Paris Day 2 - Sacre Couer, Mouin Rouge, and French Food

Today we headed north to visit Sacre Coeur - Church of the Sacred Heart.  The church is the second highest point in the city behind the Eiffel tower, but because of where you are situated it looks as though you are looking down at the Eiffel Tower from it.  There were tons of people out enjoying the day and the nice sun.  

Addison looks as though she has embraced the Paris spirit.  She looks like she's ready to take the town.

What a beautiful building and a pretty nice looking crew in front of it.

To get cooled down we loaded up on Italian ice cream.  Addison and Kevin shared a strawberry cone while Emily and I endulged with a lemon ice drink...yummy!

We got a little shopping done. We could have bought a few more Eiffel Towers, but decided just to take a picture. We bought a few prints from one shop and actually had to go next door to buy a tube to store them in while we carried them around....how silly. Emily and I were pretty keen on trying to find an "I Love Paris" t-shirts. She found a few, I later decided against because I just felt too old. Isn't that pathetic?

The Montmartre area has been associated with artists for 200+ years.  We walked around the artists square and were amazed.  They were actually painting on the go and stapling their finished work onto boards as they finish. 

The really cool thing was looking at all the portraits that were being drawn.  We had seen on a television program before we went on our trip that a couple spent 80 Euro to get their portrait drawn and it was really good.  To see it in real life was amazing and some of these people were doing a great job.  The biggest thing that we noticed was that not many of the people were smiling in their portrait, one boy was actually hunched over and deliberately frowning.  If I was his mother I would be so mad that I was spending all that money for a pouty looking kid.

Since Addison was such a good girl she got to ride on the carousel.  "Lellie" rode along with her.

These are the stand alone public pay toilets.  I never tried one, but Emily dared to do so.  She came out with the most horrified look on her face.  You deposit coins on the side and after a certain amount of time the door will automatically open up so you better get your business done quick.  All the public toilets have a fee to pay for them.  I used ones in the parks and they a bit nicer but it cost 40 cents each time to use, so my best advice would be to have lots of change on you when you are roaming around Paris in case you have the urge to go.

The Metro has lots of really neat signs and this is one of the most famous arched signs in the picturesque square of Place des Abbesses.  We actually have a print of this picture hanging above our bed at home and I really wanted to see where it was in person.  We were on a bit of wild goose chase to find it but I'm glad we did.

It was a very hot day so we had to load up on lots of water.  Behind me are two very interesting things though...as we headed down to Moulin Rouge we walked through the Red Light District.  There is a pedestrian area that runs in the middle of the road so you can walk around without getting up close and personal with the adult entertainment shops.  But also the other cool thing are the rental bikes behind me.  If you have a metro pass you can use it to rent these bikes to get to your destination.  You just have to return them to another bike station and you get charged for the time or miles you put on it.

Emily and I in front of Moulin Rouge and the famous red windmill.

Just outside of Moulin Rouge was this huge fan raised about 2 feet up.  It must have been some kind of ventilation, maybe for the metro, but it was a nice way to cool off a bit.

We really dug the Pizza Hut delivery scooters.

We attempted to eat at a  French  restaurant  recommended to us by our hotel but after we sat down they told us that they had no high chairs and then Addison banged to wine glasses together and broke them, so we decided that it wasn't a good idea to eat there.  We walked down a ways and found an outdoor cafe where we all ordered the duck entree and it was amazing.

Addison was so excited to get hotdogs and real French fries.  I think she got a bit more than what she bargained for.

That evening Kevin and I ventured out again in the opposite direction of the Eiffel Tower towards the French Open which was going on the same week we were in town.  We walked quite a ways but couldn't find the courts and got on the edge of the park that we were warned not to go into at night.  So we stopped at a little bistro for a glass of wine and some dessert.   I had this super rich chocolate mousse.   If I liked milk, it would have been good to have a big glass of it, but I don't like milk so I had to make due with my French wine.

We are in Paris!!!!

How it all started...

