Paris Day 5

I think this day started poorly. I seem to remember we had a really, really hard time getting out of the apartment. And there may have been bickering. Let's forget about that. We had to buy a new camera card (argh!) and Geoff had to go back to the apartment for the camera (double-argh!). Luckily, this meant Hazel got to ride another carousel.

This was a more modern one. What with the cars and the rising up and down. This seemed like a neighborhood carousel, not a tourist one.

Whatever, Hazel loved it.
Then we went to the cemetery. Along the way, a flower vendor ran out, stopped us and gave Hazel a flower (she was being a little pouty and it went a long way to cheering her up). He then practiced his English on us and said, "Obama good!" with a big, old thumps up.

And then we met an indian who wanted the flowers.
This may be one of my favorite pictures of the trip. I love the drama of the kidlet. Yep, we are still posing like statues.
The ninja wanted to see Jim Morrison's grave. She is a big fan of The Doors.
Hazel is a big fan of the Wilde name. She doesn't really know who Oscar Wilde is, other than the Selfish Giant story, but she does recognize her last name.
The flowers were removed from their stems and applied to her ponytails. They were a lifesaver.
Then we head to the science museum! Woo!
It messed with our perception. Or maybe Geoff shrunk and Hazel grew.
Silliness on the mirror.
Aliens!
Unfortunately, it closed at 6pm, like everything else, so we didn't get to spend much time science-ing. Curses!

But we did have fun playing outside. Even if one us got a little tilt-y.
Giant, mirrored globe!
We all threw our hands up in the air and danced like we just didn't care.
And then we got to ride the beloved metro again.
To Sacre Coeur!
Honestly, this was one of my least favorite places. It was the first time we were really hit with classic "tourist" mobs. And, what a mob it was. So many people, so many people trying to sell them beer, so many pickpockets, so many street vendors running from the cops.

The highlight was finding this scarf for Hazel. She loves it and still gets tons of entertainment out of it.

While we were in the area, we decided to see (from the outside only) Moulin Rouge.
Not really the best area to be taking a five-year-old after dark.
But then we found the air vent.
This giant platform that blew air. I think it was from the metro, but I really don't know. Whatever it was, it was semi-warm and there was a ton of it. She told me this was her favorite part of Paris.
And then it was time to head home to bed.
Yeah, yeah, I have more days. I will get to them. I promise!

Paris Day 4

Versaille Day!

Many exciting points before we even get to the first picture.

1- We got up early(ish) and out of the house only like two hours after our planned departure time. This is the best we can hope for.

2- We got to ride the train (hooray!).

3- More musicians on the train. This time there was an old guy playing an accordion. So, you know, my dad could work in France when he retires.

4- Hazel spied a McDo and whined and whined for it. But in French.

Because we were in France. In Versaille to be precise.

Hazel was carried a lot. Not just in Versaille. Everywhere. All over Paris. Luckily, we keep her small and easy to carry. Still 35-lbs gets heavy.

Flora did not come with us to Versaille. Instead we took Sparkle-Heart-Pinkie-Pie, (who also apparently appeared at the Louvre. Ninjas are sneaky that way, and I am not that observant) or some such nonsense. Hazel is an erratic and crazy namer. And changes names based on the wind. Or something. Anyway, this ninja was there.
We played a few rounds of zombie tag. Please note: Hazel is too exhausted to walk the 3 blocks from the train station to the château but has plenty of energy to run around and play zombie tag. For hours.
I believe there was a statue in front of us that we were copying. Or maybe we are just dorks. Or both. Probably both.
Marie Antoinette's hamlet is the most adorable thing ever. If you go to Paris (and you should go to Paris), you should go visit M.A.'s hamlet. Especially if you have a young girl, or have ever read a fairytale. Actual thatched roofs. With FLOWERS growing on the top!
Hazel also loved it. Obviously.
This was the best part. These fish were giant, slimy and disgusting. There were hundreds of them. Thousands, maybe. We had a bag full of cereal and fed them handfuls of it and they swarmed (or whatever fish d0). They had giant gaping mouths and made a gross noise and pushed each other out of the way, and out of the water.

It was awesome.
We took a lot of corny family pictures.*
After the hamlet, and a visit to the farm, and some more gardens, we went to the actual chateau. It was packed with tour groups and it was hot and it is huge. Not quite Louvre huge**, but big enough. And did I mention the crowded and hot??

Luckily, there is a lot of repetitious gold decor and ummm... pictures. And chandeliers. We love chandeliers here in the Wilde Manor.

This room is called the Hall of Mirrors. It is fancy and famous and has a TON of chandeliers. Hazel's mouth literally dropped when she saw the room. We recreated it for a picture. She would like her room to look just like this. But without so many tour groups.
We were done with Versaille and the lame crowds and we headed back to the city. We rode the train into town and got off early to find some dinner. First, we happened upon the square in front of the Hotel de Ville. It was reasonably empty and slightly windy and Hazel thought this meant it was time to fly a kite. Keep in mind, she was too tired to walk from the metro station to the square (like a block) but she had the energy to run around flying a kite for about 30 minutes. (See Zombie Tag at Versaille)
We then wandered into our (temporary) neighborhood and ate falafel and shwarma from the falafel shop endorsed by Lenny Kravitz. I will now go on record as saying I will eat any falafel that Lenny Kravitz endorses, because it was delicious.

