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.