Well thanks for coming back for more after an unfortunate technology break which crippled my posting ability. But I kept writing about our trip, in good old fashion pen on legal pads, and have a few things to update this blog with- and I hate to not complete the journey's tale. Look for at least one more post after this! Plus this is a BONUS double header- my post on Ryan's visit AND also a great tale of Fedora and Pleasant's trip to London with my sister Katherine (Kathy to family) that F sent me in email and I asked permission to post. She is a funny girl.
When the whole trip idea got started, Ryan was not impressed with Paris as the destination. His cultural homeland, Norway, or exotic Barcelona, maybe. France held no special calling to my scientist husband. But of course his joining us for a week seemed like a natural choice. He arrived with the required khaki bermuda shorts and Rick Steves (Mark Parrish)guide book. In an advanced email Ry had said "Get the museums out of the way" and we had followed orders. He arrived Sunday morning and by that afternoon we had shed the girls and were strolling along the Ste. Martin Canal flea market, and sipping cold Heinekens in a cafe, watching a bohemian slice of life parade by. We probably walked 10 miles that day with not a Modern Expressionist painting in sight. (On a later trip, we did find some apt graphitti, see pic, artwork even Ryan had to admire!)
The Norte Dame trip- so well covered earlier here by Fedora-was quite the family outing. While they climbed stairs, I sat in the church, absolutly mortified at the amusement park like atmosphere that prevailed, including tourists stitting in the pews, reading tour books out loud, while their partners filmed the interior. It was equally offensive in English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Italian, Russian and Greek. Skimpy summer apparel, tripods and lights, loud conversation and staged "watch me pray" photos had me reeling after 45 minutes. I had already covered church etiquette 101 with my girls: don't go in bare shouldered, don't be loud, we are visitors, guests in someone's house of worship. Not everyone got that memo. I got some sati
sfaction at the end of the week when Ryan and I went to a favorite of mine, Basilique Sacre Coeur, and hoofed up ALL THOSE STAIRS. One of the most beautiful -and newer circa 1870's- in Paris, this church still had some self-respect, and there were gentlemen shaking their fingers and telling women to cover up at the door or refusing entry. Ten feet in the door there was someone 'Shhh' -ing the entering crowd. Zero cameras. You could walk thru, you could sit and pray if you were a 'club member', but this was no E-ticket ride.Other family highlights included an hour and a half river trip on a big tour boat. A loop o
f city highlights from the Seine, you know, "On the right, on the left," in four languages. We had seen much of it up close, at ground level, but just as the sun had set and we turned around, putting us -starboard- directly under the Effiel Tower, it lit up in an explosion of glittering blue and silver lights. Wow, talk about timing. It was as good as National Monument Light Shows get. It was one of our last nights together as a family in Paris. We rode the metro home and took the girls to the pub we had found and adopted (The Pure Malt) and they had their first 'cocktails' Mojitos with champagne. I think I drank most of F's. Tasty.
f city highlights from the Seine, you know, "On the right, on the left," in four languages. We had seen much of it up close, at ground level, but just as the sun had set and we turned around, putting us -starboard- directly under the Effiel Tower, it lit up in an explosion of glittering blue and silver lights. Wow, talk about timing. It was as good as National Monument Light Shows get. It was one of our last nights together as a family in Paris. We rode the metro home and took the girls to the pub we had found and adopted (The Pure Malt) and they had their first 'cocktails' Mojitos with champagne. I think I drank most of F's. Tasty. Ryan's week included us spending a perfect day with his friend and fellow scientist, Adam, who came over from his home in Cambridge, England, to visit us in Paris. W
ith the girls off on their own, we had a lengthy and French lunch, (the men caught up on professional gossip and I ate and ate and ate...) followed by a 
lengthy and French walk through the lengthy and French Luxembourg Gardens, then a lengthy and French afternoon of gelato and cold pints at places called things like 'The Valkrie'. This is a picture Adam took of us before we poured ourselves onto the metro to get him back on the train home where he has a nice wife and sweet daughter. We are all such good travelers, and the world is so small, who knows which 'side of the pond' we will see each other again?
ith the girls off on their own, we had a lengthy and French lunch, (the men caught up on professional gossip and I ate and ate and ate...) followed by a 
lengthy and French walk through the lengthy and French Luxembourg Gardens, then a lengthy and French afternoon of gelato and cold pints at places called things like 'The Valkrie'. This is a picture Adam took of us before we poured ourselves onto the metro to get him back on the train home where he has a nice wife and sweet daughter. We are all such good travelers, and the world is so small, who knows which 'side of the pond' we will see each other again?
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