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Published: August 22nd 2011
Hop On, Hop Off (HoHo) - spent today riding the open double decker bus doing the loop of Central Paris (Eiffel Tower, Rodin Museum, etc.) and also Bercy-Bastille (Notre Dame). Note: Jon got super excited because he saw the right scapula (i.e. right back bone) of the original Thinker by Rodin. Note2: Robb commented that Rodin's Thinker had a realistic crack in his butt. The tour bus gives headsets to listen to prerecorded tapings of the various attractions, interspersed with local french music. We discovered that Robb has some sort of metal anamoly - every headset that he puts on, breaks. In fact, Ann shared her headset with Robb and the single earphone that went into Robb's ear, stopped working! Good thing the headsets come free with the bus tickets.
After two nights of late excursions, the kids refused to get up before 10a today. We ended up having brunch at a local cafe. Sophia was very pleased to have her first Monsieur Croque (toasted bread with ham and cheese - essentially a grilled cheese sandwich with ham). Everything was fairly priced at the restaurant, but we learned that oranges are as expensive as diamonds here. 33 EU for 3
glasses of orange juice - OMG - grow some orange trees and lower the price! Fresh squeezed would have been 58 EU. Thank goodness we cheaped out and forced the kids to drink the concentrated stuff.
We went to the Louvre. Can you squeeze more foreign, rude people into one place? We think not! A trip to the Mona Lisa resulted in Jon getting elbowed by a man who could not pronounce camera properly, Cate and Sophie almost in a fist fight with a fat Italian man (way to go Cate! Stick for your little sis), and Robb getting a bunch of fuzzy pics because shorter people continued to walk into his elbow. Ann was smart enough to view the original Mona Lisa from a distance - and had a great view.
Venus de Milo was also there. Ann, despite being a fine art minor, thought she had no head. The family reminded her that Venus was known for not having arms. Oh yeah, no arms. She was smoking hot and crowded with similarly rude international visitors. Why are there not more friendly Canadians in Paris? Oh, by the way, we stopped off at a grocery store to
Bag o wine
Ann drunk again.get refreshments. An english sounding gentleman asked Robb if we were American. To which Robb responded, "God no! American? I would never be that!" The man said, "I'm from Jersey". Nice one Robb. Making friends wherever you go.
Sophie bought a beret (she hopes it's not 'made in China'😉. We also bought Cheeseburger flavoured chips - high cuisine here in Paris. After 16 years with Robb, Ann has learned that he likes breasts and squeezing fish (see pics for explanation). Robb has learned that Ann has an even lower tolerance to wine outside of Canada.
See photos for the rest of our adventure-filled day in Paris!!!! XO, Staffords
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Elke
non-member comment
Between the crowds, rude tourists, high prices and faulty headsets, I hope you're still managing to savour all the beauty and culture of this incredible city? We're enjoying your pictures - enjoy the rest of your stay.