A Ferris Wheel in Paris?

I had the best intentions of keeping up the blog while away but between jet lag, children and some bad DSL lines it became impossible.  Now we are in Switzerland with friends so all lines are clear!

So starting from the beginning of our trip in Paris....

Day 1

Carousel du Louvre

We started off at the Metro Station St. Paul where my husband was promptly pick-pocketed.  A first and hopefully last for us... We waited in the Carousel du Louvre (shopping mall at the entrance to the Louvre) for awhile while he called to cancel his cards.  Fun people watching and an upside down pyramid!

Finally, lots of beautiful grand halls and of course ART :

The Mona Lisa:

Just because

Yes- awful photo but what's the pernt?  It's hard to see from 9 ft away and there are so many good images of it in books and on the web...

By the time we had finished it was dark outside and SNOWING.  A Walk through the Jardin des Tuileries with a huge Ferris wheel in sight:

We told our kids that the Ferris wheel was for Christmas decoration only and that the Ferris wheel couldn't possibly be in operation.... We were WRONG.  Each car was enclosed in glass and the photo above at the right bottom is from the very top of the wheel... It was fun but pretty freezing.

More in the next few days....

Posting from Paris

My husband is French so every other year we go to France for Christmas.  We are all French citizens now so we used our French Passports for the first time. Pretty cool going thru the fast lane at customs.

We arrived  in Paris Thursday Dec 16 - tired and scruffy.   This is the first time we have taken our daughters to Paris- usually we go straight to my husband's  little village in Lorraine.  Les filles have been so excited to see all the sights.

I am now a convert to renting an apartment instead of staying in a hotel... at least with children. In France where the hotel rooms are postage stamp sized it is impossible to get one room that will fit all 4 of us which meant 2 rooms or a minimum of 600 euros/night... not happening... so I did a little research on the web and found Ah Paris!

So here's a peek at what can be had for about 150 euros/night:

view from one of our windows

view from inside

It's a little one bdrm apt on rue elzivir.   We are on the 6th floor (the last) which must have been the maid's quarters now turned into separate apartments. It's exactly what a Parisian apartment should be warm, cozy, modern and old all at once.

For a change we decided to stay in the 3e arrondissement otherwise known as the Marais. which literally means swamp.   It's pretty hipster- but in a good way.  In  le Marais you can tour the home of Victor Hugo, visit the musee carnavalet or check out the Place des Vosges.  Equally as good is all the shopping here. 

 In spite of ambitious plans to go out and explore the neighborhood we all fell asleep and dined "in" on French frozen tarte aux poireaux and "couscous in a can" (the French have remarkably delicious canned goods)  I'm not so sure I should be admitting that last bit ...

I have lots of ideas of places to take the 2 kiddles; Tour Eiffel, the Louvre, Pompidou Centre, Notre Dame, Ile St. Louis, Antiquing, Shopping and of course lots of walking!!   We'll see how much of that list we can get done...

That's all for now... A demain!

Felted Wreath Ornament

I found this beautiful little Felted Wreath on Flickr.  I have a few sweaters I've managed to shrink to practically a doll size. This would be a good way to put them to use. 

Make small for a tree decoration or large for a centerpiece

Go to bella dia for the tutorial. I think I'll be making some of these with my girls this weekend.  we'll see how they turn out.  I might even have to shrink some worn out sweaters...

Have a good weekend everybody!