Against the Wind

Well, Thursday was another “sleep-in” day because of our late Wednesday night, so I was able to get a run in. The strong winds made running an adventure, but at least I didn’t get too hot! I was thinking on my run about how fortunate I am to be passing all of these incredible sights every time I run. I really am grateful to be here in this beautiful place.
Dave, Dillon and I went to the store when I got back. As we were walking to the grocery store, 2 blocks from our house, we saw the shoes that Dillon had wanted in a store window. They were on sale, in his size, and there were TWO of them - a left and a right. So happy to have this search over and have Dill in some stylin’ walking shoes.
When we returned from our outing, a woman in our building said ‘hello” to us at the elevator. She is American and lives on the first floor. She was very nice to us – yeah! She is from New Orleans and has lived here for 2 years. Her husband is an attorney who still works in New Orleans and comes out when he can. We had a huge discussion about the elevator, and she was very cool about the whole thing. She said that there have been troubles with previous renters and so everyone is a little uptight about renters and the elevator. It was so nice to meet someone who is friendly. We talked to her for quite awhile. Funny thing, the French man who was so horrible to us lives on the first floor as well. I was thinking how ironic it would be if the friendliest person and the cruelest person were married to each other. We shall see…
We had some lunch, then headed over to the Seine to start our St. Martin Canal boat cruise. It was a pretty cool. cruise. We started by going through a really cool moat that went under the Bastille and parts of Paris. The boat went through 4 different locks, making us think of Ballard.
On one part of the ride, the guide told us to stop taking photos for awhile. We passed by several small tents with laundry and bags of clothing and supplies around them. Most of the tents were occupied by men. The tour guide said these were all refugees from Iraq and Afghanistan and that is why we couldn’t take photos. It was kind of creepy and sad.
It was a long ride, but cool to see parts of Paris that we had not seen. We ended up in Villette, a very modern part of the city. We got off the boat and explored the area a bit. We found the Museum of Science and Industry and it was AWESOME! We got there just before closing and so we decided that we would definitely come back when we could stay awhile.
Tonight, we had some dinner and then hung out for awhile. It continued to be super windy throughout the day and in to the night. We got the kids to bed since we need to get up early again tomorrow for Versailles.

kids on a boat

Cruising through the Moat

The Locks