Finally Paris!

No pictures from the first two days because we forgot our cameras on day 1 and the next day Kavin used his but we can't download from his camera. :-(

It's been terribly hot here for us Kodiakans - into the 80s. That and the fact that we had to deal with jet lag and lack of sleep, not to mention the thunder and lightning storms, keep us pretty low for those first two days. We went to Jardin des Plantes both days, one day to the natural history and dinosaur museums and the next day to the zoo. Also explored our little neighborhood, including the ancient Roman arena and lots of shops and patisseries - Kavin has discovered French pastries and is trying to survive on them! Results of one shopping expedition below:

Yesterday we visited George Pompidou - the Pompidou Center, that is, the building with the insides on  the outside - the escalators and all of the electrical and circulation stuff and so in is in big colored tubes on the side of the building. Kavin made a new discovery - he hates modern art! (He's certainly not alone with that.) We really liked a couple of pieces - one that used magnetism and two hanging pieces of metal to make music on strings. Got that? Impossible to describe. Best of all were two guys who dove from a very high spiral staircase onto a huge air-filled pillow - lots of oohs and ahs  from the crowd for that!

Starting his dive - see him swan-diving near the top?

Landed!

From there we went to the Musee de Arts et Metiers - all about inventions. Lots of old cars stacked up and airplanes hanging from the ceiling (including one that looks like a giant bat) and bicycles, as well as original engines of all kinds and fascinating mechanical devices. We had crepes for lunch and later dinner out with my friend Sandy. Of course, the food is just as good as ever!

Much cooler today - feels good! We went to the Louvre and started with the Medieval Louvre, a fortress buried right inside the present building. Spent quite a bit of time with the Egyptions, then strolled through the Greeks and Romans, the Italians, the Spanish, and Michaelangelo's statues of David and friends. Took a peek at the Mona Lisa, of course. 

Great Sphinx:

Louvre new and old:

Kavin does the Louvre:

Then we went into the Jardin des Tuileries, a park that begins with this Arc du Carrousel with a horse-drawn chariot on top.

We ate lunch at an outside cafe in the park, right next to this pond where the statue had lots of pigeon friends. Crepe for Kavin, quiche for Grandma.

Today was the first day Kavin didn't buy pastries (not that we didn't eat any; we have a good supply now), but we did drink a lot of "the glace peche" (peach iced tea). Today we also learned the puzzling procedures of the French laundromat. Tricky, but we have clean clothes!

Bonnie nuit!