Happy Highlights Daily Herald: April 2015

We've returned from two weeks of work (for Jay) and vacation (for me, Emily and Ivan). Paris is as beautiful as you can imagine. The weather was very nice to us, too. Thank you Paris! (and Heavenly Father)

I hope you will enjoy our pictures from our newest adventure :o)

Here we are, settling into our hotel. You may notice it has a certain theme....

body parts!!! What do you think?

Our first gander at Notre Dame de Paris.

Here we are inside the Sainte-Chapelle. It is a royal medieval Gothic cathedral (and it's practically across the street from the Notre Dame!). This chapel glows when the sun lights up the stained glass windows...so beautiful!

Look who we ran into wandering the streets of Paris. Hello Eiffel Tower!

These are French Macaron cookies.

Emily scored when she found a place rated for making the best macaron cookies in Paris (well, many places like to claim the title). These melt-in-your mouth beauties definitely live up to the title in my opinion.

Heading into the Louvre museum. To enter you walk into the glass pyramid and descend a spiral staircase (or you can take the elevator).

Ancient statues larger than life.

Here is the Venus de Milo. She was found in 1820 on the Greek island called Melos (at the time - now Milos). There is still a lot unknown about her, but she sure gets lots of attention.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace. She is a 2nd century BC marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike (Victory).

Look!!! It's that famous lady from Italy :o)

Waiting for the kids to return from potty break, I look out over a courtyard...and snap a few pics.

Bro and sis enjoying museum time.

One of a gazillion rooms.

Hey, I just realized I took Emily in the same room as Ivan in the previous picture. Too bad I didn't think to take it in a different room.

People like ants running everywhere. This place never slows down.

We're leaving now. We've seen a lot and we have beautiful art overload! Check out the staircase behind them...pretty cool, eh?

Outside the Louvre and not too far away is a mini-Arc de Triomphe. This is the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel.

Have a closer look at the arc from behind and you can see the Louvre peeking out.

The colorful streets of Paris. We look for a "famous" bookstore. This was another of Emily's must do's for our trip.

We found it at last! It is a very creative bookstore with everything in English and many hard-to-find books as well as special editions of hard-to-find books. Upstairs is a piano, sitting room, and a large fluffy white cat in a dilapidated love seat who doesn't care if you sit next to it. There are also many lovers of books there reading quietly. shhhhh (Unless, of course, you can play the piano.) I knew Emily was upstairs when I suddenly began hearing Rhapsody in Blue.

Here we bounce ahead to the weekend. The family is standing at the backside of the Sacre Coeur de Montmartre. It is a Roman Catholic basilica. Would you like to see the front of it? ok, later.

A candid photo of Emily. She seems to blend in well wearing her dad's hat and carrying a bag from Israel.

Salvador Dali lived in Paris. Who knew? Really, though, many artists came to Paris. There is just that certain something here that permeates the air and inspires artsy fartsiness. Enter his museum.

He certainly had a flair for the strange. It was too much for Ivan. He waited for us in the souvenir shop. Some of the images kind of freaked him out.

Here you can see the "living" artists hoping someday to have a museum of their own. This is in Place du Tertre in Montmartre. Thanks to the internet you can go and check out any of these places I am showing you online.

A street in Paris (walking in Montmartre). Can you see a cat with wings?

Now this is better, the front of the Sacre Coeur. It is a beauty. We went there Saturday morning (the day before Easter) to hear the nuns sing the Tenebrae mass. (FYI they have beautiful voices :o)

The coolest shop around...a button shop! This is my kind of place, but, unfortunately, no pictures can be taken inside :o( The walls in this shop are covered from ceiling to floor in a million varieties of buttons. I found two buttons (one cute and one pretty) to sew on the lanyard Jay made me when we lived in Moscow.

More colorful glitz while looking for thrift stores in Montmartre.

Found! One awesome thrift store. Jay and Ivan came away with a pair of shoes each. Ivan found a nice coat, too. I bought a dress for 5 euros and Emily......nothing (sigh).

Just more interesting streets in Montmartre.

I suppose if you live in a place long enough, you may die there, too. Needless to say, you can visit famous people here. They don't charge for it either - bonus.

Here we are in the Montmartre cemetery.

We are visiting the tomb of Hector Berlioz the famous composer.

You may recognize this name. It is Edgar Degas. Do you remember his ballerina paintings and at least one famous statue I know of.

This is where Alexander Dumas is resting in peace and doesn't this statue look restful and peaceful?

This grave took some searching before we found it. She is a famous teacher who taught many well known musicians and composers. Does Nadia Boulanger ring a bell (or two)? Thanks to Jay, I know about her.

Call me morbid, but I liked this statue. I learned that Mr. Cavaignac was a politician in Paris during the mid-1800's. With a tomb and statue like this, I figured it had to be someone sort of important.

We have left the cemetery and we are looking for a little "famous" café known for jazz guitar and the man who pioneered the genre in Europe - Django Reinhardt. Instead what we found was a very colorful flea market....not a bad find, either :o)

As you can see, no Django café here. We are lost in flea market land.

Oh well, we like a good flea market. Just ask this dog resting in the old cozy chair.

A flea market alone could require hours of investigation, but watch your attitude!

You don't want to end up like this! run away!

Here is the café we were searching for. It took a taxi ride and 10 euros to find it, though, and we were amazingly close. Life is like that sometimes.

We're here to hear the jazz guitarists perform (ok, well, Jay is here to hear them, but it isn't bad. I like it, too). The painting on the wall is of Django.

Jay feels inspired to strum a chord.

