The Reason My Jeans Are Fitting A Little Tight

And not just my skinny jeans either.

But I think I have figured it all out, the French are secretly trying to kill off Americans with all their pastries, campaillettes, cheese and chocolate.

Well, HA! Frenchies, I'm onto you and your little conspiracy.

And it won't work anymore! Not because I have a strong will, but because I have a train ticket out of here in less than a month!

Take that!

At Versailles

So, I'm still catching my breath after all the activity of the last few weeks, and still catching up on the time that my sister Angela was here to visit. Seriously, I am looking forward to the days when I have to scratch my head to come up with something to write on the blog. I swear, it's way easier than sifting through the backlog of activities and photos.

Yeah, I know, boo-hoo, call the wahmbulance.

Anyway, I was so glad that Angela wanted to go visit Versailles while she was here because after all the times I've visited Paris and two months here, I still hadn't gone. I guess it's because I always have had a million other things I wanted to do, so a 45 minute train ride seemed like too much time to sacrifice, but it was seriously amazing, and totally worth the trip. Check it out:

Max and some cute Japanese tourists at the gates of the Palace.

Making faces in the hall of mirrors.

Down the hall of mirrors. Now if all those annoying tourists would just get out of my way so I could take a decent photo...

A self-portrait.

Marie-Antoinette's bed chamber.

The Gardens.

Running along the hedgerows.

Max and Jack made friends with a ladybug...

...and a very silly swan.

And with all the sites at Versailles, the thing I will remember most is how hard the boys laughed when the swan went bottoms up while it looked for food on the bottom of the pond. Far more priceless than any silly old palace, in my opinion.

Brothers

Jack loves to tell stories. And talk with his hands.
I think he might get it from me.

Max likes to explain things to Jack. And he's a great listener.
I know he gets that from Steve.

Yin & Yang. A great combination.

Who Needs A Backyard?

When I first learned we would be moving to Paris I wondered how the kids would do without a backyard. For as long as they've been around we've had houses with big patches of grass they've had all to themselves. City living was an adjustment at first, but soon we were into the swing of things and started spending time every day at the nearby Champ De Mars, and lately it's been scootering at Les Invalides.

Setting off for some fun at Napolean's Tomb.

Scooter races: You start at the gate to Les Invalides and then go to the corner (trying to avoid the tourists and cranky French people along the way)...

...and then back again to see who wins.

Max won this time, but believe me, Jack can hold his own, and he beats me almost every time.

And when the scooters get old, there's always races around the empty fountain.

Jack taking a lap.

Seriously, these guys have no idea how lucky they are.

I ♥ Paris In The Springtime

Why?

Well, besides the obvious reason that IT'S NOT FREEZING ANYMORE, another reason to love Paris in the Spring is that it brings visitors from home, the first being my sister Angela. She must have brought the sunny weather with her from Arizona, because we've had some of the most beautiful days ever since we arrived.

So, what do you do when the sky is sunny and the air is warm?

Go back to the cemetery.

I know, I know, but Angela had never been, and really, it is one of the most amazing sites in Paris (in my humble, albeit goth, opinion). Here come the photos:

Jack and I amongst the headstones.

Max and moss. And we got him to kiss Oscar Wilde's grave this time around.

Seriously, there are as many beautiful things to see at Peré Lachaise as any museum in Paris.

After the headstones, we headed out for lunch at Creperie Beaubourg at the Place de Stravinsky. It has one of my favorite cafes in Paris. I've gone there every time I've been here because I love the view of the fountain there and it's close to the Pompidou Center, and I'm always there at some time or another. And since the weather was so nice, we got to go way French with it and sit outside. I love that. And I have vowed to eat outside as much as possible until we leave Paris.

After lunch we had to feed the pigeons, which Jack loves to do. There was a group of school kids on a field trip running around the square, people were out enjoying the sun on their lunch breaks.

Some super cool graffiti art by the cafe.

I will miss these moments in Paris.

That's starting to hit me now.

And I'm not pleased.

Movie Night

One of the major reasons that I haven't been blogging much lately is my sister Angela has been in town and I've been too busy doing stuff in Paris to write about doing stuff in Paris.

Not a bad problem to have.

One of the very nice things she did for us while she was here was watch the boys so we could go out to a movie at a theater we had been eyeing by our apartment for some time. At first I kind of swore off going to movies in Paris, but when I saw La Pagode, I decided to change my mind. I love old time movie theaters and the magic they seem to hold, but this one has quite a history as well. It started as a fancy dance hall when it was built at the turn of the century, and then was transformed into a movie theater in the 1930's. And it even has a tea garden if you want to stop and relax before or after the film. And, of course, we got there early to take pictures.

The Pagoda at La Pagode as you enter the tea garden.

The facade. You can see why we had to come back to this place once we walked by it one day on the way home from the park.

Lions complete with cloisnné balls which are in amazingly great shape after a hundred years out in the weather.

Details, details. The French love details, and I love them for it. I doubt I'll ever go to another movie theater with antique stained glass windows.

I was pretty excited to see the interior after seeing the outside, but it was just a plain, old theater inside. For any old time Salt Lakers, it felt just like being in the old Blue Mouse Theater. I can only imagine what it looked like back in the day.

Oh yeah, and we saw The Ghost Writer. Not bad, but the movie definitely got second billing after the theater on this movie night.

Metro Max

Max is excellent at navigating the Metro. I mean, really, really, really good. One of our first days here I started heading the wrong way and he told me that I was going the wrong direction, and I told him, no, I knew what I was doing, and then, once we were on the platform, I realized he was right. I thought it was a fluke, but after saving me from going the wrong direction several times, I listen.

Seriously, this guy knows the Metro backwards and forwards.

He even maps out our routes a lot of the time and loves to find the quickest way to get places. And he remembers it all. I ask him which line we take to get to the Jardin du Luxembourg and he says "We take the 8 to Concorde and then the 12 from Concorde to Notre Dame Des Champs. And 12 is the green line."

What can I say, the guy knows his stuff.

Living On The Metro

IKEA has been on strike in France.

I should know, I took the Metro, the RER, and then a bus with the kids one day to buy some things for the apartment only to find it closed after our 1+ hour journey.

Lovely.

But they are back to work, and to let everyone know, they came up with these clever ads in the metro, sofas included.

Finally, proof that IKEA is, in fact, taking over the world.

J'adore: Mamie Nova Yogurt

The first morning we were in France, I went to the grocery store across the street and bought one one of my favorite things for breakfast: yogurt and muslei. I saw this Mamie Nova rhubarb yougurt and thought I'd give it a try and I have just one thing to say.

Oh. My. Gosh.

It is so amazing. So I branched out to different kinds. Pineapple Passionfruit? Addictive. Peach? Mind blowing. Cherry? Awesome. Strawberry? Incredible.

Seriously, you can keep your French pastries, cheese and bread, but don't touch my Mamie Nova yogurt.

Definitely my favorite kind of French culture.

Might As Well Jump

For some reason, whenever tourists get their pictures taken by the Eiffel Tower, they have to jump.

Not exactly sure why.

So, while the boys were scootering in the Champ des Mars the other day, we thought it was time to jump on the bandwagon (pun intended).

So cute, and the whole thing brought back some great high school music memories.

Ahh, gotta love Van Halen.

And after listening to that, suddenly that jumping is starting to make a little more sense.