Visitors

We happily hosted two visitors in Paris over the past few weeks: Terri Getty, my sister and Karina McIntosh, my niece.  Terri joined us in London first for a day and then five days in Paris.  She even brought the boys a little US comfort food - boxes of mac and cheese!  Terri did some exploring on her own but we had fun joining her on some adventures, like lunch at Laduree, visiting Sainte Chapelle and going up the Eiffel Tower.  Karina came for six days during her high school vacation week to practice her French.  The boys really only saw her on Sunday and each night for a couple of hours since they were at their soccer camp each day.  Karina and I, however, covered almost the entire city in 5 days!  Whew!  We were tired each night: art museums, churches, shops, monuments, etc.  She even tried her first escargots and liked them!  It was fun for me to have some GILRS to be with, for a change!

-Gabi

Sainte Chapelle: a jewel in Paris' crown

If you are ever in Paris on a sunny day, you must not miss a visit to Sainte Chapelle.  This tiny 'Holy Chapel' on Ile de la Cite near Notre Dame, displays an amazing set of stained glass windows telling the stories of the Old and New Testaments.  The sunshine is key, giving the glass a heavenly glow.  Built in 1248 by King Louis the IX (Saint Louis) to house the Holy Relics he brought back from his travels, Sainte Chapelle is one of the oldest buildings in Paris today. Malcolm, Dinon and Terri were all impressed!  

-Gabi

internet problems

On Friday February 13th (just coincidence) our internet service at our apartment died. Unfortunately, that meant that our high speed internet, cable TV (with our only English channels) and our landline apartment phone were ALL out of service. This greatly complicated life overseas for us. Skype, email and consistent internet have made our lives easier, happier and in the case of Trevor's work, manageable from Paris. The slow and unreliable service we have found since has meant no blog for a long time!

-Gabi

Bertillon Ice Cream

Yesterday we went to Bertillon Ice Cream on Ile Saint Louis, one of the islands in the Seine River. They had lots of flavors of ice cream and all the ones we tried were REALLY good!  Most of the flavors here are different from the ones in the US.  Around half of the flavors are fruit and some of the others are things like chocolate/ hazelnut, nut flavors and salted caramel.  I had pineapple and chocolate.  They were both REALLY good!  I think that Bertillon Ice Cream should be the most famous in Paris!  

--by Dinon

The Eiffel Tower

Yesterday we went up the Eiffel Tower with our Auntie Terri.  We had been waiting for this the entire trip!  When we got in line Dinon and I were nearly bursting with excitement!  When we finally got on the elevator we rushed to the window so we could watch as we went up.  We stopped at the 1st level but stayed on until the 2nd level, where we had to get onto a different elevator for the top level.  The view from the 2nd level was amazing!  You could see lots and lots of Paris from there.  We chose a very good day to go up with blue sky and no clouds.  Then we hopped back on the elevator and rode it to the top!  I felt a little bit dizzy being up so high!  The view was AMAZING!  We saw all of Paris and could recognize many places we have already visited.  I checked out the view through a telescope at the top.  I had lots of fun on the tower!

--by Malcolm

Westminster Abbey

What an amazing amount of history in one building! Westminster Abbey is an overwhelming place: church, burial place, lesson in royal lineage and power and memorial to important British writers. Old has a different meaning in Europe. We visit historic homes and museums in New England that are 200-300 years old, even right in York. Westminster Abbey is more than 700 years old!!

With the kind assistance of those who work at the Abbey the boys and I had an amazing visit. The boys followed a children's trail and I used an audio guide to make sense of it all. The continuity of royal use for the Abbey, as a place of baptism, coronation and burial is astounding. It's a parade of royals and their spouses, albeit a cold, stone parade.

In the Henry VII Chapel the boys were brought up by a guide, behind the roped off area, to sit in the same seats the Monarch and Prince of Wales use! They were thrilled! The guide even allowed us to take a photo (otherwise prohibited inside the Abbey) of that moment.

The boys found famous people sharing their names (a statue of John Malcolm somebody and DH Lawrence - Dinon claimed it was his name just mixed up) and were awarded giant chocolate coins for finishing their trail.

--Gabi

The Changing of the Guards

On Thursday we walked to the Changing of the Guards and we had a tour guide with us so we learned lots about it. We learned that the Queen lets her workers go early most Thursdays and she cooks dinner for her husband - his favorite dish is Shepherds' Pie! We also learned that she doesn't like Buckingham Palace that much but prefers to live at Windsor Castle, just outside of London. Unfortunately, the rain changed the way the ceremony happened but it was still really cool. First we saw the Horse Guards and I got to pat one of the horses on the nose! We saw St. James' Palace, the really old "Hunting Lodge" that Henry VIII built next to St. James' Park. It looked like a castle on the top. In front of Clarence House, where Prince Charles lives when he is in London, we saw the guards changing in their little booths. They were wearing really funny bear skin hats! They looked like big, black puff balls on their heads! The Changing of the Guards was really cool!

by Dinon

Double Decker Bus Tour of London

We had a really fun time going on the double decker bus tour around London! We sat up top on the upper level right in the front row! What a view! We saw all of the top attractions and landmarks in London. We saw Big Ben, The Parliament Buildings, The London Eye, The Thames River, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and lots and lots and lots of double decker busses. We could learn about what we were seeing on our earphones in almost any language we wanted. It was fun to try all the languages!

by Malcolm

Fulham vs. Portsmouth

On Saturday we went to an English "football match":  Fulham vs. Portsmouth at Fulham's home stadium, called Craven Cottage.  We were rooting for Fulham because they have a former New England Revolution player, Clint Dempsey, on their team.  We sat in the FIRST ROW just to one side of one of the goals!!  When the action was on our side of the field the players were only about 10 feet away from us!!  In the first half we saw Fulham score on the other goal.  Portsmouth had some shots but none went in.  We tried some traditional British sausage rolls at half time - they were yummy!  During the second half, lots of the action was down near us.  We saw Fulham score twice more down on our end of the field.  The first goal was a break away and the second, scored by the same player, ended with a celebration right in front of our seats!  Fulham won 3-1!

--by Malcolm

The London Eye

On Friday we arrived in London for a week.  On our first day we walked to the London Eye and went up on it.  It is the worlds' "tallest cantilevered observation wheel".  Each capsule can carry up to 30 people at a time and it takes 30 minutes to go around once.  Each capsule has glass sides so you can see outside of it and when you're at the top you can see almost the whole city of London!  We went up at dusk so we could see the sunset and the lights turning on around the city.   We could see Big Ben and the Parliament Buildings lit up!  It was really, really amazing and a great start to our London trip!

--by Dinon