A Day At The Louvre, Or An Experiment In Boredom - France

I'm going to let you in on a dirty little secret. After all this time in Europe, we had not been to one museum. Not one! Horrible, I know. I'm just not that into art. Castles, yes. History, yes. Four hundred year old paint on canvas? Eh, not so much. Not wanting to stay completely uncultured, I dragged my little family to the Musée de Louvre, or, just the Louvre. First, you need to make sure you are saying Louvre correctly. And if you are saying it correctly, please tell me cause I have no idea how. My best guess is that you don't pronounce the R and the V is really deep in the throat. Like half a V. Loo-r-the. Maybe Loo-vrah. Or is it Loo-uh. Oh well. French isn't really my strong point. Obviously.

The day started out promising. We were greeted with bright blue skies. It was fabulous!

I must point out here that none of my children were very excited about going to the Louvre. Matt wasn't either, but he was giving it his best attempts to convince the kids that spending the day looking at art was a good idea. My kids said more than once, "You are totally wasting this nice day inside a museum." Emphasis and disgust on the word museum. I kept trying my best to tell the kids how lucky they were to see these masterpieces. After about 20  minutes of doing my best of trying to excite them and 20 minutes of them doing their best whining and complaining, I went old school on them. "Shut your mouth and look at this priceless art. Get some friggin' culture in your life, gosh dangit." 

All smiles after that. So we started off. We went right for the big guns. First things first.

The lady, herself. Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. One of the most famous paintings of all time. If you are going to see it yourself, keep this in mind. It's a lot smaller than you think, and there will be a huge crowd of people around it. Good luck getting a good view at it. 

Mona Lisa, check.

I took a picture of these paintings because I just really enjoyed them. I like fruit and flowers. I am not going to pretend to know a lot about art because I don't. For me art is like, hey, that's a pretty picture. Not about subject or style or composition. Hmm, maybe I need to get some more friggin' culture.

Hey, I know this guy! George Washington! There was a traveling American art exhibit in the Louvre while we were there. Maybe it was there just for us. 

The Louvre Museum is ginormous and is impossible to see in one day. Unless you literally jog around it like you would at a running track. This is the beautiful ceiling of one of the wings. The Louvre used to be a palace where the French royalty resided. Once Versailles was finished the palace was no longer needed as a residence and it began the transition into public museum in 1791.

One of my children really enjoyed the museum and went on a hunt for all the places he could find his first name. Which is actually pretty fun if you aren't used to seeing your name on things, I guess. I'm just glad he is smiling.

This guy, however, is NOT smiling. He looks pretty darn scary, actually. This is a close up of an "angel" on the ceiling of the golden hall we were in. Next, please.

Here is another great beauty. The Venus de Milo sculpture. It is thought to depict the greek god Aphrodite and to have been carved around 100 BC. 

Next, I want to show you the most impressive exhibit at The Louvre. I call it, This Museum is so freaking boring my cuticles hold my interest more. Are you ready?

Isn't it moving? Do you feel it stir your soul?

Wait! His cuticles are so inspiring that he has to go in for closer inspection! Breathtaking!












And the final piece! A follow up to the cuticle inspecting pieces... I give you...

Taking a Nap at The Louvre!






Real artistic genius at work here people. You're the best Alexander! (Don't hate me.)

We saw ancient Egyptian work. Look at the detail and the color. Fabulous.

We saw great halls filled with paintings that were larger than life. (See that tiny guard sitting by the doorway?)

We saw statues that were fabulous too.

But do you know what my family liked seeing the most?

The pyramid outside. Au revoir Musée de Louvre.

Needless to say, when I go see the Musée d'Orsay, I will probably be going alone.

Off To Paris, Again - France

Our very first trip here in Europe was to Paris the weekend we moved here. We rented a van because we didn't have our car yet, and drove to Paris. No reservations, no plans, just an idea and four kids. Read about that here. A lot has changed since that first trip. The kids are bigger and we've seen about 22 countries since then. Even though so much is different, so much is the same. We still get blown away by just how much there is to see here. We get blown away by the history and the beauty of Europe. I don't think that will ever change.

Our first trip to Paris was so spur of the moment, it wasn't planned very well. We left Paris still wanting to see many things so we always knew we would be back. Our first stop on our second trip was the catacombs under the streets of Paris.

Actually, our first stop was the line outside the catacombs. Even in the middle of coldest February the wait was over two hours.

The Catacombes de Paris are in old, abandoned underground stone mines and quarries on the Left Bank of the Seine river. The entrance is outside of what was considered medieval Paris, but Paris has grown to overtake the entrance.

The catacombs hold the remains of about 6 million Parisians. Paris didn't always put their dearly departed down in mines.

In the 1700's Paris experienced an overcrowding problem in its cemeteries. In fact, neighboring buildings to the cemeteries had corpses busting through their foundations the cemeteries were so packed. Ewww...

