It seems that every month, the Spanish find a reason to have a holiday or long weekend. True to form, we had a long weekend in February and traveled to Paris to visit Parker's older sister, Heather. Heather has worked and lived there for about 5 years.
Photo: In front of the Notre Dame with Heather
Our first day was full of glorious sunshine and we made the most of it by walking the city to see some of famous sites including the Notre Dame, Tuileries neighborhood, the area surrounding the Louvre, Tuileries Gardens, La Grande Roue (the giant ferris wheel) and more. It would cliche to say that Paris is beautiful but Paris is beautiful especially on a sunny day.
Photos: Inside and outside Notre Dame
Photos: Sites around Paris. Colin in front of La Grande Roue; Eiffel Tower at sunset and dusk; In front of the Louvre.
We found food to be more accessible than in Spain and the meal schedule, while somewhat later, more aligned with an American regime (rather than the 9 or 10 pm start for Spanish dinners).
At night, the Eiffel Tower is lit up and is breathtaking, and at midnight, the lights flicker on and off for 5 minutes like a New Year Eve's celebration.
While by no means would we declare ourselves fluent or even highly proficient in Spanish, we found it difficult to try to speak French. Parker studied French for many years and had reasonably comfort with the language in the past but it's amazing how when you're submerged in another culture, your brain has difficulty accessing that previous knowledge. Whenever Celia opened her mouth to 'merci', only gracias would come out. It was hopeless but alas, short lived since we returned to Zaragoza a few days later.
We didn't think we had enough time to enjoy the city and take a day to plunge into the Louvre so at the recommendation of Griffin Morse, the SYA Spain director, we toured Musée de l'Orangerie which contains the most well-known Impressionists Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Rouseau and others in a size that we thought would be more digestible for the kids (2 hours rather 5+ hours). Musée de l'Orangerie also contains a whole floor for with Renoir's expansive Waterlillies that cover entire walls in each room.
Photos: Inside the Musée de l'Orangerie
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