Monday 25th Feb : Notre Dame towers, GPC & Arc de Triomphe

Ahh, c'est Paris.
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The kids wake early and once again work on their journals before we set out. They are really good about it. Collecting ticket stubs and brochures to stick in and working on their writing.

We left home at 10.30 am. And caught bus #69 to Pont Neuf. We had our first queue of the holiday (outside the airports). We were waiting to climb the towers of Notre Dame and Michael chatted with some American students and then hassled a five year old Italian boy who was playing a game on his Dad’s mobile phone. Michael just wanted to watch but the poor kid obviously didn’t want his personal space invaded quite that much. So we figured out how to access the games on our new mobile phones. Up the spiral stone stairs. Hundreds of them. I felt a bit sorry for my poor thighs – until I realised that while many of these steps came almost as high as my knee … they were well up Michael’s thighs and he was stomping up like a Trojan. Once up there we saw an exhibit about Victor Hugo and how the cathedral had almost been in ruins (during the French Revolution it was actually sold to a scrap dealer but he never got around to taking the thing apart. Whew!) when he wrote the story. The room he describes as Esmerelda’s cell really is there. His story focussed attention on the cathedral and many think that this is what saved it from falling into rack and ruin. We climbed higher and went out to the front of the cathedral amongst the gargoyles. Most of them are ugly critters but there is the odd endearing one. Kate hated the one that looked as though it was devouring a small animal – perhaps a rabbit. You can stand alongside the gargoyles and look out over the area in front of Notre Dame. Further around we went into one of the bell rooms and climbed the rickety wooden stairs to see the great bell. Amazing. Further up even more stone stairs – narrower spirals this time and we were able to see 360 degrees around the city. It is incredible.

One of many gargoyles.
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Michael was trying to hold a conversation with the security woman up there (He talks to everyone he can and has a really good go of speaking French.). He turned to me and said, "I don't want to know just a few words - I want to know all of them RIGHT NOW!" He obviously couldn’t get out all he wanted.

After Notre Dame we walked towards the Centre George Pompidou, stopping on the way for the kids to do some free tobogganing down a ride they had set up there. We had lunch in front of the odd looking fountain outside the odd looking building with all its pipes outside. Inside is the Museum of Modern Art. Interesting but generally not appealing in the way that the other art we have been seeing is. Some of it was thought provoking though and gave us some good opportunities for us to discuss art with the kids. One of the pictures that Kate had liked at the Musee D’orsay had been on a black canvas and had had what looked like a white undercoat roughly wiped over it. “Look Mum. Isn’t it pretty,” she cried at the same moment I was wondering if it had been put there amongst all the dappled glowing beauty by mistake. Pretty? I definitely couldn’t see it. And I definitely didn’t ‘get’ a lot of this art. Loved the Philip Stark exhibits though – furniture and things. Classic. Isaac and Michael liked a small room that seemed to be made out of fibreglass and was all black and white. You went into it. It was a bit like a cave with a rounded door. Interesting.

Kate hated this one
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We returned to the Louvre with its more conventional artwork. Again we were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of amazing art. Checked out the Egyptian section, obets d’art and crown jewels along with hundreds of other paintings. This palace on its own with all the art removed would be incredible. With the art as well – incredible. I imagine you would need several weeks to see the Louvre properly and we did the walk by tour. The kids coped well. And it wasn’t until they thought their feet would fall off that we let them leave. We caught the Metro to the Arc de Triomphe. Again we made our way up the spiral stairs to the top. Stopping to look at the exhibits within about the Arch through the years. Almost lost Kate when we thought all the kids had gone on ahead and we dashed after them.

Bells of Notre Dame
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“I looked away for a moment and turned around and you were gone,” she said tearfully. We were right up the top looking around when Tess and Isaac decided they wanted to head down to the relighting of the flame for the unknown soldier at the base of the Arch. I was checking to see if Kate wanted to go down too and I realised I hadn’t seen her up there at all. We were just starting to worry when she came up the down stairs. She had seen Tess and Isaac on their way down and they had told her where we were. Poor petit choux (little cabbage). She took a while to get over it and wouldn’t let go of my hand for a second. We watched the Eiffel Tower light up (It looks like a giant sparkler at night) and went for a walk down the Champs Elysee. Nice shops. Had dinner at a restaurant there. Lovely.

View from the top
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We caught the Metro home.

27 000 steps on Dad’s pedometer. Hate to think how many steps that is for Michael – even without counting all his extra little excursions as he runs up this bank and those steps and around that fountain.