Grandma Belle and Paris - Part 2

Day 3 in Paris began with a trip to a local farmer's market on Rue Poncelot.  It was a nice little market with some fabulous seafood and produce.  We bought some cherries and raspberries and ate them along the way.  Stopped in a couple shops and also had some chocolate croissants for breakfast.

Rue Poncelot

Market Seafood

Ratatouille

After the market we took the metro over the Bois de Boulogne.  Napoleon founded this park and wanted it to be modeled after Hyde Park in London.  It's a huge park and was rumored to have some fun stuff for the kids - more rides, a petting zoo and a lake you could rent boats on.  Apparently I picked a horrible metro stop because none of that stuff was in sight.  After asking a police officer for directions we made our way to the lake (the zoo, etc. was on the other side of the park so that idea got scratched).  We rented a row boat and floated around for about an hour and then walked back to the metro and went home to the apartment.  

Bois de Boulogne

After lunch and a rest we jumped back on the Metro to visit  Monmarte and Sacre Coeur.  The neighborhood is an artsy little area up on a hill with street musicians and artists selling their paintings that I thought would be fun for the kids.  It was packed and the art turned out to be mostly caricatures and portraits, but Haaken got to dance to the street musicians and we grabbed some dinner.  We walked back down the hill and then Grandma went home to bed and we attempted to do the #1 thing on the girls list - ride to the top of the Eiffel Tower.  

Sacré-Cœur Basilica

Shopping for art

Dinner (Haaken is sporting his new French jersey)

We took the metro to the closest stop and hoofed it to the base of the tower.  It took us a little time to figure out which was the correct line but we found it.  We had probably stood in line for about 15 minutes when I noticed that the digital signs were saying that the top of the tower was closed (apparently they close at 9:30pm).  The kids wouldn't settle for the 2nd floor so we walked back to the metro and went home.

The next morning we got up and headed straight for the Eiffel Tower.  Grandma wasn't interested so she headed off to another museum and we made plans to meet at the Louvre after lunch.  When we got to the tower we decided not to push the kids to climb all the steps and paid for the elevator ride instead.  The kids were super excited and had a great time.

In line on the 2nd floor

At the top

Next stop was the Louvre, although it proved to be a short one.  After 3 days of walking all over Paris and late nights Haaken wasn't in the mood to see art, and Lydia was beginning to break down.  We had lunch and pretty much made a beeline for the Mona Lisa (along with everyone else apparently) and then decided maybe the kids would be into the Egyptian relics which brought us right by the Venus de Milo.  We cruised the the Egyptian section, snapped a few pictures and headed home for naps.

Outside the Louvre

Someone please tell me what I'm doing here.

The girls with Venus

That night Grandma had offered to watch the kids so we could have a date night.  On Sunday I had spotted a couple Indian restaurants on the Left Bank so we headed over there and enjoyed a delicious meal.  We strolled down Boulevard St. Germain and then walked over to check out Grandma's favorite part of the city, IIe Saint-Louis.   We probably walked around for 10 minutes and it started to pour, so we walked to the metro and headed to back to the Louvre.

At the Louvre we got a couple audio guides and started a tour of the French collection.  After about an hour we ditched the tour because the museum was closing and walked through Napoleon III's apartments (the closest exhibit) and then headed back home.

Our last day we took the train out to Versailles, again without Grandma as she had scheduled a WWII walking tour.  Versailles was a zoo but we toured the castle and then walked out to the gardens for a little lunch.  At this point we were all running out of gas (except Elise) so Carissa presented 4 choices - 1.) walk 30 minutes to the Trianon (Elise's choice), 2.) explore the gardens, (Lydia's), walk 5 minutes to the canal (Dad's), or go home (Haaken).  After I explained that my choice included a soda, we found a spot by the canal and relaxed for about an hour before heading back to Paris.

Versailles

At the gate

Hall of Mirrors

Louis XIV's backyard

Taking time to smell the roses

Relaxing by the canal

Another view of the backyard

Dad's had enough

That night we ate at an Italian place close to home and got everyone to bed early (10pm).

Friday our train didn't leave until 1pm so we had some crepes at a cafe before heading to the train station.  The kids did great on the train and we got back home to Graf at about 10:30.

