We left Sweden bright and early last Wednesday and headed to the City of Light, the City of Love, Paris. Tea has been talking about seeing the Eiffel Tower for months and I was eager to go back and use some French (after all, my parents spent a lot of money for me to get a degree in French). We arrived with no problems at a small airport outside the city and took the train right into the city and were able to easily navigate the Metro to our AirBnB.
As the Metro pulled into our stop the Eiffel Tower popped up behind a building and Tea's mouth dropped open and she couldn't believe she was seeing it for real! From our bedroom and living room the Eiffel Tower was clearly visible and the girls spent a lot of time just standing at the window looking at it. Starting at 10:00 at night the Tower sparkles with lights for about 5 minutes each hour on the hour. Tea was up in the middle of the night once or twice and got to see that and just loved it. Talia also wanted to see the Tower sparkle so one night Adam woke her up to show her. She had no recollection in the morning so we just took a video of it for her instead. On our first day we went all the way to the top and got to see the view of the entire city. It was a lot of fun to be up there together and to see the girls get so excited about being so high up! When we got back down the girls modeled their own Eiffel Tower. We also had a lot of fun trying to play with perspective when we went to the Trocadero to take more pics. The Eiffel Tower was definitely the highlight of the trip for the girls!
Over our five days in Paris we hit all the major highlights: The Louvre, The Musee d'Orsay, The Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, The Tuilleries, Sacre Couer, Notre Dame and Versailles. We had the most fun when we took a bike tour with Fat Tire Bike Tours. The four hour tour led us through the streets of Paris to see some of the big sites like the Dome Church (where Napoleon is buried), the Pont Alexandre III, and that famous Eiffel Tower again. We had so much fun riding on tandem bikes with the girls. Talia talked to Adam the entire time and then yelled to me to tell me everything she saw (including when she saw dog poop!). Tea thought the ride was fun, but was also very nervous that I was going to hit something or someone was going to hit us - clearly she has no faith in my driving skills but we made it through the trip safely. A good friend recommended this tour to us and we would highly recommend it to anyone else. We are hoping to do the Fat Tire Bike Tour in Berlin next week!
Art has become an interest (maybe a bit of a forced interest) for Tea since we've been in Europe. She knew all about the Mona Lisa from reading a book about DaVinci and from watching Little Einsteins so she really wanted to see the painting. I prepared her that the painting was actually quite small but she stood in front of it and just kept saying, "I can't believe that's the real Mona Lisa. And we really went to the top of the Eiffel Tower and I'm really in Paris!" It was very cute. We pointed out some of the other major famous works in The Louvre like Winged Victory, the Venus de Milo and some other famous French paintings I learned about in college. Tea thought it was all very cool and she is becoming quite the art connoisseur. Of course her art knowledge is pretty narrow in breadth since she is getting the highlights of what I remember from college, which is mostly French and Spanish artists and a lot of impressionism, but she is enjoying it. She and I later went to the Musee d'Orsay together, my personal favorite museum in Paris, and she loved looking at the works by Degas. The statue of The Little Dancer was her favorite. The kids book Degas and the Little Dancer tells the story of Marie, the dancer, and Degas as an artist so she was so eager to see the actual piece of work. So as we walk through art museums she now knows: Degas paints naked people doing everyday things and dancers and horses (earlier in his career) and later did sculptures as he lost his vision, Gaughin paints brown women because he went to Tahiti, Renior's people always have dark eyes, Seurat uses dots, Monet paints water lilies (and is daddy's favorite), and Van Gogh did a lot of self portraits, cut off his ear and is mommy's favorite. She also thinks Picasso's paintings are "crazy." Not bad for a seven year old! Impressionism is hands down my favorite artistic movement so I've been able to tell her a lot about it but we've then also done some reading on the internet to answer her questions about other artists and pieces of work.
We all rode the train out to Versailles on Saturday to see the beautiful palace. I had been there once in 1998 so I was eager to go back and see it again - I remember being quite impressed with the beauty. The palace did not disappoint and the girls thought it was beautiful. However, they thought it was very strange that the king and queen did not sleep in the same room. They also expected much more from the Hall of Mirrors. Adam and I kept talking about how important the room was and how beautiful it was because that is where the Treaty of Versailles to end World War I was signed. Tea then exclaimed, "I LOVE halls of mirrors." It was at this point that we had to clarify that it was actually just a room with mirrors, NOT a fun house hall of mirrors maze! When we finally got to the room they thought it was pretty but the mirrors were fuzzy and it wasn't that much fun. We also spent a long time walking around the beautiful gardens of Versailles. The many fountains have Greek gods in them but my memory about the stories of the gods is a little rough so this week we have been reading some of the more tame stories about the gods. I did tell Tea the story of how Kronos ate his babies so that they would not become more powerful than him and that his wife then tricked him and fed him a rock instead of his son Zeus and how one day he puked up all the babies and they fought back and beat Kronos and Zeus became the king. She thought that was super gross but pretty cool. All this traveling has led to some really interesting conversations and lessons. We've talked about Napoleon crowning himself emperor, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution and the people fighting back against the monarchy, Greek mythology, artistic movements, opera, World War I and II, and so many more topics that just come up as we travel through Europe. It's been such an amazing time of "home schooling" for Tea. It will be interesting to see what she remembers as she goes through school since she will certainly learn all of this again, but from textbooks and lectures. I hope our pictures can help jog her memory of what she has seen and experienced here.
Paris was a major success of our trip. Both girls enjoyed the sites, but also had fun at a nearby park. They got to eat some great food and desserts. I found a chocolate croissant for myself for breakfast each morning and sampled several different desserts throughout the city. It was extra exciting to be in the city during the EuroCup games. On our last night France played Iceland and there was a huge viewing party at the Eiffel Tower only 4 blocks from our AirBnB. We did not venture out into the craziness but with the windows open it was easy to hear the excitement and cheers as France scored five goals! We will be in Germany when France plays Germany in the next round! What fun, but first we will stop in Amsterdam!
Finally, I loved being back in Paris after so many years away, but was a little sad to see the changes due to the increase of security in France and in the world. Just to walk near and under the Eiffel Tower we were subject to security screenings. The same was true to go see all the major sites - metal detectors, x-ray scans of our bags and long lines. It's certainly a different world than the one I traveled in the late 1990's. It's quite sad, but as I read the news going on in America while we are abroad I grow more sad at the state of affairs in my own country. I try to remain hopeful for my children and the future but the world is quickly changing, and not always for the better. But for now I live one day at a time and enjoy this amazing opportunity I am having with my children and husband!
