On Thursday morning, my family arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport with lots of luggage, very few hours of sleep, and enormous smiles to greet me! I, in turn, ditched my last two classes of the semester (if you warn your teachers in advance that you're not going to be there does it count as ditching?) and took an early RER train out to the airport with a sign (pretty much just 'Rooney' written on a sheet of paper in sharpie marker) to meet them. I don't know who was more excited to see who! I do know there was a lot of hugging all around before we schlepped their stuff down to the train to get to the metro to get to the apartment we rented from a nice man named Stephane for the weekend.
After a prolonged struggle and a lot of sweating on all of our parts, we successfully navigated from one side of the Montparnasse Bienvenue metro station to the other and located our new home for the weekend. After unpacking and using the bathroom, we stopped for their first real French meal - delicious crêpes and cidre! We spent the rest of Thursday exploring the 6th arrondissement from the Fontaine St. Michel all the way to the Jardin de Luxembourg. I was also able to show them my school buildings where I've been spending so much of my time while in Paris. For dinner, we stopped at a nearby cafe and enjoyed some more delicious French cuisine. After a long day (for me) and a very long day (for them), we made our way back to the apartment for an early night.
On Friday, we left early to head to the train station and meet up with my Australian friend Steph and her mom Marina (who was also visiting her) for a day trip out to Giverny - Monet's estate. It had been recommended by a friend, and knowing my father's predilection for all things pond I thought it would be a great place to take them! Unfortunately, the weather was less than cooperative and it drizzled or rained most of the day. Despite the weather, we had a lovely lunch with Steph and her mom in the town of Giverny and were completely blown away by the beauty of the gardens (even in the drizzle!). Monet himself designed the gardens, and the estate stayed in his family until the mid 20th century when it started falling to ruin before being restored more recently. After so many years of capturing beauty in nature, Monet decided to design the gardens as he wished to paint them, rather than painting what he saw. Startlingly beautiful!
Saturday, we slept in and got a bit of a late start, but also some much needed rest. We started by going to my neighborhood, where I showed them the very eccentric Centre Pompidou and we ate some delcious (and beautiful!) Amorino's gelato.
Next, we wandered through the quaint medieval streets of the Marais and took shelter from the persistent drizzle in the Musee Carnavalet - the museum about the history of Paris. Shannon loved the Revolution exhibit and kept exclaiming "I know him - I read about this!" as we walked through it. The rest of us were done and ready to go long before she was - as neither parent understood since all the plaques were in French and I had already seen it! But she got her picture by the painting of Danton and Robespierre, so she was happy. After that, we found lunch at a cafe near the Place des Vosges - which they agreed was as beautiful "live" as the pictures I had taken and shown them. Then after a quick glance at the Place de la Bastille (essentially a roundabout with a statue in the middle...) we headed over to the Jardin des Plantes where we enjoyed the fauna (especially dad...typical Dr. Rooney nature spotting hike) and climbed up the "Labrynthe" to a gazebo overlooking the rest of the park. From there, we took the metro up to Montmartre where we ogled the Sacre Coeur (they were less impressed than I was the first time I saw it) and then walked over to the Moulin Rouge. The building itself was a little anti-climactic, but definitely something you have to check off the list! We were more than a little shocked and appalled by some of the nearby "shops." Shannon was the only one who felt the need to photo-document the products...
Sunday, we started the day off right with worship at Hillsong. The sermon was themed around Father's Day - the grace and favor of the father's blessing. Dad (and all the men in the congregation) got a Twix bar just for showing up - and since he loves us he decided to share. After church, we had lunch with Steph and her mom at a cute little crêpe place near church before heading back to the apartment to reconnoiteur. We changed, grabbed sweaters and rain gear (this weather, honestly!) and headed to Ile de la Cite. My plan was take them to see Notre Dame first, but there was some kind of protest going on and with the large police presence we opted to just walk around the outside of the cathedral. Next, we crossed over to the Ile Saint Louis and had some of the famous Berthillon ice cream. After some more walking and exploring, we took the metro to the Trocadero for their initial encounter with the Tour Eiffel! Many pictures later, we took a break for dinner and ate at a nearby Italian place with delicious food and a surprisingly Jewish wait staff. After dinner, we headed back to the Trocadero to gaze, ogle, and take more pictures, before returning to the apartment to pack and prepare for our trip to Amboise and our explorations of the Loire Valley chateaux.
Our first stage now complete, we're off by train to Amboise to explore, walk, and eat some more! A la prochain!
Thank you for posting this. It answered lots of questions which I had.
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