After the dead started infringing on other's basements, Paris officials knew that something had to be done. The decision was made to place all of the remains of Paris' cemeteries down in the mines. It took two years to unearth all of the departed and to deposit them down in the catacombs. It really is quite interesting. The front rows of the bones are neatly stacked skulls and femurs. But everything behind is just thrown back there. There is no organization or pattern and a lot of the bones in the back are broken.  It still is really interesting to visit the final resting place for the citizens of Paris for several centuries.  I didn't find it creepy or weird at all and I recommend a visit to it if you are in the area.

Of course while in Paris one must eat French pastry.

And we did other things. 

Like visit the Eiffel Tower again. 

It was really nice to visit Paris and not feel all this pressure to "see everything." Since we had already been there, we took a much more relaxed view to this trip. So relaxed that we bought a ball and went and played soccer across from the Eiffel Tower.

A little posing by the tower.

This is the Musée National de la Marine, or the maritime museum across the river from the Eiffel Tower. There are parks and greens spaces just behind from where I am taking this picture. (Don't let the blue skies fool you, it was freaking cold out.) While we were playing soccer, we had a couple of women come up and ask if we spoke English, to which we replied, yes, we do. They then went on to ask us if we could recommend a good restaurant in the neighborhood. Matt and I looked at each other and kind of shrugged. We mentioned the crêpe cart that we had just bough yummy goodies from smothered with Nutella, but other than that we really had no idea of where to eat. Next, we had an older married couple ask if we knew how to get back to the Métro. We DID know where that was so we directed them on their way. This kept happening while we were hanging out here. After four different groups of people asked us questions of where stuff was or how to find something, it hit me. They thought we were locals! And why shouldn't they! Who comes to Paris and plays soccer in the park by the Eiffel Tower instead of seeing the sights?! 

I'll tell you who. We do. 

After finishing our Nutella crepes and giving out subpar answers to tourists questions ("I'm really not sure what time the metro stops running...") I looked west and saw a beautiful sunset descending over Paris. There is a reason it was so beautiful. That dark grey cloud at the top was getting ready to drop hail all over the streets of Paris. I kept telling Matt, "I think we should go. It looks like it's going to rain." To which Matt answered, "Nah. We'll be fine." Five minutes later the skies opened up and people ran for the nearest cover. We found shelter under the awning of a cart selling sunglasses and mini Eiffel Towers. (Much like my answers to tourists questions, the awning was subpar in what we were looking for.)

So we ran for the Métro.

And we found shelter and warmth upon it.

Moon Over Monaco

We took a Mediterranean cruise back in November of 2013. I know, I know. "Another cruise?" You might be asking. There is just so much to see, and so little time to see it and cruise boats are a great way to get around Europe. At least the part of Europe that touches the ocean.

Before we got on our boat, we made a little stop over in Monaco. 

First. Where is Monaco?

Monaco is a teeny, tiny country in the southeast of France. It is surrounded by France on all three sides.

See that itty-bitty red dot down there in the corner? That's Monaco. (And don't get it confused with Morocco. They sound similar, but they are oh so different...)

This here is also Monaco. Those mountains out in the sunset are France.

The border of France and Monaco provides some beautiful sunsets, as you can see.

We were staying in nearby Nice and only ventured in to see some of the sights in Monaco.

Sights like this. The Monte Carlo Casino, playground of the fabulously wealthy and beautiful.

Or the sights of all the yachts and boats anchored in the harbor.

Monaco has two famous car races every year. The Monaco Grand Prix and the Monte Carlo Rally. We didn't see any racing, but we did see this statue celebrating Monaco's famous racing past.

In fact, some of the cars we did see wouldn't go at all. While standing in front of a grocery store eating some pizza, a man with a woman and baby in his car was struggling to get it started. He would turn the key and all that the car would elicit was the tell-tale clicking of a dead battery. Matt approached him and asked him if he wanted a push. He spoke no English so Matt acted out pushing the car. The man eagerly shook his head and said "Oui! Oui!" Matt, Alexander, and Aidan then got behind his car and pushed him into the street. He popped his clutch and sputtered away with a shout of "Merci!" out his window. One good deed done.

Here is a view of the fortified section of the old town of Monte Carlo. Prince Albert II, the current ruler of Monaco, lives not far from here in his palace. Monaco has been ruled by the Grimaldi family for over 700 years. Through out that 700 years, they have only had the one palace to reign from, where as other monarchs built new castles and palaces all the time. Why didn't the Grimaldis build some new digs? Seven hundred years is a looooong time to live in one place. The reason they didn't was real estate. Monaco kind of lacks it. They are small. Like really small. Actually, Monaco is the second smallest country in the world and the most densely populated. It has the area of less than a square mile, and in that area of less than a square mile they have crammed over 36,000 people in to it. 

