Bonjour from Paris!
We arrived in Paris on Sunday evening, after taking a German ICE from Berlin to Mannheim, and then a French TGV from Mannheim to Paris. I had never ridden in the French high speed train, and was excited to compare it to the German high speed trains. I definitely preferred the food and the size of the restrooms in the ICE, but the TGV definitely had more comfortable seats. We got settled in to our new Airbnb, and went out for crêpes!
To get acclimated in Paris, we took a bus tour on Monday. We saw the Eiffel tower, the Arc de Triumph, Notre Dame, and the Louvre. While the commentary was a little lacking, we did learn about Napoleon’s tomb being moved to Paris by King Louis-Phillippe as a way to gain favor from the French people. Maurene and Audrey were thrilled to get to see the Eiffel tower for the first time. Audrey told me she was so excited that she had butterflies in her stomach, which I thought was incredibly sweet.
Tuesday, we participated in a walking tour around Paris. We revisited Notre Dame and the Louvre, saw the prison where Marie Antoinette was kept prior to her execution, learned about the guillotine, saw St. Michael’s fountain, and learned about Pont Neuf. Pont Neuf translates to “new bridge,” but it is actually the oldest standing bridge crossing the Seine River in Paris – completed in 1607. We also had the chance to learn about the history of the Louvre as a fortress and palace, and about the theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911, which resulted in the painting becoming so famous.
On Wednesday we learned about Monet, and went to the Musée de l’Orangerie. The Musée de l’Orangerie is home to Monet’s Water Lilies Cycle, comprised of eight of his large Water Lilies paintings. We were all amazed at how large the paintings were. The girls loved learning about impressionism and how Monet’s goal was not perfection like seen in realism, but about showing emotion in his art. We spent a great deal of time getting close to the paintings to look at the brush strokes and then backing up across the room to see the whole picture melt together. We have been working on sketching and Monet’s pictures really inspired the girls to not worry so much about their drawings being perfectly realistic.
On Thursday morning, we let Monet inspire our work. The girls each got a set of new watercolors which they were very excited about, and painted their own versions of Monet’s Water Lilies based on photographs that they had taken at the museum on Wednesday.
One of the suggestions I received for our time in Paris was to make sure to visit the Cité des sciences et de l’industrie, and Cité des enfants. We were so glad to have the chance to go on Thursday afternoon. The museum did not disappoint. We started off watching a planetarium show. The most interesting part of the show for all three of us was learning about how the Northern Lights are caused by solar wind. After the show, we went and explored the science for story lovers temporary exhibit. This was an awesome exhibit for kids, as it showed different science concepts that could be connected to popular fairy tales. We constructed a house for the three little pigs sturdy enough to withstand the wolf trying to blow it down, saw how wolves cannot see the color red through a set of wolf scopes while trying to find Little Red Riding Hood, learned about our taste buds with the help of Hansel and Gretel, and learned about molecular forms while trying to figure out which molecule model would make a glass slipper for Cinderella. Then, we went to the part of the museum specifically designed for kids ages 5-12. We got to see an ant farm up close, learn about film technology, design and cut out our own stickers and boxes, learn about sign language and braille, and play with creating dams in a river. We also had the chance to see the sheep that the museum employs to keep the grass cut short in front of the museum. One of the parts of the museum we thought was amazing was that each of the exhibits in the kids area were explained in French, English, Spanish, Braille and Sign Language. I absolutely would recommend spending a day at Cité des sciences et de l’industrie to anyone visiting Paris.
On Friday, we spent the entire day at the Louvre. We had an 9:30 time slot and went to go see the Mona Lisa first thing when we got through security, as that was the one piece that Maurene really wanted to see. It worked out well, because while there was a crowd, it was very empty compared to later in the day. After having so many people tell me how the Mona Lisa is the size of a postage stamp, I actually found the painting to be bigger than I expected it to be. After spending some time looking at the Mona Lisa, we went and began the masterpieces tour on the audioguides. The audioguides at the Louvre are now on a Nintendo 3DS, and the girls were super excited to get to use them. They enjoyed the audioguide so much that we used them for two separate tours around the museum – the masterpiece tour and the tour of the Richelieu wing. Our favorite sights from the day were Napoleon III’s apartment, the Venus de Milo, and of course – the Mona Lisa.
Rather than getting ice cream this week, the girls and I decided to have macarons as our Friday treat. Maurene was nervous to try hers, but both girls ended up loving them and even convinced their parents to go back and get more over the weekend.
Saturday was my favorite day of the week because I took the train out of Paris to visit Disneyland Paris. I got a parkhopper ticket, and spent part of the day in each park. First I went to Walt Disney Studios Parc. Walt Disney Studios Parc felt very much like a combination of Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World in Florida and Disney California Adventure at Disneyland in California. They were having Le Rendez-vous Gourmand de Disneyland at Walt Disney Studios Parc, which was similar to a smaller version of Food and Wine Festival at Epcot in Florida. I enjoyed food from Spain, Italy, Belgium and France. I thought the Ratatouille ride was adorable, although in my mind the coolest part of the ride is the fact that the mouse cars are not on a track. After spending the morning in the first park, I headed over to Disneyland Parc. While there are quite a few differences between the French park and the parks in the United States, I appreciated that they layout was very similar so it was very easy to navigate. I enjoyed that many aspects of the park were half in English and half in French, including the attractions, the parade and the nighttime show, Illuminations. I had a wonderful time and cannot wait to take the girls back for their surprise visit next week!
One thing that I’ve learned traveling full time is that I need to do a better job of taking a day off and relaxing sometimes. I struggle with wanting to take a day at home because I don’t want to miss anything I can avoid missing in each city. However, I’m learning that for this to be a sustainable adventure, I need to be okay with saving some things for my next visit to each place. So on Sunday, I did not do very much. I watched some Netflix, did some laundry and went to the grocery. My one big activity for the day was going out for a French lunch midafternoon. I enjoyed a salad, boeuf bourguignon, creme brûlée and a glass of wine while watching the rain outside the window. It was a perfect day of relaxation in Paris, and was very rejuvenating.
We have a lot planned this next week! It’s going to be a blast!
Tales of a Traveling Teacher 