Day Four and Five

PARIS!!!
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A whirlwind trip to Paris is the best way to describe our 2 day trip.  We rode into Paris on the train and then found our hotel by way of the Metro.  A quick visit to our room and we were off to one of the things that Parisians do best... shopping.  Again, finding our way by the Metro we managed to find the famous shopping store Printemps.  It was enormous but we headed straight for the little girls section.  On the to-do list was to find a very "Paris" outfit for Nai'a.  And that we did...  AP got some clothes too, despite her dislike of shopping!!  She did get to pick out a toy which is the kind of shopping she likes best.  We shopped until we dropped had a small dinner then back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

Shopping at Printemps
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Up very early to begin our packed day in Paris.  First on the list was a visit to the Louvre.  We entered the museum from the Metro stop which bypassed all the lines.  Seeing the inverted pyramid was an incredible sight.  The way the light shined through it was spectacular.  Since we were only going to have a few short hours we decided to focus on one section of the museum that housed the Italian artists, including Leonardo Da Vinci.  There were so many beautiful pieces of art that amazed the girls.  We made our way to the most famous painting, the Mona Lisa.  We were all surprised at how small the painting was but despite the size it was stunning.  Another painting that we loved was the Marriage at Cana.  AP was very excited to find an entire room filled with paintings that had horses in them.

Shaka
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Next on our filled agenda was a tour of the city.  We were picked up by a van guided by a wonderful man named Christophe.  The guide let the girls sit up in the front on the tour.  They loved being in front and were so well behaved the guide called them his little princesses.  We were able to see all of the major sights of Paris.  Notre Dame where we lit a candle and saw the immense stained glass windows in the church.  The "beach on the Seine" where they put sand on the banks of the river Seine and beach chairs, umbrellas, palm trees in pots and create a beach for all the Parisians who cannot travel to the sea on their summer holiday.  Place Vendome, Montmartre, Latin Quarter, Louvre, Opera House, L'arc du Triomphe,  Eiffel Tower and many other sites along the way.  We ended our van tour at the bank of the river Seine where we boarded a boat for another guided tour.  We got a really good look at the city of Paris.

The Louvre
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After the boat tour we went to the Eiffel Tower.  We were able to ride the elevator up to the second level which gave us a really great view of the entire city.  This was AP's favorite part of the Paris trip.  We didn't want to wait in the long long line to go the very top but we were happy to be on the second level.

Almost time for our journey back to the French countryside but not before a delicious dinner at a sidewalk cafe.  We were trying to get back to our car before dark (which is 10p in France) but missed it by about 1/2 hour.  We had a very dark ride home and missed our turn once and had to back track... Still we had an awesome 2 days and look forward to a day of rest!!!