As Promised...Or Threatened...Paris!

 Several years ago my parents told Golda and Ruby they would take them to Paris if they saved up enough.  It seemed like an impossibility, but they opened savings accounts and started putting away birthday money and the occasional few dollars earned.  As they got older, babysitting money went into the account, then teaching money from dance and drama camps and flute, violin and guitar lessons they taught.  Finally last spring, they had enough to pay for half their airline tickets.  We booked the trip, including Ari because we thought it could be her Ten Year Old Trip instead of San Francisco.  The girls continued to work and save.  I'm proud of them for working so hard.  We don't do allowance for whatever reason, so all the money they saved, they earned.  Scott and I worked hard too to make the trip possible, but we still couldn't have done it without Coco and Bill supplying the lodging.  We would have had to stay in a rat hole in the suburbs!  Anyway, every minute of the trip was wonderful in every way, and we're so grateful to have had the experience.

Scott took us to the airport right after the kids got off to school.  As we prepared for the trip of a lifetime, we had to shed the stress and anxiety of everyday life and turn our thoughts to PARIS!!  Seeing the curvature of the earth from the plane melted away my worries about home and reminded me that there is more to life than Kaysville.  Perspective!  Just what we needed to start the trip.  We had a tight layover in Dallas and then an eight-hour flight into the night and over the Atlantic.  That was an experience for the girls!  They did great, even if they didn't sleep as much as they wanted to.  A car was waiting for us at the Charles de Gaulle airport and we were whisked through the outskirts and into the city, across the Seine at Pont Neuf and to our street on the Left Bank.

Our fabulous apartment was the best one in the whole city.  We know that because Coco looked up virtually every one of them and studied for hours and hours to find the perfect home base for our adventures.  The apartment was indeed perfect and we loved the street, Rue St. Andre des Arts.  When we arrived, we were dropped off a couple blocks away from our front door and took in the neighborhood as we walked to the apartment.  We met the owner and got the key.  Coco, Bill and Trajan would be there soon, so we went out to explore before they arrived.  Our street was technically a pedestrian walkway, so there's not much traffic, but there was a lot of action night and day.  The neighborhood was absolutely vibrant.

You can't waste any time when there's amazing food everywhere.  Besides gelato and pastries, our neighborhood had awesome street food everywhere.  The neighborhood is St. Michel, known for ethnic food and jazz clubs, right in the Latin Quarter.  We tried plenty of crepes, gyros and falafels.

We also walked over to the Tuilleries and past the Louvre's pyramid.   Exhausted, we still stayed up way too late enjoying the atmosphere through our open windows and eating ham and cheese crepes.   It's somewhat of a blur what we did when, but according to my camera, that was Day One.  And what a day it was!  A life-changer.

Day Two started like this:

The Eiffel Tower was at the top of the girls' list of must-see destinations, of course, so as soon as we were adjusted and rested, we had to go.  We took a bus with Coco, Bill and Traj to the Trocadero and took in the scene.  Street performers, North Africans selling trinkets, lots of people.  I think we walked from Trocadero under the Eiffel Tower all the way to...somewhere.  Probably to get another gelato.

With our apartment being so close to the Ile de la Cite, we walked to Notre Dame several times.  I can understand why Monet painted this majestic cathedral so many times.  It's beautiful in any light, especially at sunset.