Germany, park hopping, starbucks, Musée de l'Orangerie

Steve went on his second and last trip to Germany for the past two days, so unfortunately, I didn't take too many pics... please excuse the excessive writing!

On Wednesday, the girls and I went to a small park we didn't know existed for most of the trip (which is basically around the corner from our house) for most of the morning. The park is dedicated to Anne Frank outside of the Museum of Dolls... what's so great about this park is that it's completely hidden. You take an alleyway inside some buildings, which then opens up to a gorgeous park, playground and vegetable garden. Our favorite thing about the park is that it is dead quite- which is really rare in Paris. You can't hear cars, buses, people... it's completely surround by old charming buildings blocking out the city noises from outside.

After this park, we had some AMAZING pizza from a place we ran into the other night. Since our discovery, I think we've had it every other day. The crust is to die for. (I will be ending my gluten drunkeness the day we head back b/c I'm feeling a little guilty, so I'm trying to eat as much of this as I can).

The rest of the day we basically parked hopped to keep the kids happy- which makes everyone happy !

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Yesterday I took the girls to Luxemborg gardens by myself. I have often wondered how a mother of more than 1 child lives in a city like this (esp on the Metro)- so I wanted to see if I could do it. I put Emilie in a Ergo Baby Carrier on my back, a backpack on my front with snacks/water, Maddie was walking and holding my right hand and I was carrying a single stroller in my left. Up and Down and Up and Down the metro stops.

Very tiring!!! But- we did it! When we got there, it was gorgeous- I really think it is one of my favorite parks. Really love it. I think we could have spent all day there. I let the girls play in the playground and then we meandered back to the apartment for some lunch.

For the afternoon, we tried to walk through the oldest garment district, which was super cool if you are by yourself... but it was pretty congested/hot, so with the kids it wasn't super fun. Maddie has been keeping very hydrated which adds to more restroom stops, and it was a challenge to find any place to go! But- these are the moments where I am soooo thankful for places that we know/recognize.

Starbucks was our little oasis in a sea of cement. We walked in the air conditioned entrance and saw the familiar tables/couches/juices and were in heaven. What a great place. After buying two rounds of apple juice and spending some rejuvenating time on the comfy chairs... we started off to the Palais Royale.


We ran into this gorgeous building with beautiful shops and restaurants inside. Again, could have spent 4 hours drinking something here.


Just around the corner, we found Palais Royale, which has gorgeous grounds and a very relaxing fountain.

I love how they manicure the trees... the promenades are gorgeous.

And of course the arcades are so fun to walk around.

I think I've said this before, but the French are so great at mixing the new and old. These columns in contrast to the surrounding grandiose buildings was definitely not expected when we came around the corner- but so awesome! The kids loved them.

This little one ran and ran and jumped and jumped around them. She definitely tired herself out!

On our way home, we caught the bus and and then wandered past the Pompidou ... checking to see if there was anything great to watch. Maddie was entranced by the Bubble man, and we spend a good 20 minutes trying to catch the gigantic bubbles he made for the kids. Then, a dance troop started another routine, so we spend 5 minutes watching them until it started dumping water on us when we headed home and called it a great day!!!

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Steve is home! Horrah! His trip to Berlin went well, and apparently much cooler than it was here :)

This morning, we made it to some consignment shops that weren't all that "consignment" as I know the word in the US. (Clothes were Chanel, Burberry, etc... Shoes were Jimmy Choos and Manolo Blahniks... ) It was fun to dig through the stuff. I came out with a great sweater/coat and a skirt ! Yeah!

After a light lunch we decided to skip the metro (I think we are finding that we prefer the buses to the metro with kids just because you don't have to go up and down stairs, and they can look at stuff while we're traveling) and head to the Musee de L'Orangerie which I was SUPER excited about.

On the way, we saw the church dedicated to Mary Magdalene or better known as Le Madeleine... and Maddie was brimming with excitement! A church just for her! Can you see them? Steve is holding up Maddie on the top of the stairs.

