Paris: Day 31 - flea market & Tour de France

Flea market day! Alicia and I headed off to a flea market this morning around 9 am. It wasn't exactly what we were expecting but there was plenty of shopping and that made us very happy. After shopping we sat down at an outdoor table at a cafe and ordered French Onion Soup. Yummy! It was very very good.

After lunch we walked home and then Alicia walked over to the Pompidou Center (modern art gallery in our neighborhood) and I hung out with Phil while waiting for Luke to wake up for his lunch. He has had kind of a runny nose so we wanted to keep his life a bit more low key since we have been so busy. Phil stayed home with him most of the day and studied.

After Luke ate lunch Alicia and I headed off to catch the Metro to go to the Musee d'Orsay. We figured out which stop we needed to get off at to get to the Orsay. We got on the Metro fine and when it came time for our stop the Metro kept going and made some announcement about security. Luckily Alicia knows some French so we could figure that out. We got off at the next stop and the streets were packed. They were so packed that the stairs leading from the Metro to the street were filled. We pushed through and realized that we were in the midst of the Tour de France! How cool! Except we had to push through the crowds in order to find a path to the museum. We were limited on time too because Luke was at home with Phil.














































It was really neat to be in the midst of the excitement! Groups were clustered together along the street according to nationality. Flags were hung over the barriers representing all different places and people were cheering. We felt like we were part of something special! It was neat to see people showing pride for their own countries. Sometimes I think the USA is lacking a little in that area. It made me feel pride for my own country and it felt good to see the US flag hanging in honor!














































So we finally figured out a way to get to the museum (all the streets were blocked off for the race) and got through security! What an ordeal and we hadn't even seen the museum yet. We headed to the Impressionists right away so that Alicia could see them. I, of course, showed her how to turn off the flash on our cameras so that we could take pictures inside the museum and then I proceeded to take a picture in the gallery with the flash on! Whoops! I was so embarrassed! The guy that worked there started speaking to me in English very loudly about buying a copy instead in the gift shop and I sheepishly skedaddled my way into the next gallery. Later, a lady must have sat her purse down on the escalator because when she tried to get off her bag got jammed in the escalator and made a very loud noise and shut down! We thought that someone had passed out and all we could see was the lady trying to pull on her bag with all her might! Craziness. Needless to say we took the stairs!

Musee d'Orsay on the Seine River















Allison & the Degas dancer















Van Gogh's bedroom















Leaving the Orsay Museum was less stressful. We were able to find our way to the nearest Metro station. I randomly bought a Metro ticket from some tourist that told me that she was leaving the country. I got a deal and luckily it worked! We caught the correct Metro going the right way and got off at the right stop! I am feeling pretty good about the Metro now! It was still pretty crazy though because the race was was still going on. We made it home.

In the evening Philip and I went out to dinner and Alicia watched Luke at our apartment. We ate at a nice restaurant by the Place des Vosges which is in our neighborhood! It was nice to get away just the two of us and it was nice of Alicia to volunteer to watch Luke. At first we were feeling pretty confident and we ordered in French and ordered off of the French menu. So we thought that we knew what we were ordering...and at least it looked pretty. Phil ended up with a beef taretare dish which apparently is raw beef ground up! Ha! He ate all of it and i tasted it! It was actually pretty good! I cannot remember what I ordered which is probably a good thing since I think that it was raw as well. It looked like very thinly sliced beef with some green leaves and mushrooms on it! Hopefully we feel ok later!

the only thing cooked on this table is the french fries!




















We were only gone about two hours but it was enough time for Luke to realize that we were gone. Poor buddy was crying so hard when we walked in the door! I could tell that he was glad to see us and it took him a while to calm down. I ended up giving him some baby Tylenol and that seemed to start the calming down process. He ended up falling asleep in my arms and Phil was tickling his chin and he was laughing in his sleep! We felt better then and Phil laid with him on the bed for a little bit and then we put him in his bed. He is sleeping soundly now.

Tomorrow is Alicia's last day and we are only here for one more week! It is nice to be thinking about going home. We have loved our time here but, like I have said many times since coming here, there is no place like home!

See you soon!