Paris, France – December 23 to December 30, 2006

Darcy borrowed a GPS unit to help us navigate into the city of Paris and thank goodness for that electronic wonder. Once we were in downtown Paris we veered right, left, and center every few kilometers. It managed to take us right to the front door of our hotel.

Our hotel was very interesting. If you blinked you would miss the narrow entranceway that was about four feet wide. Once inside the doorway a constricted passageway led to a very nice Parisian man. While we were staying there we managed to pull the curtains right out of the wall, spread chocolate on the bedspread and break a lampshade. That didn’t phase our fine hotel clerk he just said “Non problem.”

Well there you go. There are plusses to staying in a fine 2 star establishment.

Right away the kids leaned out of our little wrought iron balcony to survey the city streets below us.

Brittany spotted something soft and furry that scurried through the streets. Was it a cat … a dog maybe … ah but non it was … a RAT!! Well maybe all of the garbage that lay on to sidewalk the whole time we were there had something to do with his visit. Later on we would discover that the citizens of Paris had to feast on rats to stay alive when they were trapped here during World War 1.

December 24^th

Each morning we enjoyed a continental breakfast of croissants, buns, coffee and orange juice. Then we were off and running.

We managed to master the Metro system, which saved our legs and lots of time. Depending on the line, and there was 200 kilometers of subway tracks under the city streets, you would end up at the doorstep of any major monument.

The first monument we visited was the Arc De Triomphe. It stands “in the most beautiful avenue in the world” (de l’Etoile) and was built by the decree of Napoleon the first. Construction started on it in 1806 and it was dedicated to the glories of the imperial armies. Jerret bought his first souvenir here of the Eiffel tower for only 5$ Euro.

Afterwards we went to the Pompidou Centre that holds the Museum of Modern Art. What a wonderful neighborhood. Sharice and Darcy were so excited to discover a Starbucks. Sharice always buys her traditional Eggnog latte at Christmas time. They took turns taking pictures of each other jumping up and down for joy in front of the Starbucks much to the entertainment of the local vendors.

In front of the centre Brittany got a portrait done of herself in brown pencil. It was magnifique. Sharice joined a street entertainer as his helper. She held his fire torch and as he wheeled past on his unicycle she threw it up to him on cue. There was a Tin Tin art display inside the Pompidou Centre that the kids were excited to see. I guess they used to read his comics in French class.

We walked to the Notre Dame Cathedral and took some beautiful night pictures. There were so many tourists there on a cold winter night … what is it like in Paris during the good weather? Then we went to the Eiffel Tower and took some night shots of it as well. This was all on our first full day in fine Paree. The tower was amazing at night! It changed to a blue color on the hour and sparkled like a Christmas tree. I tried to capture it but I’m afraid I needed my tripod for a slower shutter speed effect.

Before we headed home we took some night photos of the Place de L’Opera house and the Galeries Lafayette. Next time we go back to Paris I have to take a tour inside the Opera house, they had a miniature of it at the D’Orsay museum with an inside view, and it looked amazing.

On December 25^th we were visited by Santa. He found the Allen’s in France after all. Each person got a stocking full of surprises and some small gifts to open. Santa even gave the kids a special Winnie the Pooh Christmas DVD (and yes they all still love Winnie the Pooh …even Sharice).

We took a walk down the Rue Royale, which holds many famous stores such as – L’Oreal Paris, Dolce & Gabbana, Armani, Gucci, etc. We took pictures of a nativity scene inside the church called Place De La Madeleine. The church was fashioned after Greek architecture and has 52 Corinthian columns. Then we saw the Place De La Concorde, which is the largest square in Paris. It holds 8 statues that represent all of the major cities in France and it is the place where King Louis the 16^th and Mary Antoinette were executed. Nothing was really open but we walked down the Boulevard Ave Des Champs Elysees anyway. Darcy and Jerret rode the big Ferris Wheel at the base of the Champs Elysees.

December 26^th we went to the Carnavalet Museum that explained the history of Paris. It had a statue of King Louis the 14^th in front of the museum. Inside there was a miniature model of the original city of Paris. It was founded in the 3^rd century by fishermen who settled on the banks, 200 years before Christ. The original Il De La Cite is on the island where the Notre Dame cathedral stands, but the cathedral wasn’t actually built until 1163 A.D.

We visited the Deportation Memorial on the island by Notre Dame. It honors the French people who died at the hands of the Nazis in World War 2. La Sainte-Chapelle church had an amazing display of stained glass, which tell the story of the Old Testament. The church is supposed to house Christ’s crown of thorns and a fragment of the cross he died on.

Our two-day bus tour started on Dec. 27^th, 2006 and was full of interesting facts. We decided to take the Paris Grand Tour first. There are four areas to choose from and the bus passes all of the major sites. You have the flexibility to jump off the bus to take pictures and tour a major monument at any time. A bus comes every 25 minutes, so you could just jump on again. We also did a lot of walking, which made it possible to experience Paris up close and personal. You’ll know what I mean when you see the bicycle amongst our pictures (ha, ha).

We switched to the Montparnasse-St. Germain tour next, which allowed us to hop off and see the Museum D’Orsay. This museum presents a huge range of fine arts from the years 1848-1914. There were works of art by Degas, Matisse, Monet, Renoir, Manet, and Van Gogh. They even had some beautiful stain glass pieces on display, which I loved!

