Louvre, 2022

Art history is one of Penelope's areas of study at home, and, though not previously described as a museum kid, she spent four hours with us at the Louvre, taking lots of pix herself, and then another hour in the Louvre gift mall, stimulating the French economy (she has saved for months for this trip). A good day's work, especially after the fullest of days at Disney. PS. I have blogged about the Louvre an embarrassing number of times. Just enter "Louvre" in the search box to the right...

Obligatoire

Lots of pix of things she recognized; I loaned
her my phone for much of the visit; this, in retrospect,
may not have been wise, but it kept her interested

Same model as you know who?

When her interest flagged, we could always talk about
Louvre Loonies

One of Mr. Fruity Butt Pants' biggest hits

Breaks and snacks also were welcome

Among the many selfies; still processing the symbolism

Take the picture already!

Most of the pix P took were of the royal jewels and
other such precious stuff in the Apollo Hall; a couple
hundred pix, seriously

Here the merest sample

In the David Hall, one of her favorites (ours too)
Elizabeth-Louis Vigee Le Brun's self-portrait with
her daughter

With Grandma and Venus

One day was not enough; on Monday they went out again to see

the Egyptian stuff; Grandma's "Friends of the Louvre" membership

has proved quite useful

Alas, not all that many mummies at the Louvre;
there are enough at the BM to populate a small
village, however

Great Louvre visits!

Disneyland Paris, 2022

On June 10th we made our third visit to Disneyland Paris with Penelope. You'd think 5 days at DisneyWorld last March would have been enough for a year, but no, you'd be wrong, at least for some members of the family. I didn't take that many pix, knowing that Vicki would be taking them too, and also knowing that I had blogged extensively in 2014 and 2019. The only thing really new for us was dining at Remy's Bistrot, not the best French meal I've had, but memorable nonetheless. The previous blog posts are:

https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2014/07/disneyland-paris-un.html
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2014/07/disneyland-paris-deux.html
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2014/07/disneyland-paris-les-out-takes.html
https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2019/06/ne-baise-pas-avec-la-souris.html

I think my phone battery died early in the evening and I missed what was for Penelope the best part. The ride she really wanted to do, the French equivalent of Space Mountain, was closed for maintenance all of the day. But then, just before the closing extravaganza, it reopened, we were nearby, and she was able to ride it twice, without ever standing in line. The grandparents don't do these rides anymore, so there's no documentation. Just her memories and ours of a happy girl in one of her happy places. Of course, we stayed until the end, then shopped a bit, and then were lucky to get seats on the RER back to Paris.

Getting pretty excited

And we're there

Vicki and Penelope up there somewhere

One of P's favorite rides...a sort of back and forth and up and down
thing

Grandma did a video, which I'll put YouTube
sometime soon

P up there, second row from top, right side

With two Ukrainian girls she befriended...here
from Spain for a birthday

Welcome from Chef Remy

The mouse-level decor is something to behold

Enjoying the creamy courgette soup

After the Tea Cups, which I joined

"Ne baise pas avec la souris"

PS...added much later...

First Days In Paris

Daughter Rebecca and grand-daughter Penelope arrived at CDG on July 7th, and we met them there, RER'd back to Paris and our apartment, then headed out for some initial walks in the neighborhood and BHV. Trying to fight off the jet-lag. No pix. They slept well that night. Next day we did most of the Carnavalet--P had been studying French history from the Enlightenment through the Revolution--to those we of course added the Belle Epoche, but no more. We then walked to the Samaritaine department store, which Rebecca had not seen since its re-opening a year or two ago. Again, few pix. And then to Mollard, a favorite art nouveau restaurant, for dinner celebrating our 54th wedding anniversary. Next morning, Rebecca departed for London, to meet husband Jeremy, and a week there. Our day with P included the Bastille market, Les Halles, and a couple gothic churches in the neighborhood, St. Merry and St. Eustache. Few pix. As I explained, we were more intent on showing Paris to P than documenting it all. Nonetheless...

Someone else's great shot of the interior of Samaritaine's
oldest building, now restored

Displaying its history...50s, 60s, 70s TV ads playing
on TV sets from the same times

I usually document our fine, or awful, meals better than this time;
we were having too much fun looking around at the Mollard decor
and being with Rebecca and Penelope; the gist here is that I got
to have two or maybe even three entrees (by design)

Vicki's onion soup

My pate; forgot to take pix of the main courses altogether

My baked Alaska with Grand Marnier (after flaming at the table)

Vicki's berry soup dessert

Us, 54+ years happy, in one of our happy places

Penelope got her introductory lecture on Gothic architecture at
St. Merry's, across from the Pompidou, sometimes referred to as
"little Notre Dame," a church we'd never been in before

The lectures continued at St. Eustache, other side
of Les Halles, a big late Gothic I've always liked,
now substituting for Notre Dame while its reconstruction
continues; set up for an organ concert, a nice juxtaposition
of console and pipes; I thought

Vicki and Penelope looking into some of the art work;
P is still pretty creeped-out by all the memorials, funereal
stuff

Sculpture/rock-climbing outside St. Eustache