Les égouts de Paris et Le Musée d'Orsay

June 18, 2008

Today Mark had his final return and so once we collected him from the airport we headed to the égouts de Paris-the sewer. This has been on our list of things to do since we arrived and so we made it our first stop of the day.

As you can tell it was stinky!! We were happy for our paper towels to block the stench somewhat.
Annie started to gag a little and we were glad she didn't lose her lunch.
Some of the funny comments that we heard were "This is supposed to be fun right?" A little girl near the end of the tour "Mom, it smells bad in here". At the beginning of the tour one of the tour directors showed us on the map that the tour ended near the bathrooms so you could wash your hands and warned the kids not to touch anything.

It was interesting to see the city under the city but I can safely say that is not a sight we will visit again soon!
How refreshing. The above ground smells of Paris.
We walked from the sewers to the Musee d'Orsay. We really liked this museum because of the mix of art. The kids were taken with the sculptures, and the many works of the impressionists.
Logan knows my love of clocks and he was the first to spot this big one and thought we should take a picture.

The art here is amazing and we got lots and lots of pictures of all of it, but we'll save that for another entry.
The determination of a 6 year old who thinks he is 8. If Dallas can do it so can Logan. I caught him at just the right moment when he finally did get a grip on the ring all on his own.

We found it! Gelato in Paris, nearly as good as in Italy. They were pretty fancy with their scooping technique and made all the cones look like flowers with the multiple flavors. I wish I could post a taste for all of you.
Lucky for Sophie the man working the shop on this day was very kind because hers ended up on the street after two licks, so she got to start over with a brand new one and successfully ate the entire thing. We love Paris!

La dernière leçon de tennis

June 17, 2008

I know I just posted about tennis, but we are starting the firsts of the lasts, and since this was our last tennis lesson I figured I'd better document it.

William has been a great coach for the kids and we appreciate his patience and all he has taught us through the year.

Logan is smashing one to Jesse.
Grandpa you better watch out Dallas has a mean backhand.

Tonight they played a few mini games one on one and then they played a game of doubles, it was really fun to watch them out there playing together.

Adéle

We have been so lucky to have Adéle enter our lives. She lives right here in Bourron and was in the play with Annie. I gave her a few rides to play practice and started to learn a little about her. She speaks perfect English because her mother got her degree in the states.

I asked her if she would be willing to come and help us with our homework when she had a free moment.

She has been coming every Tuesday and Friday for several months now. It has worked out well for all of us. We get superb help from a great girl and terrific student, and she gained 5 instant friends.

The kids love it if they only have a little bit of homework becuase then they have more time to play soccer or whatever game Adéle comes up with.
We love Adéle, and her dog-We will miss her very much!

La construction d'une tour

During their lunch hour while I was making lunch they were so busy doing something-then I heard the screams "Hurry come and look."

They had built a marker tower from the ground floor to the second story.

It took them a couple tries to keep it from falling over, but it finally worked.
I have really enjoyed their two hour lunch break that we have been able to spend together. They are always so ready to talk and tell me about what's happened in their day so far and then they do it again after school-it's great!

Cimetière de Bourron Marlotte

June 15, 2008

After church today we left a huge rain storm in Melun and drove into a dry Bourron Marlotte, it seemed quite strange that they didn't even get an ounce while we thought we might get washed off the road. On that note we thought it was a good day to visit the cemetery in town.

The cemetery is quite large for the small village that it is.

This tree is in the middle of the cemetery, we all found it to be so interesting and we wondered how old it might be.

The kids thought it was so funny I could not keep my heels from sinking into the sand as we walked through the cemetery, I already have one foot in the grave.

We love the cemeteries here and the history that lies beneath, we wish there was a story on every grave so we could know about all the great people of this village.

Pain- Bread

Among the millions of things I am going to miss about France this is near the top of my list. The bread here is so amazing and we eat a lot of it and love it! The smell, the texture the taste everything about it is wonderful!
I guess we'll get to know the people at Liberty Fresh pretty well when we get home so we can satisfy our French taste buds.

Tennis fête

June 13, 2008

The tennis lesson season is almost over, only two more weeks.

On Friday they had their little tennis fête where they handed out the certificates for a job well done and your level accomplishment.

Anyone who played tennis this year was invited to come, so there was a small crowd.
The woman behind Dallas (Laurence) is one of the two women in my tennis class.

The traditional "French Kiss" from Eric to Jesse.

We will really be able to give Grandma & Grandpa T's court a real work out now.

