Going to Paris!!!

Today was the day we had decided on going to Paris and the Eiffel Tower. The weather was to be beautiful - sunny and mid seventies. We weren't as prepared or as rested as we should have been, but we were committed. We walked to Amiens train station - about 20 minutes - and we were there by 10:30AM. We successfully bought round trip tickets, carrying on the conversation mostly in French. There was a little confusion about choosing a return time, as the attendant was asking us to do, as we had already learned that you can basically use the tickets any time. You validate your ticket in these yellow machines right before you board the train and that puts the time on it. Anyway, the attendant nicely made sure that we knew about the machines (which we did) because otherwise we looked a little clueless. So good news was we had the tickets (about 70 euros or $100) for all of us, round-trip to Paris. The bad news was the next train was at noon. The trains to Paris run every hour at least during the week, but not on the weekend. Lesson learned.

So for about an hour Gwyneth and I walked back towards town and the outdoor Saturday market. The string to her pocketbook (aka purse) that she had been using for the trip broke. Last week she had seen a new one at one of the vendors that she liked and since her old one broke I decided that I could buy it rather than have her spend her allowance. It only cost 10 euros (less than $15) and you can sort of see it in the picture above. I thought it was quite nice and it has a lot of pockets. Nic is worried that it will encourage Gwyneth and her "collections" - especially scraps of paper of any kind. Anyways, Gwyneth and I made it back to the train station at noon for the 12:10PM departure. This particular train had rooms with 6 seats in them. After a little trouble figuring out the door (it slides rather than pushes or pulls) we got into one that had a passenger already. So he had the joy of listening to our kids jabber all the way, oh well. We arrived in Paris (in the Gare du Nord) by 1:30PM and we then had to make our way to the Eiffel tower. No small feat. At some point I said to Nic that we'll be at the tower by 3PM. He laughed but it turned out to be a correct prediction.



First step was to buy tickets for the Metro. We tried using an automated machine but it would not accept our credit card. We tried several times, much to the dismay of the guy behind us who sighed audibly several times, and then gave up. We then had a little trouble finding a human, but eventually did and had to wait in a line for 15 minutes at least. We ended up buying a carnet (or book) of 10 metro tickets for an adult and another for a child - which was half price - for Gwyneth. Ethan would be free. I think it cost $11 euro. And we wouldn't have to wait in any more lines. A single metro trip is 1.6 euro for an adult. A single ticket took you as far as you wanted to go on a single trip within the Metro. Next step was to get to the Eiffel Tower. We had to take the metro and then something called the RER which are the suburban trains but are still part of the Metro system within the city limits. Our metro line (4) was right at the train station and we easily found our line and took it for 4 or 5 stops I think. Of course walking through the Metro involved going through all sorts of tunnels and reading signs to make sure that you were going in the right direction.


Next we had to find the RER C train which again was easy to find. A train quickly arrived for our direction and we got on. The train was a funky double decker thing and the kids wanted to sit on stop so we did. The train proceeded to go 3 stops and then stop - lights out, engine off. Many people got off, but some stayed - the clueless ones like us. Nic wandered about and heard someone say 10 minutes, so we stayed on the train. The train moved, but curiously it was going back the direction we came from. We realized that the train was going back to where we started and when we got to the original stop we got off again. This time we were on the wrong side of the track so we had to exit and come back down on the other side and try again. Each time we entered or exited a train line we usually had to put our ticket (a 1x2 inch rectangle) into the machine which would open up doors to let you into the platform. Luckily we had been holding on to them. Anyway we got back to the platform and tried again. This time we noticed that that there were different trains coming, that were going to different destinations. We now saw the screen that was telling which stations the upcoming train was going to. We waited 5 minutes and got on the right train and about 8 stops later we were at the Tour Eiffel! All in all the Paris Metro reminded me of the Boston Subway and put me a bit out of my comfort zone, but I survived.



Here is our first view of the Eiffel Tower from the Metro station. Everyone was excited. I am sure that Gwyneth let out of big "wow". It was only a short walk to get under the tower and to the hoards of people. OMG it was crowded. We quickly assessed the line situation and determined that one was for stair access only to the 1st and 2nd levels. In the picture the 1st level is about two-thirds of the way up the height of the white building in front and the 2nd level is just above the top of the building. The other line that we could see was for elevator access up to all three levels. The 3rd level is way, way up at the top. Unfortunately one of the other elevators was out of service today so their was only one way up. We decided that we had come all of this way that we were going to the top, and the kids wanted to as well . At this point ..... the time ...... 3PM as predicted.






