Oooh la la..Paris

This fall the kids have quite a few long weekends. Last weekend was a 4 day weekend. Nick needed to be in Paris for work on Thursday so we joined him afterschool on Thursday night for 5 days in Paris. It's cooler in Paris than Barcelona...and more gray. But despite a few showers the weather was perfect for meandering the charming streets of Paris. Our first stop was to the Arc de Triomphe at the top of the Champs Elysees where we were staying.

It was a gray day but the kids and Nick ventured to the top of the Arc for some pictures of the city from above...

We took some side streets toward the Eiffel Tower where Joe spotted some signs for an Aquarium. This was an odd combination of cinema museum and aquarium...we watched some of Spiderman in french and saw some fascinating sea creatures...

We arrived at the Eiffel tower and because it was later in the day than we had hoped we didn't try to get tickets to go up.

We ate lunch on a riverboat on the Seine then took another boat to the Museum D'Orsee

We don't have any pictures of that museum but it's a beautiful museum in an old railway station. It has a huge collection of Impressionist art. I loved looking at all the paintings I'd studied in college, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh's Starry Night, Degas' Dancers...and his sculpture. My Nana had a replica of his dancer sculpture in her house. Looking at the original made me nostalgic...and brought back such happy memories. I could have stayed in the D'Orsee all weekend but the kids could not...so we hopped back on the Batoboat to Notre Dame.

"Sanctuary...." It was fascinating to be so near this historic cathedral. We didn't get a good look at the gargoyles because they are up rather high on the building.

These statues were near the door.

Inside....

The kids were beat at that point so we packed it in and headed for the hotel. We got the kids some McD's and Nick and I went out to eat at a French Restaurant. It was an adventure trying to decifer the menu and it made me appreciate how far my Spanish has come.

The next morning we woke up bright and early to catch the train to EuroDisney. Nick and I fully realized we were outnumbered and at times, catering to the troops makes the trip. Plus, I love Disney.

EuroDisney is mostly the same as it's American counterparts, although, the rides are slightly altered. There are some loops in Space Mountain there...and the Thunder Mountain has more dark time and seemed longer to me. They created an Alice In Wonderland walking maze that was pretty cool. And we were so pleased to see the place decorated for Halloween!

The next morning we decided to take another trip out of the city to Versaille...first though we needed nourishment and found it at a Crepe vendor on the Champs Elysees...Yummy ham and cheese crepes to start of the day right.

We waited in line behind some very nice people from Connecticut at the Information center outside the Palace. The line at the Palace seemed to be about 2 hours long. After waiting about 15 minutes they closed the line directly in front of the nice people from Connecticut. They advised us to go to the tour office around the corner where we waited for about another 1/2 hour to get the tickets.

It was worth it.

I think I liked the gardens most of all....

We stopped to have lunch at a small cafe in the gardens. Then went on to see the Triannon...which is another palace on the grounds. I believe Josephine's family lived there...

I know this picture is a bit blurry but I love it...

We went back to Paris and grabbed a quick bite to eat before calling it a night. Monday morning we went to the Louvre. I had read all kinds of advice on how to beat the lines but there weren't any lines and we walked right through security and waited just a few minutes before getting our tickets to see the fabulous artwork. More than the art though the rooms themselves are gorgeous as it was a former palace.

Venus di Milo...gorgeous

We also saw the Winged Victory and a couple of statues from Michaelangelo that he created the same time he did the Moses we saw in St Peters in Chains in Rome. We saw Leonardo DaVinci, Raphael, and more. When we were saturated with art we walked along the Jardin Tuileries and had lunch at a fabulous cafe. Andrea decided to try escargo...and Nick and Jess tried some too. I stayed with my quiche. Then we took the metro to Montmartre and saw the Sacre Cour and walk around the streets to admire street artists.

Nick and I bought a couple of small paintings and the kids bought some souveniers. We went back to the hotel for a much needed break before venturing out to see the Eiffel Tower one last time at night...

