Paris, Day 2: Flea Market , Boat Ride, Eiffel Tower (sort of) and snails

Our first night in Paris was HEAVEN for me. Why? Was the bed at the hotel comfortable? Hell no, BUT I got to sleep the entire night.  I love Han Solo to pieces, but this getting up at night to eat business is getting old.  I was thrilled to get to sleep a full night.  In fact, Indy and I went to bed at 8:30pm and didn't get up until 9:30am.  See?  HEAVEN.  I have to say though, I will never stay at an Ibis again.  I've stayed at a few, and while they are modern and clean and inexpensive, their beds suck.  The bed consists of a 15" thick box spring covered by a 2" foam mattress.  So. Not. Comfortable.  I guess I'm going to have to move up to the next level in the Accor hotel chains (Mercure).  They cost more, but they have better beds and at the end of the day (pun fully intended) a good night's sleep is worth its weight in gold.
So, once Indy and I got going, we hopped on the Metro and headed for the Marche aux puces (flea market) at Porte de Cligancourt.  At first Indy wasn't too keen on going, but once we got there, the atmosphere got to him and he really enjoyed himself.  Before you get to the actual flea market, you have to walk through a virtual tent city of vendors selling everything from souvenirs to socks and underwear to purses, pants, shoes, leather jackets, jeans, dresses and fruits and vegetables.  It's very lively.  There are also the "knock off" guys.  You know, they sell "Gucci" sunglasses and hats and belts and Louis Vuitton wallets and whatever other designer you can think of to knock off.  They are also illegal and Indy and I got a good giggle watching them scramble every time a police car drove down the street.  We're weird like that though.
We finally wove our way through the crowds and vendors and knock off guys and made it into one section of the flea market and the atmosphere was much more relaxed and far quieter.  We saw some beautiful stuff, but wow was it way over priced.  Some of the transferware plates (seriously, the exact same pieces, buy the same manufacturer-I looked) were selling for €20-60 EACH.  I've never paid more than €5 per piece.  Maybe I should set up a stall?  We had a great time looking at all the stuff though and digging through the boxes of random items (where you find the real bargains).  After about an hour or so, our hands were filthy so we headed to the bathroom to wash them off and met some very confused Americans who had never experienced the kind of bathrooms common in many places in Europe.    Basically it's just a hole in the floor with a bar on the wall on either side to hold onto.  Nice, huh?  Also, you have to walk past the men's "bathroom" (a trough) to get to the stalls.    I've seen this many times before, but they were flat out flabbergasted.  Good times.

This little wine/cheese/meat kiosk is in the Metro:

One of the flea market alley ways:

I loved all the vines on this shop:

Need some garden statuary?

Or maybe silver?

When I decided we'd seen enough, we headed back through the tent city (and crazy rain) and towards the Metro and on to the Eiffel Tower.
By the time we emerged from the Metro, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining.  Yay!  We were both hungry and had some lunch at one of the little kiosks along the Seine.  It wasn't fancy, but it was good and we ate with the Eiffel Tower looming over us.  The clouds were moving rapidly and rain threatened, but we didn't care.  I had promised Indy a boat ride, so we bought our tickets and off we went.  He loved it.  The only other time I had done this was about 12 years ago with James Bond.  We did a night cruise and all the buildings and monuments were lit up.  It was lovely.  This ride was during the day though and very different from the night cruise.  We had seats inside, but Indy didn't want to be inside the glass.  He wanted to be out on deck.  We had to stand the entire hour, but so what?

The boat docked just as it started to rain, so we ran for the cover of the bridge and hung out there with the other tourists and fed leftover bread to the pigeons. The pigeons in Paris are well fed.  The rain only lasted a short time so we headed over o the Tower and I saw my one big mistake: not ordering tickets online. Three of the pillars were open, but the line to buy tickets at each one was 2 hours long! Ouch! Indy decided he didn't really need to go up. I asked him if he was sure and he looked at me and said "Mom, I've been up the Arc de Triomphe. I've seen Paris. I don't need to stand in line for 2 hours to see it again."  Okay, then.
We walked along the mall behind the Tower, past the hundreds of guys selling souvenirs (illegally) when the bottom dropped out of the sky.  Holy cow!  The wind picked up and the rain started coming at us sideways.  There was nowhere to escape and no cover to be had.  I had an umbrella, but it did little good against the sideways rain.  We (and all the other tourists) huddled up against the trees that line the mall (don't worry, it wasn't lightening) to shield ourselves from the rain.  The police came by and  the souvenir guys all made a mad dash across the rain soaked grass with two laughing policemen running behind them.  I think they enjoy the chase because they could easily have caught a few of them, but were content to chase them through the rain.  Ten minutes later, we were soaked from the waist down, but the rain stopped.  We decided to head toward the Rodin gardens, but half way there, it occurred to me that they might be closing soon (it was early evening).  I stopped to check my museum pass and saw that they were closing in 15 minutes.  We were about a 15minute walk away.  I told Indy we wouldn't make it, and asked if he wanted to stop for dinner instead.  He absolutely did, but only if he could get snails.  The first few Brasseries we passed did not have escargot on the menu (that's the good thing about Europe, the restaurants all post their menus outside), but finally we came to one that did and got a table.  Indy wanted the 12 escargot started, but it was €26 (about $35), so I told him he could only have 6.  I'm such a bad mom.  He ordered the escargot and the kids chicken platter, which was 1/4 of a chicken and potatoes, plus chocolate mousse for desert.  He ate it all with glee.  I ordered the tomato-mozzarella salad.  Oh, and his Coke was €7 (about $10).  Ouch.