Then as crazy as we are we tried to view The Louvre on the same day as the Museum D’Orsay. Since they are both incredibly huge and house multiple mediums you can imagine how tired we were afterwards. The Louvre was originally surrounded by a fortress that stood 100 feet high with a moat twenty feet deep. It still has impressive tall gates that our bus barely fit through. At one point a little taxi cab and a tour bus were honking at each other and trying to fit through at the same time, I don’t think so!

When The Louvre first opened in 1793 it held only 12 portraits and one of them was the Mona Lisa. Of course the first painting we had to see was the Mona Lisa. The kids actually had a special area where they stood 5 feet from her!! All of the adults had to stand about 15 feet away. There were ropes, security guards, surveillance cameras and oh yes … you couldn’t take a picture, not even with your flash off. She was truly beautiful and it was no wonder that Leonardo Da Vinci’s character in the movie “Ever After” stated about the Mona Lisa “But sir, she is … my life.” Sharice heard that the whole painting, which is enclosed in a glass case, drops down into the floor every night after The Louvre closes. They have a special vault just for her.

Then we went to see the sculpture of Venus De Milo. It was so breath taking. Since both of her arms are missing they can’t say for sure that the sculpture represents the goddess Aphrodite (the goddess of love). If it were in fact a sculpture of her she would be holding an apple or a shield.

We also saw the French Painting of “The Raft of Medusa” by Gericault; Egyptian artifacts including a statue of Ramses the 2nd; the Medieval Louvre with a real castle towering over you; Napoleon the 3rd’s apartments; and incredible French sculptures from the 18-19^th century.

December 28^th we went on the 2^nd day of our bus tour and started with the Bastille-Bercy area. We hopped off at the Museum Picasso, which everyone loved. I found out that Sharice has a love for abstract art and I didn’t know that before! He used multiple mediums in his work such as charcoal, pencil, paint, and rope. He also had a love of guitars and made one out of cardboard, crayon and string. When Jerret got back home he was so inspired by Picasso that he made his own three dimensional guitar out of paper and pencil. Jerret stated that he thought his guitar looked much better then Picasso’s. He also wants to make his own museum. He said “Mom, you can come and view it anytime you like!”

We then took the Montmartre-Grand Boulevards Tour. That took us by the Moulin Rouge where Nicole Kidman filed the movie “Moulin Rouge”. Then we went to the Sacre Coeur Basilique, which is a white church with impressive domes. Sharice attends a private school in Bregenz called Sacre Coeur, so she wanted to view the inside, which we did.

As Sharice and Darcy were climbing the stairs to Sacre Coeur these men from Africa stopped them. The men wrapped a string around their pinkie in order to make a bracelet. I managed to escape their pushy antics, so I could reach Brittany and Jerret who ran ahead. Darcy ended up paying 8$ Euro for a string bracelet. There were also a lot of beggars in Paris, so we learned to say no very early on. Our big tip off came when the beggar went to her car to dump all of her coins into it! We did enjoy the street entertainers and gave them some coins for their talents. Apparently there is an 11% unemployment rate in Paris.

After the tour we stumbled onto a side street that was for Canadians! It was great. All of the menus had an English version so we had dinner there. The Canadian Tourism Commission was located on that street, so that’s why the shops were geared to English speaking folks.

On Friday December 29^th we checked out of our hotel and headed for Disneyland! We treated the kids since they were so good about traipsing through the streets of Paris and viewing the museums and monuments. It’s located about 35 minutes from Paris. The castle looked more like a French Style castle with high pointed steeples and it had purple sparkling lights that came on at night (breathtaking). They had a Christmas theme with oversized snow globes that were lit up at night and beautiful blue hanging lights down Main Street. Their standard electric parade was a Christmas theme and so beautiful. Sharice took all of the pictures you see on the web site of the parade!

Our first ride was Pirates of the Caribbean, since we missed that ride in California in 2006. It was a lot of fun. Then we went to the Phantom Manor as the French call it. The only ride Jerret couldn’t go on was the Indiana Jones ride but it was such a waste of time anyway. It had a little roller coaster that lasted about 5 seconds. The one in California took you on a jeep ride through explosions and fire with arrows shooting at you. California also had audio-animatronics throughout the ride, which made it so life like.

We found the line-ups to be a lot longer comparatively. We waited 2 hours to get on the Thunder Mountain Railway. They had the Fast Pass but stopped giving them out a lot sooner, which caused the line-ups.

Aladdin had a cool miniature story display that the kids enjoyed. This was a walk through display so no line-ups : )

A special thing about the Paris Disneyland is that they let you go up into Cinderella’s castle! There was a beautiful view from up there. Then we went on Peter Pan’s Flight ride and that line-up was over 2 hours. You fly over Neverland, Wendy’s home, and London in little pirate ships. We made it to Space Mountain Mission 2 because of our Fast Pass. That was our favorite ride in California and this one turned out to be better!

Darcy took Jerret on Space Mountain again and then the Star Tours ride. The girls and I went shopping for souvenirs. We brought home a beautiful Paris Disneyland mug and a Disney cookie tin with 3-D characters on it.

All in all it was a full history packed vacation. The girls got to exercise their French skills and we all took in some amazing sites.

I just booked a weekend get away for Darcy and I to go back to Paris in April for our 15-year anniversary. We’ll take in more of The Louvre, Rodin Museum, and the Marmottan Museum (Claude Monet). Of course we’ll eat some amazing French food and pastries … oh the pastries. They are something to dream about.

Lisa Allen

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