is such a fun meal. Spring rolls, chicken brochettes, fish with coconut and curry (M and D). The girls have shrimp dumplings (S) and Shrimp brochettes. All yummy.

We walk out...the night is clear and climb back up the hill and toward r. Moufftard. They know of a great ice cream place that makes ice cream cones in the shape of a rose. We have a hard time deciding on flavors they all look so good:

Melon + Mango: Emily
"Kinder": some chocolate chip variant: Sarah
Banana + Chocolate: Deb
Coconut + Maron (chestnut): Guess who?

We walk back toward the Pantheon..it's all lit up and the air is warm. We say goodbye and wish everyone a good year.

Tomorrow is our last day here. We have decided against Joel R's restaurant...we read some reviews and it seems too snobby to us (and we checked the menu and it seems a bit too much innards/sweetbreads etc.). We are thinking something casual like Crepes....
We have to pack up tomorrow night and get ready to take the train early (10am) on Monday morning...this is earlier than we have been waking up!!

More tomorrow.

Saturday at the Louvre.
The day began with our usual breakfast and then we caught a metro at 1pm to the Louvre.
Our plan was to see the three masterpieces: Mona, Winged Victory and Venus....
We saw all three in about one hour. The girls were intrigued, but not as much as by all the Egyptian artefacts. Emily and Sarah, thanks to Ms. Verlet and Sarah's CTY/JHU, could have been docents...well not really. But it was great.

We stopped for lunch in one of the cafes at the Louvre...and had sandwiches and Orangina.
Exit the Louvre via the gift shop and onto the Rue de Rivoli.

We walk along the Tulleries to WH Smith, the British bookstore. Sarah needs a new book. So does Marc. Sarah buys Emma (Jane Austin) and Marc finds nothing...just looks at Paris travel books. Marc has spent the last 7 days reading and re-reading every travel book they have in this apartment. They have about 50 or so books on Paris and environs. Food books, shopping books, guide books, literary books. Anything with Paris in the title, they have it here.

We walk on Rue de Rivoli, shop a bit (it's very crowded today...it's Saturday...almost as crowded as the rooms at Versailles). Metro home: Chatelet to Odeon to Maubert Mutualite. We are meeting our friends at a Vietnamese restaurant on r. Dante tonight at 7:30.
More about that in a later blog.

Today I managed to only get one baguette. I figured out it was "une baguette". I had to get two (deux) croissants, though. Not sure if it's "une or un". Oh well.
Walking back up the hill, I couldn't resist snapping the tip off the baguette....so warm and crunchy.

Today is Saturday, so there is an open market down the hill at Place Maubert. It's really a great one, so I am sad we are not staying in tonight. There was one woman just selling innards. There was another one selling beautiful fromages and one with great looking breads. I did buy some abricots and banannas.....even gave the right change today.

The girls are still sleeping off their Le Dome dinner and Marc and I are up reading and having cafe. It's almost 11am.

We saw a funny sight the other day while having lunch at Place des Voges. A group of three gendarmes patrolling on roller blades!! Seems like a good way to get around, but what happens when the criminal crosses onto grass or over a wall? Je ne sais pas! This method of police patrol has not yet made it to Santa Monica, but I could see it on the Venice boardwalk.

Two other things that have not made it to France: Emily and I are thinking of importing bubble tea: can't you just see the French with them? And CROCS. Seems like just a matter of time before they hit this fashion mecca...

It is a bit humid today and may rain. We are thinking of the Louvre and the Tuilleries if no rain and Musee Picasso and Beauborg if it does....we will see.

There go the bells (they ring every hour). For some reason the bells at 8am are very loud and very long (more than just 8 of them...) haven't figured that out yet. Because the church (Ste. Genevieve) is just a few yards away, we are kept on time.

More later......

Sarah's take on the day:

I woke up and got dressed and played with Emily.
We took a metro to Versailles. The train ride was long and it started to rain as the train pulled into the station.

We went into the castle.
Quoting Mommy, "After about two rooms, they all start to look the same." Imagine living there! We saw the bedrooms and I think that anyone who got to live there must be really spoiled.

