Paris, France in July

What a summer so far! We've had my aunts and parents come and go with K's parents staying for another week to explore France. We started in Paris (for a few days), moving onto Versailles, then driving through the countryside to the north towards the end of the week. Our first stop in Paris was Sainte-Chapelle and Notre Dame Cathedral (they're in close proximity to each other). Both of these buildings are among my favorites we've seen so far.

Sainte-Chapelle was built between 1242 and 1248 for Louis IX and the stained glass here surrounding everyone is breathtaking. Each panel is based on a different book of the Bible. One is based on Esther, which I just completed with a group of women studying from Beth Moore this spring. I absolutely loved the study, and this chapel just as much! I just wish I could have had binoculars to see more of the story line told in the glass since each panel was so small. I couldn't pick out hardly any of the storyline from the glass pictures. Maybe it's just my bad memory of the story from growing older?
The 700 year old Notre Dame Cathedral is just plain beautiful.

K wanted pictures of the flying buttresses.

Are we in New York? No, sillies, this is the matching miniature Statue of Liberty here in Paris.
Right outside our hotel, K snapped this nighttime picture of the Eiffel Tower.

Sauntering to the next stop, the Orsay Museum, housing nineteenth-century Impressionist art of Claude Money, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Vincent van Gogh, Edgar Degas, and more, K and I decided this was more enjoyable than the Louvre. Orsay Museum utilizes the space better than the Louvre, which takes a mile to get from one must see display (Mona Lisa) to another (Venus de Milo) and yet another mile to The Dying Slave by Michelangelo.

The picture above is by Monet and you'll actually see photos of the real place, Etratat, later.

Another photo of Monet's work.

Just down the street from the Louvre is the Orangerie Museum housing Monet's water lilies.

Inside the Louvre, we found the Winged Victory of Samothrace of the Greek goddess Nike (Victory).

It actually is a hunt to find the Mona Lisa. There are signs up all over until you actually come to the room, then there aren't any signs that she's around, but we still found her. She's not quite as impressive as I was hoping, and you can't get a good picture because she's enclosed in glass.

Hint to Parents: You know you've been to too many museums when your daughter starts running and giggling, making her skirt fly up from the air conditioners, turning her into a ballerina.

We're at the Louvre, for crying out loud, arguably the most famous museum in the world, and this is what she's doing? What about art appreciation?

I guess there's only so much art a 5 year old can take before they become giddy.

Call me a creature of habit, but I just had to have the Greek salad at the Cafe di Roma for lunch until our wait for the much anticipated Tour de France cyclists to ride by. Supposedly the Arc de Triomphe was to be near the end of the race. We withstood the July heat after seeing some cool cars down the Champs-Elysees during our wait, not really knowing for sure where to stand for the best view.

Conflicted about staying to see this once-in-a-lifetime experience after all, we hung in there and stood in the crowd for about 1 1/2 hours for only 15 seconds of glancing the guys speed by. Does that even make sense as something normal people would do or are we crazy tourists?

The seasoned Parisian next to me had a stepladder which he so sweetly loaned to me so I could get some quick snapshots. I only took this favor for a few seconds, not to tick him off. After his kind gesture I realized I only saw the cars carrying bicycles and the cyclists were way down the road. I do have a long range camera lens, but not long enough.

Surprised by his offer once again to sneak a 2 second view, we ended up getting some cool shots. It also helped that I have a 6'7" tall husband who can hold the camera way above his head for a few good photos. Every once in a while the results are angled way off into the clouds or the tops of people's heads, but this time between the two of us, we did pretty well!
Making the turn has to be Alberto Contador from Spain, the winner. K rattles off random facts every once in a while to keep me half way interested in sports, and he claims that the last day of The Tour, they stay in the exact formation they were the previous day as a gentleman's agreement. So, the third guy in the turquoise should have been Lance Armstrong then.

Look at all these bikes on the cars!!! I wonder how many they go through in one Tour de France race? Or tires even?

Our Parenting Style

"Mom, I want a hammock." A what? "I mean, a ho-mock (pronounced hoe-mock)." After struggling with the pronunciation, this is what he wanted.

I'm not so sure if our parenting style is okay or not. We'll find out in about 8 more years, but we do believe that children are curious about many things after some of the questions we've had to answer. So, sometimes we let the kids explore at home, which is the key word...home. For instance, R and I were reading together one night before bed and the fictional book brought up spit wads being thrown in a classroom. I asked if he knew what they were. Of course, he didn't, so I explained them to him and a sly smile crossed his face. I knew he was thinking about how fun they seemed. I chatted with him about how inappropriate they were to make and throw, but if he wanted to see what they were like, he could after school the next day here at home. Sure enough, the next day he found some red construction paper and before I knew it, he had hit the brick wall outside, the gate, windows, all kinds of places. What fun! After about 20 minutes I told him he needed to clean them up, which he willingly did. He has never asked to play with them since.

