Sunday

What an amazing, tiring, busy and RUDE day we had!
Thanks to our early crash, we were all awake by 5:30 AM. Breakfast didn't even open until 7, so we took our time getting ready for breakfast and preparing for a long day away from the hotel. At 7, we had the buffet breakfast at the hotel. Our plan for this trip is to eat very large breakfasts, a large meal in mid-afternoon, and a small snack later in the evening, if we are still hungry. We loaded up at the buffet.

After breakfast, we took the hotel shuttle to DisneyLand park, where I bought tickets for the Metro - Paris' subway system. Per usual, I asked for the tickets in French, and the attendant answered me in English. I don't know if they enjoy practicing their English, or if they just want me to stop speaking French because my accent is so bad. Though, after the rudeness we experienced today, I am going to say they just don't like Americans in general.

The train from Disney to Paris took around forty minutes. We arrived in Paris shortly before 10 AM. Exiting the train, my niece received her first pickup attempt of the day. I had no real agenda or plan for the day, other than to just roam around the city. Rain put a damper, so to speak, on that idea. Getting off at an unfamiliar exit - one that turned out to be quite the labyrinth - also didn't help. I felt like Tom Hanks in Terminal. We finally found someone who said that he was leaving and could follow him. When we reached the street, he was even nice enough to tell us where we were, and which direction to walk for certain points of interest. He was one of the few people we experienced throughout the day who was not rude.

From the metro station, we walked to the Musee George Pompidou. It is the only museum in Paris I had not visited on my prior trips, and was recommended by a website I used to help research family friendly activities in Paris. Just outside the museum, I bought a map of the city. City planners divided Paris into multiple Arrondissements, or neighborhoods. The map provides two pages per arrondissement and lists the major attractions in each. A similar map I purchased on my first trip proved invaluable. There were many attractions I would not have seen had the map not called them to my attention.

At 10 AM on a Sunday, very little is open and the streets are empty. In fact, most shops do not open at all on Sundays. French is very much a catholic country. We were one of the first arrivals at the museum and had two surprises. The first was that it was not open until 11 AM. The second was that admission was free on the first Sunday of every month! Turns out, that's true for all of Paris' museums, including the Lovre and the Musee d'Orsay (which had the recent painting thefts).

The doors opened at 11 AM, and our son chose this moment to erupt in uncontrollable crying because he was hungry. So, we had to feed him. While we fed him, I noticed several people standing in line for tickets. When we finished, we stood in line and, when I approached the counter, I asked for tickets. The man said, incredulously "for what?". I said "For the museum", not sure what I had done to offend him. He said, "The museum is free today, you do not need a ticket. Only the exhibits cost extra." I thanked him and said we would pass on the exhibits for the moment. We then passed through security where they asked me to either put my backpack underneath the stroller or to carry it on just one shoulder. I complied and we moved on. Then, as we walked away, I heard them making fun of Americans. I was stunned, but, not wanting to cause an international incident by asking why they felt they were so superior, I just moved on.

All I can say for the museum is: 1) I'm glad I didn't pay for it because we would have had a tense situation when I demanded my money returned, and 2) It is NOT family friendly. The first exhibit we walked into had a six foot tall photographic close-up of a man penetrating a woman. At another section, an employee stood outside and warned that their were images that could shock young children in the next room. My daughter stayed with our niece while my wife and I saw the images in questions, which included video of a naked woman decapitating a chicken and letting the blood from its neck splatter onto her body. We finished the one floor and did not see the rest of the exhibits.

After leaving the museum, we stumbled across a street artist painting a sidewalk mural. My daughter said she liked it because it reminded her of the "chim-chimney man from Marry Poppins". The rain had stopped by this point, but the skies were still overcast. The air was cool and walking was comfortable. We walked from Pompidou (which I will forever hereafter call "pompidon't"), to the Notre Dame cathedral. As I had seen the inside once before, I waited outside with my son while my daughter, wife and niece all stood in line and took the brief tour.

From Notre Dame, we walked towards the Louvre, stopping for lunch at a small cafe on the River Seine. After dropping a whopping $90 on lunch, we continued the remaining block to the Louvre. It was now 3PM, and the line for the Louvre looked to be at least 90 minutes. So, we just walked the
grounds of the Louvre instead of taking advantage of the free admission. This turned out to be my daughter's favorite part of the day. She ran around in the hedge maze at the entrance to the Louvre, and rode the merry-go-round in the Touliere's Gardens, just outside the Louvre.

After Touliere's, we called it a day and took the metro back to Disney, and the shuttle back to the hotel. By 8:30, my wife and I were the only ones left awake.

Paris is just as I remember it - only, somehow, the people are rude to me now. Every building in the city is an architectural wonder and magnificently sculpted. It seems there are statues, monuments, and ornately decorated bridges, lamposts, and medians around every corner. I realize much of this was built before America even existed, but I wish more American cities had some of the ornate architecture of the ancient European cities.

We snapped over 100 photos today. Below are a few representative examples. My apologies for their disarray. Internet is expensive and I am emailing my blog, which limits my editing capabilities. Tomorrow we will be visiting Disney.  I likely will not blog again until the end of the week.  Just once more in Paris.