Vacation Stories III (conclusion). [scroll down a few meters for the earlier installments]

Our neighborhood


We had time during our first evening for a boat ride on the Seine and a relaxing view of the city

After the boat ride we were ready for a late dinner, and searched for a restaurant that did not have a television or radio blaring – difficult as it was the last night of the World Cup. The streets were crowded with people who needed to watch but who were not content to stay at home to do it.



Again the kids set the agenda for most of the week, and the first stop was the Louvre






We spent 2-3 hours there, concentrating on the French painters of the early 19th century, then walked in the Jardin des Tuilleries and got sucked into a few rides...







The Musée d’Orsay occupied much of the next day. I had actually never seen the paintings in these collections before and was very moved. I had spent a lot of time studying the Impressionists in a wonderful summer school class I attended when I was only slightly older than my kids are now. Finally seeing Monet’s paintings of the Rouen cathedral on this trip gave me chills. A documentary about Van Gogh was being filmed at the museum that day. I wrote down the director & producer's names for future reference!

The evening brought me the dreaded task of taking the kids to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I don’t care for heights, but I had no way out of this one. We took our places in line at the bottom and bought tickets for the privilege of climbing. I felt I should be paid for this but really, nobody was listening. After climbing around 700 of the 1789 steps we couldn’t find any more accessible steps, and joining another queue seemed the only option. We then had the privilege of buying more tickets, and as it turned out the elevator was our only option – you can’t climb the stairs to the very top. After buying tickets we queued again to get on the elevator and I made myself watch our progress as we ascended to the summit. It was a lovely view and I did not feel after all that I was going to have nightmares. As we descended the stairs the lights started to come on, and it was pretty magical. I had not brought the camera, but had gotten some pictures the previous night as we were in that neighborhood:






The kids had not had quite enough art so we spent the next day at the modern art museum at the Pompidou Center. I’ve never been particularly keen on modern art, and by the end of the day the boys decided they weren’t either, but we enjoyed the visit anyway. There were quite a few interesting short films on display, including one expertly edited collection of scenes from Hollywood movies showing leading actresses in identical settings – sleeping, then awakened by a noise, getting up to investigate, opening a door – and so on – beautifully done but don’t ask me what the artist thought he was doing….

The week sped by and our last day was crammed. Notre Dame occupied the first part of the day










and Pére Lachaise cemetery took up the rest of it. It was a hot day, and it took us a while to get the cemetery figured out.



A most unusual place – it almost had me feeling it wouldn’t be so bad to be underground if one could be there. Very peaceful, but with lots of visitors. It was like a town, with quiet tree-lined streets.







We wandered around for a good two to three hours and found a few old friends





and when the cemetery closed at 1800 we cooled off at a neighborhood ice cream parlor before catching the Metro back to Montmartre one last time.

At the time this trip was conceived, I couldn’t imagine spending 2 ½ weeks on vacation. Part of me was kind of against the whole idea, and I had so many responsibilities at home I simply was not able to put my mind to the task of truly preparing for the trip. I had been to Paris twice before, but I was 17 at the time of that 2nd trip, so it was almost like starting over. Not a bad way to go though – poring over guide books is a great thing, but winging it works too. Now, it seems so easy. I feel like I could pack a small bag and jump on a plane tomorrow. I hope the next trip will not be such a long time coming. But in the meantime, I’d like that crash course in French!

Smart Car

I loved these little cars, which were all over the place. They would get crushed in the mob of U.S. SUVs; still I wanted to put a couple in my suitcase, bring them home and convert them to run on vegetable oil...