We went outside for a wet picnic. It was a great lunch! After lunch it started to pour! We took a run for it and dashed to an outside gift shop. It was over crowded with people trying to wait out the rain. We took another run for it and reached another gift shop. By this time I didn't think I wanted to see another drop of water again. We ran across the street and Daddy picked me up to carry me across a HUGE puddle. As it was my socks were drenched. By the time we got back on the train my pants felt like they just came out of the washing machine without going through the dryer.

The train ride was so long that by the time we got off I was dry (except my socks).
We spent our metro ride home complaining about the crowds in the rooms at the castle.

We got home and I took a shower and got dressed. We took another metro to Le Dome.

The service was great! They cut my lobster for me and everything! You were right, Gok, I did like the lamps. It was really old fashioned. It was very fancy, but they didn't have a very wide variety of food. They only had fish! After a few problems concerning bread and the bread plate and bugs and Daddy's wine, we had dessert and left.

Then we came home and started blogging...

Stay tuned for more tomorrow!

The shabbat dinner at Le Dome or....No blessings over the langostines.

After coming home from Versailles there is again the most incredible rainstorm out our apartment windows. It rains for about an hour and lets up just as we venture out to dinner.

We take two metros to Vavin, changing at Odeon. Le Dome is across the street.
We have a table in a non smoking area, really great. It is a booth in a little alcove of sorts and feels very private.
Marc translates the menu for all of us and there were decisions to be made. A few things were "not available.."

1st: we all share two orders of carpacio thon (raw tuna) with caviar l'aubergine. This is incredible. We all love it, even Sarah (except she didn't taste the tuna part). It came with crusty toasted bread and is so yummy.

Main courses:
D: Saint Pierre with potatoes/tomatoes
M: Rouget (of course!)
S and E: Langostines with pasta with frest tomato sauce

All were polished off, but we have enough room for dessert:

D and M: glace: noix de coco and chocolat noir
E: sorbet: fruites de passion and fraise de bois (hostile act??)
S: Chocolate mousse avec orange (also a bit hostile)

Few funny things:

After a few sips of wine (a simple house Pinot) Marc noticed something in his glass. Moving. He beckoned the waiter: "Monsieur" and in french, unsure of the french word for "bug" says, "there's something in my glass, and it's swimming....." He is promptly brought a new glass of wine.

After the food was served, we were all eating and I think the waiter noticed that Sarah wasn't eating the langostoine part of her dish...just the pasta. And we were all too absorbed in our dishes to really notice this. The waiter did notice and came over and cut Sarah's langostine for her! He showed her how to remove the meat from the attached tail and then cut it for her! Wow, what service!

When the waiter came by to give us rolls, he picked up the rolls from a basket with tongs and carefully put each roll on our bread plates. When he came to Emily, Emily, being helpful, reached out to grab it..."No, Mlle." and motioned toward her bread plate and she passed it toward him! They are learning.

2.5 hours later we took 2 metros home to Cluny and walked back. Home by 11:30. The night is beautiful and the crowds are out in force in this neighborhood outside our windows.

more tomorrow.

It didn't look that rainy when we left the apartment..and we decided to go out to Versailles. We first stopped at our bakery (it's now "ours") and got sandwiches (2 fromage 2 poulet)...that's all we wanted, but the woman behind the counter told us it was a better deal to get one dessert with each sandwich and you also got a beverage that way. Never able to turn down a tart, we didn't. We took or sandwiches and tarts and waters through two Metro changes and got to Invalides for the RER. The ride was about 40 minutes and we arrived at Versailles in a bit of sprinkling rain.

Our museum pass allowed us to cut the line (thank goodness) and we enter the castle. Somehow we get trapped in a group of 1000 people, speaking all languages and travel from room to room, unable to exit. Marc carrying the dejeuner all the while. The "tour" takes about one hour...we are squished and moved along by the crowds of people. Finally we come to the sortie and head for the gardens. We do get to see the bedrooms of the kings and queens...very nice, spacious. I didn't see any great walk in closets, however.