Mme Torres

Madame Torres

I love her! I feel so spoiled to have her come each week. She is my cleaning lady and she actually came with the house. Every Thursday morning at 8:00 rain or shine (definitely more rain than shine) she shows up on her little red Moped ready to clean my house from top to bottom.

She is so cute and has been very patient with my "American" French. She tries to chat with me each week and I think she is very happy we can now carry on somewhat of a conversation.
She loves the children, she actually did Sophie's hair one week.

These are the things that will be the hardest to leave-not the cleaning part but the relationships that have developed over time and the love you have for all the people that have been involved in your life for the past year.

À bientôt

June 12, 2008 We have some friends who live here but will be moving very soon to Utah. They were in the throws of packing, cleaning, and moving their belongings out of their house, so we were lucky to have their children come and spend the day with us.

Romain & Tristian are just Dallas and Logan's ages- they had a great time being together and good on the French as they do not speak English (yet).

It was Alysée's 11th birthday, so we had a little celebration for her.
She is such a sweet and talented girl. She plays the piano and violin very well and it seems as if whenever she is around imaginations go wild and the children create the most clever games.

We are very happy that this is one family we are not having to say goodbye to, just à bientôt.
(see you soon!)

La ferme de Bourron Marlotte

June 10, 2008
The farm of Bourron Marlotte happens to be owned by one of Logan's friends Alecis. He has had the opportunity to go the farm several times and do a little exploring and horse riding.
Logan and Alecis.
The donkey on the farm is so gentle and kid friendly. All the kids piled on at once and he was just happy he could hold them all.
Logan got to try out his riding skills with Alecis mom. She used to be a trainer and a riding instructor until the weather became too cold for her to be outside for very long.
She is the nicest, and most patient woman. She had several children from the school class come to the farm on this particular day and she let each one of them have a turn on the horse. She even gave a little instruction to each one of them. She said Logan was a natural.
Annie & Jesse were with me when I went to pick up Logan and she asked them if they would like a turn, of course they didn't turn her down.
When each of the children had had their turn, Alecis got on to show us his stuff. He is a really great rider, such a tiny boy on a big horse, but he was the one in control.

Marché à Melun

I love the open air markets here so much-every village has one and they are all different. We went to the Marché in Melun one Saturday morning and the food was amazing. All the fruit is coming into season so we couldn't resist buying some delicious cherries, apricots, strawberries and even a watermelon.

The children love looking at all the interesting seafood options there are.

Messe à Notre Dame-Mass at Notre Dame

June 8, 2008

Today was a new adventure for us all. We drove into Paris and attended Mass (messe) à Notre Dame Cathedral. There was a choir and they sang many different songs. The priest gave several sermons, he even gave a short one in English.

After it was over we discussed the differences between Mass and our meetings. I was very impressed by this things they observed, they even noticed things I didn't. We had a great religious discussion with lots and lots of questions, we were all grateful for the experience.

After church at Notre Dame we walked over to see the magnificence of Saint Chappelle and all of the stained glass.

We learned that the windows were spared during the Revolution because the church had been used as an office and it had enormous filing cabinets up against the windows.

Looking up at the gargoyles on Saint Chappelle-Dallas noticed this great shot.

We were all thinking of Grandma T as we stood on this road-this is the street that

The Last Time I Saw Paris was filmed on. Rue de la Huchette- It was hopping with tourist and Parisians.

The food in all the Greeks shops looked so delicious we agreed we would have to come back for lunch another day.

The Road of the Cat Who Fishes

It is said to be the shortest, narrowest street in the world.

We filled our day visiting many different churches in the St. Michel area. We went inside St Severin-a Gothic church built in 1210, then St-Julien-le-Pauvre-the oldest church in Paris. The present church goes back to the Lonpont monks, who began work on it in 1170.

The Rodin Museum

This museum and the Rodin in Meudon together hold the largest collection of the master sculptures work.

The Thinker, or known in earlier days as the Poet.

In our reading of Rodin and his work we learned that he encouraged reproduction of his art and so you can see many of his sculptures in several museums across the world.
The Thinker is probably his most recognized piece and the kids favorite.

Rodin is buried in his hometown of Meudon with a Thinker just like this one as his tombstone.

Erin this is for you. I know that you wanted Travis to get a picture of this while he was here, but we never made it to the Rodin at the time. I really liked this museum because there is a great collection inside the museum as well as the gardens outside.

Inside the metro stop for the Museum they have large plastic statues the kids could touch them all they wanted and know they weren't going to damage anything.
It was a full, busy day and only took about 35 seconds until they were out.