Enjoying that expensive Coke:

Look how excited he is over the escargot:

Our very friendly server:

My dinner (sheer heaven):

After dinner, we went back to the hotel happy and full and exhausted and I got another full night of sleep.  Even if the bed was uncomfortable.



Next:  Versailles!

Royal Wedding: Monaco

It wasn't quite the spectacle that the recent wedding of Will and Kate was, and you may not even know about it, but today there was a royal wedding in the tiny Principality of Monaco. Actually, there was a wedding yesterday too.
In several European countries, a bride and groom must be legally married in a civil ceremony. If they wish they can have a religious ceremony, but really, that's just for show. It's the civil ceremony that counts.
His Serene Highness Prince Albert II (53) married former South African Olympic swimmer, Charlene Wittstock (33), on June 1, AND July 2, 2011, making her HSH Princess Charlene.  The civil ceremony was quick and rather impersonal (it was for legal purposes though, so I can forgive that).  Both the Prince and his bride looked uncomfortable at times.  I can't say I blame them though.

Her dress (which was actually a lace bodice and palazzo pants) and jacket were made by Chanel, but purported to have been designed by Charlene and Karl Lagerfeld. She has stellar taste.  And a figure to go with it.

After the ceremony, they had a reception for 5000 Monegasques (citizens of Monaco), followed by a concert by French singer Jean Michel Jarre.

Today though was the event we all cared about.  The "real" wedding.  It took place in the courtyard of the royal palace as the main church (St. Nicholas) could not accommodate the number of guests.
Princess Charlene wore a stunning dress designed by Giorgio Armani (who also attended the wedding).  I found the dress interesting for several reasons.  It was obvious that Kate Middleton's dress was influenced by Prince Albert's mother, Grace Kelly, but Charlene's dress was almost a polar opposite.  Perhaps she's trying to say that she's not trying to fill Princess Grace's shoes.  Or perhaps she's making it known that she is her own person, not a stand in for the small countries beloved princess.  Or maybe she just likes off the shoulder, body skimming dresses.

Good grief, she's gorgeous:

According to the palace, the dress took the Armani team 2500 hours to make, 700 of those on the embroidery alone.   The dress was made of 130 meters (142 yards) of off white silk and sewn with platinum coated thread.  The decorations on the gown included 40,000 Swarovski crystals, 20,000 mother of pearl tear drops and 30,000 sparkling stones in "shades of gold."  The train was made of 20 meters (22 yards) of silk tulle and took 100 hours to make.

Enlarge this photo so you can see the details of the embroidery on the front of her dress. Stunning!  Her dad looked completely overwhelmed.

If you look at the dress from the side, it actually has 2 trains.  Long trains (KATE!).  I like how the top train attached  just below the shoulders instead of at her waist.

Now THIS is a royal wedding train:

The ceremony itself was very formal, but there were a few very cute moments.  During one of the songs, the prince reached over and put his hand on her leg and they both shared a laugh over something he said:

After she slipped the 18k gold Cartier ring on his finger, she smiled and then though bought laughed.  It was very sweet:

Prince Albert wore a cream colored summer uniform of the palace guards with gold oak and olive leaves embroidered on the sleeves.  He looked rather dapper.

After the ceremony they drove from the palace on top of the mountain, down through the town to Sainte Devote Church where the princess laid her bouquet in a tradition in honor of the Patroness of Monaco.  The princess wiped tears from her eyes several times as the choir sang.  It was lovely.

The princess opted to forgo a royal tiara in favor of this beautiful jeweled head piece that sat gracefully above her low chignon.  I have to admit, this is gorgeous and I wouldn't mind having one (could someone be a dear and let James Bond know?), but IMO, she should have gone with a tiara.

