Paris Day 10!!

This morning after making breakfast at Roberts, we took our journals and postcards to the Seine. We walked over near Notre Dame and sat on a dock and wrote for a little while. Then once it got too hot we found a cafe near the river and ordered a limonade. We stayed there for about an hour sipping our limonade and writing. Then we headed back and made crepes for lunch around 3. After a two hour nap, we got a call from Robert. He was on his way to the Depeche Mode concert, in his kilt and I guess lots of people (tourists) were taking pictures of him. He asked us to go pick up a newspaper and magazine called Figaro, because Stephane was being featured in it. Once securing a copy we headed off to our boat ride. We got on the batobus at Notre Dame and it took us past Hotel de Ville, the Louvre, Champs-Elysees, the Eiffel Tower, the Musee d'Orsay, and a couple other places. After we made our loop we stopped at an Italian place and I (Sami) had a calazone, which was huge, and Emily had Spaghetti al Pesto, both were very tasty. Now we are back home and ready for bed! Tomorrow we hope to go to the market again and then maybe to the ferris wheel in the evening. We miss and love you all!
Sami & Emily :D

Paris Day 9!!

This morning Sami and I woke up and took the metro to Saint Chappelle. We had to wait in line, but it moved quickly and we were soon inside. The chapel was absolutely breath taking! The stain glass is so beautiful and exquisite. It was really hot inside but we still loved every minute of it! Then we walked back to the apartments where we ate lunch with Robert. We had pruschetto wrapped cantalope...it was delicious. Then Sami and I headed off to the Arc de Triumph. We took the bus to the Louvre then walked through the Tuileries and down the Champs-Elysees. It was really busy with shoppers and tourists. We took the stairs underground to get across the busy street to get to the center of the Arc de Triumph. There, we took the stairs up to the top. The view was amazing! We could see every direction for miles. Then we met Robert at a club/bar Madrigal. Iniside is all barbie pink and white. The walls are all pink mirror and the wall behind the bar is a metallic sparkling tile wall of pinks, purples, and blues. Sami and I were tempted to get a martini, but we went with smoothies...but there's always next time :) Robert told us some great stories and we had a good time. Then Sami and I headed back home. It was a long, hot day but we got a lot accomplished! Tonight we are hanging out and relaxing. We don't know what our weekend plans are yet, but we may ride a boat on the Seine tomorrow night. We miss and love you all!

Sami and Emily :)

The main area at the Musee d'Orsay with the clock we loved

The Piper, from the cover of Gramma Karen's book

My gelato in the shape of a rose

The stain glass windows in Saint Chappelle

The Arc de Triumph from across the round about

Paris Day 8!!

Today Sami and I woke up and got ready to head to Musee d'Orsay. We took the metro there and had to wait in line for a little bit. We tried to say we were 17 so we could get in for free, but then the guy asked for ID. Sami said "I keep saying that I'm 17 when really I'm 18. So sorry." He still let us in for free, but told us not to talk much. It was ridiculous and kind of awkward. Inside was very beautiful. We loved the main clock that hung high above the main section of the museum. It was very managable and Sami and I saw lots of Monet, Manet, Van Gough, Degas, and Rodin. We saw most of everything we wanted to. It was always a nice surprise to walk around a corner and find a painting we hoped to find. The Dancers by Degas and Van Gough's paintings were my (Emily) favorites. Sami liked them all. After we left the museum we took the metro to Notre Dome. There we walked along the small streets on the island and picked up lunch. Sami had a banana crepe and I had a chicken sandwich. Then we went into a couple of shops. We might have found one or two things for our family :) Then we stopped and got gillato. It was delicious! Sami's looked like a rose. She had raspberry flavor in a cone and the girl made it look like a flower. I had Chocolat Nore and Caffe in a dish! It was so good. When we were crossing the bridge back to the other island, a man was playing an accordian. It was very French. We walked along the river past the street vendors and then headed home. We hung out in Robert's apartment for a while and then went downstairs to take a nap, which ended up being about 2 hours long. While we were sound asleep, supposedly, there was a thunder storm and a huge down pour. We still don't know if we believe Robert :) Once we woke up, we went upstairs to have dinner with Robert. He made pasta with smoked salmon in a white sauce and a salad. We brought the bread and dessert (aka oranges). He headed off to the gym after a 2 hour conversation with tech support for his iPhone. Now we are blogging and are going to go watch Harry Potter. Tomorrow we have no clue what we are going to do...yet. But we'll figure it out. Maybe we'll go to Saint Chappelle. We'll upload pictures tomorrow! We miss and love you all.

