different names for the same thing: Separate Ways

Well, we’re not in Italy! But, we did get to sleep in our own beds last night and wake up in beautiful Paris! We decided to take the kids to the “Breakfast in America” diner this morning. Mali was so tired, that she stayed home. We had a good meal and a fun time. Afterwards, the kids went home, and Dave and I ran some errands.
When we got back, Dave was on the computer and phone for almost 4 hours with Easy Jet as well as the hotel we had booked in Italy. Easy Jet is just a bunch of slimeballs. We are SO grateful we didn’t buy the Air France tickets last night because we never would have been reimbursed.
The hotel decided to charge us for our entire stay, about $1200.00, even though we couldn’t make it!!! We were furious, needless to say. It’s just so frustrating that an already sad and disappointing situation has to turn into something even worse. Poor Dave went back and forth with them forever, and it’s still not resolved. They even had the gall to tell us that we were welcome to come back in September when the weather was lovely! Anyway, he went through a lot and I feel bad!
After Dave was done for the day with all the phone drama, he, Mali and Dillon went out to La Villette – a modern part of Paris. They were trying one last time to find a guitar rental place for Dill, but had no luck.
Next, they headed over to the Museum of Science and Industry. On the way to the museum, they walked through some really cool park areas. Once they reached the museum they began with the exhibition called “Fake” about piracy, which was “kind of interesting, but not really”.
Next, they went to an exhibition called “Grainstick 2.0”. In this area, the kids used Wii-motes change the images on the surrounding screens and made different noises depending on the position they held them. This part was “really fun and very interesting”. At their last stop, they watched an interesting video with statistics and ideas on the future of technology and how far America has come today. (thank you to Mali for filling me in!)
Around 1:00, Hayley and I met up with Lisa, Michael and Eric Sauer. Michael and Eric are Lisa’s twin 18 year old boys. We decided to go to the Monet museum that Dave and the other kids had seen last week - Musée de l'Orangerie. It was a beautiful museum. There are two large oval rooms displaying Monet’s water lilies, as he had wanted them to be displayed. It is just so beautiful and peaceful in those rooms. I loved them. We were also able to see several works by Renoir, Matisse, Cezanne, Rousseau and Picasso, among others.
Next, we headed out past the Alexandre III bridge over to the Gran Palais and the Petit Palais. There was a free museum at the Petit Palais, so we decided to go and check it out. There were some beautiful sculptures, paintings and decorative arts. Everyone was getting hungry and running out of steam, so we went over to the Champs-Élysées to find some lunch.
After lunch, we walked over to Les Halles. We saw the beautiful gardens, L’église Saint-Eustache, and took a photo with L'écoute sculpture by Henri de Miller – the giant head and hand. We then headed over to the Pompidou museum area and saw some really cool street art. Next, we walked over past the Hotel de Ville to Ile de St. Louis. Lisa showed me a super cool chocolate/caramel/cookie shop that she had discovered called “Le Cure Gourmand”. We had seen the shop in Madrid, but had not stopped in. It is a very cute confection shop all done in yellow and has decorated tins and boxes for the goods.
Lisa and her boys then introduced us to '”My Berry”. It’s a frozen yogurt shop and it was SO good! The yogurt tastes like greek yogurt – yummy! We then headed home. It was a really great “Paris” day.
Tonight, we made some dinner at home. It was a not so delicious meal because we had cleared out our fridge thinking we were going to Italy! So, Dave went to the market to re-stock. The kids begged me to make the cookie mix that the McDevitts had sent us. I had to bake them in a baking dish since we have no cookie sheet, but they turned out fine. We spent the rest of the evening reading and watching LOST – these kids are TOTALLY addicted.
Right as they were getting in bed, Dillon’s friend Ryan came on line on Skype. They were able to talk for almost an hour. This was great since they haven’t talked the past 6 weeks.