Sunday, 08.07.07

Our mornings our full of leisure: sleeping until 10am, a lovely petit dejeuner (usually cooked by Sienna, who is becoming a terrific chef), and then off on the RER (suburban arm of the Metro) by noon-ish (o.k., 1-ish, but don’t tell anyone we’re such sloths.) I must say though, that slowing down and taking the time to “sentir les roses” is just as important part of our trip as seeing the sights. We’re not interested in running from one museum or monument to the next. Our daily life: learning to run a French dryer, laying on the grass in a Parisian park, navigating through Clelia’s stacks and stacks of French music to listen to at home, buying a toothbrush in a market…. is just as culturally significant as sightseeing. We may be missing some museums but we are enjoying the hell out of ourselves. We’ll be back again, we can catch anything we miss this time then.

Yesterday we got off at the Place de la Concorde and strolled across a bridge over the Seine to head to the Orsay (Impressionism) Museum. Of course, being mid-afternoon and sans Museum Passes yet we encountered a huge line. One of the main qualities we’re trying to teach our kids with travel is learning how to be flexible. This was a good chance to practice this philosophy so we headed instead toward the Left Bank where the kids found out about Oscar Wilde (who’s dying words in his rundown Parisian hotel here were “Either this wallpaper goes, or I do.”) and Voltaire and George Sands. We ate French bread and brie and camembert and French hamburgers and frites and drank strong coffee in a smoky café and then wandered fairly aimlessly for hours which is what I love best. We’ve done a great job exploring the parks and neighborhoods. We even stumbled upon a shop we knew we wanted to find while we were here, “au nom de la rose.” Amazingly, it was the only shop open on a Sunday evening. A good sign! This shop sells all things roses. Rose petal perfume, rose petal jam, rose petal honey. Magnifique! We came home smelling like roses.

Sunday was our wedding anniversary and the kid’s sweetly suggested they stay home with pizza while we go out to dinner to celebrate. Karl and I took this chance to walk the village, visit the local attraction on the Seine “La Maison Fournaise” (a restaurant which used to be a hang out for Impressionist painters) and eat at a delicious local Indian restaurant. A wonderful way to celebrate.