Sami and Emily :)

Paris Day 7!!

This morning we toasted our waffles that we bought at the store... they were really really good. Tomorrow we are hoping to make pancakes. Well since all the sales started today we decided to hit the stores! Robert, Emily and I (Sami) got some bikes and rode to Zara which isn't too far away from here. On our way to the store from dropping off the bikes at a station we went into a couple shoe stores, but we didn't find anything we couldn't live with out. Then we went to Zara. There was a ton of cute stuff, and a ton of people! We found a couple things that were really cute, Robert found some stuff as well. Then we got back on the bikes and rode home for lunch. We had a cucumber and cheese salad, edamame and a quiche. Then we went and took a rest in our apartment, then headed off to H&M. There was a ton of good stuff there, along with some good basics. We bought a couple things but not a ton. Plus, this is for our moms and dads, we haven't spent a lot on really anything else except food and museum admission. Oh! On our way to H&M we kinda got a little lost, but we got ourselves there. Robert didn't come with us. Once we came back we heated up some stuff from that all frozen foods market and ate. Then we cleaned up and went to the Eiffel Tower. We took the metro, and were doing pretty good, until we took a right instead of a left while we were making a transfer. But oh well we never got on the wrong train, just walked around for a little bit :D Then we got ourselves to the Eiffel Tower, which was harder than it should have been, we just needed to look up. We climbed up to the first and second story then took the elevator to the top. Those first two flights just about killed us! The view just kept getting better and better as we went up. The sun was setting as we were going up and everything was so beautiful. When we were coming down the sun had fully set and everything was lit up. When we were going down in the elevator the lights on the outside of the Eiffel Tower began to sparkle, which was amazing, and you couldn't have experienced that sight any better than from inside the tower. We managed to get home without getting lost or anything which we are pretty proud of! Now it is about 12:30 and Emily is asleep on Roberts bed! Tomorrow we thing we will be going to the Musee d'Orsay. We have our list of things to hit so it should be fun.

We miss and love you all!

Sami & Emily

Our first sight of the Eiffel Tower

Us after climbing the stairs

Looking out from the second story

Looking back once we got out

Paris Day 6!!

Today Sami and I (Emily) went to Notre Dame! It wasn't too busy when we first showed up, but by the time we were inside and walking around it was getting a little crowded. While we were inside, there was a mass going on. We sat down for a few minutes to enjoy the service. The stained glass inside is beautiful! I lit a candle in honor of Saint Denis. Sami lit a candle for Mary and baby Jesus. After walking around the inside, we went outside and got in a long line waiting to go to the top of the towers of Notre Dame. Finally, after about an hour we started our ascent of the 400 stairs. We powered up the stairs and a little out of breath we stood in awe of the amazing panaramic view. It was a clear, sunny day and we could see all of Paris! We climbed even further up to look at the 3 ton bell with its 500 kilo clapper. This bell only rings on special Catholic holidays. Then we started descent, following a very loud, obnoxious, sweaty American tourist. She would hold onto the railings so tight that she left sweaty moisture behind. Sami and I would continually stop and wait for the moisture to dry before we got to it. Gross! Thank goodness I had my hand sanitizer. Sami's ankle kept poping on practically every step on the way down. On the last 60 steps it cracked 24 times! It was really weird. On our walk back to the apartment we bought scarves at a little vendor. They are tres chic :) When we got back we had lunch with Robert. It was delicious like always and we sat and talked. Then we went and checked out the upstairs apartments. Robert was practically ransaking everything that was left behind! We got some olive oil, nutella, honey, coffe, and a pink umbrella (Sami and I will probably be taking it to London). The corner upstairs apartment has a balcony that looks out rue des Ursulines and rue St. Jacques. They, like the others, are amazing! Then we headed to the grocery stores. We stocked up on cereal, crackers, cookies, wine, eggs, pancake mix, chicken, and waffles. Yum! Sami and I relaxed the rest of the afternoon and prepared for our picnic. We cooked chicken breasts with olive oil and seasoning along with sauteed cucumbers with walnuts and garlic. We also cut up a pinapple and packed cherries and bread. Then we headed over to the Luxemborg Gardens. We sat right in front of the main grass area and enjoyed our home cooked meal. We had some fun too feeding the pigeons our extra bread. Now we are back and are going to have dessert with our wine. Tomorrow all the big sales start! So we are going to go shopping :) Then tomorrow night we are planning on going to the Eiffel Tower, hopefully. We miss and love you all!

