Bella, Gabe and Josiah

Today was a much slower day. We started with a trip to Pere Lachaise Cemetery and while it was amazing, it felt awkward taking pictures, so this is the only one that I have. We didn’t really have much planned, so we just wandered aimlessly. We headed in the direction of Napolean’s Tomb. However, when we got there we realized that we needed tickets and were weren’t sure it was worth paying for. So we were trying to figure out what else we could do, when we discovered that Napplean’s Tomb was actually part of the war museum. Since I was traveling with three war obsessed little boys, I promptly bought tickets for the next day… We decided to head to the Jardin du Luxembourg and spent a lovely afternoon reading books, watching boats and people watching. Then we finally got tickets to get inside Notre-Dame. Apparently I did not take very many pictures, but it was so pretty!!  And then we headed back home to sleep.  

I assumed when we started this trip that we definite weren’t going to any museums because, well, boys. But then we mentioned that there were lots of museums andI asked them what the most famous picture in the world was. They both answered the Mona Lisa. I told them that was in Paris and they informed us that we absolutely needed to go. So, okay. I guess we’re taking two little boys to the Louvre… But first, we had a slow morning. And the boys bought some new hats. Then we headed to the Louvre. Our first stop was the Mona Lisa. Josy was super excited, which I did not expect. But since we were there, we decided to explore a bit. Josy wanted to find a sarcophagus that he saw in the map, so we had to search the entire museum looking for it. He’s convinced we did not find it. I’m pretty sure that we did… It was a long day and we were all worn out by the end, but it was also really fun.  

For our first day back in Paris, I got us tickets to see Sainte Chapelle. I couldn’t get us tickets to Notre Dame, so I figured that we’d just Go get in the ticket-less line. Unfortunately, one look at that line said that there was no way that we’d be able to actually get into Notre Dame before we needed to be at Sainte Chapelle, so we settled for looking at the outside and figured that we’d try again later to get inside. A lot of the outside was still blocked off for reconstruction. But we got to see the most incredible stained glass at Sainte Chapelle! Then we wandered the Consierge, which was used as a prison during the French Revolution. And we found the cell that Marie Antoinette was imprisoned in. By the time we finished all of that, the fact that we hadn’t had lunch yet was very apparent, so we got a very late lunch/early dinner, went back to the house and finished Harry Potter and went to bed.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and that included the gypsy wagon. I took a walk early before everyone else got up and enjoyed the quiet countryside. Then we said goodbye to the donkeys and headed back to Paris. There were definitely tears from the back seat. Driving in Paris is bad on a good day. But on Bastille Day? Oh boy. There are not even words. Let’s just say that we were all very happy to drop off the rental car and just deal with the metro from here on out… When we got to our place, we calmed down with some Harry Potter… …and then we walked to dinner and then wandered the park nearby where we found this little gem. And then we went back to the house and crashed, all exhausted and wishing we were back in the countryside.  

Last year, my brother Matt told us about this castle that was being built using entire 13th century methods and tools. Pat was fascinated. That may have been a big part of why he suggested that we go to France on this vacation… So naturally we had to plan this stop into our trip. We started the morning with our breakfast basket and hammock time.   The we headed to Guedelon. Every single thing that is done to build this castle is done like they did in the Middle Ages. They used plants to make paints for the paintings, they used an ax to build the beams for the doors, they pulled the stones out of the quarry, they made nails at the blacksmith. Everything. It was fascinating! And they let you wander around while they were working, so we got to others the whole thing. I signed us up for a stone carving demonstration. The whole thing was amazing. Then in the way back to the gypsy wagon, we hit a deer on the road and that definitely put a damper on things… But for dinner, we had personal...