It isn't that we are the only ones in this café. It is that there are so many people in the café that we only fit in what I call "the back room." You can see (and thankfully hear) the performers on the screen near the ceiling. I prefer this space anyway. It is roomy and feels like the Django museum. It has some of his old guitars and photographs, etc.

Just another view of Paris as we are walking across a bridge over the Seine river.

We came back to the bookstore so Jay could explore it, too. He was at work at our first visit.

A crepe is always a good back-up dinner if you can't decide on where to eat. They make a very filling crepe with egg, ham and cheese in it. Can you see one steaming hot on the grill behind Emily? My favorite crepe was Nutella with sliced banana.

Paris at night...what an amazing sight!!

The Tuileries Garden

Another view of the Tuileries Garden.

In the distance you see the Grand Palais (Great Palace) with French flag waving above it. It is used to exhibit art, but also as a sort of convention center for lack of a better description. Chanel hosts their annual fashion shows there. This picture is about as close as we got to it.

A larger than life painting by Monet! and we are in the Musee de L'Orangerie. In this round room all the walls are like the one you see here and all Monet's...so beautiful!

Here you can get up close and personal with Monet.

I'd love to jump in that pond and go for a swim.

just keep swimming....just keep swimming.....

Ivan waiting in yet another hour long line to see another art museum (The Musee d'Orsay)...is it really the sweet life to wait forever in such long lines?

The real thing by Van Gogh. There was a Dr. Who episode about this painting.

G'day Mr. Gogh

The Musee d'Orsay used to be a train station.

but thankfully, instead of tearing it down after it was no longer needed as a train station, they turned it into a house of art.

So many paintings and so little time.

Leaving the Musee d'Orsay we encounter a street artist and boy could he play the piano!

Descending below Paris to the metro lines.

There are lots of advertisements under Paris. I fell in love with this cute "little" kitty waiting for a train.

Dejavu! Haven't you seen this before? Here it is, a weekend. Jay needs to see the Louvre. He had to work the last time we went, but at least we can be his tour guides now.

The Louvre from the top floor.

It took us an hour of walking to find the Dutch artists. They were in a corner of the museum out of the way.

The lacemaker by Vermeer.

This is the statue room. A beautiful room filled with light by a glass ceiling.

I took this picture because it reminded me of a picture that used to be in Jay's parent's home. It is probably because of the cauliflower that it reminded me of it.

Beyond the beautiful buildings housing art through the ages, there runs a river and we are looking for a boat ride.

Now this is fun! See Notre Dame in the background?

We couldn't ask for better weather. Such a great day to sail on the River Seine.

Not a good pic, but does kind of show the buttresses behind the Notre Dame.

Here we keep on sailing along just seeing what we can see.

This tower must be following us. It is everywhere we go!

Ivan enjoying the river ride.

Those clouds look threatening, but it continues to be nice weather.

Here we float by one of the 32 bridges that cross the River Seine.

On another day we needed a break from being tourists. We picked a random park on our map and went there. This is what we found.

A great place to sit by the huge pond and....

sketch a picture of....

a cliff with a pavilion on the top of it...or a mother posing for a picture.

After seeing all that beautiful art, it kind of makes you want to draw something.

The park is big as you can see and we have enjoyed visiting it.

Now we are leaving and we find the name of this park on this sign. It is Parc des Buttes-Chaumont. Doesn't everything sound better in French?

This picture is for my mom. It is on a street lined with famous fashion designers. Here is her own French fashion store...at least it has her name on it ;o)

I'll never forget the day we (me and the kids-Jay was working, of course) went on a bus ride to the famous Palace of Versailles. It is very ornate and interesting to look at.

getting closer....

This hallway is beautiful.

It's time for another art museum...Pablo Picasso.

It is time for another hour long wait in a line, but, see, we are refreshed so it's ok.

have a look at some of his paintings....

This was one of Ivan's favorites ... he also had a favorite sculpture.

big nose, little nose

If you keep staring at these paintings you begin to see other things in them. I think Picasso would have liked Where's Waldo.

I guess we never tire of walking by the glass pyramid.

On another glorious day, we found this chocolate shop. It is the name of a famous chocolatier in Paris (Michel Choudun). I didn't dare take any photos inside, but, too bad because the creations in this shop were out of this world! so was the chocolate :o)

Ivan's special day was to visit a culinary school in Paris. He has been telling us he wants to go to school in Paris and learn French because they have the best food and culinary schools. So, we decided to find a school to take him to and this happens to be the same school Julia Childs went to as well as other well-known chefs.

We went inside and a very nice representative talked to Ivan about the program and gave us paperwork to fill out. Ivan asked some questions and so did I. We ended up buying an awesome book for Ivan. It is this school's basic foundation book for cooking.

Now Emily gets her special moment in Paris. We're about to go to a café where famous writers were known to go to. Although I'm sure this isn't the only one that could say that.

She let me take a picture of her writing while in the Café de Flore just as many well known writers have done before her.

My special treat? ....the best hot chocolate I've ever encountered. It tasted like a melted chocolate bar swimming in pure cream. YUM

moving right along ... on the metro....

This is our last day in Paris and Emily decides to wear the Eiffel tower as a hat.

Standing under the Eiffel Tower there is only one thing to do....

look up.

The sun is setting on Paris and on our last day.

Our very last meal in Paris...the Café de Mars. If you get a chance, I recommend it. The chef/owner creates a new menu each week so their menus are written on chalkboard hanging on the walls. It is delicious and ... surprisingly ... reasonably priced for Paris.