Sami and Emily :)

Summer Soltice Crowd

Outside the Louvre

Rose Window

Gargoyle and view from the top of Notre Dame

Sami and I atop Notre Dame with the Eiffel Tower in the background!

Paris Day 5!!!

Hey everyone! Last night was amazing! Since yesterday was Summer Soltice all over Paris bands were set up everywhere. And when we say everywhere we mean everywhere, there were bands in alleys, playing out balconys, in cars, squares, sidewalks, clubs, bars and restaurants. There were so many people out listening too! In about five minutes we probably saw as many people as there are in Salem! We walked around for about three hours except for the 10 minutes we stopped and had pizza at Pizza Rustica... pretty good stuff too! There were soo many drunk people out and about as well, there were even a few police helping people who were totally wasted on the sidewalk. Don't worry they weren't helping us! Everyone was walking around with a beer or some sort of alcoholic drink in their had... so we felt we needed to join in! So we stopped and Emily and Robert got a beer and I (Sami) got a small glass of wine. Everyone was smoking too... but we are not included in that. Most of the bands were singing and playing music we hear all the time at home, including U2, Rolling Stones, Coldplay and the Beatles. Towards the end of the evening we stopped and got crepes... mine (Sami talking) spilled all over me, it was sugar that had melted :D Then we picked up some week passes for the bikes that we can rent. So we rode them back to the apartment. Oh! On our way back we were in the middle of a riot but not really, there was just this car blocking the road with their music turned way way up and the people were dancing on the roof and out the windows. Then in front of them was a huge crowd of people dancing and everytime any car would honk everyone would start yelling and cheering! It was so funny! Then on our bikes we blocked the car so that they couldn't move. Behind the first car was this huge tour bus from Poland and the driver was getting really ticked off, kinda amusing. We were so tired when we got back home. But there were so many people everywhere, and a ton of trash, that had disappeared by morning. Out in front of one of Robert's yoga studios was where the Iran election demonstration was earlier that day, he said it was kinda crazy. Today, after a good night sleep, we moved our stuff into our apartment, grabbed a pain au chocolat and went to the Louvre. Again we took the bus and it worked out really well. There were so many people there, but we saw everything we really wanted to. Including, the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory (Nike of Samothrace), Venus de Milo, Napoleon's apartments, Liberty Leading the People, the Medieval Moat, the Statue of Ramses II and many works by Leonardo. Along with so much more it's hard to even remember, unfortunately a few things were out on loan so we couldn't see them like the Lacemaker and a few others. Then we ate at a cute cafe by the river then took the bus home. The afternoon was dedicated to cleaning up our new apartment! All our stuff is moved in and we'll upload pictures tomorrow probably. Then we went to the store that only has frozen foods and picked up something for dinner. Tomorrow we are going to Notre Dame, probably going to ride bikes there which is pretty fun and exciting. We will add a bunch of pictures tomorrow from everything!
We miss and love you all!
Sami & Emily :D

Paris Day 4!!

Today Sami and I slept in until 10:30 and woke up to a cool breeze blowing through the apartment and looking out to see the sun shining outside. We had yummy oatmeal with dates and honey for breakfast along with coffee :) Robert took Sami and I to a local market that is open every Sunday on rue Mouffetard. It was bustling with people and busy with shoppers. We bought fresh lettuce, avacados, and cherries. Then we ventured further down the street where they had live music and dancing. There was multiple singers, one accordian, a guitar, and tenor saxaphone. Then people showed up with more accordians and played along. It was an open dance floor and many couples when out and displayed their skills. It was really fun to watch! Nothing like this would happen at home. They even had people handing out papers with the lyrics of the songs on them so that the crowd could sing along. Most of the people dancing were older, in their sixites and seventies, and they were amazing. Sami and I hope we can do that when we're older! The dancers would often change dance parteners from song to song. We stayed and watched for about an hour and fifteen minutes. A few of the women dancing wore vintage dresses and clothing. At the end of practically every song, this one man dressed in all white would dip his dance partner! We left the market and headed home to make lunch with the fresh produce we just bought. Robert stuffed avacados with cottage cheese and made an avacado salad with balsalmic vinegar dressing, it was delish! This afternoon Sami and I are relaxing in the apartment. Tonight there is a huge music festival with bands playing in squares all over Paris and private groups playing on the sidewalks. Robert, Sami, and I are going to go out and enjoy a late evening (once again) of live music. Sami and I are super excited to move into our apartment tomorrow! We got a sneak peak last night of it and now we can't wait. We will definitely post pictures and maybe even a video. We miss and love you all!

Sami and Emily :)

The entrance stairway

Rue Mouffetard