In case you were wondering what titles she'll hold, other than Her Serene Highness, Princess of Monaco, here's a list of all of Albert's titles (which would be quite a mouthful if they have to be said):

• Duke of Valentinois
• Marquis of Baux
• Count of Carladès
• Count of Polignac
• Baron of Calvinet
• Baron of Buis
• Lord of Saint-Rémy
• Sire of Matignon
• Count of Torigni
• Baron of Saint-Lô
• Baron of La Luthumière
• Baron of Hambye
• Duke of Estouteville
• Duke of Mazarin
• Duke of Mayenne
• Prince of Château-Porcien
• Count of Ferrette
• Count of Belfort
• Count of Thann
• Count of Rosemont
• Baron of Altkirch
• Lord of Isenheim
• Marquis of Chilly
• Count of Longjumeau
• Baron of Massy
• Marquis of Guiscard

Dear So and So: It's been a long time

I can't believe how long it's been since I did a Dear So and So! Bad, bad me!
If you're not familiar with it, Dear So and So is run by Kat over at 3 Bedroom Bungalow and gives you the opportunity to write letters to anyone who had, um, annoyed you. You should try it, you'll feel better. Oh, you can write nice letters, but they're not nearly as much fun.

Dear Guy in the car in front of me at the PX gate,

Look, we've had to show our ID cards to get onto the various posts since 2001. TWO THOUSAND ONE. That's 10 years now. TEN. YEARS. You should know by now you need to have your ID card out of your wallet and ready to give to the guard. It should not take you 5 bloody minutes to unbuckle your seat belt, get out your wallet, and then fish through it for your ID card. You are obviously American and even if you are new to the area, you are driving a car, which means you've had to take the test, which means you have been on post before. Probably multiple times. Have your damn ID card ready. I've got things to do and a kid to get to summer camp. I don't have time for your stupidity.

Annoyed,
MiHH


Dear Lady in line in front of me at the commissary,

Please refer to the letter above re: having your ID ready.  You know you have to show it before check out.  Don't act like it's the first time you've ever been in the commissary.  I've seen you there before.

Annoyed,
MiHH


Dear Mother Nature,

What is going on with you? Two weeks ago Indy and I were freezing our bums off in Paris, then it was in the upper 90's and now we're back in the 60's? Could you just pick something and stick with it? Please? Also, if you're going to pick something, I'd suggest picking on the cool side. I am ridiculously pale and frighten small children when I wear shorts.

Constantly changing my wardrobe because you can't make up your mind,
MiHH


Dear manufacturers of baby bibs,

You know that hard part of Velcro?  Yeah, that should go on the part of the bib that faces down, not up.  Poor Han Solo has scratched on his sweet little neck where he moves around and the Velcro slips, and it scratches him.

Angry mom,
MiHH


Dear Canada,

I'm insanely jealous of you.  You get Prince William and Catherine for over a week, and many of you are bilingual.  Happy Canada Day!  Eh?

Your friend from below the boarder,
MiHH
Dear Jose Baez,

You make me want to take a Purell bath.  I wouldn't let you notarize a piece of paper for me.

Skeeved by you,
MiHH


Dear Casey Anthony,

You know you did it.

Not respectfully,
MiHH


Dear Judge Perry,

You don't put up with any shenanigans from either side.  I ♥ you.  I adore your slow, no nonsense speech and your long suffering looks.

Hoping you get your own show,
MiHH


Whew, I feel better!  Click the button at the top to read the others and have a great weekend!

Paris: Half the excitement is getting there

On June 17th Indy and I hopped a fast train to Paris. In a mere 3 hours and 20 minutes we would be strolling the streets and munching on authentic croissants (they really do taste better in France, trust me). Or so we thought. We made our connection with no problems and things were zipping along fine (except that our seats were rear facing and despite taking 2 Dramamine, I was feeling queasy) until we got to Kaiserslautern (K-Town). We stopped at the station and didn't move. For a long time.  The conductor finally came over the intercom and said something in German.  I thought I understood him, but then realized I had to be wrong.  He couldn't have said that, could he???  A passing train worker walked by and I stopped him to ask what was going on.  He confirmed what I thought I heard:  the train in front of us hit a PERSON on the track.  Shut the front door! 
We finally arrived in Paris 2.5 hours late, but since the Louvre is open late on Friday's and that was our plan for the evening, we didn't mind.  We checked into the hotel and off to the Louvre we went (this was Indy's idea BTW).  The next few hours were spent looking at painting, sculptures, and antiquities.

