Today was lovely. as I mentioned we are enjoying lazy mornings without the craziness that our usual schedule entales. Well to be honest it was a bit lazier then we reckoned it would be this morning as Mummy forgot that electric stove tops take ages longer to heat up then gas and so it took 20 min to scramble our dozen eggs! By the way, eggs are so cheap here - 24 eggs for 3.20 euros. That is about what we would pay for a dozen back home, so I now understand why the french eat so many egg dishes :-)
Once we got going, and spent about half an hour figuring out our metro routes on google maps, we packed a picnic lunch and headed out for a day of adventure. For some reason - completely unknown to us - the metro ticket computer would not let us but a day pass, so we went with the booklets of 10 and the children all enjoyed the thrill of feeding the machine and pushing their way through to the other side of the bars. 12 minutes latter and we arrived at the Iena station to exit towards the Eiffel Tower. It was a neat way to go, since you cannot see the tower at all until you are nearly at the bridge and turn the corner and then there is stands in all its man made grandeur. By now it had started to rain (as it is want to do in Paris in the spring!) and the wind picked up so we were quite chilled and the thought of our picnic lunch on the grass was less appealing then when we had left the apartment under clear and sunny skies.
Since we had been warned ahead of time from numerous travel sites that the weather in Paris in the spring is unreliable, we were prepared with hoods and blankets for sausage. Though we are going to have to find a shop to purchase gloves for Magoo & Monkey since they have none and really - it is rather chilly outside here still.
We crossed the bridge (and passed the Iranian embassy) towards the tower and encountered the "vultures" as hubby described them yesterday. There are these men that are selling mini replicas of the Eiffel Tower and the Arc on large rings that they shake at you and yell at you "for you only 5 euros, 2 for 10, please nice tourist you need tower?" yeah right - I'd read about you guys! Everyone recommends not even looking in their direction and walking past. Which sounds easy, but not so much! they stand right in front of you and shake these loud clang things at you and yell...well you get the picture I'm sure. Anyways we told the kids just to stare at us and follow us and there we be. They were out at the Louvre yesterday and apparently hang out at all the main tourist spots so I'm sure we will get used to them. According to the travel warnings they not only rip you off - but work in groups to also pickpocket you at the same time!
We had decided ahead of time not to ascend the Tower today, but to enjoy the park at the base instead. That was before the weather turned on us. Instead, after walking through the base (past the gun loaded guards!) we found some cement cubes they had placed to keep cars out and sat on those for our picnic lunch (honey sandwiches for the older two, ham & cheese for Monkey & Daddy, ham wrapped around cheese - yes we ran out of bread! for Mummy & sausage....with whole carrots & chips & apples) yeah I know you are thinking - WHAT they ate in front of everyone on those cubes, that incidentally were placed right in front of the one ticket poster. But you know what - we really didn't care, we were out of the wind and somewhat sheltered....and got to look at the park we had been planning on picnicking in ;-) For those interested - no there are no leaves on the tress and no buds either, still winter here too!
Our plan had been to then hop on the metro to the Arc d'Triumph...but it was now 3 and Memorial was to start at 4. Of course I forgot that daylight savings hasn't happened here (joy we get to do that all over again!) and so the time change is 5 hrs not 6. Thankfully Hubby is always on top of this sort of thing :-) So we retraced our steps through the vultures and stopped at............
The CAROUSEL. Main attraction for the girls in Paris! They all loved it, and sausage enjoyed watching. We will be back!
Figured out the Metro home and then went to see if (hope against hope) one of the grocery stores was open .....because of the bread situation. But it wasn't and we got in the door just at 4! Mad dash to change shirts and into skirts for us ladies and we all sat down at the dining room table for memorial service, dialing into our ecclesia back home to watch.
It was such a comfort to see familiar faces and listen to a good exhort by Bro Tim Bering. The point I took away was in reading the parable of the talents....substitute the word hour for talents and it is a very sobering thought - how do I spend the hours I have been given in a week?
Yes, we did have some bread - the last bit of a stale baguette (they really only last the day you buy them) but Hubby managed to break it in two and we could then use it.
Thankfully Sausage napped for half for Memorial and through making dinner, so the children played upstairs in the loft (where Magoo is sleeping) while I had the kitchen to myself. I love cooking, and find it so therapeutic after a busy day :-) Roast chicken, sliced carrots tossed in butter, mashed fingerling potatoes (I added garlic cream cheese to mine) and Brussels sprouts was a feast for sure.
We polished off the chocolate covered cookies for dessert. I really must remember that these packages are European sizes, only 12 cookies in a box doesn't last very long in a family of 6! That is what happened with the bread.....bought a loaf thinking it would last us a day, and since there were only 14 slices it barely covered breakfast & lunch!
Well I should sign off. Homeschooling must be organized and all found! before tomorrow morning. We have forgotten some of the craft supplies so off to Office Depot will be a stop to pick some up and journals for the girls.
Until tomorrow then,
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