There & Back Again

New 'do

5/11/2012 04:45:00 PM |

We're having a busy and fun week with my mom in town, so we have a lot to share about all we've been doing. But, for now, I'll share about my new haircut!

After almost two months away from home, I was really feeling the need to do something with my hair! And it was definitely time for a highlight/color (okay, yes, I color my hair. There, now you know!). I was a little nervous about where to go and how to deal with the language barrier. Where to go turned out not to be a huge issue. There's tons of hair salons ("coiffure") around, so there were plenty to choose from. I finally decided take a chance on one pretty close to our apartment, based on the fact that it was close by and that is uses the same hair product brand as my hairdresser at home (kinda random, I know, but it was the best way to decide that I could come up with).

Originally I was just going to get my hair trimmed, but Kevin said, "Hey, you're in Paris!!" So I searched around for a picture that I liked, and decided to get my hair cut shorter. So, off I went, armed with my picture and my list of French related hair salon words.

Everything went pretty smoothly, I'm happy to say! The guy working there spoke a little English, and between my picture and list of words, I think we were able to communicate accurately! The woman who put the color on my hair didn't speak any English, so we didn't have any conversation (and there were just those two who worked there). The salon seemed pretty similar to any other salon. The magazines seemed to be the same kinds of magazines that we have in the states, well, except they're all in French. But there were still lots of pictures of celebrities (American ones!), so at least I recognized that.

And so, ta da:

Ok, so nothing crazy, but it is quite a bit shorter than I've had it. And every day since I got it cut (it's been about a week now), it looks different. But, now I can say I got my hair done in Paris!

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A visitor and more Eiffel Tower

5/08/2012 03:52:00 PM |

On Sunday a visitor came to town! We were so excited to see my mom (GramAnne, as the kids call her). We had all been looking forward to seeing her! She got in early Sunday morning, so, after she had time to rest at her hotel, we met up, ate some lunch, and showed her our apartment.

Sunday evening, we tried to take a boat ride on the Seine, but we missed it (frustrating, because the times posted were wrong. Frustrating, but, oh well). But we ended up having a picnic dinner in a park close to

the Seine.

Notice Notre Dame in the background!

It was pretty interesting to be in that area, because there were lots of people walking by in the street carrying flags and occasionally calling or singing out something in French. Sunday was a big election for the French president, and the results has just been announced. A new president was elected, and so there was lots of excitement in the air about it. I'm not up on my politics at all, so if you want to know more, I'm sure you can google it! But it was a neat learning opportunity for the kids. They were asking lots of questions about what was going on. Thankfully Kevin knows more than me!

Our picnic area was right next to the Shakespeare and Company bookstore (carries English books, and you can read more about the store here), so we stopped by to have a look.

There was this cozy nook in the kids' section. The board behind them has notes that people have left about the store or giving bits of advice on life.

The next day (Monday) we headed back to the Eiffel Tower, this time to actually go in/up it!

We got there at 9:30, which is when the tower opens, but of course there was quite a long line. The best thing to do is to buy tickets online ahead of time, but they were having trouble with their online system, so not many were being sold that way, which meant we had to wait to buy our tickets there. And, we knew that only one elevator (out of three) was working. We were prepared to wait a long time, maybe two hours!

Here's how we kept ourselves entertained....

Checking out the souvenir shops:

Having a snack of croissants, pretzels, and waffles:

Feeding the leftover bread to the birds (and then chasing them - poor birds):

Taking lots of pictures:

Watching these people on stilts walk around handing out cards telling us

that only one elevator was working:

These digital signs would have the announcement in French, then in English.

East pillar, the only pillar that was open

Then, being in line for close to three hours (remember, we thought it would only be two hours....), and getting pretty close to getting our tickets, we saw this sign:

Yes, it says the top is closed! What?!! Really, after waiting so long!! We felt pretty frustrated. But what were we going to do? Get out of line, and then go back to Atlanta and tell everyone that we didn't do the Eiffel Tower? So of course, we just stayed in line, trying to make the best of the situation, at least we get to pay less for our tickets. And Daniel doesn't love high places, so maybe it's just as well. And Rick Steves says that the best views are on the first and second levels anyways. So we hung in there.

After about three and half hours, we finally made it to the elevator! And that was after Daniel actually said he was getting tired of the Eiffel Tower! So sad what long lines can do to a person.

