Paris Day 2

Just an 18 month old kid chillin' on the Paris subway.

"Dunkerque"  I really miss all the France pastries.  The one in Sean's hand had the chocolate hazel nut cream that was used a lot and was soooo good. 

We went to a huge flea market called Les Puces.  It was enormous!  There was a whole antique district with hundreds of booths of French antiques.  I was in heaven.  Here's a few views from the booths.

Looked at that striped dresser.  Oh my!

We then went to Sacred Heart and that was unreal.  There was a lot of commotion on the steps leading up to it and it kind of reminded me of what it must have been like when Christ cleansed the temple, minus the street dancers.  But once we got inside, it was beautiful and peaceful.  They didn't allow any photography inside.  I'm not sure the correct term, maybe mass, but some sort of program was going on.  A priest was preaching and there was a nun in there singing with the voice of Enya.  It was beautiful!

 

 

A view of the Eiffel Tower from Sacred Heart.

Hayes made yet another friend.  He made friends everywhere we went and usually had a little following on every subway ride. 

A really cool candy store.

Some roses that we bought from a street vendor.  And... our trip was over.  We went to the airport the next morning and with the help of a great airline employee, we were able to get Hayes' car seat to fit in the airplane seat which made things so much easier.  It was a direct flight so it was much easier than the flight (or flights) there. 

Some general observations of France:

-They really bundle up there.  When it's 40 degrees outside, they're dressed up like it's 20 below. 
-Everyone, especially the older women, says, "coo-coo" to babies.

-Their drinks at restaurants are tiny and expensive and they don't put ice in them.  Their "super size" is a 16 oz.

-Tiny little cars everywhere with tiny little lanes for driving.  Crazy parking and crazy driving, especially in Paris.

-Very, very few gas stations open at night.  We learned this the hard way and had to beg a pair of local partying boys to help us find one and get filled up.  We were on fumes, in a strange town late at night and how we didn't completely run out of gas, I don't know.  It was a very close call.

-You can get refills on all the sides of vegetables at no extra charge but they charge you for a refill on soda.

-There are no plugs in the bathrooms. 

-Everyone really does say "bon-apetit" before eating.

-There are no curling irons or blow dryers at the grocery store.  You have to get them at a "Best Buy" type of store and they are expensive!

-There is no medicine at the grocery stores and the pharmacies have beauty products in them.  I still don't know where the French buy some good old fashioned ibuprofen.

-You have to pay to use the public restrooms.

-Smokers everywhere!

I loved France.  I would love to go back there and also go to other European countries.  It was magical and I'm so glad we made it happen.  I hope I'll always remember it.