We find the gardens and sit on a step for our yummy picnic. Then the rain really starts. I have never seen it rain so hard. We wait and then make a run for it. About 3/4 the way to the RER the rain comes down again...so hard that the streets are flooded. Our shoes and pants are soaked as we run onto a train as it is almost leaving the station.

We ride back to the 5th via Invalides and Durac. It's raining here too, but not so hard.
No one wants to do anymore walking..so we hang out and prepare for our dinner out. Tonight we are going to Le Dome...the girls are excited. A real dinner. A real restaurant. Hopefully the rain will let up. The restaurant is only one changer away.

Le Dome blog to follow.

ps: the girls' new game involves not fruit (as midgets does) but rather different types of cheese. The are "rella" as in mozzarella and "parmie" and is Parmesan. And of course there's "bree" as in brie. It has been keeping them occupied for hours up in the loft.

Thursday, today, we decided to have a "kid's choice" day.

Emily chose shopping and Sarah wanted a boat ride down the Seine.

We started out at 1pm (after our usual breakfast in the apt. Deb went out in the AM to fetch goodies and came back with far too many cherries due to her lack of skill with French numbers) and took the Metro to Chatelet. A very big changer if you remember. This let us out on r. Rivoli. We went in some stores, did some window shopping....Em and Deb both bought a few things. Em bought a cute purse and some lip gloss (!). Em also bought a cute little sock for her cell phone.

Our plan was to walk to the Marais and go to the Musee Picasso....but we decided to have a picnic first in the Place des Voges. Picnic was picked up at a little bakery place: sandwich, pizzas, quiche. We walked to the Place des Voges, window shopping along the way. Saw some religious Jews and a synagogue. We found a bench and had a great picnic. We even had forks for our quiche.

The girls voted against a Musee, so we made our way across the Seine (stopping ever so briefly on the Ile Ste. Louis for some Bertillion glace (noix de coco: M; chocolate: S; poire: D; mangue: E---but you probably could have guessed the pairings!)

We found the boat docking and had 45 minutes to wait for the next one. We chilled out in a near by park (just next to Shakespeare and Co...) and then boarded the boat. We sat on top. The sky was dark with rain, but no rain yet. Nice and warm (low 70's). The one hour trip was great. Went under all the bridges and got great view of Notre Dame, Tour Eiffel, Louvre etc from the Seine). Now it's 6:30, everyone is tired and we walk home via shops for dinner. It's almost a redux of last night (left over chicken, some new cheeses, breads and pizza from Kayser Boulonger). We are having tarts again for dessert. Surprise, surprise. We love our smoke free apartment for dinner!!!

About 20 minutes after getting back to our apartment the sky opens up and delivers the most amazing thunderstorm...lightening and thunder and pouring rain. Just in time.

Tomorrow we are thinking Versaille and on Sat night we are having dinner with our friends who are here for the year.

The girls are saying a few words in French...and have invented an entire new game to play.

More later!

Sarah's blog:

Wednesday I woke up at noon (again). Then I had breakfast and got out of the house by about one. Then I took the bus to M'O (Musee d'Orsay).

We looked a lot of paintings and sculptures. We were thinking about you, Gok, in the Monet room. We had lunch because Emily was complaining about hunger and thirst. She said that when you are hungry or thirsty, it is your body's last resort for food or water.

After lunch I put up a big fuss because I wanted to go on the boat. But in the end, we went to a bakery and I got a little raspberry boat tart. Emily got a chocolate florentine cookie and mommy got a good cup of coffee.

Then we walked to Shakespeare and Company. It was a good bookstore because they spoke English AND French, but it was a little messy. We couldn't find the children's section but the person said it was up the stairs. "The stairs" were a flight of small, rickety, unstable, red (the paint peeling off) steps. I found two books: Watership Down and Tale of Two Cities.

Then we walked home, but I don't know which way we took because I wasn't paying attention. Then we had dinner, watched Return of the King, and went to bed.