Here they are up close!

The weather here has been absolutely surprising- we thought it was going to be incredibly hot and humid (for August I thought that was normal). But- it has been super cool and rainy here and there. I am definitely not complaining-- as I think I'm more of a slightly cooler weather type of girl rather than hot and sticky. We were glad we didn't forget our umbrellas because the museum was calling our names!

We weren't really into doing the Louvre this time around, or the Museum D'orsay. I really wanted to visit the Picasso museum, but it is being renovated :( We have never gone to the Musee de L'Orangerie before today... and it may be one of our favorites ever!! This museum focuses on impressionist, post-impressionist paintings and Monet's "Water Lilies" that he completed specifically for this museum.

The museum had a movie playing in the auditorium explaining a brief history on his life, and most of the details behind his exhibit at the museum. It was sooo inspiring. The amount of thought that went into the architecture of the building and it's connection to his paintings was incredible. I wish I could write all of it here- but just go if you have a chance.

We all loved this place.

Monet created these enormous panels surrounding the rooms to give the overwhelming feeling of nature . He didn't paint a horizon, so the sky, land,water, air just melt into eachother. One of my favorite things about this place is that it almost felt spiritual to sit in these halls. The architect/Monet designed the building so that visitors would have to walk through a vestibule to enter the ovals rooms... when people enter the room it is so quite and you are immediately surrounded by this beauty. It is very powerful.

He loved to admire his gardens in the different lights of the day. In one room, he focuses on the morning light, and in the other room, the afternoon light. I love this panel. The colors are stunning. Anyway, I think you can tell that I liked it a lot :)

The museum is pretty small- but that was a welcome feature! Here are some of my favorites (the best I could do with my camera in the darkish museum):

After the museum, we were feeling a bit famished and started walking home. I was not really wanting to cook after this long day, so I made Steve dart into what I thought was a supermarket, but ended up being HEAVEN.

This sounds a bit weird at first, but it is now one of my favorites!! Imagine a Whole Foods that sells gourmet frozen dinners, and then provides a second story with gorgeous tables and microwaves for you to heat up your dinner and watch the tourists walk by... The frozen dinners range from Thai curry chicken, German sausages with applesauce, incredible pastas, salmon with green beans, chicken cordon bleu, really everything that sounds yummy. We bought 5, went upstairs, followed the microwave directions, and sat down to one of our top memorable meals since we've been here! Does that sound crazy?! This food was sooo good! And- what a GREAT idea- this place would be incredibly popular in the US. Have you ever wanted Thai/Italian/Mexican in one dinner? I do all the time- so this was a perfect place for me.

This was a quick shot of the first floor and all of the dinners... seriously, what a great idea. I wish I thought of it.

Just a quick note: Before our trip, people would sometimes say "Oh, Paris. People are so rude there." or "Watch out... fill in some sentence about a French person being rude to them." I really didn't understand what people were talking about because everytime I've been, they have been nothing but nice...

This trip confirms it- people here are so courteous/generous/thoughtful and so friendly (I would even say more than big cities in the US). Here are are just a few examples:

1. Emilie has been dropping shoes like a maniac. As we were walking down the very busy Saint Germain, we hadn't taken notice that Emilie lost her shoe. After 5 minutes and noticing her "non shoe", we stopped and were about to forget it and go on, a man stopped us and told us that he saw the shoe 5 blocks back and put it on the bench. I went back and found it!

2. Maddie was crying on the side of a street with Steve, when a man stopped Steve and said in French that Maddie's shoes were on backwards and that is why she is crying! (Not sure that was the reason, but so perceptive and thoughtful)

3. I think I had about 4 people help me carry the single stroller up and down the metro stops (against their way of travel) when I was by myself and the kids.

4. People open doors for us all over the place.

5. Waiters have gone above and beyond to help us eat with our kids by giving them extra snacks, (an extra ice cream!)... drinks...

Anyway, you get the point. Another great reason we don't want to leave.