Friday morning: Tracey and Marsh arrive!!!

But WTF! Upon arrival at the apartment, the key was not in the planter as so carefully planned – because gardeners were hired for the day and went through the planters, cleaning out the leaves an hour before Marsh and Tracey arrived! Luckily they gave them to the guardian who then gave the key over when they showed up (what are the chances it would be cleaned on that day and just before they arrived?). However, once they had the key,  Marshall got the key stuck in the top lock of the door because I failed to mention our key is for the lower lock on the door.  So, I received some texts about this key problem and left the school meeting I was in, to go and see how I could help. It was already opened though when I arrived to welcome them. 🙂 Marsh had managed to get the key out and open the door!  Then Tracey and Marsh decided to have a nap until about 3:30pm. At that time, Greg came home from school and walked them up to the local bakery for a treat.  After that, Chris and I arrived home and at about 4:30pm we went back to the school to give Marsh and Tracey a quick tour of the reason we moved our lives to France.

Friday night: La Defense, Louvre and Latin Quarter 

As soon as we got back to the apartment, we decided to go into La Defense, the Louvre, and then the Latin Quarter for a walk. We saw the oldest churches in Paris, the oldest tree, had a fantastic gyro dinner while touring about and then walked past the Notre dame, and Hotel De Ville. We then trained to Trocadero to see the Eiffel tower lit at night, looking over the Champs de Mars. Tracey and Marsh seemed enamoured with the Paris vibe and it was so exciting to have them here with us! We were back on the train at 10:30 to La Defense, but then had to find a bus to St. Cloud because of the train strike, and then UBER to Garches!! Poor Marsh and Tracey – taking double the time to get in and out of France due to the strike.  The rest of the days in Paris though would be strike free, so that was the most difficult travel day (as far as we know anyway :).

Saturday: Market, Versailles and Montmartre!!

Saturday morning we went to the Garches village market as we do every Saturday.  We looked at the interesting seafood and chicken parts lying on the ground near the butcher we always visit.  Greg impressed all of us by speaking in French to the merchants, we bought some cordon bleu and fresh vegetables and then Greg and Tracey went for a typical French crepe at the market. We showed Marsh how to weigh produce at the grocery store and walked home with all of our groceries in our wheelie cart. :))

Afterwards, the four of us went by car to Versailles…we toured the stables, reading about Versailles’ history and viewing the carriages.  Then we walked out toward the gardens.  Chris was fantastic as a tour guide throughout all of this.  He has learned a lot about French history from teaching Social Studies this year at ASP.  On the way home we stopped at the La Fayette Memorial in St. Cloud Parc to see the extent to which the French honoured the Americans who volunteered in World War I.

That evening we went into Paris again since it was the last night before Tracey and Marsh left for the Netherlands.  We decided an ideal night out would be at Montmartre to see the artistic district and visit Sacre Ceour (the famous basilica).  We took the train to the Abbesses metro stop to walk up the 200 stairs to Montmartre (whew!).  Then we enjoyed the artistic district, had a beer on the steps of Sacre Ceour and were lucky enough to walk through the Basilica during a Mass. It was very moving to hear the beautiful singing in French and we lit a candle for the families suffering from the loss of their sons in Saskatchewan.   After we ate a typical French dinner on the square watching while artists painted across from us.  We ordered typical French food; a Croque Monsiuer and Madame, and omelette complet.  Then we walked down the main strip to Moulin Rouge and our red light district (lots of interesting shops!)  At about 9:00pm we took the Pigalle metro back to La Defense and then a bus once again to Garches…(looked for a bus and found it with 3 minutes to spare!).

We were home at 9:30pm for drinks and a comedy show on TV.  Greg had stuck with us all day – the first time he had hung in there with visitors, but we knew it meant a lot to him to see Marshall and Tracey!

Sunday: Colour Run, Mona Lisa and dinner at Caravaggio’s

The four of us (Wayling) ran a 5km run in Paris – the Color run!!  During this time, Marshall and Tracey went inside the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa and tour at their own pace.  They navigated the trains on their own and we ended the day with a fantastic dinner out at our favourite restaurant – Caravaggio’s in Vaucresson.  The food and wine was excellent and we were served by our very own Daniel Craig who enjoys meeting our visitors each time we go!

The next morning, Tracey and Marshall shocked us by being up and gone by 8am without making a sound!!  I had set my alarm for 8:15am to be up before they left to go into Paris and pick up their car, but they were already gone!! We had helped them change their plans last minute to hit Bruges on the way to Amsterdam so they would be able to see 2 different countries during their excursion from Paris. Hopefully they loved both and we can’t wait to hear all about it when we see them this summer!

Thanks for coming to visit Tracey and Marshall!! We wish you could have brought Mike and Brielle, but hope you agree that no matter what, no matter how difficult France can make things,  “Paris is always a good idea!”