More tommorrow

Emily's Blog:

breakfast: I woke up at exactly twelve to the sound of church bells ringing. Mommy had gone out and bought a petete pa-ou-chocolat and 2 crassants. Mommy made some eggs and we had a meal pa-ou-chocolat, crassant, eggs, bauget and fruit- our ususl breakfast.

lunch:we were in the musium when I started getting hungry. we saw a cafe and we decided to cheack it out. There was a huge line. But we waited because it looked good and there was no smoking! We patietly waited till we got to the beggining.We sat down. Emily-orangina, and tartine nicoise. Sarah-tartine nicoise(didn't eat much of) and potage legumes soup. Daddy and Mommy-cheese plate. Mommy and Daddy are thinking about dropping medicine and writing a book-the best museum cafes arround the wourld.

dinner: We went out and got food for dinner. Chicken, peppers, cousecouse w/pistachios and rasins, kesh and petite pizza.

that's all for now!

Emily :)

A museum a day. That's the goal.

Yesterday we did the Musee d'Orsy. We were up and out at 1pm. Well, Deb is up at 10am and has a splendid two hours with coffee and baguette (or sometimes pain aux noix, or sometimes pain aux figues) and the New York Times on line.

There is a fabulous bakery down the street (Eric Kayser, probably mentioned him already) and they sell these "mini croissants" and "mini pain chocolats". Brilliant.

Our plan was to take a metro to the Musee but there seem to be some metro line closures, so when we tried to get on at St. Michel we couldn't go the direction we wanted. We turned around, walked back up and found a bus on the Quai. Bus 24 took us to the front of the Musee. We took the escalators right up to the 5th floor where all the impressionist and preimpressionists works are. So we saw them all: Monet, Cezanne, Renoir, Manet, Van Gogh. You get the picture (no pun intended). Quite the collection. When we were sitting in front of Monet's water lillies on a bench in the middle of the room, Sarah (or was it Em?) said "I bet Gok sat right here!" I'll bet she did.

After looking at the 5th floor we were hungry! The M'O (as it's called) has a couple of restaurants (one snack bar, one cafe and one real restaurant....closed for renovation) . We go to the cafe. This turns out to be a brilliant idea...a cafe with NO smoking! Can
we come here every meal??? The Cafe is up on the 5th floor and there is an outside deck with great views of Paris (but of course that is where the smokers are). A lovely lunch is had by all (Emily will elaborate).

When we leave the M'O we walk back via rue de l'Universite. We see our old hotel Lennox and of course the hotel de l'Universite...our old haunts. Most stores are closed up (maybe because it's after 5 or maybe it's because it's August. We see the Ecole de Medicine. Marc and I visited this in 92. We head toward the Quai because we are in search of Shakespeare and Co. We find it and Sarah finds two books of interest: Watership Down and Tale of Two Cities. The children's section is up tiny tiny tiny stairs on the second floor....what a crazy store. We head home by foot, tired. It's about 7:30. On the way home, near our apartment we stop for a rotisserie chicken, salads, a quiche and go to the bakery for a couple of tarts and a slice of pizza....this will be dinner.

There is a pouring thunderstorm about 30 minutes after we come home. The sound of the rain is terrific on the skylight in the loft! I guess I carried all the jackets and umbrellas around for nothing. Weather report looks like rain off and on this week....but you never know. Better than 97 F we keep saying.

More blogging later.

We experienced Paris nightlife or something last night starting at about 1am.

We heard some music as we were all going to sleep, but at about 2:30am Marc and I both awoke to VERY loud voices: two people arguing in French, a woman screaming, and then.... gun shots.

We were a bit taken aback...and then we heard the music swell and then.....then whole thing all over again. Marc heard a Frank Sinatra song somewhere in the mix. It took us a few moments to realize must be a movie. And a bad one. The noise was incredibly loud. The scene was playing over and over again. Coming up into our apartment. We looked out on the street, nothing. Finally, we opened our apartment door and we could hear it even louder in the stairwell. Marc ventured down to the second floor apartment where it was clear the sound was coming from....."Pardon" ("Deb...what's the word for loud?"). A 20-something opens the door. Marc points to his ears....the 20-something is very apologetic. The music/the movie is turned off.. Were they watching? Were they screening/editing a movie? Who knows. We went back to sleep. The girls oblivious to this all.

