Paris! Day Four and Five

4.1.10 and 4.2.10

I should probably explain, for those that don't know, we are in Paris with Jon's school program. His teacher and mentor, Andre, is part of a group of the best decorative painters in the world that get together every year to paint at an event called Salon. Every year it's hosted in a different country and this year happened to be in Paris!

All together, Andre's wife and three daughters, the other student and his wife, and Jon and I are sharing an apartment in Paris for two weeks. (The other student's wife could only stay the first week.)

Jon spent most of Thursday at the Decoratif Museum, studying different kinds of decorating styles from the past centuries. The boys split up from the girls and went to the museum, while we went shopping.

Jon took a million photos at the museum, but these were his favorite.

a decorative panel

a well designed room

these panels covered all of the walls in this room and made an interesting statement

walking over the bridge.

we stayed on the "left bank" of Paris, right across from the Champs Elysees shopping district and within walking distance from the Eiffel Tower, so it was easy to walk pretty much everywhere we wanted to go.

one of the statues on the bridge

Hotel Invalides, across the street from where we stayed

more beautiful statues that line the bridge...

this is taken over at the Louvre, where the restaurant is

french flag

a night shot of the fountain near the Louvre.

Friday morning, Jon and I woke up early to walk over to Notre Dame to avoid huge lines and crowds. One of Andre's daughters, Serah, came with us.

Notre Dame cathedral, a grand site

stained glass inside the cathedral

something I was most amazed about was how the people of the time could build such a grand structure without modern conveniences!

it was so cold that morning, so after Notre Dame, we found a cute little restaurant to have some hot chocolate to warm up.

Hotel de Ville, which is something like a city hall for Paris.

we ended the night at a tiny little restaurant for our first raclette experience. It was really yummy and super fun. It's a bit like fondue, a community eating experience centered around CHEESE and includes potatoes and meat. i also had french onion soup, which in paris, was just called onion soup, of course. smile. a good meal for sure.