Paris and Amsterdam and home
Well, it is now September, I apologize for the long delay.
We got sick, one by one, from Morocco to Paris, through Amsterdam, and back home. I believe it was a water-borne protozoa called cryptosporidium, based on symptoms and incubation period. Amonte luckily was spared. In Paris, there was a vomit-from-the-loft-bed incident. So that was memorable.
We visited the Eiffel Tower, took the stairs to the second level, and waited in line less than an hour. I think we timed it well, we were ascending as the sun was descending, so we saw the sun set and the tower light up. I prefer the Eiffel Tower at night.
We did so much walking in Paris, from Les Invalides to Notre Dame and back the first day. We saw the Louvre, but did not enter. After that we decided to get metro passes. I enjoyed visiting the artists on Montmartre and Sacre Coeur cathedral, I think by this point the boys were pretty sick of cathedrals, since we have been in so many grand buildings this summer. Then we went to Parc des Buttes Chaumont, a delightful place with a lake, waterfall, and an island with a temple atop.
The next day, we waited in line for 3 hours (!) to go to the Catacombs of Paris. A few hundred years ago, the cemeteries in Paris were crowded and full of disease, and they moved the bones of 6 million people to underground tunnels that were abandoned quarries. They made interesting art with the bones.
While in line, we rescued another pigeon with hair and string tied around both feet, hobbling them together. Watching Jeff and Teo try to catch the pigeon for 15 minutes was entertainment for everyone else in line with us. 3rd animal rescue of the trip!
Our final day in Paris, we took a hop-on, hop-off boat tour. We went to the Orsay museum, much more manageable than the Louvre. The boys got a good dose of impressionism before seeing some Van Gogh. Later, in Amsterdam, Teo and I saw a 3-D re-creation of Vincent's bedroom in Arles by Lichtenstein.
And, no visit to Paris is complete without a visit to the Gucci store on Champs Elysees
The first day in Amsterdam we went to the Anne Frank house. We had been talking about WW2 and had listened to an audiobook biography of her life, so I think the boys appreciated it more. Then we just explored the city, Amonte's favorite of the trip. We walked through the red light district during the daytime, Teo was oblivious, Amonte a bit uneasy but took it in stride.
The next day, Jeff was terribly sick, so the boys and I went on a grand adventure! We took two trams, four bus rides, four train rides, and three bike rides visiting a national park in the Netherlands. They have free white bicycles to use anywhere in the park, including kid's bikes. We biked to a terrific museum inside the park called Kroller-Muller, with the second largest Van Gogh collection. We saw Cafe Terrace at Night, after having visited the actual cafe in Arles months before (now painted yellow and called Cafe Van Gogh, his cafe was yellow due to the light of the gas lamps):
The next day we went to the Van Gogh museum and saw more masterpieces. They had a terrific free scavenger hunt audioguide for the kids, so we could let them loose and enjoy our audio guides at our own pace. Then to a Diamond museum. Teo and I later went to a Banksy exhibit (street artist).
And we can't forget de Poezenboot, the cat shelter on a houseboat! Teo and I went twice....
The trip was fantastic, we are all glad we went. I could have kept going, but the boys needed to start school and we needed some income, so home we came.
We are going to work on a YouTube video with highlights of our trip.
XO Kristi
We got sick, one by one, from Morocco to Paris, through Amsterdam, and back home. I believe it was a water-borne protozoa called cryptosporidium, based on symptoms and incubation period. Amonte luckily was spared. In Paris, there was a vomit-from-the-loft-bed incident. So that was memorable.
We visited the Eiffel Tower, took the stairs to the second level, and waited in line less than an hour. I think we timed it well, we were ascending as the sun was descending, so we saw the sun set and the tower light up. I prefer the Eiffel Tower at night.
We did so much walking in Paris, from Les Invalides to Notre Dame and back the first day. We saw the Louvre, but did not enter. After that we decided to get metro passes. I enjoyed visiting the artists on Montmartre and Sacre Coeur cathedral, I think by this point the boys were pretty sick of cathedrals, since we have been in so many grand buildings this summer. Then we went to Parc des Buttes Chaumont, a delightful place with a lake, waterfall, and an island with a temple atop.
The next day, we waited in line for 3 hours (!) to go to the Catacombs of Paris. A few hundred years ago, the cemeteries in Paris were crowded and full of disease, and they moved the bones of 6 million people to underground tunnels that were abandoned quarries. They made interesting art with the bones.
While in line, we rescued another pigeon with hair and string tied around both feet, hobbling them together. Watching Jeff and Teo try to catch the pigeon for 15 minutes was entertainment for everyone else in line with us. 3rd animal rescue of the trip!
Our final day in Paris, we took a hop-on, hop-off boat tour. We went to the Orsay museum, much more manageable than the Louvre. The boys got a good dose of impressionism before seeing some Van Gogh. Later, in Amsterdam, Teo and I saw a 3-D re-creation of Vincent's bedroom in Arles by Lichtenstein.
And, no visit to Paris is complete without a visit to the Gucci store on Champs Elysees
The first day in Amsterdam we went to the Anne Frank house. We had been talking about WW2 and had listened to an audiobook biography of her life, so I think the boys appreciated it more. Then we just explored the city, Amonte's favorite of the trip. We walked through the red light district during the daytime, Teo was oblivious, Amonte a bit uneasy but took it in stride.
The next day, Jeff was terribly sick, so the boys and I went on a grand adventure! We took two trams, four bus rides, four train rides, and three bike rides visiting a national park in the Netherlands. They have free white bicycles to use anywhere in the park, including kid's bikes. We biked to a terrific museum inside the park called Kroller-Muller, with the second largest Van Gogh collection. We saw Cafe Terrace at Night, after having visited the actual cafe in Arles months before (now painted yellow and called Cafe Van Gogh, his cafe was yellow due to the light of the gas lamps):
The next day we went to the Van Gogh museum and saw more masterpieces. They had a terrific free scavenger hunt audioguide for the kids, so we could let them loose and enjoy our audio guides at our own pace. Then to a Diamond museum. Teo and I later went to a Banksy exhibit (street artist).
The trip was fantastic, we are all glad we went. I could have kept going, but the boys needed to start school and we needed some income, so home we came.
We are going to work on a YouTube video with highlights of our trip.
XO Kristi
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