Ah, the benefits of having an apartment with neighbors.
I did notice upon our arrival, that this apartment has lovely little window boxes outside each window. I will not water them.

Today we saw a woman with two rats in a cage on the Metro.
Wonder if she is related in some way to the Rat man at Odeon?

We had breakfast in and then with a blue sky above us we walked out the apartment door and went the other way...toward the Pantheon. We saw the hotel (Hotel de Grand Hommes) we stayed in in 1992. Looks the same. A lot is closed up today (it's a big holiday: Feast of Assumption). We walked to the Jardin du Luxumborg. Really beautiful day. Kids sailing boats, people sunning themselves. We wish we had brought a picnic.

Lunch is at a little place on r. Soufflet: sandwiches and pizza and then Deb and Emily have sorbet on the street (poire for one of us; pamplemousse/orange for the other...guess who had what?).

We get a Metro and go to the Musee Rodin. It starts to rain as we get out of the Metro (no umbrellas or coats today, too bad. Guess I should always carry them?). We have to stand in line for about 10 minutes because we haven't yet bought the weekly museum passes (which we do when we finally get in.....6 days for 45Euros and it lets you cut the line to the front. Kids under 18 are free). This museum is always nice. The outside sculpture garden the best. Everyone likes The Thinker the best.

Then we decide to go get a boat down the Seine. Getting to the boat place proves to be complex. We actually end up walking underground in multiple metro stations, and finally come out just where we started...having gotten nowhere! By now it's raining again so we decide to hop a bus, but when we get on the bus we realize it's going in the opposite direction that we want to go! It takes us to the right bank and finally ends us up in the 16th (not far from the Bois de Boulonge). We think that we will just stay on and take the trip back to where we want to go, but everyone gets off but us and the driver says "Monsieur, this is the end....you have to get off". Marc says "Are you going back to Paris?" He told us we had to get the next bus. We do. The next bus takes us back to our neighborhood and we find a bistro for dinner (but not before going into a bakery for tarts for later (poire).

We have poulet avec frites (Deb and Em) Salad with Chicken, egg, potato, corn (Sarah) and Salad with Chevre chaud (Marc). Too bad for all the smoking...

Head back up the hill (get some washing machine detergent and toilet paper on the way up). Deb inadvertently bought PAPER TOWELS yesterday instead of toilet paper......

Back to the apartment for mint tea and pear tart. Reading, playing, practicing Maftir in the loft, and Marc searching on Zagat for restaurants that don't allow smoking (none exist).

Tomorrow we are going to check out the Buci Market and go to the Musee d'Orsay.

Sarah has finished all of her books (including HP6 we bought at JFK) so we need to find an English bookstore tomorrow. Probably we will try for Shakespeare and Co. when we are near there tomorrow.

more tomorrow. Hope you are all well.

xoxoxo

Emily's blog:

The Fabulas food of pari! :)

-breakfast: breakfast in paris is the best meal of the day sofar. We as in me, mommy and sarah left this mourning arround 10:00 to seek out a backery where we would get some pasteries for breakfast. we walked arround a bit until we found a backery. we got 1 cressant, 1 pa-ou-chocolat and a bread rool in the shape of a bauget. Mommy had some trouble talking with the people at the counter but finilly we left with all our treats. Then we brought them home to eat with daddy who had just woken up.


-lunch: It was about 2:00 or so when I started getting hungry. We were at the Eiffel tower. There wasn't much arroung to eat so we decided to take a bus. We rode on it for about 20 min. By this time I was really deprived of food. My head was starting to hurt and you could hear my stomach from a mile away. We found a resterant and sat down. The waiter took forever to collect out orders. Finilly the food arrived, except for my smoked salmon sandwiches. The waiter said it would be 2 min. (1 hour in hungry land. ) So we finilly got our food and it was delish. Sarah and daddy-chicken salad and mommy-cheese sandwich.

