This weekend we received guests from Peterborough, Ontario! Kristian arrived on Thursday at noon while we were at work and I ran to the train station to meet him at 1:30, when he called me. We walked to our apartment and I gave him the tour, mainly the fridge and a bed, because he just needed to eat and rest.

Then after school Breeze came home right away and they both got ready to go shopping at “Supreme”!! Before I was even home (at 5pm) they were already gone, and then they were back at about 8pm with a sweatshirt bought by Kristian (apparently one in high demand in Canada). 🙂  Greg was in Brussels for 4 days playing basketball so he wouldn’t be home until  Saturday night.

On Friday, Brianna and I took Kristian touring around Paris and we visited Sacre Coeur Basilica in Montmartre and found the house of Picasso and Van Gogh (when he lived there with his brother Theo).  We saw the actual windmill Van Gogh painted and the first Movie Theatre in Paris!

Train Ticket Trauma – WTF (Welcome To France)

Montmartre in Paris

Sacre Coeur Cathedral

Walking down Montmartre stairs

Then we took the train to The Louvre thinking we would walk the courtyards and take it in from the outside, but then we saw a very short line going in, so we followed and once inside, we learned that Bri and Kristian were free, so I bought a ticket for a special exhibit. We were told there were no more  people allowed in the main exhibition halls and that it was sold out for the day, but we accidentally ended up in the main halls and we have no idea how! We walked straight to the Mona Lisa!!!   We couldn’t believe it because there had been a line up about 100 deep that we somehow got past for the main exhibition halls!

Greek Aphrodite statue

Mona Lisa!! What?

Afterwards, we walked the Champs Elysees and shopped a little (Louis Vuitton – did you know people are served food and champagne while they shop there?), and then went to the Jewish quarter (Le Marais) to see where Victor Hugo lived.  He wrote Les Miserables and Hunchback of Notre Dame and you can got through his house. It is situated in the corner of the royal residence where Marie Antoinette and King Louis were imprisoned before being guillotined. Then we had dinner on a nice heated patio in Le Marais, before going home at 8:30pm

Saturday, Kristian and I got up around 10am and went to the Garches market to buy our dinner for Sunday night.  Then Brianna and Kristian left around 1pm to go to La Defense and check out the malls and Grand Arch. I met up with them at 4:00 and we went to the Latin Quarter to walk around. We saw the Pantheon, a medieval church from the 1100’s, the oldest tree in France (in its’ yard), and the University of Paris. We walked Bri to her friend Julia’s in the 16th, and then Kristian and I went to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up! It was a warm, clear, beautiful night!! We arrived home just before Greg and Sierra who travelled together from Brussels and arrived at 9:30pm. They were exhausted so we had a quiet night. Brianna came home from her friend’s  at 11:00pm using uber.

St. Etienne de Pauvre; 1100’s

Sunday, we all went into Paris together and walked up the Arc de Triumph, then did a little ‘photo tour’ at the Eiffel Tower.  After that we shopped all the way down the Champs Elysees to the Concord. We took the Metro from there to the Opera House where a band was playing outside on the stairs. Then we ate at a quaint Sushi restaurant as an apero before going home to have dinner.  Unfortunately, this weekend our train service was not running from Garches, so we had to take a bus to and from La Defense. However, on this night, we decided to take an uber home from Boulogne to get home quickly.

‘The Patch’ in Paris!

Checking it out!

Waiting for the girls!

This was an overview of the highlights, but some ‘special’ memories are listed here:

*Kristian being verbally abused on the train (right off plane from Canada) because someone thought he was American (until he showed them his passport).

*Being short a train ticket and the checkers sweeping onto our train, so we had to run off of it (before doors closed on us!!)

*the “dirty looks” on packed trains!

*the Louis Vuitton shopping experience!!!

*the Moulin Rouge strip (great ‘photo op’ Kristian and Breeze!)

*Singing and guitar with neighbour Juliette (the fear of ‘The Broom’)

*Great meals (and drinks!) and great company!