The city is part of Monaco, but the hills above the city are France. In this picture the whole country of Monaco is shown.

But don't feel too bad for Monaco just because they are small. What they lack in size, they make up for in luxury and glitz. Yachts, jewels, $100,000 cars (everybody's got em)*, furs, and casinos are all common place in Monaco.

And don't forget that the occasional movie is shot in Monaco. Like the movie Monte Carlo starring Selena Gomez that my daughter watched no less than 50 times. Kind of why we took a picture of a hotel. Just for her. Here it is!

All in all, Monaco is a absolutely great country to visit if you are in the area. I highly recommend you take a drive through it. Just don't blink, cause you'll miss it.

*Up about where I am talking about what is in Monaco, I quoted a song. Hundred thousand dollar cars, everybody's got em. I will give bonus points (in my head because I'm really not keeping score on anything) if you can tell me what song that is.

Up next our time in Spain!

Lunching In France - Soufflenheim (Or Is It Germany?)

I went to France for lunch with a group of friends for one of their recent birthdays. Lunch? In France? Yep. Because when you live only about an hour from the border you can do those kind of things. You can jump in your car and say, "Hey, I feel like fresh French bread, from France." Or "I wonder what's happening in Switzerland right now. Let's go check it out." Just one of the perks of where we live.

Soufflenheim lies right over the border of the Rhine River between France and Germany, about an hour southwest of where we live. It is in the department of Alsace, which is known for it's small, timbered villages and rolling hills. This was the first trip to France for some of our group. These people were very excited to be setting foot in France. I hated to burst their bubble, but I told them "It doesn't look that different from Germany." Oh. "In fact, it used to be Germany. It's gone back and forth several times." Soufflenheim even sounds like it's in Germany. 

Soufflenheim, France. Isn't it glorious? Before we crossed the border, a girl kept asking "Are we in France yet? Are we in France yet?" 

When we finally arrived at the town, the first-time-France-traveler remarked, "It IS just like Germany." 

"Yep. Except for the dog crap on the sidewalks." Seeing dog crap on the sidewalks is always a sure sign you're in France. Soufflenheim is France dressing up in German clothes. Or is it Germany dressing up in French clothes? 

Let me explain our confusion. The area of Alsace has bounced between France and Germany a lot. It is a desirable area (I would hope!) that people have been fighting over and stealing for centuries. Here's a quick break down. I color coded it to make it easier to follow. Aren't I nice?

847 AD - Alsace given to East Francia (modern day France).
889 AD - The Carolingian Empire breaks up and the Kingdom of Germany takes Alsace.
962 AD - The Holy Roman Empire forms (Germany) and annexes Alsace.
1674 AD - Louis XIV of France takes it back after the Franco-Dutch war.
1874 AD - Franco-Prussian war ends and Germany takes it back from the losers (France). Creation of Germany.
1919 AD - End of WWI and Treaty of Versailles has France grabbing it back.
1940 AD - Nazi Germany invades and conquers Alsace. Says Alsace is their's and always will be.
1945 AD - End of WWII. Alsace goes back to the French and remains under the control of France.

I think they might have an identity crises on their hands. Considering that every time they changed hands, they made the people switch from French, to German, then back to French again. Streets were renamed, the other language was outlawed. The Alsatian dialect is the language spoken here and is close to German. French is now the official language, but you can still hear some Alsatian now and then. 

History lesson over. If you want to know more, read this here.

The real reason that you go to Soufflenheim is not for history lessons, but for French pottery. Pottery has been made in this area of France for 1,500 years due to the large clay deposit from the Rhine River nearby. 

They make it right there in their shops, and then hand paint it and fire it in their own ovens. It's beautiful.

Here is a big plate I bought to set out chocolate chip cookies on. Cranes are the symbol of Alsace, but I have no idea why since Alsace isn't anywhere near the ocean. 

If you want to be really authentic, buy a crock pot. That is how the pottery really came about. Families would save all the scraps from the week, the meats and vegetables, and put them in a crock pot and take it to the local baker to stick in his warm oven on Sunday while they went to church, and then when they got out they would have a meat-vegetable stew concoction. It's called Baeckeoffe, which means baker's oven.

This is where we eat when we go here. The Restaurant au Boeuf, or Beef Restaurant. They serve more than beef.

They serve things like this. The Vol-au-vent. A puff pastry filled with goodness like beef, gravy, and mushrooms. This vol-au-vent is award winning. They tell you all over their menu. Award winning!!!

And things like this. The tarte à l'oignon, or onion tart. Mmmm... French onion tart. No awards though. But still, pretty darn good.

Even though Soufflenheim doesn't put off the same French feel that Paris does, it's still good for a quick pass through if you are in the neighborhood. 

Who doesn't like to walk down the street and see places like this?

Au revior,

Kelly*

*Loves going to France no matter what feel it has, and she loves saying she has been five times now.