We're home at last after a two week vacation in London and Paris!! In the process of organizing my pictures (you can see more on my facebook page), I can scarcely believe how many things we've seen and done - though my calf muscles are thoroughly convinced!
We left for on London via Calgary on June 6th after spending an evening with friends from college - very nice to catch up and see how much their three kids have grown - and arrived in London at 9 am on the 7th. We pushed through the jet lag to see Big Ben and the National Gallery. Some other highlights of London included Westminster Abbey, Tate Modern (my highlight, not so much Paul's!), the Victoria and Albert Museum, taking Paul to his first Broadway musical, the British Museum, and of course our three hour bus ride through purgatory to get to Wembley Stadium in order to see England thoroughly trash Andorra 7-0! Halfway through the week the Underground worker went on strike causing London to become gridlocked the day of the game. It took us three hours to bus 8 miles in hot, overcrowded bus full of soccer fans and angry commuters. London is not a "pretty" city per se, but it's certainly full of culture and history (and anger, especially in hot buses). One thing that makes London particularly unique is that it has found a way to both architecturally and philosophically meld the old and the new. We saw this most clearly as we travelled from St. Paul's Cathedral down over the Millennium Bridge to Tate Modern. Somehow it felt cohesive and unified - unlike Paris where skyscrapers seem unfortunately out of place.
Due to my ineptness at reading the 24 hour clock, we left for Paris at 5 am on Friday morning by train. We were a little nervous about the language barrier and that old stereotype that the French are rude to North Americans... be we needn't have worried. We found Parisians very warm and helpful people, and most spoke a little English (my grade ten French wasn't very helpful). Thankfully Paul's worries about the apartment we rented being a scam turned out to be unfounded. Other than being a little noisy at night with happy partiers in the streets our accommodations really made the trip. We were literally 100 feet from Notre Dame which lit up in all its glory every evening. We spent a good deal of time just sitting on the window sill, reading or people watching. If any of you want a fun, cheap place to stay in Paris we'll connect you to our hosts - they were awesome!
I think out of the two cities I enjoyed Paris the most. Paris was more relaxed - people take the time to enjoy life visiting and eating with friends, spending three hours at the local cafe, playing soccer in the parks... it was really very refreshing. Paris also seemed more family orientated and less materialistic than London (or any other North American city I've been to) - and the art wasn't bad either!!!! The only unfortunate things about Paris were that its completely packed with tourists, and that the Metro system was not nearly as easy to navigate as London's (when it was open). Some highlights of our time there was St. Chapelle's, the Military Museum, the morning market near our apartments, the Pompidou Centre, a cute Mexican restaurant we frequented, a bike ride around Versailles and the Rodin Museum.
I'm pretty sure I've now seen just about every major western artist now from 1300 - 1950 - sadly I only saw one Paul Klee and it was very small, but one is better than none I suppose! I really enjoy Rodin's museum and I got to see a number on unfinished Rouault paintings in the Pompidou - I nearly cried. I also became more well-acquainted with Raphael, seeing his cartoons at the Albert and Victoria, and then several of his paintings in the Louvre. I like him now more than ever... he is fast becoming my favorite Italian Renaissance painter!
So it was good to come home feeling a little more connected to the world and to history, but two weeks was almost too long to be away from our kids. When we picked them up from Grandma's house Noah clung to me for a good 15 minutes (until he saw the toys we brought him). Sasha has filled out a bit since we left and has excelled at his coloring skills! Noah is talking in longer sentences and his reddish brown hair is now decisively blond! Things can change so much in two weeks... It is good to be home!