-dinner: It was about 9:30 when we left our appartment. And once again, I was hungry. Mommy and daddy found a resterant but it was closed. We found a dinner but mommy said it was like denny's. I imediatly wanted to leave. They didn't have the chicken three of usm wanted eather. We left. We found another resterant and we decided to eat their. Mommy was complaining because they didn't have anything hot. They didn't have the food three of us wanted eather. So we left. by this time it was really late. We went arround to a couple more resterats before we finnily found a Italian resterant and sat down and ordered. Mommy-eggplant thing. Emily-cappressie salad Sarah-pasta with tommato sauce. daddy-four cheese pasta.

that's the food report,

Emily

Sarah's blog:

No matter what Mommy, Daddy, and Emily say, I didn't sleep on the couch because of sleep walking...I was just scared! But anyway, I woke up really late, and was just barely able to drag myself out of bed and into my clothes to go to the bakery. It wasn't very far, but to me, it seemed like ages! The bakery was sort of small but very nice. Mommy ordered pain chocolate and croissant and a bread. The woman gave us the bread but not the pain chocoate and croissant. It was sort of hard to tell her because Mommy's french vocabulary wasn't that great. We walked home and ate breakfast.

We walked down to an alley with lots of people standing outside restaurants trying to get you to go there. It was really funny! In one restaurant there was even a cat! Then we down to the Seine and I took a couple of pictures. Then we went to Notre Dame and there was a HUGE line. I took some pictures there too. When we walked back down the alley, we saw a chef with no shirt on carrying two huge knives!! We also saw another cat in a restaurant. It was so cute, but it was sitting on one of the chairs, like it was ready for lunch. I got a couple pictures of that one too.

Then we went on the metro to the Eiffel Tower (or Tour Eiffel). It was huge, of course. The lines for tickets were so long you couldn't see the end. But the lines for the stairs were longer than the lines for the elevators. The restaurant was closed, too bad. Then we left and took a bus to lunch.

We took the metro back home. We rested and watched a movie or took a nap (in Mommy and Daddy's case).

After walking around (A LOT!) , my worst nightmare, we finally found an Italian place right next to our apartment. Finally we came back, had tart for dessert and settled in.

More tomorrow!
oxoxoxoxo the bear

Day Two in Paris (or is it Day One?)

We all slept well. We decided Sarah should not sleep in the lof when we remembered that she has the tendency to sleep walk.... Sarah wins the prize for sleeping until 10am.

Deb, Em and Sarah venture out to forge for some breakfast products. Just down the hill at the intersection of our street and St. Germaine we find a yummy boulongerie...one pain chocolate, one crossiant (regular) and one bread with nuts, raisins and orange to bring back to the apartment. We stop in a tiny supermarket and buy some ground coffee for our maker. It is not raining, sky is blue with some clouds and it's high 60's. We notice, as Marc did, that there are restaurants from every corner of the earth here. We pass a Tibetian one, Vietnamese one, Greek one....Emily locates all the countries for us on her mental map.

Yummy breakfast at our little kitchen table with bench.

Raincoats and umbrellas in hand we walk down to St. Germaine to explore. We end up walking around St. Germaine and St. Michel intersection...looking in all the little shops. The girls are especially enthralled with area with cobblestone streets lined with restaurants, men standing in the doorway beckoning you in for some meats. The windows have those raw meat and seafood displays that look oh so appetizing.....to the flies.

There's Notre Dame, so we go. Cross the Seine on Petite Pont. Hoards of people. The line to get in is about 1/4 mile long, so we admire from afar. Try to tell the girls how old it is....built in the 12th century? They are more interested in the boats going down the Seine.

