Paris Day 4

Actually one of my favorite memories, St. Chapelle was our first stop the next morning. We had to reserve a time to go because of COVID changes. Honestly, I love that. We spent much less time waiting in lines. After so much standing in line in Versailles, this was smooth sailing. 

Elise and Sennia were amazing and listened to me explain how to read a stained glass window. We found some of their favorite stories-at least the ones on the bottom. It's difficult to see the middle to top ones. I feel like Elise showed me that she'd grown up considerably even since Egypt. She was so attentive. Everyone was amazed at the beautiful chapel.

We don't have any pictures of the Conciergerie(sp?), but we had a lot of fun exploring that as well. They have an interactive app on tablets that you use to see it as it was over time. There are 6 places to scan and then you focus it on different spots around the room from there and then you can click on different things for explanations. Throughout the whole program there are 5 or 6 treasures that you locate. So even if you don't want to read all the details like Elise, you still get to see what it was like and there's enough incentive to click everything that she spent her time working through it just like we did and we were still able to explore and learn.

We saw Pont Neuf from the banks of the Seine, underneath the iconic bridge. That did mean that we could laugh at the faces.

Made it to the Louvre a little early so we went through to the gardens. Matt took the older kids through with the intent of seeing Place de la Concorde and the Musee de l'Orangerie.  I tried to keep the little girls happy but they were hungry and Elise was seriously tempting people to kidnap her. JK. Sort of. She wanted to hide in these giant hedges and Sennia said someone was following her and left when Sennia got close. Unfortunately I was also pick-pocketed but I caught him and he gave my phone back and acted like I should be more careful-which was true. 

The Place de la Concorde was under renovation and couldn't be seen at all. They also couldn't find the Musee de l'Orangerie so it was a grumpy moment. We sat down and got a quick bite to eat and rushed over to the Louvre. 

I happily volunteered to take the girls on our own tour of the Louvre so Matt could go with the other kids and see what he wanted to. I told the girls to tell me what they found interesting and I would tell them about it. It was masterful. Elise's natural curiosity kicked in and honestly she wanted to know about everything. I have to admit that I catered to her instead of Sennia but Sennia didn't seem to mind letting Elise lead us around. She enjoyed the stories of Greek and Roman Mythology, Catholic Saints, and French History as they contemplated statues and paintings and things. 

They found a hero in Joan of Arc and wanted to hear the story from the beginning every time we ran into her. Now that we're home I'm reading to Elise from Diane Stanley's Joan of Arc and she's enjoying more details.

They also found the armory fascinating. We ran into Alena just outside here. Apparently she grew weary of being rushed through at Matt's breakneck pace and ditched him. Samuel did the same a short time later. Only Brigham kept him company the entire 3.5 hrs we were there. Museums are often most enjoyable on one's own however.

Winged victory is always a favorite.

We did go see Mona Lisa from a distance but I feel it wasn't something we wanted to stand in line to get close to. Elise had so many questions about why it's famous and if she's real and what she did and she just couldn't figure out what the big deal was with her when these other people has such fascinating stories. Haha. I do empathize. I love these giant paintings by Daveed.(I think that's how he is referenced on the painting but maybe I made that up.) They had fun finding things and describing how the different textures might feel. 

That reminds me. I still owe them an explanation about why the Venus de Milo is so famous.

Matt, Brigham and Samuel went to see Musee de l'Orangerie and we hung out at the park. These girls are really good together. I'm so thankful.

We were pretty much starving to death again so we decided Angelina's was close and we couldn't pass it up. Alena was so excited! She has the fondest memories of the hot chocolate. Everyone enjoyed that hot chocolate. Samuel got French Onion Soup with me and he got the best pastry-a hazelnut cream puff of some kind. Dreamy. Elise was happy with ice cream and croissants. Sennia too but she also had some fish and chips like Matt and Brigham.

Alena's croissant.

 We went all the way down the Rue du Rivoli window wishing and buying post cards and it was still light when we happily crashed at our hotel. We were averaging 20,000 steps/9/10 miles a day with Sunday being 22,000/10.8 miles.