So, when he wanted a mohawk, we told him we could cut his hair into a mohawk this one summer morning, but before church tomorrow we'd have to cut it off. (We're just glad he didn't want his nose or eyebrow pierced or he'd for sure hear, "NO!") He enjoyed this crazy do for just a few hours, but he was able to explore within boundaries, making us all happy. Then came the next statement from J, "Mom, I want a ho-mock too." Hmmmmm...what to tell her?

Back in Barcelona After the Cruise

After disembarking back in Barcelona, we continued to stay for another day. We visited the Poble Espanyol (Spanish Village) which was created for the International Exposition of 1929. It combines various Spanish architectural styles in one small area. Many artists awaited tourists by their works of jewelry, paintings, sculptures, and glass works. We found J's Spanish dress here and later found R a football (soccer) outfit complete with knee-high socks. They wore them everywhere, creating smiles on many people who saw them in town and the airport the next day.
Here's the glass blower working his magic.

J decked out in her new dress while taking a play break near a fountain.

These cute pastries are filled with chocolate and became our favorite breakfast treat in Barcelona.
After taking the bus tour of Barcelona, we made up our mind that nobody should even bother with them in Paris and Barcelona. London is the only worthwhile one we've found.

The bus tour did pass the Olympic Stadium where the 1992 Summer Olympics were held. You can barely see the field.
The different styles on the fronts of the buildings make Barcelona seem so special and intriguing.

This place had plants growing over all the balconies!

We found the Casa Mila, also called La Pedrera (The Quarry) which was Gaudi's famous melting ice cream facade.

Across the street is the Block of Discord, named because it looks like the intent was to compete in an architectural facade competition. This one by Gaudi looks like fish scales to me, but it's supposed to be a dragon.

Oh, I almost forgot...we spotted the Naked Barcelona Man AGAIN! I couldn't believe it.

Mediterranean Cruise, Day 7 (July 18)

Where has the week gone? Our trip was almost done by this point.
Our last stop before heading back to Barcelona was Cannes, France. My kids love the beach and this was the perfect beach day.

After tiring of digging in the sand, there was rock climbing and hunting for sea glass. This ritual for us began with a trip to Maine where the prohibition caused many people to dump their glass bottles containing liquor in the ocean. After years and years of the salt water and sand polishing the glass, it made an almost opaque rock called sea glass. We spotted some in Cannes and while high tide was coming in, it continued to wash on the shore, begging to be collected by us.

Our new collection of sea glass and a few other rocks and shells!

Mediterranean Cruise, Day 6 (July 17)

K endlessly pokes fun at me because I will start to rattle off a popular saying, but half of the time I get the wording all wrong. That's why I don't tell jokes. Anyway, I'm afraid there are signs J has taken after me in that realm. She woke up and declared, "I want to go see the dancing tower." Oh really? Well, you just try to find that place and let us know how that turns out for you! She never did find a dancing tower, but was pretty impressed that we found one that leans.

Next stop...Livorno where we took a train into Pisa to see the Leaning Tower.

My muscles have never ached so bad in my life as they did after this.

I was actually very surprised to see how far it leans, and to think they recently have adjusted it so the angle is not so severe. Compare it to the building on the right and you can see the difference. Also, take a look at the base of the Leaning Tower. It's impressive!

So many people toured inside, but I think I would have had a panic attack wondering if at that moment it would decide to collapse?

Mediterranean Cruise, Day 5 (July 16)

The next port of call was Civitavecchia, Itay. Our first venture was to the Colosseum in Rome. R posed many questions about gladiators and the events that must have taken place in this vast facility. Gladiators actually performed on a platform area similar to the one pictured below, and animals were housed beneath.

As you can see with the numerous amount of pictures here that K enjoyed using his new wide angle lens on the camera.

Boy was it sunny and hot this day!

Next came St. Peter's Basilica where we needed our sleeves (no tank tops) and skirts below the knees. Prepared as we were, numerous others bought souvenir scarves to cover their shoulders and legs to be allowed entry. My dad thought this was the most memorable building in which he had ever stepped foot. The outside of the building is pictured below.
The inside is so ornate!

In Europe, and Paris especially, we have come across so many women (gypsies) begging for money that J thinks anyone with a scarf around her head is going to come ask. While exiting the Basilica, she saw a nun and she asked, "Mommy, is that lady going to beg us for money?"

We were off to the Vatican Museum to see Michelangelo's famous ceiling painting, but we don't have a picture to even prove we were in the Sistine Chapel as photography (even without flash) is not allowed. The pictures below are other painted ceilings within the Vatican Museum.

The kids took turns sleeping in grandparents' rooms which was a nice break for the parents! Rome exhausted us because of the heat, and so much walking and exploring. R woke up the next morning and said, "I could have slept for 4 days after Rome except Papaw woke me up."