All Museumed Out

Ok Girls what do you think?

Another long weekend in France and a few days off school for the kids, Thursday for Remembrance Day and Friday because what’s the point in going back to work or school for one day.   Better to bridge it – or as the French say "faire le ponte" - to the weekend.  Who are we to argue?  Combine that with the usual Wednesday of no school for Maddy and Simona’s half day at school, a quick scan of Easyjet flights and voilà (I love saying that),  250 euro for the four of us and we find ourselves in Paris.

Cold, wet and windy, a typical grey November day and while this could just as easily be a description of Toronto or London, it’s Paris.  Ugggh!!    Paris greeted us with ugly, bone chilling rain, weather that reaffirmed our decision to spend the year in the more temperate climate of the Cote Azur which, incidently is embracing sun filled days of 19C!!   With umbrellas in hand and dressed in typical Canadian attire, gloves, heavy shoes and coats, we made the most of our visit.

 

How can one help but not be seduced and fall in love with Paris? Apart from the exaggerated myth of great French cuisine (I know sacrilege but I will come back to this in a future post), Paris is at once elegant and sophisticated, La Grand Dame de France. 

The most delicious 8euro hot chocolate!!

A historical and artistic treasure one could not possibly cover in a 4 day visit with its countless museums and historical landmarks it provided no shortage of things to do and places to visit.    Everywhere we turned we were in awe at its architectural beauty even though other than the most well known landmarks we had no idea what we were looking at.   Like appreciative tourists we obliged our gracious host by emptying our pockets on all the museum entrance fees in the hope of becoming more culturally refined North Americans while at the same time walking ourselves to exhaustion.  

Simona's reaction to seeing the Tower

Previous visits to the Eiffel Tower were always during the day and I never quite understood its appeal seeing it nothing more than an interesting steel structure.   This time we were encouraged to visit it by night and what an entirely different experience and impression I was left with.   Perhaps it was because this was the first visit for the kids and seeing their mouths agape as we turned the corner and the Tower came into view all lit up against the backdrop of the black night was priceless.   There it stood all decked out in sparkling lights, standing tall and glittering in the night it seemed that she was wearing her finest gown and most brilliant diamonds in anticipation of our visit.  

Perhaps it was Madeleine and Simona’s youthful exuberance and energy as they raced up the stairs to the second level look out urging us to keep up as we climbed “comon mom and dad hurry up”.   Whatever it was, this visit to the Tour Eiffel just seemed more special and provided a totally new perspective.  

By Friday we were all museumed out with all the museums we visited in Paris, Barcelona and Nice, but Nancy insisted that we stand in line for 3 and half hours to visit Monet’s collection of life’s work.   And thank goddness she did as this collection of 160 of his finest works from all over the world (including 3 from Toronto) all under one roof was simply brilliant.   As tired as I was, this exhibit was a feast for my non-artistic eyes and the wait was well worth it.   


Voila - And just like that, 4 days had come and gone and we were greeted by rainy Nice!

Sal

The stained glass of Notre Dame