Ooh la la....Paris is so romantic....even with kids.

and away we go...

The kids had a long weekend for the La Merce Festival in Barcelona. It's a holiday only in the city of Barcelona so we decided to take advantage of the good weather and lack of crowds to explore the Costa Brava. We stayed in a town called L'Escala. L'Escala is a coastal town that grows from a population of 5,000 to 50,000 every August.
We spent our first night walking near the beach and port. There was a promenade on our end of town with several restaurants. We of course, being the adventurous sort, chose Burger King for our first meal.
The next morning we set off to find the coastal path from L'Escala to Empuries. Empuries is an beach town with ruins from the Roman and Greek civilizations who colonized the land. Empuries was the Roman and Greek port for the entire Iberian Peninsula. The path leads along rocky cliffs, coves and beaches. We hadn't made it to the path when Rascal lost his ball in the rocks. Joseph decided to try his hand at spelunking...to no avail. We couldn't find the ball anywhere. We did retrieve a large kickball though, that we decided was a satisfactory replacement.

Along the way we saw a lot of fishing beaches, coves and cliffs that over look the sea.

We found the wall that was built to protect the port.

And the Greek Pier.

We enjoyed a nice lunch in the medieval section of the town. The cobblestone streets and small alleyways between the houses really made it seem as if we were stepping back in time. We found a restaurant that didn't mind that we brought the dogs with us. They even brought them water dishes and extra plates for us to put our scraps on.

Walking back we found this lovely cove...and the kids climbed down to get a closer look. Joe found that inside the cave was purple-ish rocks with the light reflecting on it. He wanted the camera to take a picture but it was too slippery and wet to chance it. Jess told him it was "just going to have to be a memory".

Nick and his pups.

Andrea on the edge...

The next day, Nick took the three youngest to try their hands at go-karting. Andrea had a head cold and wanted to relax. She opted out of our trip to Empuries also, staying home with the puppies. Nick took Joe and Jessica to the beach and Alexa and I went off to explore the ruins.

This is the most important archeological site in all of Spain. It was founded in 6th century BC by the Greeks and known as "Emporion" which means the market. In the 2nd century BC the Romans arrived to fight the Carthaginians and built on the existing town. The Roman ruins were built up on a hill from the Greek ruins.

Alexa and I were particularly impressed with the amount of intact flooring that these Roman ruins possessed.

The Greek ruins were very deep, almost like the houses were built below street level.

The statue outside is a replica of the one that sits in the museum. You can get much closer in the museum...it's very impressive. It is thought to be a god of healing but they are not certain.

We spent another relaxing hour on the beach before getting lunch and returning to Andrea. Then we all went out to get dinner on the promenade overlooking the beach.

Saturday morning we had a cruise up the coast. It was cool and foggy when we started out.

The kids really enjoyed standing on the front of the nearly empty ship as the waves sent water spraying up on to the sides of the deck.

On the bottom of the boat was two small rooms that had glass sides for us to see the bottom of the coves when the boat slowed down.

But it was hard to stay below when the sights you got to see on deck were these...

The Lighthouse at the End of the World is a book that was made into a movie. This is the lighthouse the book features.

We stopped for a few moments to swim in one of the coves.

The afternoon we went and collected the puppies and drove the short distance to Figueres. We went to the Museo-teatro Dali....Salvadore Dali's museum. I'm not a big fan of Surealistic art but the kids found it very interesteing... Here was some of our favorites.

The Bay of Cadeques

part of the ceiling...

What I think of as typical modernista art in Catlunya....the picture doesn't do it justice.

Because we had the dogs with us we split up into two groups. While Nick had the J's in the museum, Andrea, Alexa and I walked around the town. There was an old cathedral, St. Pietro de Figueres. A choir was singing...there is something so magical about these old cathedrals when they are filled with music.

Our last morning Nick took all 4 of the kids to the go-karts while I finished packing up. We headed home a happy kind of tired. We're looking into getting back up again soon.

Love you all

Bren