Paris, Part I

Gene left for Paris, on business, on January 31st. After two weeks on my own with the little boys (but with lots of help from the grandparents!), I joined Gene in Paris for a wonderful little getaway (my first time back in France since 1999!). All of this was made possible by all four grandparents who took turned watching the boys and shuttling them to school, birthday parties, and all their activities while Gene and I took a much-needed vacation. Thank you, Nana and Pop and Gramma and Grampa!

This is the sweet note that greeted me when I got to the hotel last Thursday morning.

There was champagne and wine too, from Gene's friends.

After a quick mid-morning nap so I could recover from jet-lag a bit, Gene and I headed out for lunch and a long walk around Paris. We headed down the Champs-Elysees to the Tuileries Gardens. It had been really cold before I arrived and all the ponds were frozen. Fortunately, it had warmed up to the 40s by the time I got there! Behind Gene are the Musee de l'Orangerie (home of Monet's Waterlilies) and the Eiffel Tower.Crossing the Seine,
we saw views of the Eiffel Tower everywhere. We actually walked all the way to it but the lines were LONG, so we decided to save the trip up for another day.
Day 2: We got our 4-day Museum Pass and hit up l'Orangerie and the Louvre. Even in February, these museums were packed with tourists!
In the afternoon, we headed out to the Arc de Triomphe. View down the Champs-Elysees: our hotel was on the left and the Louvre is behind the huge Ferris wheel.
View of the Eiffel Tower from the Arc de Triomphe. My first three days in Paris were gray and overcast like this, but the sun broke through for our final two days.

Arc de Triomphe at night

We ended our second day at the Pompidou Center, which is full of modern art. Our favorite was this contemporary installation called Flux by Zilvinas Kempinas. He places magnetic tapes from an audio cassette under a fan, so the piece is in constant movement but it never falls. We were mesmerized!

A romantic walk and dinner in the Marais district followed, and then it was back to the hotel to collapse after walking miles and miles around the City of Lights!