We find a Metro station (St. Michel) and Marc buys the 5 day pass, we're set. We take the Metro (not as clean as the Tube, Sarah notes) to a station we think is near the Tour Eiffel. It's not that near and we walk the wrong way at first...but finally turn around and see it. We sit at the Champs de Mars. Lines to go into the Tour Eiffel are very long.....longer than at Notre Dame. We decide to admire from afar (again). The girls are hungry...so we look for a metro stop, but none is obvious, so we hop a bus that looks like it is going to Jardin Luxumborg. We get off at Monparnasse and look for a cafe with outside seating. It's on and off sunny. The garcon takes about 30 minutes to realize we are there....finally comes. Em will blog about the food in her own blog.

We catch a metro home. Our metro stop is Maubert Mutualite. We stop at a Patisserie on the way up the hill and buy one chocolate hazelnut and one fig/pear/pistache tart for later (or as it turned out, for just a tiny bit later with some mint tea upstairs).

Rest time: Pink Panther for the girls, reading for Deb and of course napping for Marc. We all end up sleeping a bit and wake at 7:30.

Random thought: just as many smokers as when we were here last time...still no insight here. A lot of German tourists here.

Dinner will be somewhere in the neighborhood. No reservations. Sarah is happy.

Welcome to the first posting our our Paris/Amsterdam trip blog.
We will try to update the spot daily. The girls want to each take turns. Is this the high tech version of the "mini-books"?

The trip over was pretty smooth. Both flights on time and smooth. Of course the girls loved being spoiled by the flight attendants and they both had ice cream twice! We managed to get some sleep on the JFK-CDG leg.

The airport here is undergoing a lot of construction, so it was a bit crazy-crowded. An Air India plane had just landed from Mumbai...so as you can imagine the baggage claim was a bit congested! Emily was intrigued with the concept of Air India.

After getting luggage and some Euros from the ATM we went out to the curb...were approached by a man, "need a taxi"? We followed him and waited with him by the curb for about 10 minutes before Deb realized this is probably a high priced scam of sorts (a lot of legit taxis were passing us by). He had quoted us 70Euros...we said no thanks and headed back to what we now saw as a taxi stand. The ride into Paris (only 55Euros) was quick and our Vietnamese driver very happy to give a mini tour and talk to Marc in French. It was raining and chilly (18 C...that's about 66 F).

We went to the hotel to collect our key (very complicated key, so we had a little trouble opening and finding the door), but we found our little apartment on rue de la Montagne Ste. Genevieve and managed to get inside. It's right in the heart of the 5th and seems very well located to shops etc. It is literally 20 steps from the Pantheon (I didn't realize that this is where a lot of famous people are entombed?). The apartment is adorable. It has one bedroom and two baths. The appliances and fixtures are really nice and modern. The decor beautiful. There is a loft that has a queen sized bed (maybe the girls will sleep here?). There is a couch in the living room that folds out too. We have already done a mini (4 items) load of laundry (necessary due to Sarah's little upset on the airplane).

After playing a bit we went across the street for a late lunch..but for us it was more time for breakfast....Deb thinks. Sarah and Deb had soup and Emily had ratatouille. Marc had a salad and some grilled poulet. Yummy bread. Deb thinks she had a whole loaf. We had to remember that they don't bring the check unless you request it (and we were were hesitant to ask for it because by the time we were ready for it, the wait staff was all sitting down having their lunch) and that service is included. We have a learning curve.

Now it is raining. Really raining. And cold.
We go back home (across the street) and somehow all fall asleep. Sarah falls asleep after finishing HP6, which we bought at JFK (good thing, two books for the flights would not have been sufficient). We wake up at about 7pm...not sure if it's day or night...

Marc goes out in the rain to get some rations (rue Kehei anyone?). A lot of stores, markets and every ethnic food imaginable. We decide NOT to go to the Lebanese restaurant down the hill. Marc brings back fruit, cheeses, crackers, bread and eggs. Our dinner couldn't have been better....eggs (sorry El), cheese, toast and crackers. Fruit for dessert.

The rest of the evening is spent playing Midgets in Paris (Em and Sarah) and reading (Marc and Deb). The apartment has the most incredible collection of books (Paris travel, Paris food, Paris history etc.) and a complete copy of Lord of the Rings. We are set for the week.

Check back tomorrow!

xoxoxo