Romance à Paris (Romance in Paris)

Taylor and I decided early on that we would try to maximize every possible opportunity this sabatical year had to offer. One of my favorite indulgences was our bi-monthly trips to Paris while the kids were in school. We would drop everyone off in the morning and head straight to the train station. On the ride in we would pour over guide books, read the French newspaper and enjoy just thinking about the possibilities for our day. Inevitably our first stop was a bakery. No matter how many times I enter a French bakery I can't help but snap pictures. Food in France is so pictureworthy! Taylor is the best in a bakery...he always tries something new and he ALWAYS buys something to take along for the journey.
My most favorite big city in the world is Paris. You just never know what sites you will see and culture is oozing everywhere. For instance just look at this guard dog standing watch in front of the eyewear store.
Sometimes our day in Paris was packed with hitting museums and we ate baguette sandwiches on the run. Other days we went simply because we could...these were some of my favorite days. I love sitting at a cafe and ordering the plat du jour (plate of the day). Lunch is never disapointing in France!
From the flower shops to the palace gardens beauty is everywhere.



Since this was the last week of school we knew it was our last date day in Paris. We sat on the green chairs in Luxemborg Gardens, took a little rest and talked about this charmed life we have been living. Life is truly wonderful!

Marathon day in Paris

We had a marathon day in Paris with our cousins. It all started climbing the steps at the Sacre-Coeur for an overview of the city. We ate lunch among the artists at “artist square” and then to the Opera Garnier. It was surprising how much the kids enjoyed visiting this sight...I think they were hoping to spot "The Phantom of the Opera". Our visit to the Louvre spotlighted the really famous pieces of art: Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, The Wedding Feast, Venus de Milo to name a few. The kids were fully engaged and had a great time. Uncle Greg played a great game giving us a minute to study a painting and then he would ask questions about varying aspects…I was amazed at the detail that the kids noticed. We enjoyed one of our favorite dinners – crepes from the street vendors. There is something so appealing about getting a crepe and sitting along the Seine and enjoying the ambiance of it all. After a needed break sitting on a cruise boat that gave us a tour of Paris from the Seine we headed for the top of the Eiffel Tower and a nigh time view of the lights. We hadn’t planned on staying late for this and we didn’t have any jackets so it was a bit chilly at the top. The last train for Fontainebleau had already taken off so we knew we had to run fast to catch a train into Melun where Taylor met us with the van & drove us home. The kids had to run a long ways and they had walked all day long. I was amazed at their stamina. We didn’t take a stroller and Lilly managed to keep up with us to the bitter end. Everyone was all smiles on the ride home, which means it was a totally successful day!

Nancy Bea

There's no way to replace the comfort that comes from years of friendship. One of my dearest friends Nancy Bea, from our Philadelphia days came to visit for one week. Even though we hadn't seen each other in 3 years it felt like we'd been living on the same street forever.
One day Nancy emailed me to ask if I knew where the village of Grez sur Loing was. Yes, I knew it well...it's about a 5 minute drive from my house. Come to find out Nancy has another friend, Sonia who lives in Grez! This provided a great opportunity for all of us to increase our circles of friendship during Nancy's visit. The three of us took a "Museum Day" in Paris. I think the most fun part of the day for me was watching Nancy's excitement...she's an amazing artist & tomorrow debuts her first solo show in NYC! At the Musee de Orsay we filled our buckets with countless masterpieces. We were saturated with art, but hungry so we ate lunch at the elegant restaurant & enjoyed a marvelous day. I'm hoping that one day in the future Nancy's works will find there way to a famous museum!

Paris with Rus and Laura

This was Rustin and Laura's first day of vacation AND their first time in Europe. I think we had them on overload as we walked and walked and walked through Paris. They were amazing and stayed awake and seemed to love everything they saw. I'll let the pictures do the talking...
We love to walk down the Champs de Elysees and look in the windows at all of the fancy stores...this week they had a display of cars for the Grand Prix. It's never complete unless we stop at Paul's for raspberry tarts, chocolate elcairs, chocolte macaroons, sandwiches, etc. etc. It's ALL delicious at Paul's!

