Oui, Oui, Paris! (Saturday, October 22, 2011)

This morning we packed up from our splendid stay at the Splendid Hotel, after a better night’s sleep since the party across the hall had moved out. The shower plan is this: everyone stays in their bed either sleeping or reading while someone else takes a shower, trying to ensure a bit of privacy in spite of all the glass doors. It seems to work. We made a quick stop at the bakery for some chocolate pastries to go.

As sad as it is to leave the Alps behind, our real apprehension was another long driving trip. We knew we would have a couple of nights free yet on this trip, and one option was to go see a couple of places in Switzerland. We immediately nixed that plan when we started looking at hotel prices in Switzerland. Un. Be. Lieve. Able. So we picked the second most expensive place we could find, Paris.

Really, Paris only came up because it was a place that our children wanted to see. It seems a good 5 hour drive from Grenoble, and the drive from Paris to the town in Germany where we need to return our rental car is 7 hours. After the driving Brian’s been doing on this trip, a couple of more long drives for a 2 night stay seemed too much. But we decided to do it anyway.

The drive between Grenoble and Paris is meant to be a lovely drive through golden vineyards, but the fog that stuck around all morning made it a slightly greyer trip. But we made excellent time and were in Paris shortly after noon.

By then it was clear and sunny, and after checking into the hotel and getting some groceries, we ate lunch and took the Metro into the city. We went directly to the Oranjerie Museum, a very small art museum with a beautiful collection of impressionist paintings. We didn’t have a lot of time to look around, but we got to see everything there—Cezanne, Gaughin, Renoir, and Monet to name a few. Monet in particular, as he painted the Water Lilies series just for this museum. The paintings surround you in a white oval room; so lovely.

Then out on the street to walk through the Tuileries Garden, the Champs-Elysees, see the Arch. The night before at Selles’ apartment, we had made reservations for the Eiffel Tower for 9:00 tonight. We had a couple of hours to kill, so we looked for a restaurant, using the Rick Steve book that Selles had given us. After a few weeks of ordering unknown foods with unexpected results, we decided it was okay to go American. The travel book recommended a place nearby called Bugsy’s, and that’s how we found ourselves in a Chicago speakeasy-themed restaurant eating burgers, fries, club sandwich, etc. And it was good.

The Eiffel Tower was next, and by the time we came in view of it, the tower had been lit for the evening. Spectacular. I’ve seen it before, but it still amazed me. All 3 kids loved it. On the hour the lights start blinking all over the tower, which just added to the magic. We got in line for the first elevator, which took us to the second level. There we lined up for the elevator to the top. It was windy and cold, and we were glad to have the hats and gloves we packed. The elevator to the top seemed to just keep going, but we finally got there, and it was worth the wait. The river is fluid light, lined with bridges and boats, and the lights continue for miles beyond miles.

By the time we got down from the tower, it was closing in on 11:00, and we were one exhausted family. Three of the five fell asleep on the Metro on the way back to the hotel, but somehow we all made it into bed!