Versailles

If I were to pick a highlight of our France trip- just one moment- it would have to be paddling around the Grand Canal in Versailles. The view of the Palace, the happy kids, feeding Goldfish crackers to the giant catfish, seeing Roger's rowing prowess. It was just perfect! Versailles was amazing. We started with the gardens which are the gardens to end all gardens. The sculptures and the fountains were incredible. Marie-Antoinette's estate was crazy. She played doll-house and play-farm with real houses and a real farm. I could just imagine her in a pearl-encrusted shepherdess outfit, playing peasant. So picturesque. And then Versailles itself- the Hall of Mirrors was incredible, as was the rest. It is the Palace of all palaces. It makes all the other castles we've seen look like poor relatives! I can see why it helped precipitate Revolution. So we'd seen these red and yellow robed Buddhist monks on tour at Notre Dame and again at Versailles. We asked one to take a photo- using the hand motions you do when you think there is a language barrier. Turns out he was from Seattle!

Paris

 

Paris was wonderful and I am so thankful we had a chance to go. It isn't really a super-great city for kids- more of a romantic couples vacation spot- but we still enjoyed it. The biggest hurtle was finding family friendly dining with no fast food or casual dining and very little street food. Just fancy bistros everywhere- as one should expect!
The Eiffel Tower was closed the first day we were there due to a strike, but we were able to walk around. We also caught a boat tour on the Seine that was really neat. Some of the bridges are just amazing.
We went to the Louvre, which was incredible! I held Evelyn up so she could see the Mona Lisa in person. There was so much to see there that we just picked a few highlights, but we did make it through several galleries.
The Notre Dame Cathedral was amazing as well. It was free! The Rose Window was gorgeous and the architecture was incredible. We were able to go inside and walk around. I am so proud of my kiddos for being so quiet and respectful as it is a functioning church.
We did make it back to the Eiffel Tower on our last night. It was cold and late, especially for our kids with the time difference. Edward had fallen asleep in the stroller, snug and cozy, but we had to take him out as we boarded the elevator taking us straight up to the top of the tower. He was disoriented, cold and tired and that is when I felt a warm, wet feeling all over my front! Six months of no accidents- poor kid! My romantic visions of kissing Roger at the top didn't come to pass. I saw the view, I held and consoled a wet Edward as we got right in line for the ride back down. That "homeless man" smell so common in alleys, elevators and the subway station was now coming from me! I will never, ever forget it though!
Paris was beautiful. I was amazed that in just a few days we were able to see the highlights. The one thing we missed that was on my maybe list was the catacombs, but I don't know how that would have gone over with the kids.

EuroDisney photos

We had the best time at EuroDisney despite some problems finding our B&B. We had been reassured by our carrier we would have coverage in France, but that was not the case. Our B&B host said to just call him when we got close to Disneyland and he would pick us up. We ran into friends from Bahrain outside of Disneyland and they let us borrow their phone, but the guy didn't pick up. We took the bus to the neighborhood the apartment was in. We were a block away, but didn't know it. We had our luggage, two kids, sitting on a bus bench at 10 p.m. at night wondering what we were going to do. Get a taxi to whatever hotel we can? Bu Roger found a McDonalds that was open and had WiFi. He e-mailed the guy a text, and next thing we know there he is ready to take us to the place! Whew! Such a blessing it worked out. And from now on- we are buying local SIMS at airports.
EuroDisney was really neat. It is two-thirds the size of regular Disneyland. I think. There are some differences, like the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House didn't make the Tarzan switch. The Haunted Mansion is in the Wild West and has this crazy dead cowboys and saloon girls thing right in the middle that made no sense. There is an Alice in Wonderland topiary garden maze with a castle instead of the Caterpillar Ride that we really loved. There is no Toon Town and instead of the Submarine Ride, they had a replica of the Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The Pirates of the Caribbean didn't have the Johnny Depp / Captain Jack Sparrow updates. The cave mazes were all pirate inspired vs. Tom Sawyer inspired. No Matterhorn. But they did have....Captain EO!!! Roger was so excited to see it in all its glory.
It was so much fun. Evelyn's favorite ride was Space Mountain. Edward liked the Peter Pan ride and the Buzz Lightyear Blasters ride. We all had fun driving around on Autotopia.
Instead of California Adventure, they have Walt Disney Studios, which is kind of like Universal Studios. We saw a really neat car stunt show, an interactive Lilo and Stitch show and met some characters- Buzz and Jessie were the favorites. They had a Cars themed ride, a Slinky Dog ride and a RC Racer ride that were good. We did the Armageddon stunt show and the backlot tour which Edward hated because they were loud and scary. Evelyn and I did the Tower of Terror and the French cast member said a bad word to us! That was pretty interesting- the cast members were just typical French people- not super-perky, super-pretty, college-aged Californians! Line management seems a lot better in California too- but it wasn't too bad.
We got poured on our first day and my sweater wouldn't get dry so I ended up buying a GAP sweatshirt I wore the remainder of our trip. Luckily I packed more layers for everyone else! After the rainstorm, the park cleared out so that is when we got most of our rides in. How is that for a silver lining? Also, don't catch the last free shuttle out of the park. I can see how people get trampled to death and that was a mild-mannered crowd of kids, parents and grandparents. Luckily a transit authority was able to establish order and we made it back okay! 
We had a really wonderful time. The kids were the perfect ages for it. It was a lot of fun seeing them have so much fun. 

Fashion Camp

Back in Bahrain, Evelyn is attending fashion design camp. Here is the project she worked on this week, an elastic dress with halter, belt and hand-made flower embellishments. She was a natural at the sewing machine- whipping out row after row of straight lines on her first day. She had so much fun, we are signing her up for another week! So glad she is learning some sewing skills from some pros.

Favorite Edward quotes

Here are some favorite Edward quotes from just today:

"Ro-bot, Ro-bot, Ro-bot. I am a Ro-bot."
"It is a rainbow orange. I have to cut this orange before it dies. Mmmm, juicy."
"I wook incwedable!"
"You are a silly old!"
"Oh yeah!"
"Where is my choke chain?"
"Oh yeah- I will go to Evelyn's school. My mom can be the teacher."
"Only girls are cute! Boys are just handsome."
"I smell like a daddy!" (spraying on cologne)
"Shove you in the air conditioning!"
"Do you want to have a camp fire? I have hot dogs but no buns. And marshmallows." (This was while playing Star Wars with Roger- no matter what we play with him the story line always goes back to a camp fire bbq)