Then we stopped at a playground.

But not just any playground. This one had a UNICORN! And kids. (not pictured)
I think I already posted a picture of the elevator in our building but this one better demonstrates the teeny-tiny nature of the lift. Geoff had to smush his shoulders in to fit. At least it was tall enough to fit two people in, if you stack them.

More to come???? Yes, probably. But not today.

*Hazel says her most favorite part of all of Paris was, "Spending time with my family." Aaahhh...I love my corny kid.

** I just Googled the size of both. Versaille is 51,200 square meters, the Louvre is 652,300 square feet. So, both giant.

Paris Day 3

I believe this was April 14th, but since I didn't switch the time on the camera (OH! And the two cameras had different times by about 2 hours, so they are not really in order. Anger! It is fixed now. For the future.)

We were going to wake up bright and early today but didn't. Because that is how we roll. Slowly out of bed. Eventually, we got up and ready for our day. Hazel wore some lovely French braids, or as they call them in France, "braids". This shot also demonstrates our less-than-OSHA-standards window railing. We were on the floor 4, which is equivalent to U.S. 5. I think it is something to do with metric. Or because they count the ground floor as 0 and then move up to 1, 2, etc. Anyway, do you see the railing that is two hundred years old and fragile?? That my child is leaning on?? Fancy.

When we finally left the apartment (seriously, I think it was like 2pm), we went to the Louvre. Hazel was extremely excited about this for a few reasons; (1) mummies, (2) this book,* and (3) she really had no idea what she was in for.

First up, the pyramid. Starting off on the right foot for my Egypt loving kid.
And, what's this?? Two more pyramids inside?!?! Awesome. (Have you guessed Hazel's favorite pose of the trip yet?)
We ate some (over-priced, not-that-great) lunch and finally went in to the actual museum. Of course, a huge part of the Egypt wing is closed for....something...probably renovating. Thank goodness not all of it however.

This sarcophagus is in the Louvre Up Close book (please note: we just borrow it from the library. If an actual trip to the Louvre is cheaper than the book, I am not buying the danged book). Hazel was VERY excited to find it in Real LIFE!
And, holy cow, an actual. real.live.mummy. The best thing ever! I wish her cute little face was in focus but you can still see her genuine excitement at seeing a mummy.**
This vase, also in the book. We tried to find everything in the book, including Hazel's favorite mosaic. But, have you been to the Louvre? It is huge? And we only had like 2 hours until it closed. And it.is.huge. HUGE! We found like 5 things out of the book.
And then we saw this lady. Flora thought it was an awesome picture and wanted her picture by it.
As did the Hazel. Okay, she actually didn't care for the Mona Lisa at all. She in fact questioned why all the people were there and "don't they know about the mummies?"
After the mummies, and a lot of pictures of princess and horses disguised as unicorns***, we got a little silly. With all the fabulous art, we took pictures being ridiculous. In my defense, when you visit museums with a five-year-old, and want to see much of it, you have to make it fun for everyone. Or it is fun for no one. No.One.

A terrifying sculpture of a dragon.
Hazel loved to pose like the sculptures and have us take her picture. Every single time, she would mirror it, instead of copy it. Eventually, she would get it right.
Geoff was also adequate at statue copying.
Okay, I have a lot of these. I will not post all of them. But I like this sculpture and her "whatever" pose.
Yahoo for the tripod and family pictures!
Hazel and Flora on a bridge. If I was a good blogger, I would figure out what bridge it is, but I am not. It is the one by the Louvre. On the way to the Orsay.
What up, Orsay? (which kind of sounds like "horsey")
Oh yeah, we have three of these basically identical pictures. I like the angry faces. Because, of course, they are posing by a rhino.
Elephant.
My two funny (to me) stories from the Orsay:

1- When you first walk in there is a hallway of sculptures (it used to be a railway station, so there is a huge open area, the building is fantastic), after looking at a few Hazel asked me where Grandma Anne's stuff was. I explained she didn't have any in the museum and Hazel wanted to know why not. I said she hadn't been around long enough and Hazel accepted that as a good answer.

2- We had a backpack with us for snacks and water and jackets and whatnot and they guy didn't want to let it in, until he was Hazel. He said, "No bags, but for the sake of the child you can take it in." FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHILD! I love the phrasing.

All over Paris, we were cut slack because of the kid. Utah tolerates kids, because they are everywhere and a million of them. But other places seem to cherish them (perhaps not the right word), they are more of a novelty and less of a commodity. They don't really cater to kids, but they do realize that kids, and parents, need a little help and understanding. I don't want to eat at a "kid" restaurant but I do want to have smaller portions, served quickly.

Costa Rica was similar, when the cops saws Hazel in the back seat they sent us on our way posthaste, instead of (probably) sending Geoff to jail, or giving him a ticket, whatever.

Blah blah.

And then we probably ate some food and headed home. Or headed home and ate some food. And watched Nick Jr.

Day 4 to come....

*Nice that they call it a "bargain book". Ha!!!

**Next year, Egypt! Hopefully.

***Seriously, Hazel was able to spot a "unicorn" from a mile away. Most of them were just horses in armor. She also loved pictures with babies and moms.