different names for the same thing: La Isla Bonita

Wednesday, Dave and I started our day with following one of the “paris walks” cards, Ile St. Louis. It took us to the the Ile St. Louis where we saw beautiful buildings, monuments, and shops. We stumbled upon another movie set. I wish there was some way to know what was being filmed. It certainly was a picturesque area, though. We walked down the main drag and found our new favorite bread store (our friends, the Sauers had recommended it). They have the best baguettes, among other yummy things – we are soo sorry that we didn’t discover it earlier (or maybe not. :))
We walked over to Notre Dame and finally got to see the War Memorial that we had tried to see a few weeks ago. It was a memorial to the French Jews who were deported to concentration camps. It was amazing. I loved how they made it. We got to see how all of the different people in the camps were labeled with a different color depending on what they were there for (ie: jew, homosexual, gypsy, rebel, etc.) I really enjoyed it.
We brought the kids home some breakfast treats and then divided for the day. The girls went school supply/school clothes shopping while the boys went to the Paris sewers tour.
We got lots of Mali’s supplies at the Monoprix and then went over to see the huge Galleries Lafayette store by the Opera Garnier. It was an amazingly beautiful department store. Mali didn’t find anything she liked and neither did Hayley, so we went home to meet up with the boys.
The boys, in the meantime, were a bit disappointed in the sewer tour. Dillon was hoping to be able to really go down and see something, but it was short and super stinky. The one cool thing they learned is that they send a giant ball through the sewers to clean them out. Since the tour was so short, they went to try and see the Catacombs again. The lines were at least 2 hours long, and they didn’t want to wait. So, they went to see a beautiful Mosque.
We all met up at home for lunch. Dave started up some laundry while I headed out to my hair appointment. I was running late, so I ran most of the way (usually a 25 min. walk). I arrived on time only to find that the stylist was not there! I hate this part of Paris, hate it! I just want to go back to my salon where they call and confirm the appointment the day before and the stylist is ALWAYS there! Ugh. It is such a bummer because we would have gone and done more as a family. So, since I was so far out already, I took the mega long way home. I walked down by the Pompidou Museum, the Hotel De Ville, Notre Dame, and down the Ile de St. Louis so that I could check out a couple of the souvenir shops that were closed when we were there this morning. The movie filming was in full force when I walked back through. More of the streets were blocked off and there was quite a gathering of people checking it out. I would love to know what they were filming!
We decided to go to the Louvre tonight one last time since they are open late on Wednesdays. It was really crowded when we got there, but thinned out by the end. We walked through the Italian paintings to get the the Spanish paintings, which we had not seen yet. So much beautiful art, so little time! We also saw a William Kitteridge exhibit. We said farewell to all of our favorites. We love that place.
We left about 9:20 and the kids were starving. We tried all of the restaurants inside the Louvre complex and they were all closing down. So, we decided to get on the metro and head back towards home. They had closed off our Metro entrance, so we had to walk forever to the next one. It was pouring rain outside and we were not prepared. The kids were super hungry and tired since it was 10:00 pm. (It made us miss our car and drive-thrus.) We finally found McDonald’s that was open. It was CRAZY crowded and nasty, as usual. The kids got food, but Dave and I did not. We were planning on going out when we got home, but decided it was too late and just made salad in the house.
Good day. Crazy night.