This double decker elevator was pretty cool! And the guy sitting on the outside below, is a mannequin, to remember that a guy used to direct the old timey elevators, before they installed the new-timey ones (sorry, I'm sure there's a more technical explanation)

And guess what? When we got off at the second level, we learned that the top was open! Yay! So we got in ANOTHER line, which at least was only about fifteen minutes. And we were excited that we got to go to the top!

Here's the pictures from the second level:

Notice the tiny copy of the Statue of Liberty. Gustave Eiffel (creator of the Eiffel
Tower) also designed the supports of New York's Statue of Liberty.

Views from the top level:

And then, after taking in the great views, we went back down to the ground! We all took the elevator down from the top level (you have to, as if you'd want to take the stairs!). Then GramAnne and Daniel took the elevator down to the second and first levels while Kevin, Justin, and I took the stairs.

It was quite a tiring day, but we were happy that we finally got to go up in the Eiffel Tower!

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First Days: Our Apartment & The Eiffel Tower

5/05/2012 05:18:00 AM |

We're in Paris!! We've looked forward to our whole trip, but we've really been excited about this last part. I mean, Paris! We arrived on Tuesday, which was a holiday here, kinda like Labor Day in the U.S. But apparently there were some demonstrations and lots of roads were closed, so what should have been about a twenty minute taxi ride from the train station to our apartment, turned into about an hour ride! Our driver had to keep turning around because he couldn't get through certain roads. Finally he got close enough where we could just get out and walk! We were so happy to get here!

Our apartment isn't on the most picturesque street, but I still love where we are. It's really close to streets with lots of good cafes and patisseries (pastry shops, mmmm). And our apartment is actually the biggest place we've stayed so far. It's very open and modern feeling, quite different from our cute cottage in the Cotswolds. It's basically a town house, with the kitchen and living area downstairs, and the bedrooms upstairs. The bedrooms are hard to describe. Basically each bedroom has a ladder up a loft area for the bed, and the area below has a small table and "play area." The kids LOVE it! They've been making forts and having all kinds of fun with the set up. I took a few pictures, but I've also included a link to the apartment website, if you want more pictures.

No matter where we are, the kids love playing computer or ipod games!

The boys are reading Harry Potter 6 on a touchpad.

Another great perk of this apartment is that there's a small room that Kevin can use as an office. This is such a treat for him! To actually have a separate area to work, not just the corner of a bedroom!

Our first night here, we walked over to an italian restaurant for dinner. The day was beautiful, and we ate outside! Loved it!

Had to get some wine!

This was the view from where we were sitting. We arrived at about 7:15pm, and
by 8pm all these tables were filled.

After spending a relaxing day at home on Wednesday, we ventured out on Thursday to go, where else? The Eiffel Tower!

First ride on the metro! Our time in London on the tube really helped us figure out the metro!

We stopped by the street, Rue Cler, and picked up a baguette (we realized we'd
need two baguettes for next time!), some fruit, and cheese for dinner.

And here we are! I know, these probably look like everyone else's Eiffel Tower pictures, but I just couldn't believe we were actually there! We went in the evening, around six, so that we could stay until it got dark to see it all lit up. We were there a looonnng time, it felt like. It really didn't get dark until 10pm. Thankfully there was a great area for the kids to run around, and they spent, probably three hours chasing eachother and playing different games. We had decided not to go up in the tower, but to wait until next week when my mom comes (she'll be here this Sunday for a week - can't wait to see you GramAnne).

After our dinner, we had crepes (Kevin, Justin, and me) and ice cream (Daniel and Anna) for dessert.

While the kids were playing, Kevin and I just hung out and chatted. It was quite relaxing. And I enjoyed people watching! There were some other Americans near us, and I heard one of them say that her wallet had gotten stolen earlier in the week by some kids in the same area. Turns out, a couple hours later, we saw two kids walking through the crowd, carrying a sheet of paper, like they were selling something. I think they carry the paper to make you thing they're selling something. They walked by us talking, and you could totally see their eyes examining our stuff. We just grabbed our stuff tighter and said "Non, non." (no, no). I'm guessing those are the "gypsy kids" we've heard about. I'm glad we made it without getting anything stolen, but it's kinda sad. I mean I think the kids were probably only ten or eleven years old.