Ice Cream!!

We found a great ice cream parlour near the Centre Pompidou.  They serve the ice cream in the shape of a flower:

The Catacombs of Paris

We booked a walking tour of the catacombs of Paris.  It was a Viator "skip the line" tour, which was fortuitous, as the line-up was a block long by the time we arrived.  Here we are waiting for our tour guide to show up:

The start of the tour was 103 circular steps underneath the streets of Paris.  The cool air was nice, as it was 31 degrees in Paris today.  The catacombs were actually a limestone quarry that was mined to build the buildings in Paris.  In fact, the quarry was over-mined and Paris started collapsing in places.  In 1786 a decision was made to relocate the dead bodies from the over-crowded cemeteries to the abandoned quarries [see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Paris]

There was an interesting part of the quarry that we went through before we reached the catacomb.  A quarryman that was working off a prison sentence decided to carve sculptures in the limestone.  Here are a few photos:

You could not use a flash in the catacomb, so the quality of our photos were pretty poor.  Here is a video of us entering the catacombs:

Here are a few photos that we took when the lights were shining on the bones:

It was pretty incredible. but the kids got a little tired and claustrophobic after 2 hours underground.   We surfaced, bought groceries and had a picnic in a nearby park.

The Optical Illusion

Our apartment is a few blocks away from the Hotel de Ville.  In the front is a patch of lawn that is relatively nondescript.

Here is another view where I am standing in the foreground.

There is a spot on the grounds if you look just right and close one eye you get an optical illusion of the lawn that I tried to capture on film:

Cool huh??

The Ferris Wheel in Jardin Des Tuileries

Ella convinced us all to take a ride on the Ferris Wheel at Jardin Des Tuileries outside of the Louvre.  It was quite fun!!  Here was her commentary on the way up:

Here are some of the photos we took on the ride:

Great idea Ella!!

65 Years Later

Here was my Grandfather at the Arc De Triomphe shortly after WWII when Paris was liberated [top row, third from the right].  He was awarded the French Star for his service in France.

Here we are 65 years later.  It was pretty amazing standing on the same spot and appreciating all history that this memorial has endured.

I tried to get the same shot, but there were a few more tourists in 2011 then there was in 1944.

Day 1ish

The last two days pretty much melded into one another.  We were up early on Friday morning to meet the cab that took us to the airport.  The kids were extremely tired, as they were to excited to sleep the night before.  Here is a quick shot of us heading to EIA:

Air Canada was really quite good, considering the recent strike and the unresolved labour dispute.  We boarded to plane to Montreal, where we expected to have a short lay-over.  The kids were amazing on the plane, which is partly explained by the iPads and iPods.

The lay-over in Montreal was longer than anticipated.  We were delayed for a couple hours.  We saw an A380 Airbus in Montreal, which was pretty cool:

The kids were super tired when we finally boarded our plane to Paris.  Quinncy cried when he saw the first class amenities and realized that we were not flying first class.  When I explained the extra cost for 4 people flying first class he said, "we didn't need 4 seats, you could have just booked one for me".

The flight to Paris was uneventful.  We watched movies, slept and read books.  The closer we got to Paris, the more stressed I was about getting the new car [Peugeot Partner] and driving into downtown Paris.  Frankly, the drive was crazier than I could have imagined.  Motorbikes weaving in and out of traffic, narrow streets and people jumping out in front of your car to cross the street in the middle of the road.  Amazingly, we drove right to our designated parking lot [30.00 E a day, yikes] without making a single wrong turn, which is more incredible than it sounds.

The apartment is great [pictures to come] and we are right above several bakeries and markets.  We had a terrible supper in a tourist trap by Notre Dame [Quinncy's first and last restaurant pick].

We booked a quick boat ride up the Seine from Notre Dame to the Eiffel Tower.  All of us were falling asleep near the end.

We walked back to the apartment and, within minutes, everyone fell asleep [except me, as I had to type out this entry].  Tomorrow is Sunday and we hope there will be a weekend market to attend.

Paris!!!

We made it. We picked up the Peugot and drove right to the heart of Paris. A nerve-racking way to cap off a very long flight. We will post more once we have settled in.