Angelina

Ever since our last trip to Paris, my wife has had to put up with Angelina. I fell in love with Angelina and have been anxious to get back to Paris so we could meet up again. I think Janna is okay with Angelina, since she is a merely the location of my favorite Hot Chocolate - L' Africain. It is so thick you could use a spoon. Some people make is smoother by adding whipped cream. I have had it "black" and with whipped cream. I love them both.

Today was the day for Angelina. We got up late again since we can't seem to beat this jet lag. What are we doing wrong? It must be the drawn shades. I lumbered out of bed at about 11am and hit the grocery store. Milk, OJ, Tissues (for runny noses). Not much, just some essentials.

By 12:00 we were all on the Metro and headed back to a familiar stop: Place de la Concorde. My dear Angelina is near there. We arrived at about 12:30 and hopped in a line at the restaurant. It was only about 15 minutes and we were seated. Angelina has an upscale/historic feel to it. Almost like you are in the Main Street section of Disney World. That upscale, Riverboat, Ice Cream Parlor feel. There are lots of Americans there. You can tell because their kids are wearing jackets that are not the color black. Unfortunately for me, we had missed breakfast (was hoping for a soft boiled egg, which you can easily get in Europe). The girls ordered omlettes and Janna ordered a quiche. I, of course, ordered L' Africain. Delicious.

After that, we walked down the Rue de Rivoli along the Tuileries. We bought some scarves for the girls and a couple more watercolors from a local artist. We aren't sure where we will put them when we get home, but is hard to resist some of the authentic paintings that go along with the poignant memories. Also, the last time we were in Paris, Janna's biggest regret was that we did NOT buy a single painting, so we are making up for that. Then we crossed the Rue into the Tuileries and up to the Louvre where we waited in line (outside) for about 30-40 minutes. Along with about a million other people, from all over the world. Oh, and the children in front of us had lice. Hawk-eye Janna spotted that instantly.

We were glad to be inside where it was warm. The Louvre was fun. The last time Janna and I did the Louvre, we were there from open to close. We cruised every single room and looked at every single piece of artwork and we still did not "finish" it. Janna was 5 months pregnant with Quinn at the time. Her ankles were swollen after that ridiculous day, and she cried. We vowed that we would do the Louvre with less earnestness this time. And let's be honest. I will speak only for myself here. I don't really get it. I try REALLY hard to get into all the artwork, but it ain't workin' for me. Half the paintings are 17th century Playboy. And there are only so many times that you can get away with the phrase "it's just art" to your kids. After a while, they know something is going on.

That said, the Mona Lisa is cool. And the story of the Venus de Milo is cool. I am sure I would think every single piece of artwork in that place was cool if I understood the history of each. But the crazy French don't put much English up on the walls, so you are pretty much doomed to try and figure it out on your own.

Enough with the cynicism. It was fun. In fact, every thing we have done here has been fun. We made it fun. We laughed at the paintings and skipped exhibits that bored us. We were only there for a couple hours. And, we took as much from the Louvre as it took from us. We found the "hidden bathrooms of the Spanish wing." (Have I mentioned the lack of clean, accessible bathrooms in this town?) Oh, they were beautiful. And clean. We all did our business there and made for dinner.

We left the Louvre via the Carrousel. There was a Metro there (Musee de Louvre) where we hoped to buy a 5 day pass for each of us that would give us unlimited use of the Metro (until now, we have been buying a "carnet" of 10 rides). There was a long line there, and after fumbling with the machine for 5 minutes, I bailed. We walked down the Rue de Rivoli to the next station (Louvre-Rivoli). There the machine was broken and would not accept my cash. So we walked North to the Les Halles station. That happens to be a big station with helpful representatives that allowed me purchase the Metro tickets from a person at a counter, rather than a kiosk. So much better.

Instead of hopping on the Metro there, we decided to walk North West toward the Opera Garnier to a place on Rue Gaillon called Drouant. There we had some of our only reservations for dinner.

Let me just say this about Paris so far. There has been no place in Paris that is not cool. We have walked just about everywhere. There are people always walking on every little street that we happen to be walking on. The buildings are all old and not very tall. My guess is that 5 stories is the high end of average. Everything looks like it is from the 1700s. Some of the streets are cobbled. Some are very narrow. And people are walking everywhere. This is not like New York or Boston. It is not even really like London. It looks and feels just like any Disney cartoon or James Bond movie that you have ever seen. You feel like you are in Europe. You feel like you are in an old city. It is really neat.

Dinner was great. Our only "upscale" dinner we had planned. Janna and I each had our own Tasting appetizers and the chef's recommended German Rib Steak. The apps were great. I had the "4 corners of the world" appetizer plates. I had no idea what I was eating, but it was delicious (it turns out one of the things I ate was eel. I guess eel is pretty good...). Janna had vegetarian app plates. The kids even got an app plate with salad, fish sticks, proscuitto, beef terrine, and curried carrots. For their main course they had Chicken and Pom Frites (thick french fries). Dessert was great. The girls and I had several types of Sorbets and Ice Creams. Janna had a chocolate tasting that was unreal. Overall, it was very good, but probably not worth the money. Especially with all these delicious cafes along the way.

We popped out of there, snapped a quick photo in front of the Opera house, hopped on the Metro and went home.

We are comfortable here now. We can tell because the vomit on the way up the stairs at the Metro doesn't gross us out much, but instead is a signal that we are almost back to the apartment (halfway up the third staircase at the Lamark station), or that the two homeless guys that sit on the second stairway down call out "Bon Jour" when we walk by for the seventh time.

Gillian snapped pictures of every room in our apartment (even the garbage can in the bathroom) when we got back because she "didn't want to ever forget this place." I wonder what the girls will remember from this trip...will it be the landmarks or the talking we have done? Or will it be the laughing over the crazy things we encounter all the time, the stories that come so effortlessly about friends at home, thoughts they have about things they have tasted, seen or felt? These are great memories.

Another awesome day. Hopefully we will all be sleeping soon. -- Jeff and Janna