Grandma Belle and Paris - Part 1

Grandma Belle got in Wednesday afternoon and the kids and I went to pick her up.  We spent a couple days showing her around Grafenwoehr and getting ready for Paris.  It was a little bit of a pain getting around since we only have one car and all 6 of us couldn't fit, so we (meaning me) had to shuttle people back and forth.  Also, Haaken's 4th birthday was on the following Monday and we didn't want to haul his presents to Paris so we celebrated on Friday night.  Saturday morning he was very unhappy that he couldn't bring his new squirt gun, but I told him we could tuck it in his bed so it was cozy until we got home and he settled down.  He did manage to convince Carissa that he should bring his new pirate hat and eye patch (from Aunt Chris) along though.  We headed to the train station with the help of one of Carissa's coworkers (another contracted dentist from Minnesota) to travel to Paris.  We had two transfers on the way out, one in Nuremburg and one in Stuttgart.  The ride went very smoothly and we met and interesting man during the Stuttgart to Paris leg.  He was a German man who was retired and now lives off the coast of Singapore in his sailboat.  He sails about off the coast of Asia and Africa and occassionally travels to Paris to stay in his flat there.  I asked if he would adopt us.

Haaken and his new best friend

Waiting for the train

We arrived in Paris at about 4:30 and took a taxi to our apartment, where we were met by the owner.  Mr. Le Parr was a very friendly man who rents out his apartment over the summer months when he and his wife are living on the coast in the northern part of France.  When he asked where we were from he informed us that he has friends in Minneapolis and has been there many times to visit and also for business as he worked for many years for Medtronic.  I didn't realize working for Medtronic could result in owning a 2 bedroom apartment in Paris so I may look for work there when we get home.  The apartment was great, plenty of room and in a great location - walking distance to the Arc de Triomphe and Trocadero, and half a block away from the Victor Hugo metro station.  That night we walked down to Trocadero and had dinner at a cafe with a view of the Eiffel Tower.

Our Apartment on Rue Leonard da Vinci

Eiffel Tower from Trocadero

Sunday we got up around 7:30, got ready and went out for a Rick Steve's guided walk (via his book) of the historic core of Paris.  It took a while to get ready, figure out our game plan, buy metro tickets and where we were going to get a museum pass and we finally got to the starting point (Notre Dame) sometime after 10.  Rick suggested we get there early so we wouldn't have to wait in line to go up the tower.  We approached Notre Dame and got in a pretty long line that looked like it was headed to the tower, only to find out at the foot of the tower that it was the wrong line.  We walked around the church to the correct line and quickly determined there was no way we were getting up the tower so sat down at the nearest cafe for our first French crepes (3 kinds - cinnamon sugar, Nutella and banana, Lemon and Sugar).  Then walked back to the front of the church and got back in the original line we had waited in, after the kids fed a swarm of sparrows (I think) some bread.

Feeding the birds

By the time we finally got in the church people were filing in for Saturday mass.  We got a really good seat right where the bishops/priests came in and and listened for a while before beginning to make our way around the church.  There were a ton of people in there - a totally different experience from Regensburg and Prague. When we finally got out we had spent the first 2 hours of Rick's "4 hour walk" at the first stop.  We made our way across the Seine into the Left Bank, visited St. Severin, St. Chapelle and the Conciergerie where the likes of Marie Antoinette and Robspierre had been jailed until their executions.  Rick apparently didn't account for high season crowds or 3 kids 9 and under in his 4 hour estimation so by the time we were done with the walk it was 5pm.  We found the nearest cafe, ordered a couple pizzas and took a break.

Notre Dame from the Left Bank

St. Chapelle

Conciergerie

Lunch at 5pm (Conciergerie in background)

My planned itinerary for the day was the walk, dinner and then a night time Seine river cruise.  Since we at lunch at dinner time, we went back to the apartment and put the kids down for a short nap.  Grandma couldn't sit still so she went wandering around our neighborhood.  After about an hour and a half we got the kids up and walked to the Seine to find a place for dinner.  We finally found a place probably by 8:30 and by the time we were done had to rush to the river boat so we didn't miss the last one.  It was a beautiful night and the ride was great, but the kids were totally exhausted.  Once we were done we had to walk back from the Seine up the hill to Trocadero where we got on the metro for a very short ride home.  By the time we got home it was midnight.  Great planning Dad!

On the way to dinner

Seine River cruise

Cool Bridge

Eiffel at night

Monday the plan was to walk to the Arc de Triomphe and then stroll down the Champs-Elysees to the Tuileries Garden in the morning, followed by a rest, dinner and a trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower.  The kids managed to sleep until about 8 and we pared the morning down to just the Arc de Triomphe which was great.  We walked back the the apartment for lunch and a nap and then took the metro to the Tuileries Garden, walked around a bit and let the kids ride the bumper cars a couple times.  We were slowly starting to realize what looked like walkable distances on the map were actually quite far but kept trudging along through the Tuileries to the Champs-Elysees and then found a place for dinner.  Haaken bought a new soccer jersey with his birthday money from Grandma Belle along the way.  After dinner we walked about halfway up the Champs-Elysees and then took the metro back to our neighborhood where we tried to find some ice cream for Haaken since it was his birthday.  There wasn't any gelato and the Hagen Daas was 4.50 euro a scoop, so we opted instead for the grocery store and sundaes at home.