So here is the view of the line from above. Going backwards. It starts at the tower and then you have people zig-zigging through the barriers, then the security house, then the line snakes back like a mirror-image question mark and out of the photo. That is right where we started in the line. We think it was 1 1/2 hours of waiting in line. During that time, we hit the bathrooms and Gwyneth hit the souvenir shop for a snow globe and a surprise for Andrea. We took lots of photos of Tower looking up as we had time. The whole operation seemed to be a perfect model of French inefficiency. Once you snaked through the zig-zagged barricades you bought your tickets - just under the yellow awnings. But people had to leave the line, buy the tickets and then come back to the line. The space to actually get to the ticket window was quite small, so for much of the time no one would be at the ticket window or it was just 1 or 2 people.




We squeezed on like sardines to the elevator. Nic instructed Gwyneth on how to get a space next to the window (which she did). We took the elevator to the 2nd level which is where this picture was taken. This reminds me that somewhere down in that horrific line Ethan fell asleep in Nic's arm. And to give Nic credit he did most of the carrying. At this point he had needed a break and I took over a little. Anyway, we now had the pleasure of waiting in another queue!!!! We had to switch elevators to get to the 3rd level and so in line we got. It was probably another 1/2 and hour and involved squeezing onto another elevator. By this time I was so sweaty and stinky all I wanted was a shower!

So we made it to the top and the view was spectacular! Here is the Arc de Triomphe. Thankfully Ethan woke up upon arrival and he was happy to see the view. We circled the top several times although it was quite crowded. We had fun trying to pick out the sights down below - the Louvre, the Seine, etc..... We witnessed a guy proposing to his girlfriend or at least that is what we surmised given the tears and the small box that he was pulling out of his pocket. After a little while everyone was ready to go down and we waited in a much shorter queue back to level 2.




We then spent some time on level 2. Here is Ethan looking quite excited about being at the Tower. I think we hit another gift shop where Ethan added to his collection of "crazy straws from Europe". He has one other one from Norway. Then we decided to take the stairs down for a change of pace. We took them down to level 1 and did some walking around there. By this time the kids were hungry and it was near 6PM. Luckily this level had a cafeteria and we grabbed some decent sandwiches on baguettes. Gwyneth's hot dog consisted of 2 hot dogs stuffed into a baguette. She managed to eat half of it. Oh, and Ethan got a slice of pizza happily. We also got drinks as we had finished off the water that we had brought with us for the trip. (I had underestimated how much water the 4 of us can drink on a hot day in Paris). At some point during the dinner Gwyneth noticed that her snow globe had broken in side of the bag which was in her purse. I guessed that the trinket for Andrea had rubbed against it and broke it.



So I took the bag and Nic was almost incredulous when I returned with a replacement snow globe that I didn't pay for. I went back and said that they didn't pack it very well, and that we didn't drop the bag at all and that I thought they should give me a new one. It wasn't easy and the guy at the souvenir shop on this level didn't want to give it to me. He asked for the receipt which I couldn't find, but I was standing there with the broken globe in a bag that clearly came from the Eiffel Tower. Oh, and I made sure that Gwyneth was nearby. I wasn't giving up on and so I think to get rid of me he unhappily gave me a new one (but this time wrapped in bubble wrap!). So I am certain that I made my mother proud today. She is the queen of returning and getting replacements when she shouldn't.



By this time it was 7PM and we had a 9PM train to catch. Nic and I had previously decided that we should be on the Metro or near it by 8PM to be sure to have time. So we took a walk back to a different Metro station to get another view of the tower. We stopped for some ice cream - eaten with a a terrific view of the Eiffel Tower. We were also amused by all of the people selling "unofficial" Eiffel Tower souvenirs. Back when we were waiting in line under the tower we saw several people getting arrested for selling such things -we thought. And there were all these signs about selling "illegal/unofficial" souvenirs. Anyway, it was clear that it was cheaper on the outside but we did not partake. We had time for some last photos like this one, and then we were off to the Metro. The Metro ride was uneventful, if not long and crowded. We had time to spare at the train station and we boarded our train shortly after 9PM. This time the cars did not have the little rooms, just seats, and it seemed fairly empty. We got back to Amiens by 10:20PM and opted for the cab ride back to apartment. Well worth the 7 bucks!



Here is Ethan with his crazy straw on the train home. Anyways, once in the apartment at 10:30PM we clearly needed baths before anyone touched the sheets. I went first with Ethan and I think we managed bed time soon after 11PM. Of course, he was insisting that he wanted to watch a movie first. I convinced him otherwise. I'm not sure but I'll guess that Gwyneth and Nic followed soon after.