This morning was the scariest start of any trip that we've had so far.  Mike and Debbie Beales dropped us off at the airport and said their goodbyes to their oldest daughter who we were whisking away with us to Paris.  We waited while Kevin went up to get our tickets and my heart sunk to the ground as he came back asking for the confirmation number for the tickets.  Of course, every other trip I have printed EVERYTHING off, but to cut down on killing trees I only printed the essentials.  One would think that train confirmation numbers would be essential, but we didn't need them last time, only our credit card ran through the machine.  Well, the person behind the counter at the train station said he couldn't do anything for us without a confirmation number and said we had to contact the person we bought the tickets through....which was through the National Express online site....which was the trainline that went through the train station...hello!!!!   I walked back out to my bag and Emily frantically called her dad to try to get back to our house, get the key from Min and get our computer to look up our confirmation number.   I looked up at the clock and we had 12 minutes before the train left that we were supposed to be on and we only had a bit over an hour lay over at St. Pancras.  In my panic, someone approached me and asked if I was Corrina.  She introduced herself and it was Gwenne Hendricks who happens to be the VP of Perkins Engines and fellow ISE.  She offered up her Blackberry for us to use to get the confirmation number off of my email and I felt awful for meeting her this way.  Fortunately while I was panicking, Kevin was able to get another station worker to get our tickets printed off for us and graciously told him that he could let his fellow worker know what a not nice person he had been to us.  Fortunately and unfortunately the other gentleman heard Kevin say this and hopped out of his seat to let us know he heard it.  

Anyway, we got on our train and headed down to London.  As we waited for our train, another train was getting ready to leave for Disneyland Paris which was so cool because all the kids were given these little Disney packs, people were dressed up in Mickey Mouse ears and they had a little horn trio playing Disney songs while people loaded up in the train.  I am hoping we can take the kids late next year as to have them old enough to understand where they would be going.

Then our next ordeal occurred.  We loaded up on the Eurostar train and after we got settled in our seats a family came up and asked if we were in the wrong seats.  We checked their tickets and then I Kevin finally got caught up with us so I asked him to check our tickets because I thought that they double booked our seats which would have been awful.  Turns out that we were on the wrong coach.  Our seats going to Paris were to be in Coach 1 and we were in Coach 18.  The confusion came from the fact that our tickets coming home from Paris were Coach 18 and while Kevin was sorting out the tickets he got it stuck in his mind that this leg of the trip started on Coach 18 which was a complete and honest mistake.  So Kevin jumped off the train and ran down to get help and found out that there was no way we were going to be able to get off the train and run down to Coach 1, we were going to have to walk through the length of the train.  It took us about 15 minutes to get to the other end.  Bad news was that we had to leave our luggage and stroller in 18, but we did get the opportunity to see every car on the train including First Class which probably most passengers never take the time to do when they travel.

We finally made it to Paris and we navigated our way to the Metro where we made our way to our hotel - the Hotel Effiel Kennedy.  The metro trip took about 40 minutes with a train change and the Paris Metro is not at all a stroller friendly means of transportation.  We then had a 10 minute walk in the rain to the hotel where we got all of our stuff settled in.  The rain finally stopped and since we were only a 20 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower that's where we started the day.

We first stopped at the bridge just before the tower to celebrate that we were in fact in the City of Love and jump started it with a kiss to my hubby (thanks to Emily aka "Super Sitter") for capturing this special moment.

Since the weather seemed to be okay and not horribly hot yet we decided to tackle going up in the Eiffel Tower this afternoon.  The queues were crazy long...here we are standing at the back of one of the three lines to go up and there are easily 200 people ahead of us.  Our line seemed to move pretty fast though and it probably took about 40 minutes to get to the front, but we also happened to get in the line where all the prepaid tour groups hop in line.

While waiting in line we had plenty of time to admire the absolutely beautiful architecture of the tower.  The base is so big that you can't get the whole of it in one picture.  

Of course you would assume to be able to buy your very own miniature Eiffel Tower as a souvenir and they came in no short supply.  There were guys like this all over the place trying to sell you a little figurine for 1 Euro each and if you said no they offered you three pieces for 1 Euro.  Funny thing was that as we were walking up to the Eiffel Tower, there were some of these same guys spray painting the figurines gold next to some bushes.  Then another guy was walking along and just pulled a huge ring of them out of the bushes.  I think they must all work for the same guy.  