If you've seen The DaVinci Code, you'll recognize this:

After walking through the Medieval Louvre, the first place we headed was of course the Egyptian exhibit:

Like his father, who got in trouble at the Louvre about 12 years ago for touching a piece of art, Indy couldn't resist the lure of this ancient piece.  To be honest though, Indy didn't actually touch it (he just pretended).  James Bond, did touch and in about 5 seconds a guard swooped out of nowhere and told him not to touch the art.

Being a silly monkey:

And a Pharaoh:

Finally, finally, after passing thousands of objects and dozens and dozens of sarcophagi, during which time Indy sang the Indian Jones theme song, louder and louder, we made it to the one thing he was most excited about:  The mummy! He's seen it before, but was still crazy excited:

Once I was able to drag him from the mummy (seriously, I had to grab his shirt and pull him away), we headed for the Roman and Greek sculpture.  It was his idea to pose like the statue:

After about 800 miles and 30,000 stairs (if you've been to the Louvre, you know I'm not exaggerating that much), we ended up at what is arguably the most famous work of art houses at the Louvre: The Mona Lisa.  It's almost impossible to get anywhere near her.  Being small and intrepid though, Indy wove his way toward the front.

Since we spent a full week studying DaVinci  last month, we also went to see the 5 other DaVinci paintings that are there and discussed how he used shadows, light and blurred edges to create depth, where other painters of the same era often had little or no depth in their paintings.  Indy was particularly fascinated by his painting of John the Baptist:

We sat on one of the big round sofas for a few minutes to rest and then went over to one of my favorite sections, the large scale art.  I'm fascinated by these HUGE canvases.  One I particularly like is the painting of Napoleon crowning himself.  I had Indy stand in front of it so you could see how massive this thing really is:

Can you imagine how much time it took to paint that????  And, not only that, but the artist painted a second one the same size that now hangs in Versailles.  He made one change to the second painting though.  I'll show you that when I post about our day at Versailles.

Sadly, my hands down, absolute favorite exhibit was closed for renovation.  Nooooo!  What is it, you might wonder?  The crown jewels of course!  The had a few on display in front of the section with a big sign telling us that the full exhibit would reopen in early 2012.  I think I would look fabulous in either of these:

By 8pm, we were done.  D-O-N-E, done.   We were hungry, but also exhausted and I didn't feel like going out on the street to find a restaurant.  There is a high end (and pricey) international food court in the underground maze of shops connected to the Louvre, so we opted to eat there.  The variety of foods is amazing.  There is Middle Eastern, Greek, Italian, French, Spanish and American.  All the restaurants offer sumptuous national dishes.  What is America represented by?  McDonalds.  D'Oh!  I decided to have Ratatouille (yum!) and Indy wanted squid salad????  He got incredibly excited when he saw it.  Since it was  €9 for a small plate, I questioned his choice.  He put his hands on his hips and said "Mom, it's France.  We have to eat squids and snails!"  Okay.  He ordered it (and a slice of brick oven pizza from the Italian place) and we sat down to eat.  It felt so good to sit!  I couldn't let him dive in to his squid salad though before getting a photo of if:

He ate every bite of if!  Crazy little boy!

I hope you enjoyed our first day in Paris.  I've got more to come!

RTT: Redux

Okay, last week I did my RTT on Wednesday and didn't link it up, so it didn't get the love it deserved.  Because of that I'm reposting parts of it as well as adding new stuff.

*Why is Wednesday spelled that way?  Or do we just pronounce it wrong because it's hard to say?

*Indy wrote a letter to the new general who now lives across the street form us.  LTG Hertling took over as the USAEUR (US Army Europe) commander from Indy's good friend General Ham (who is now the Africom Commander) back in March.  Indy decided he had to write a letter to welcome LTG Hertling to the "neighborhood."  He wrote him a very sweet letter and said that even thought LTG is a Cardinals fan and we are Cubs fans, Indy thought they could still be friends.  What a silly boy.  We took it over to drop it off, but the guards said they couldn't accept it and we had to wait for an aide-de-camp to come down from the house to get it.  What?  We had to wait FOREVER before the aide called down and told the guard just to take the letter, which is really what they should have done in the first place.  So, we drop off the letter and go on our merry little way.  Monday, I called James Bond from the train to tell him we were delayed (more on this later) and he tells me that LTG Hertling came to our door that afternoon looking for Indy!  He had a letter for him and wanted to meet him in person.  JB didn't recognize him!  To be fair, he wasn't in uniform and JB doesn't see him on a daily basis.  It wasn't until after the LTG left that JB realized who he was.  OMG, I laughed so hard.  The letter was very nice and agreed that even though Indy is a Cubs fan, they could probably be friends.  I'm sure there will be more to this story.  Stay tuned.