Our walk ended at the Egyptian obelisk and then we took a few minutes to rest in the Tuilleries gardens. It was so hot that day that we thought we might melt. I think I spent about 30 euros just purchasing water bottles to keep everyone hydrated. We will definitely be thankful for drinking fountains when we return to the USA.


The girls tried knocking of the door of the Orangerie Museum, but no one answered. We'll just have to go back another time to try and get in.

While Rus & Laura had the tour of Notre Dame the kids and I sat on the curb and watched all of the street performers. This group of techtonic dancers was amazing and kept us entertained for a long time.

By the time we caught the train everyone was pooped, but full of fabulous memories of a whirlwind day!

Le grand pain (Big Bread)

I couldn't resist the last purchase of the day...Le grand pain! It's sold by the kilo and this particular loaf cost about 13 euros. It was hilarious to carry this big old thing through the streets of Paris, in the subway and on the train. One guy on the subway said, "you better get a lot of cheese to go with that bread!" I'm pretty satisfied with simple pleasures and lugging this grand pain was FUN. It was even more fun to see the looks on the kids faces when we returned home. It was a big bread feast for dinner. We had bread with jam and cheese. There's even plenty of left-overs for tomorrows French toast breakfast!

lèche-vitrines (window shopping)

Paris is fun no matter what. It's even more fun when you are with a bunch of friends and you don't have an agenda. Today Tracie Boyer, Tifiny Reed, Tracey Thomas and I roamed the streets, soaked in the sights and ate lots of tasty treats. Before lunch we shared ice cream from Berthillon. We thought we might go to a museum or two, but instead we ended up lèche-vitrines - this phrase in French actually means "licking the windows"...Kind of like window shopping...you want to buy, but you don't...you just stand at the window and drool.

I need to note here that Tracie Boyer (on the right) is the first friend I met in France. We had only been here one day. We were standing in line at the Carrefour jet lagged and shell shocked. Tracie was in line ahead of us and when she heard us speaking English she said hello and introduced herself. After a small conversation we learned that our kids were going to the same international school. We exchanged numbers and the next day she telephoned to invite us to a picnic in the forest. Talk about stretching out the hand of friendship.



We fond this sign hilarious, especially on a day when lots of things were on strike!

spécialité du français (speciality of the French)

The strikers were out in force today. Another greve (strike) which could be the start of many to come this summer. The trains to Paris were running at only half capacity. The buses to and from school were NOT running at all. It's a difficult place to get around when you rely on public transport. I ventured out with three girlfriends. We had planned this excursion weeks ago so we were not going to let the greve get us down. Our train to Paris was 25 minutes late...that was the only glitch in our entire day. Lucky us!

At our first subway stop we encountered some strikers. It wasn't exactly the most riotous or forceful demonstration. We stopped to ask the policemen why they had such fancy shin guard protectors. They were quite chatty. One of them waved his hand toward the crowd and said, "La greve est une spécialité du français!" (the strike is a specialty of the French). Let's hope this little "spécialité" doesn't get too out of hand.

Deena Rutter

More good luck came our way when Deena Rutter came to visit. In Salt Lake City both Deena and Tifiny live on my same street. We all love Browning Circle so much that we don’t think we ever want to sell our homes and move. For this reason alone it was great fun to venture into Paris with the three of us on Friday…we decided that it will be so much fun when we are 85 and sitting on our front steps reminiscing about that day we tromped all over Paris in 2008! We covered some pretty good ground and it was an absolutely gorgeous day. No one even needed a jacket! Deena is a very talented artist (check out her blog). She designs all of those fun scrapbook papers & boxes.. All along the way she found new patterns and textiles to help inspire her next projects. It was a fabulous day to soak up the atmosphere of Paris in the springtime!


From the look of it all and the bags we took home it goes without saying that "Girls know how to have fun!"