Paris

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My toe is bleeding - we walk so much on our first day in Paris that my feet actually bled! Day one start with the Lourve which took us about 3 hours to see a minimum number of things. the kids were very impressed that the audiogiudes were the latest Nintendo 3ds's. We then walked to the Champs-Elysees. It pour rain as we tried to hide under trees - without much success. As the rain cleared we found a subway grate big enough for the 4 of us to stand on and be blown dry - nice and warm. Think Marilyn Munroe in the 7 year itch - but in hiking boots and with a backpack.

Proceeded up the most beautiful street in the world according to the french - and it is lovely, very very wide and tree covered. Of course there's the shops too - so Kasey and I went to H&M just to say we'd shopped on this famous street, but also to be able to discard some of the clothes that are showing the wear and tear after 4 months.

We then walked to the Arch De Triomphe - of course the lift was out of order so we then walked about 600 steps all up to get up and down Napoleon's tribute to himself.

Then we had to get back to Les Halles - as it was now 5pm we avoided the Metro in peak hour and ...... you guessed it walked! A nice walk but a long walk, including a stop in Adidas and the supermarket as everyone was way to tired to even think about eating out. You know I really believe you're not on holiday if you find yourself in a supermarket (as I've always said) but would now like to qualify that remark - if you are using a different curency and can't speak the language then of course you are holiday!!!! I think the French think I'm mad as I'm still babbling away in Italian when anyone speaks to me - just can't shift my brain.

I'm sure we walked over 20kms on day1 - for the first time Cooper commented his legs were sore - though Kasey just kept going like the duracell bunny.

So all very tired we decided to make today - Saturday, a down day. We slept in, they did and I got up to label photos. We left the flat at 11.00 and headed to Notre Dame. We accidentally - seriously it was an accident! pushed in the queue, which wasn't very organised anyway. After the inside we walked around the outside to the back which I think is the best part of the Cathedral. We then headed over to the left bank via the bridge COVERED in locks for people declaring their love to each other and to Paris- we didn't do a lock but did tie on a chocolate eclair wrapper - close enough!

Then through the Latin quarter before venturing on to the fabled Paris Metro - which was clean and uncrowded, we were very impressed. Got off and walked to the Effiel Tower - via a toilet stop that took forever, it was an automatic toilet that between each use self cleans - including washing the floor each time. So half an hour later we continued on to look at the crazy people lining up to go to the top of the tower. As only one lift was working the wait time is about 4 hours to get a ticket. The alternative is to walk the first two levels - about 700 steps - still queuing for over 1.5 hours to do this.

However I have a cunning plan - the early line up - which served us well at Anne Franks house and St Peters. Will be dragging everyone out of bed tomorrow at 7am, to be on the Metro by 7.30am, to hopefully be lined up by 8am to get in at 9am. ot sure if it will work or not - we may run out of luck. Also they are predicting showers tomorrow so the crowds maybe less - though we'll be prepared with raincoats and umberellas.

After leaving the tower we wandered to a metro where i realised that i hadn't given the kids lunch-we jumped on a super crowded train - which only got more crowded and I seriously thought Kasey would be crushed. We'd decided to get off but they shut down the train anyway - so thousands of us wandered to the next platform and thankfully after the first lot of people jumped on the next train was no where near as crowded. We got off at the huge stop near Les Halles, twisted the kids arms so the would have Mc Donalds - by now it was close to 4pm. Found the "Barbershop" which is Nikes investment in men looking good. Cooper has suffered enough with his crazy cut I did in Vernazza - so i've booked him in for 6pm tonight. Greg of course is concerned about the cost - not really - but I suspect this hair cut will cost WAY more than anything I've paid.

So a down day didn't really eventuate - still walked about 10kms in the end. But my toe isn't bleeding today.

So, off we go to the Nike "barbershop' - checkout the utube video to see what it looked like (not Cooper but the Nike barbershop)- exactly what it looked like. I must preface the next few paragraphs by making a few admissions. firstly - i "cut" Cooper hair in Vernazza - as photos sort of show, up close - as Lauren will attest to it was rubbish. Every day I'd look at him and think I must get his hair cut properly! Didn't work out in Rome or Venice. So today we were walking back from the metro when I saw a hairdresser - which put the thought in my mind. Then as we unlost ourselves near Les Halles I spotted a funky looking "barbershop" - way cool and thought I'd treat Coops to a good cut as opposed to my cut. On entering the GREAT receptionist - she should be working for LA INK or something - explained they were booked out but if we could come back at 6pm there may be a chance of him getting a cut - as she pointed out it would take ages as the hair was so long. We thanked her and decided to head back. This place looked WAY cool - foose? ball tables, groovy decor - then as I walked out I spotted the NIKE logo - and realised it was a Nike barbershop.

So on our return we took a closer look - this place was filled with the hippest of the hip - plus us - 4 anglo Aussie amongst the very coloured Paris population. The lovely receptionist remembered us and said she would get him done as soon as possible and suggested we take a seat - it was great for people watching we saw all the hippest people trying to get in for a cut - and thought we maybe on to something - but what? At about 6.15pm she came over and gave the kids drinks (collectable Euro2012 cokes - the bottles are coming back to Aus) saying it wouldn't be much longer. About 5 minutes later he was in!!

Problems started with my non-french andtrying to communicate with the VERY hip french speaking arrogant uberdresser - the guys cutting were the best in Paris. Luckily a guy next to me from London was with his friend who was a friend of the "barber" after several conversations he was off - clippers out and short short short it was going. About 10 minutes in I was approached by a woman babbling (my term) in french - i explained i could only speak english. She explained that they were from Nike, their photographer felt Cooper had the look and wanted to take shots of him for Nike. She said they about to leave when the photographer had spotted Cooper getting his cut and had insisted on staying to see if we would allow Cooper to be photographed. So what could i say - the cut stopped half way and we went down stairs to the studio where Cooper was instructed to do what ever he liked as the photograher shot way. The woman from nike went over the release for me - as my french is non-existent and i signed for him to be used in the exhibition starting here in a couple of weeks.

She explained that all over europe Nike had put in the popup Barbershops for Euro2012 - to cater to soccer fans, this one had been open one week and would close like all others at the end of the month. Talk about sinchronicity. So Coop's had been picked as one of the faces for the PARIS Nike Barbershop - see the utube add for it (not him), and would be featuring in the exhibition in the coming weeks. So they are going to email us the shots! How amazing was that. After the modelling session the hair cut progressed to what you see - Cooper loves it, the guys at the Barbershop called it a celebrity cut. As for cost????? i was thinking 50 euros easy.....

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Comments

[Janey]

very cool Coops!
we can all say that we knew you when! But tell your mother that it's YouTube not utube!