*James Bond has ADHD.  H's on medication for it and doing so much better and by this I mean I don't want to kill him (most of the time).  He still has eleventy billion and five hobbies though and there are often fragments of them all over my house.  The other night I walked into the kitchen and found the iron on the counter.  I knew he hadn't ironed any clothes.
Me:  Why is the iron out?
JB:  I was using the heat to bend wood.
Me:  Of course you were.

*The meds JB is on is Adderall.  Did you know this is the hot drug on college campuses? Why?  Because it helps you concentrate and kids study better.  I saw a report on the news that the pills are selling for $5-15 each.  We've got a small fortune in our medicine cabinet.  Not that I would ever sell drugs.  I'm just saying.


*Han Solo is one of those babies who can fall asleep and the minute you lay him down (or really, just walk towards the bedroom-anywhere else in the house yes, bedroom, no) will pop his eyes open and look at you like "what do you think you're doing?"  Lucky me.  He's actually sleeping much better at night though (halleluiah!).  Yesterday, it was time for me to pick Indy up from summer camp and James Bond wasn't home yet.  This of course meant I had to schlep Han Solo and his crazy heavy carrier to the car and take him with me.  He was sleeping in his swing and I hated to pick him up, but what was I to do?  So, I picked him up, strapped him into his baby carrier, carried him down 3 flights of stairs, snapped his seat into the base, drove to the camp, took him out of the car, went in to get Indy, came back to the car, snapped his seat back into the base, drove home, got him out of the car and carried him back up 3 flights of stairs.  He did not wake up one freaking time! Can you believe that???

*Okay, my first ever problem with Amazon.  I was so mad I almost couldn't speak.  I ordered some Dr. Brown's pacifiers that specify "colors may vary."  AS there are 7 colors, I figured the odds were pretty high that I'd get a color I couldn't use.  I was wrong.  Of course we got pink.  This is the second time I've ordered something with "colors may vary" and gotten pink.  I didn't worry about the first item because it was something that would never leave the house and Han Solo doesn't care anyway.  A paci will likely leave the house and while I'm all for not stereotyping, I'm still not going to take him out with a pink paci.  I started a customer service chat on Amazon to see if there was any way I could get a different color.  The CSR comes on and I explain the problem.  Take a good look at the paci below and note the color.  Then read the rest.

Okay, got a good look?  So, here's a rough transcript of our convo:

Me:  The paci I received is pink and I have a boy.  Is there any way to trade it out for a different color.  It doesn't have to be blue, just not pink.
(a minute or two goes by)
CSR: That paci isn't available in pink
Me: Well, I'm holding a pink one in my hand and if you look at the item page, it shows a pink one in the second photo.
(another minute or two goes by)
CSR: It's not pink.
Me: Yes, it is, I'm looking at it.
CSR: It's not pink. It's magenta.
Me: Are you serious?
CSR: Yes, ma'am. It's not pink.
Me: What color is magenta?
CSR: Magenta.
Me: Okay, well then, I need one that is not MAGENTA, as I have a boy.
CSR: How can I help?
Me: Let me exchange the pink paci for a different color.
CSR: Again, it's not pink. It's magenta.

At this point I had to end the chat because I was so irritated. I started a new chat with a different CSR and asked for a phone number so I could talk to a person. You have to request a number as they don't post it on the website. I called and explained why I was so irritated and and the CSR apologized profusely and said the CSR should never have acted like that and promised they would ship me a new paci at no charge and that I could keep the pink one and use it at home or give it to someone with a baby girl (which I did). The new one came the other day. It was orange, which I can live with. I have to say this was an anomaly. I've been an Amazon customer since 96 or 97 and have always had excellent customer service experiences including a replacement Kindle in 3 days when James Bond's quit working. I gave the CSR's name (and apparently they have a record of the chats) so I'm hoping this person gets a stern talking to. Idiot.

*.  I have one more thing though!  A few weeks back I told you about a Mike & Ike candy I found that looked like a penis and promised a photo.   Here you go:

Click on the button at the top to read all the other rebel randoms and link up your own!

Does this make me a bad wife??

to make sure there are no more surprise babies, James Bond got the big V yesterday.  I know it hurts, but they didn't even have to put in any stitches.  He acts like he gave birth to the largest baby in the world naturally.  Give me a break.  I've gotten more than a giggle or two out of pretending to throw things into his lap.  The look on his face is priceless and he falls for it every. single. time.  And then he tells me I'm evil and sulks for a few minutes. It's the little things that make life fun.  Does this make me a bad wife????