Arc de Triomphe

Lydia at the top

Tuileries Garden

Probably the most fun Haaken had all week

Champs-Elysees

Birthday Sundae

Weekend Update

The week following Frog has been pretty laid back.  On Wednesday we went to the Weiden town square to watch the semifinal World Cup match (Germany vs. Spain).  The square had three large screen tvs along the square with mobs of people watching each one.  Thankfully in Weiden, as opposed to Prague, the screens were set near restaurants and everyone was seated.  At first we couldn't find a place to sit, but then I walked back toward where we had come into the square, found a park bench, and carried it back to the viewing area. We ended up getting a really good spot with some teenagers in front of us who were both easy to see over due to their slouching, and allowed us to breath, since they weren't old enough to smoke.  Once we got settled we took turns taking the kids to get ice cream so we didn't lose our bench, and then I got a beer.  It was an Augustiner which is a brew out of Munich and was very good.  It was obviously a festive crowd and it was a lot of fun to watch a soccer game with knowledgable and excited soccer fans.  I enjoy watching soccer but usually am by myself as Noddy hasn't invited me to Brit's yet ;).  Before the game started they played the national anthems for both squads, and during the German anthem everyone stood up and belted it out which was cool.  The Spaniards pretty much dominated the whole game and it was fun to watch the fans pointing and yelling at the screen much like Americans do during an NFL game.  I never really realized it before, but soccer is a great game to watch for the simple fact that the action is constant and halftime is about 10 minutes long.  Also, I've noticed while watching at home that there is play by play person and that's it during the game.  I wish I could understand it because it would be so nice to watch a game and have the broadcaster simply just describe what is happening as opposed to American broadcasters who pore over the excruciating minutia, of every, single, second of the game.   Germany obviously lost and I was impressed with the German fans mood afterward.  Basically the whole crowd appeared to shrug it off and go home which shocked me.  The Vikings lose one game in Minnesota (ditto for Packers and GB / Milwaukee) and people are ranting on radio talk shows and standing on ledges ready to jump.

We laid low during the weekend.  Went to the Farmer's market on Saturday, watched a movie and then Saturday night there was a big bash at the Whale Bath.  We missed most of the action (djs, dancers, cocktails) due to bedtime, but the pool was packed and it was nice to cool off since it had been in the 90s pretty much all week.  Sunday we ran some errands and then went to Toy Story 3 on post.  Can't go wrong with a Pixar movie.

We are currently anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Mom tomorrow while she anxiously waits for her plane to take off (Drew you need to tell her what you take, she's another BA Baracas like you.)  The rest of the week we'll show her around here and then Saturday we head to Paris.  Should be a great time.

"Frog" (Prague in Haaken-speak), Czech Republic

I'm going to preface this post by saying that as this "blog" is really more of a journal you may want to skip the long, rambling, dry text which probably be summed up for most people by saying we stayed at a great place, and had a great time, saw the Old Town and the Castle and hope to get back before we leave.  There are pictures below.

Our first trip outside of Germany was a huge success.  The Hoopty, with it's newly fixed AC, performed well, we stayed in a beautiful and cheap apartment (sans AC), saw most of the sights and got a good feel for the city.  We left Friday night after Carissa got done with work and drove the 2 and half hours to Prague with a short stop at the border for the required Czech highway sticker and a truck stop dinner.  We made it to the apartment which was in the "Little Quarter" at about 8pm, unpacked the car, got the kids to bed and vegged in front of the TV for maybe an hour before we went to bed.

Our Apartment

Saturday morning the kids got up early to play Legos and watch Russian cartoons and we hit the streets at about 8:30am.  The apartment manager recommended a cafe in the direction we were headed so we stopped there for a great breakfast that included sausages, ham, cheese, hard and soft boiled eggs, a block of bleu cheese, musli, french fries, sunflower and pumkin seeds and hot chocolate that was literally a melted candy bar.  With our stomachs full we walked north along the river to our first stop, the Charles Bridge.  The construction of this bridge was quite similar to the Stone Bridge in Regensburg, and I think they were built around the same time.  The Charles Bridge, however, is adorned with some amazing stone sculptures roughly every hundred feet.  It also is lined with vendors and street musicians on both sides and book-ended by two stone towers.

Approaching the Charles Bridge

Charles Bridge

We started on the West side of the river and walked across and on into Old Town.  The bridge and the streets were packed with tourists and we wandered along trying to pick the road less traveled.  Haaken provided some laughs calling out to a vendor wearing a bandana (Hey Pirate! Hey Pirate!) and to a church fundraiser wearing some sort of traditional costume (Hey Rabbit!).