We didn't fall trap to their scheme since Addison was graciously given one already from the front doorman at our hotel, but Emily ended up making a deal with one of the guys to get 4 pieces for 1 Euro....she was pretty proud.

This is one of the legs of the Eiffel Tower and you can see the yellow train cars that you ride up in.  With about 10 people left ahead of us to buy tickets a notice popped up saying that the top of the Eiffel Tower was temporarily closed and we were only going to be able to get to the 2nd level.  My mouth dropped open...we did not just wait in line for that long not to be able to go to the top.  When I bought the tickets she explained that there were too many people at the top and when they could hold more we could by the extra ticket to the top at the second level.  

When we got to the top we queued again for another 45 before we were able to go to the top.  The kids were real troopers though, it was hard enough for us to stand in line and wait and with them being tired (no naps) and hungry for a snack they did really well.  We took turns watching the kids so we could each just go and enjoy the views.

Here is a view of the Parc du Champ de Mars.

Addison loved looking through the telescopes.  You can see the gold dome of the Hotel des Invalides.  We'll try to go see that place because it is where the infamous Napolean is buried.

I was so excited to see the Arc de Triomphe.  There are 12 different avenues that radiate from arc and you can see most of the streets lined with trees. 

Here we are at the top of the Eiffel Tower.

After our Eiffel Tower adventure we were so hungry and some Italian food sounded really good.  We found this really nice little bistro on the corner next to that bridge we stopped for a photo shoot earlier.  Kevin had the most amazing pizza and Emily and I had some really great speghetti bolognese.  Addison was so tired and finally fell asleep for her nap at 7PM and missed out on dinner.  While we were eating there was a huge parade of really expensive cars - Bentley's , Jags, BMW, Mercedes - that drove by with people popped out of the sun roofs and honking horns.  We wondered what it would like to be rich and bored...oh, yeah...like that! 

After getting the kids to bed, Kevin and I felt like venturing out a bit and we walked back up to the Eiffel Tower to watch it sparkle.  It is even more amazing at night with all the lights on.

On our way we passed a bridge with a bike path and noticed that the path continued down the stairs on this narrow ridge and at the bottom riders have about 5 feet before they would have to turn before running into the road.  We didn't get to see anyone take the ramp but would be afraid to see someone not realize the road was there.

There were thousands of people still around the Eiffel Tower and lots still going up to the top to see the city lights.  

We decided to camp out by the Trocadero fountains and just people watch.

When the lights start to sparkle on the tower it is so cool.  It feels like New Year's Eve for 5 minutes every hour.

I've taken so many pictures of the Eiffel Tower today but one more couldn't hurt.  It is very brave to ask a complete stranger to take your picture for you in Paris with all the pick-pocketing and such but we took a chance on this lady to take one for us.

Derbyshire Food Fair and Bolsover Castle

As we headed north for our adventure to Bolsover Castle and the Derbyshire Food Fair, we got to see one of the steam locamotives that makes its way around the area each Saturday morning.  We've caught it once before by accident and again this time, but for once we actually had our camera out a ready.  It would be so cool to get tickets to take a dinner ride on it some time.

Yes, today we headed 1 3/4 hours north to attend the Derbyshire Food and Drink Fair.  No real particular reason other than we wanted to visit Bolsover Castle (English Heritage site) and it was an event going on so we thought it would be a good time to do two things at once.  It was a bit chilly and the rain had been coming off and on in heavy down pours and then the sun would peak out for a few seconds and start all over again.

The main tent had lots of vendors selling homemade brew, cheeses, cakes, meats, cookware, pies and more.  Silly us we for got to bring more than 20 GBP cash with us so we didn't have much extra to get goodies after we bought ourselves lunch.  We did have enough to pick up some speciality beers for Kevin and we snagged up a few free samples as we walked through.

