Une galette, les Poupees and Disneyland

When I last wrote I was happily oblivious to the fact that all too soon our good luck with health would run out and we would all fall ill with various different ailments. This blog is not the place for me to list them all! However, in between a few rest days, we have still managed to get out and see a bit more.

We celebrated the evening of January 6 in true French fashion with 'une galette'. In France this is to celebrate 'La fete des Rois', or the Epiphany, when the 3 wise men reached Jesus in Bethlehem. The galette was divided up and Ella, from under the table, called out the name of who would get each piece. And who found the lucky feve hidden inside.....?





Yes, it was James who was crowned King - luckily though we had 2 crowns so the girls soon took them for themselves.


The last time I had a galette in French the feve inside was a little plastic figurine of a queen. This time, it was a silver token from the patisserie Lenotre in conjunction with Harley Davidson. I'm not quite sure why...? I'll have to read up on it on their website.

The next day James took the girls to the Musee de la Poupee (the Doll Museum), which they loved, and then for a walk around the Marais. Both girls thought the Pompidou Centre was very funny, with everything that should be on the inside, like pipes, escalators etc, on the outside.





Another day we visited the Cluny Museum, or the Musee du Moyen-Age (the Museum of the Middle-Ages). I remember visiting this museum when I was about 9 and living in Paris on a school excursion and I loved it. It's in a beautiful old building,which was a small castle built at the end of the Middle Ages. Much of the castle is original and also contains the restored remains of Roman baths on the site. The girls loved the exquisite tapestries of the Lady and the Unicorn, which actually represent each of the 5 senses.

The Cluny museum

In the afternoon we took advantage of another sunny day and took a river cruise on the Seine. Here is a rare shot of James and I together on the Pont Neuf, about to go on the cruise, taken by Ella!


We saw all the main sights of Paris on the cruise....

the Eiffel Tower, of course...


and for a minute, the girls thought they were back in New York! But no, it is the original model of the Statue of Liberty, given to France by the United States. We also saw le Grand Palais and le Pont Alexandre III.

Le Grand Palais

Le Pont Alexandre III

Back on land, we enjoyed a walk along the Seine towards Notre Dame, looking at the many artists and sellers of artwork and vintage postcards.


And of course, another carousel ride, this time outside L'Hotel de Ville.

Yesterday, we had a day at EuroDisney - we were so lucky to get a sunny day amidst all the rain we have been having. There are about 5 different 'lands' in Disneyland. Pia and Ella wanted to spend the most time in 'Fantasyland', where we saw Sleeping Beauty's Castle, went on Dumbo's ride and the Mad Hatter's tea cups, through Alice in Wonderland's Curious Maze and the scary forest of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

We did venture into Adventureland so that James could go on the Indiana Jones rollercoaster ride, but alas, it was experiencing technical difficulties! So no adventure for James.

Ella enjoys a special cuddle from Mickey Mouse

Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen were a big hit in the parade, along with many other Disney characters.

A final shot of Disneyland on our way out.

Tomorrow is our final day in Paris and we are planning to actually go inside the Louvre and Notre Dame, as we have only walked past so far. We have enjoyed our time in Paris but are looking forward to getting back home too. So thank you again for having followed all of our adventures and we will see you back in Australia tres bientot.

La conquete de la Tour Eiffel

This is a shot of the little feet that conquered the Eiffel Tower. Yesterday, being the first morning that we woke up to a sunny day in Paris, we headed over to the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, every other tourist in Paris had the same idea so the queue for the lift was enormous. Given some of our previous experiences waiting in queues, like at the Statue of Liberty, we were not prepared to do this. So we decided to take the stairs - the girls got their walking feet ready and up we went! All 668 stairs to the 2nd floor (the summit was closed.) Both Pia and Ella were determined to walk them all by themselves with no help from Daddy (who had offered to pick them up a little if they needed assistance!)

We all agreed the view from the top was worth the climb up ....and down.






After the Eiffel Tower, we took the RER over to Les Invalides to see the tomb of Napoleon. The inside of his crypt is covered in reliefs of Napoleon, depicting him as a Roman god who bestowed great gifts on his people. The girls thought they reminded them of the statue of George Washington in the American History Museum, which they saw here.


When viewing Napoleon's tomb the girls were reminded of an anecdote told to me by my Dad. He recalls telling his father that Napoleon was encased in seven lead lined coffins in Les Invalides and he said "That's so the little b----r couldn't get out and start causing trouble again".(As you can see, I have edited the original word here for any children reading!)





And here is some of what we have been doing in the last few days:

A ride on the 'Paris Eye', the huge ferris wheel, from which we also got an 'eiffel'
of Paris (that joke is for my Dad!)










A visit to the Musee de l'Orangerie, in the Jardin des Tuileries. Thus is where Monet's Water Lillies are housed. Monet painted these scenes of his garden as a gift to France after the horrors of World War 1.





We enjoyed lunch in a cute little French bistro near Place de la Madeleine, La Ficelle.
The girls have been sampling 'un orangina' while we have been here, and also 'les jus de fruits'. Today it was 'un jus d'abricot'.

James and the girls on the Pont Neuf.

Le jardin de Luxembourg

We visited Le Pantheon,where the French bury their national heroes, and saw the graves of Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Emile Zola, Jean Moulin, Andre Malraux, Pierre and Marie Curie, Louis Braille, to name a few.

Le Pantheon

Pia and Ella contemplate a return to Paris one day to perhaps study at La Sorbonne...

I'll leave you with a few other shots of a beautiful sunset mixed with incoming rain clouds taken from our apartment balcony.







A bientot,

Happy New Year from Paris!

Well, Happy New Year to you all from Paris. We arrived here on December 30, after a long journey we would rather forget, which involved missing our connecting flight and pretty much no sleep! But anyway, once settled in our apartment we soon forgot our troubles and began enjoying Paris. The top 2 photos are taken from the little balcony of our apartment, which is situated right on Place de la Bastille. It is very cosy (i.e., tiny) but in a great position and, as you can see, the view is amazing. In the second photo you can see, on the right, part of the Eiffel Tower (the top is covered in cloud) which shimmered in lights every ten minutes on New Years Eve.

We spent New Year's Eve with our friends Caitlin and Tobye, who were visiting at the same time. We enjoyed a feast of foie gras, French cheeses, baguette, little boudin blanc and cured meats. We also had the most delicious fig and pistachio tart for dessert.







So here is a summary of our first few days in photos:

Visiting the Champs Elysees and Arc de Triopmhe





La Tour Eiffel...of course! As you can see, the weather here is generally freezing and foggy. But Paris is still beautiful!

Notre Dame

La Conciergerie

L'Hotel de Ville

The girls loved the 'Marche des enfants' just on the other side of Place de la Bastille. The magic water balls were a big hit!







We've enjoyed the fare at the local fresh food market at La Bastille - great mushrooms!




James and I loved rediscovering the Place des Vosges and walking around the covered archways there. (Victor Hugo lived in one of the houses here). The girls loved that there was a playground!

La Place des Vosges

There have been glimpses of blue sky and a walk past the Louvre also showed off a beautiful skyline at dusk.

Le Louvre

We'll post up more of our photos in the next few days. I hope the New Year has started off well for all of you too.