 Haaken and the Rabbit

Without really knowing where we were going we ran right into the Old Town Square which was next on the itinerary anyway.  This square is apparently the largest in Europe is lined with buildings of all different architectural styles which I really know nothing about other than it looks really cool.  We started with the Old Town Hall on which is mounted the Astronomical Clock.  This clock has two large dials that tell you the time of day in our time and Old Czech time, the position of the sun and the moon, the month and the time of sunrise and sunset if you know how to read it.  On the hour some of the figures on the sides of it move which everyone stands around waiting for but that Carissa and I found to be rather unimpressive.  We then climbed to the top of the Old Town Hall for a great view of the square and surrounding city.

 Astronomical Clock

Old Town Hall

At the bottom we proceeded to cross the square past the monument to Jan Hus (the Czech Martin Luther who founded the Hussites and died for it) to Tyn Church.  By this time it was extremely hot and the square was getting really busy due to the 4pm German vs. Argentina match. 

Tyn Church

For the match the square had a huge Television screen and beer and food vendors.  We stopped at an outdoor cafe for a drink and to watch the crowd.  After the drink we watched the start of the game with a couple thousand people, Germany scored in the first 3 minutes and the crowd went nuts.  End result of the game was 4-0 Germany, but we didn't see the rest because we decided to try and pack in the castle before dinner.  We walked a few blocks, got on the wrong Tram with no tickets, got off, realized the castle sights were closed and then hiked for about 30 minutes to a Rick Steve's recommended restaurant that was good, but didn't serve Czech food (Haaken and I split a cheeseburger).  We were totally wiped at this point (6:30pm) and walked home.

Old Town Square

Sunday we got up and were unable to take a hot shower because the boiler was broken.  We ate a light breakfast in the room and walked back to Old Town to purchase Elise's birthday present from Grandma Belle/Aunt Chris - a crystal necklace.  Rick Steve's said the Tram was really easy to use, but at least where we were reading never indicated where to buy tickets so we had walked literally all day Saturday and wondered how long the kids could keep it up.  We finally asked someone since we hadn't seen a metro or tram stop with a booth or machine to this point and were told that we could buy them at a hotel.  So we picked up some tram tickets and caught one over to the castle.  We started on the north side of the castle and strolled through the very impressive and expansive castle gardens and then through the north gate.  By this point it was lunch time and really heating up again so we ate at an outdoor cafe inside the castle.  I tried a Czech Budweiser, which is not the same as the Anheuser Busch variety but similar in quality.  Budweiser is apparently what you call a Czech citizen from the city of Ceske Budejovice.  The brewery in that town named their beer as such around the 15th century and then in 1876 Anheuser Busch started brewing their Budweiser.  This resulted in a legal battle in 1907 with Anheuser Busch for the name, which resulted in the Anheuser Busch only being able to market their Budweiser in North America with the Czech version getting the name in Europe.  Anyway, after lunch we walked over to St. Vitus Cathedral right in the middle of the castle complex, which, by the way is the biggest castle in the world.  St. Vitus was simiar to St. Peter's in Regensburg in it's French Gothic style, but it seemed much bigger and more elaborate.  The stained glass was the most incredible I've ever seen and there are an astounding amount of important people buried there which kind of freaked out Elise.  In fact, after visiting another part of the castle that had the remains of another person behind some glass, she told Carissa "I think I want to be creamated."  Anyway, it took us over an hour to get through it all.  Man I hope no one is reading all this - I'm getting tired of typing, this must be horribly boring.  We also visited the Old Royal Palace, a convent and the Rosenberg Palace all of which were unfurnished but still interesting.  Carissa said despite it's size, it pales in comparison to the castles she visited in England.

Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral

St. Vitus Cathedral

The kids were really getting tired now (5pm) as were Mom and Dad so we took the tram back to the apartment for some down time.  Haaken was out of control so we actually put him down for a nap.  At about 8pm we headed back out for dinner, which again was not a true Czech restaurant but was close and convenient and everybody ate (meaning Lydia).  Great pizza though.  We wanted to see the town at night so we jumped back on the tram and took it to Charles Bridge and then walked again to the Old Town Square for some ice cream and a horse and carriage ride that the kids had been begging for all weekend.  It was a beautiful night and the kids loved being out late so it was well worth the trip.  We finally made it home at about 11:30. 

Monday we had planned on visiting the Jewish ghetto, but by the time we got all packed up and then over the Charles Bridge, after buying Haaken a Czech football jersey and some paintings from a local artist we decided to head home.  Hopefully we can head back in the fall or spring.  When we got back I asked the kids what they like best - Elise: Old Town Square, Lydia: ice cream (gelato), Haaken: soccer jersey.