I loved this tent!!!  We signed up to win it, which we probably won't but it was way cool.  It had a room in it that fit 4 people and then in the awning part it closed off the "sleeping" room and had a sitting room per say that had a little table and chairs set up in.  I think Kevin told me that it would cost about 500-600 GBP to actually buy it...shucks!  I miss tent camping!

To duck out of the rain, we ended up in one of the main halls which was a converted horse stable.  In the hall they had loads of displays about healthy eating for kids and one station was making fruit kabobs so Addie got a go at it.

The Food Fair was on the site of the Bolsover Castle which perches on the hill top of Bolsover in the heart of Derbyshire County.

The main keep of the castle is still in tact, but some of it is a skeleton of well preserved ruins.  This is the entrance into the main hall.  

The outside is so impressive but very darkened as if there was a fire that scorched it.

This is a view down into what would have been the castles kitchen.  

This appeared to be a fountain but there was no water in it, nor water flowing from it, but it was adorned with lots of little statues of little boys peeing.  

This was the "little castle" as they called it and could only allow 50 people at a time in it, so we had to wait in the queue for 10-15 minutes before we could get inside.

This was a view off the terrace of the castle and it was breathtaking.  The rolling hills of yellow and green with the village below.  With canola flowering this time of year it makes the landscape look so pretty.

Inside the castle was pretty impressive as well.  Many of the rooms had painted wood panelling accented with gold.

There were lots of paintings on the ceilings and walls.  This is the only one that I could post because this is a family friendly site and I don't think even with it being "art" that nude paintings would be appropriate, but they were all really cool and well preserved.

Again, my obsession with fire places was fulfilled here as well because they had so many really ornate ones throughout the whole castle.

We had a really nice time visiting Bolsover and the Food Fair, but we decided that we'll steer clear of trying to attend a site that has a really big event planned because there were just too many people there to really enjoy the castle too much with the way the weather was.  

On the way home we did get a kick out of the Burger Bar that we followed for a while.  We caught a few spelling mistakes on the back, but we are in England and they do spell and say things differently so I'm not sure if they are mis-spelled or not.  If you can see them, check out the "tomatos" and "fryed onions."

Happy Mother's Day

Today we celebrated US Mother's Day, since in the UK they celebrate Mothering Sunday usually in March.  This year for cards to our moms, I went the technology route and posed the kids with a cute mother's day sign.  They both got them right away Sunday morning and when we talked to them in the afternoon they asked how long it took to get the kids to sit like that to get the picture.  Really we put the camera on rapid fire and just got really lucky about 30 seconds in.

Honestly, becoming a mom has been the coolest thing and I count my blessings everyday that I get to spend so much time with them.  I know that now and again I get frustrated and want my "alone" time which I know is good to get but the whole time I'm gone all I do is think about them.  Being a mom is the toughest job I've ever had, but also the most rewarding. Kevin and I can't thank our mom's enough for loving and supporting us throughout our lives.  We can only hope that we can do the same for our kids. 

We had a lot of fun on Mother's day.  I love my family, love picnics and I love the town of Stamford so we combined all three and had a picnic on the green in Stamford.  We walked up town to get Subway...did you know that they offer sweet corn as a topping for your sandwich.  I haven't done it yet but it actually sounds kind of good.

There are lots of ducks, geese, and swans along the river so we brought plenty of bread with us let the mommy birds and their babies have lunch as well.

I think this is one of the most beautiful scenes in the area next to the "George" bridge in Stamford. But I think the little girl standing if front of it is much more beautiful.

After lunch the kids had a fun time playing "Pile up on Daddy"!!!

I don't know if I've ever talked about the ice cream trucks that are all over the place during the spring and summer months.  One thing I can say is that the English are obsessed with ice cream because it is everywhere.  The interesting thing about these two trucks are that when we got back down from getting our Subway sandwiches and were heading back into the part is that the back truck was parked right next to the white truck in such a manner as to block anyone from getting up to the white trucks window.  Seems that they were squabbling about whose turf it was.  We don't know who was there first but we didn't realize how competitive the ice cream business was until we heard the guys yelling at each other.  They were forced to separate as we couldn't get our stroller through to the bridge to get back into the park.  It was hilarious because everyone in the park was watching them back and forth with each other.