Our Anniversary in Paris!

How fortunate we are to celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary in Paris and have the gparents here to watch the kiddos.  We took advantage of this fully by booking an adorable boutique hotel room in the heart of St. Germain...we started off with a gorgeous steak lunch we split at this cafe, people watching and gazing at french Olympics!

Could not help snap this picture of this toilette door at the cafe we had lunch.

 Brad had never been inside Notre Dame so we quickly walked around inside.  Missed Joan of Arc the last time I was in here with the kids.

 After wandering around and window shopping we stumbled on this gourmet shop and could not resist getting some things to bring up to our room.

                             Courtyard of the hotel where B started with his usual...martini.

 We could not find a taxi so we hired this rickshaw to take us to our next destination...he was adorable...but it was way toooooo long!  Oh well!

We intended to go see a Tim Burton retrospective but my inability to read french did not take into account that it closed at 8:00!

So instead we headed to the other side of the Seine and bar hopped along the riverbank at 4 or 5 spots that have outdoor restaurants set up.. on shore and on boats.

                                    Breakfast was served in this lovely room!!

A day at the Musee D'Orsey

A short walk to the museum took us past the Place de Concorde...an Egyptian Obelisk paves the way across the Seine.

Check out this story about how the locks have became a popular expression of love...The lore of the Love Locks.  This is a tradition that has taken over 2 bridges on the Seine in Paris, it literally makes the bridge sparkle in the sun light.  We saw it on our boat ride and Abigail insisted this was something she needed to do.  On our walk to the Musee D'Orsey we noticed that a guy was selling locks on the bridge...we headed over and fulfilled this request!!!   From the sounds of this article our locks may not be there for long:(

 The museum is housed in an old train station.  It has recently been restored and now contains a tremendous collection of Impressionists art.  Unfortunately you can not take pics inside!!!  But I will let you know we saw Van Gogh's Bedroom at Arles (he made 4, we have one at the AIC), a great collection of Gauguin, did not know he also sculpted when in Tahiti, gorgeous Monet's, Manet's naughty picnic scene, one of Degas' ballerina sculptures and many of his most iconic paintings, Renoir's rosie cheeked portraits(have never been a huge fan), and many many other great works!

Lunch was at this lovely new mod restaurant...a bit over priced but the ambience was well worth it!

 This is a view of the Rue Ravoli and the ferris wheel at the Tulieries carnival.  In the background you can make out Sacre Coeur.

Mont Montre...a climb to the artists

                                  The scene right off the metro...a very popular tourist spot.

                            The carousel before the big climb...they were playing Edith Piaf.

This is the incredible view of Paris after you climb the stairs to Sacre Couer the gorgeous byzantine cathedral at the top...after the cathedral you stroll through a few cobblestoned streets to a square that is lined with artists selling their art and portrait artists ready to sketch.

 We found a quiet little cafe for lunch and have discovered the love of onion soup...I've promised the kids I will make it for them when we get home!

                     A. found this artist who used fun letters to write her name...5 Euros!!

 It was my idea to have the gparents get a painting of JandA for Brad's bday coming up.  I chose this water colorist because he was different than the other artists on the square.  The kids sat for him like little angels!

               In the back streets down we found lots of street art and some great little shops!!

We learned from the previous days that we needed to head home by 4!!!  And we did...perfect timing for getting home with 2 exhausted kiddos and the metro is not crowded yet!!