Today we slept in a little because we all were so tired from all of our gallivanting around yesterday. Even Tate slept in, which was awesome. We got ready really quick and headed out for another fun filled day in Paris!
Here is Todd with Tate's new accessory, a toddler carrier. Pretty cool! Taters loves it!
We headed out and found a little cafe and had breakfast and filled and fueled up for what was next on our agenda. What was it you ask? Oh here it is...
The Louvre! Now, we were not going to take on the Louvre with three little kids in tow for hours and hours on end. We had a mission to see two major things, the Venus di Milo, and of course the Mona Lisa. Both of which the boys knew about and really wanted to see in person.
I am telling you, pictures and movies do not do it justice. There is just something SO cool about seeing it in person.
Here we all are in front the Louvre, dang it's so cool!
Still can't believe we actually get to go to these places!
The Louvre was the palace for all the kings before it was turned into the now famous museum. So it is very palatal!
Had to take one of these for these two cute boys of mine...
Inside the pyramid...
Love these two handsome guys!
It's so cool inside. Not just a museum by any sense of the word. Every room is amazing. Every room is decked out with frescoes and gold and amazingness. Oh Europe, you're so fancy!
Here she is, Venus. Poor Venus, no arms. But very exposed.
Thatcher was very excited to see this in person, he has studied about her in school I guess. He told us all about the history.
It was PACKED with people today. It is Easter weekend, so it seems like everyone loves to come to Paris for Easter. Who knew?
Thatcher posing for me...he's good to humor me.
Tagg in front of the royal crowns, I think one was Napoleons. Pretty cool.
Next we moved on to find Mona Lisa...and we did find her, as well as every other tourist in Paris it seemed...
Yep, she is a famous lady!
Oh, there you are Mona!
The boys really wanted to get up close to see her. There was a crowd and they wanted to mosh pit their way through it to get close. So Tate and I bowed out and Todd grabbed both boys and headed in.
Here they are in the thick of it all!
Tagg wasn't liking it much...
But success! They got to see her up close! She's got a very mysterious smile that Mona!
We then headed downstairs to the Egyptian exhibits.
The boys were loving it...I love these pictures of them, so real and and they were just having a good time. Who would have thought?
I wanted them to do the Egyptian walk in front of Ramses, but Thatcher was too cool for school to humor me. Tagg did though. I'll give him a few months before he's too cool too.
Todd took the big boys downstairs to see in the inverted pyramid.
We then went to Paul's which was right outside the Louvre and got sandwiches, chips, and drinks, and went and had ourselves a little impromptu picnic on the lawn. It was great.
Here is Thatcher while he was waiting for food...
On our way out we found Joan of Arc, love that Joan.
We booked a tour with a highly recommended tour company, Paris Muse. They specialize in family/kid tours. We met our tour guide, Pam, here at this square with King Louis XIII...
We learned on our tour that Louis XIII was married in this square at age 11. Yes, you read me correctly, that was not a typo. Also, his wife was 9. Talk about making kids grow up too fast!
Tate was semi impressed with King Louis, he's met Louis he's liked better...
This tour was awesome. Pam was so great with the boys. They were enthralled from the very start. The tour was called, "if buildings could talk" and she started by talking to them about a very famous french person that lived in this square. They had to use this compass to decipher a message and find out who it was...
The compass led them to this section of the square where the sign reads, Maison Victor Hugo. She told them all about Victor Hugo and the history behind his writing The Hunchback of Nortre Dam.
Tate was also hardly impressed by this. He isn't a fan of sensational stories of gypsies and hunchbacks. But he can get behind a story of criminals turned heroes, young love, and revolutions, so he decided to stick with the Victor Hugo tour...
The boys loved the packets she gave them with word searches and games to make the tour more exciting for them.
Here some artist has recreated Victor's face in the stone here by him home...how thoughtful!
We headed over to this house, that Victor Hugo had an influence in preserving...
It was the home of the King's financial advisor and rumor has it he was pocketing some of the countries money and used a lot to built this home. Nice.
I couldn't not stop loving the ornate windows and carvings. So beautiful.
Next we headed over to this building. The old part was once a very famous church called St. Paul's. Many kings were baptized here. It belong to the king in a way. Well during the revolution when they were just a little anti king, they came and tore it down. After many years they found these remains.
Our tour then took us to this back street. Isn't it beautiful? She told us the story of how there used to be a convent here.
The boys were very intrigued. Especially when she explained to them that they street was caved in for sewage. They were all over that bit of information. Boys.
Here they are in front of the old well. She told us how they used to come down every day for more water and how they would all bathe with the same bath water.
More buildings we passed on our tour...
It is very hard to see in this picture, but something interesting she told us was that during the revolution, they got rid of any kind of religious reference, even their street signs. This street was previously named after the church, St. Paul, but they renamed it after a man of science as a way of protest.
At this point Tate was bored out of his gord. He doesn't care about old stories of random buildings.
These next pictures are from the old wall that surrounded the city of Paris. She pointed out to us that each stone mason would have a symbol and you can still see some of those symbols today...
We then came to this old building which used to be the home of a very famous cardinal and good friend to the King. I couldn't help picture that evil Cardinal from Three Musketeers, so yeah...someone like him.
She pointed out to us the coat of arms that is carved about each window. Each little thing has symbolism. It is very cool.
The picture below is of a cannon ball that is lodged into the stone of this home. It happened when some revolutionaries stormed this place.
Here is the "backyard" to this cardinals home.
We then crossed one of the bridges to go over to Isle st. Louis. Pam pointed out that this is the symbol of the city of Paris and is carved into anything that is officially owned by the city.
The Seine...
Going under the bridge...
View from the bridge heading over to Notre Dame...
We were walking towards Notre Dame and saw this little cafe appropriately named.
And here she is...Notre Dame.
I know I've said it a million times, and I'll say it a million more. Cooler than I could have ever imagined seeing it with my own eyes!
And all of us in front of Our Lady...
The intricacies are amazing. Stunning. Insane. All the above...
The tour took us on a little scavenger hunt here looking for images in the carvings. The boys loved it.
The backside of the cathedral...
So very Gothic and cool and crazy and amazing.
Our tour ended at Notre Dame. We were supposed to go inside, but it was closed thanks to tomorrow being Easter. Thanks for nothing Notre Dame!
As we were leaving we spotted Charlamagne on his horse. Todd and I both thought he looked awfully a lot like the squid faced guy from Pirates in the Caribbean.
We left Notre Dam and headed over to the Love Lock Bridge. Here is a lovely view of the back of Notre Dam from the bridge...
This little tradition of buying a lock, locking it to the bridge, and throwing the key into the Seine with your lover to symbolize your love, has gotten a little out of control. There are locks upon locks upon locks. It's NUTS.
Wowza! That is a lot of locks!
We decided to be cheesy and participate since we were there. We bought a lock and Todd wrote our names on it and then we kissed, and threw our two keys into the Seine!
The boys got a big kick out of this romantical nonsense.
We wanted them pose for their own picture by the locks...but they would have none of it. They said to cut out all the locks of love and just include Notre Dam. While I never! Bossy boys! Fine...
After we love locked it up, we decided to head back to our hotel for some r and r. It was starting to rain, and so we high tailed it back across the bridge. We found a crepe place on the way home and had our first real authentic crepe. It was absolutely delicious. Those French really know what they are doing with the ol' food!
Tomorrow is Easter and the Easter bunny/chicken will be coming to see the boys tonight. The chicken is what they have in France. Which makes me wonder if anyone in this family has ever seen a chicken? Coo coo cah chow!
Add a comment »