Friday June 12th in Amiens

Today the kids and I stayed home in the morning. We made plans to meet Nic at 2:30PM near the cathedral to do something together. So we had a leisurely morning. I think I managed some laundry and the kids watched Ice Age II again (thanks Veronique!). It seemed like the time to leave crept up on us fast and we had a bit of a rush at the end to get the kids to eat something and be out the door by 2PM. We did it however and were at the cathedral just before the arranged time. So Ethan, Gwyneth, and I had a chance to sit down and ponder the cathedral before Nic arrived shortly thereafter. We had decided to tour the cathedral and take the optional "tour" of the tour which was only offered at 3PM and 4:30PM during the week. However, our plans were thwarted when we were told that the 3PM tour was cancelled that "peut-etre" or perhaps there would be one at 4:30PM. So we decided to abort plan but first we did step inside briefly. (To enter the cathedral is free). We discovered all of these school children participating in some kind of program and perhaps this was why the tour was cancelled.

So our second choice of activity was a boat ride on the canals through the Hortillonnages. Stealing from a web-page: "The Hortillonnages extend for some 300 hectares. Dating back to Gallo-Roman times, the gardens surrounded by water are still used for market-gardening. The gardens are made up of numerous plots of land, criss-crossed by canals, the “rieux”, which are navigable by flat-bottomed boats known as “barques à cornets"." We arrived, but not before Ethan had to go potty and conveniently there was a public toilet just outside. Nic took him in so I cannot comment on the accommodations, so to speak. We bought our tickets and were given a number "cinquante-sept" (or 57) that we had to listen for. The picture shows Gwyneth and Ethan in the waiting area. Luckily they didn't say too much else over the loud speaker when they were announcing the numbers so it was easily for us to tell when it was our turn.

Here we are at the end of boat ride but we can pretend that it was the beginning. Now that I am looking at the picture I can see that Gwyneth is holding Ethan's 1 euro binoculars that I bought him that the equivalent of a dollar-store. Unfortunately I think we lost them shortly there-after because now we can't find them and we didn't have them yesterday for our trip to Paris. (Sorry I'm a few days behind on the blog!) Anyway, the boat ride lasted about an hour through a dizzying (a word?) maze of canals that connected small plots of land. Most of them are now used for flower gardens and or summer cabin/shacks for the weekend. A few people still produce vegetables but not many. We saw lots of pretty flowers, caught a glimpse of a water rat, and saw some immature grebes. Otherwise we mostly listened to the guide who spoke in French but occasionally would say something to us in English. It was a pleasant afternoon.

We hit the trail for home because it was now around 5PM and Fabien was picking us up at 6:30PM for dinner at his house. It was probably a 30 minute walk from where we were and we had to shop for a small baby gift on the way home. Fabien has a 6 week old baby! We got home with about 1/2 an hour to spare - almost enough time to rest and Fabien was there. He took us to his house which is in the photo. He and his wife (Crystal) had it built a year ago - and new construction is unusual for Amiens. It is some sort of German design that is Uber-efficient. It has no heat source, but has things like triple pane windows and some sort of air circulation system that can somehow help to regulate the temperature. And the roof is designed to collect rain water which they use to flush toilets. The house was neat/cool to look at on the inside, but it also seems like it is a bit of work in progress. (They had a shower, but no walls were up on it yet, for example). Fabien also had a huge garden planted out back with lots and lots of ..... potatoes.

We had a DELICIOUS dinner. It was so nice to taste good food. Here I am about to eat an escargot. Gwyneth ate a couple too - Ethan wasn't interested. We had a cheese from the region called Maroille and some delicious sausage Andouiette. The sausage almost tasted like pulled pork in sausage form. I will resist saying it tasted better so as not to insult my husband. Oh, and the meal started with some sort of meat and carrots inside of a gelatin casing .... that was tasty too. We of course had wine, and the meal ended with more cheese and then followed by what Fabien claimed was the best tasting yogurt that you can buy in the grocery store. The name escapes me now .... hopefully I will remember when I see it in the grocery store. The yogurt came in all sorts of flavors .. I got the caramel and it was good.

In between dinner and eating there was some "football" playing. Ethan's pants are proof that he enjoyed himself - they were dirty! He also took a soccer ball to the face off a shot from Gwyneth when we was goalie. It was funny to see his strategy for the next shot - just put his hands up in front of his face and closed his eyes. A good strategy for protecting his face but not a good strategy for protecting the goal. The strategy for preventing goals got better when he pushed the 2 blues chairs that you see in the picture completely together. I think we left Fabien's around 10:30PM. It would have been fun to stay longer but we had decided to go to Paris the next day and thought some rest was best.

Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday in Amiens

Tuesday and Wednesday brought us some rainy, damp weather and as a consequence we didn't do too much. I think the kids and I did not leave the apartment on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I did go to the store in the morning while Nic stayed home and worked. Although, when I returned from the store he had created a rather nice truck out of legos that will hold Ethan's McQueen car so I am not sure how much work he really did. We were visited again by Veronique (the apartment owner) who dropped off some DVD's that can be played in English and French. The kids already watched Ice Age and Ice Age 2. And I was quite proud of myself for starting up the VCR which included having to connect some wires and for getting the DVD to play in English. We did have plans to go out on Wednesday (while it happened not to be raining) but Ethan rather uncharacteristically fell asleep on the couch at noontime while listening to the Ipod with Gwyneth. By the time he woke up it was raining again so no adventure for us.



Today (Thursday) the weather turned better and so the kids and I got out of the house around 10AM. We were in search of another playground that I had seen on my walk around town by myself. This one was farther away but I thought we could make it. I should have timed how long it took us, but we had to walk farther than the University, but not by too much. The walk is nice in any case and we walked through the mostly car-less center of town, window shopping along the way. Gwyneth went into the Amiens "Claires" and it pretty much looked like home. Here we are almost there .... Gwyneth willing to pose for a picture and Ethan not so much. We were down in the canal area and we quickly learned the lesson of staying on the paths due to all of the canals crossing the area. At one point we tried to take a short cut, but quickly got stopped by the water.




I think we were at the playground around 11AM and here the kids are on the rope structure. This one was more their size. We also had the place to ourselves which was nice. Gwyneth and Ethan started this game whereby Ethan earns "badges" for doing various things. I think it stemmed from the fact that Gwyneth had been playing Pet Society on Facebook and her pet earns badges for doing certain tasks. So there was the climbing badge (which he earned here), the swinging badge, the listen to mommy badge (which got revoked on several occasions), etc.... After they were done with this we moved onto the nearby reflecting pool to feed the ducks. Surprisingly they were not that aggressive although I'm certain they had done it before. They all came swimming once we pulled out the bag of our crusty old baguettes.

We walked a little further and found a picnic spot. Here Ethan decided he would pose for a picture, oh that was because he was going to get a "picture taking badge". We walked over this bridge and ate our lunch on a nice hill that the kids could run up and down several times. There were also some woods nearby that Ethan ran into despite my telling him not too. Basically there were young couples getting cozy in there so we didn't stick around long. At this point Ethan had to go pee and surprisingly he told me so. The nearest public toilet that I knew of was near the cathedral, probably about a 10-15 minute walk. I had plans to do a boat ride around the canals but going back to the cathedral would take us out of the area, so I guess we will do that another day. We successfully hit the toilet for a potty break (everyone went pee) and we paid our 1 euro to the attendant. We decided to head for home at this point, but we would have several more stops along the way.







Our first stop was at this cafe/souvenir shop near the cathedral. I got a cafe (espresso) with some small chocolates. Notice that the kids got the chocolates before I got to sit down and look at the size of the tiny coffee. The kids enjoyed a "fanta". Not long after this photo Ethan said he had to go potty again, Ugh. Luckily the cafe/shop had a potty - well-hidden I must add - but now I know where it is. Knowledge is a dangerous thing. Ethan had to go poop this time and he did successfully. (One thing that happened on this trip is that Ethan has really become potty trained.) Before leaving the shop Gwyneth bought an Amiens souvenir with her allowance and a little help from the bank of mom.

We continued our walk home which included more window shopping where Ethan and Gwyneth both got these balloons. Ethan started playing with one from the display that he found and then the store produced one for Gwyneth which was nice. Of course all of this involved me carrying Ethan most of the way home. I still dared to take them both to the grocery store (the Carrefour) for a baguette and a few other things. Here are the kids in the candy aisle each with their own kid size cart. Ethan mostly behaved, but it is difficult for him to listen and control himself when he is tired. Amazingly he did not smash into anyone in the store with his cart, but it was close. Gwyneth did not forget that earlier in the day I had promised they could pick something from the candy aisle in the grocery store rather than get something at the expensive candy store.

From here we walked straight home, slowly. I was carrying Ethan, the bag of groceries, and a back pack. Once home Ethan took to hiding the balloons in the "cabbage" or the cabinet to you and me. Yesterday Gwyneth was talking about her pet (in Pet Society on FB) wearing a "baguette" on its head. (She meant to say beret). In any case, I thought it was the funniest thing I had heard and I laughed so hard I got the hiccups. I think I had been couped up in the apartment for too long.

Amiens Parc Zoologique

Yesterday (Monday) Nic went into the office and I got the kids off the the Amiens Zoo. It is a solid 20 minute walk west of the city center as I discovered yesterday. Along the way we saw this small demonstration. I was guessing that it had to do with World War II as we are close to the D Day anniversary but I am not sure. We stopped for a bit, but then we marched on. We were at the zoo before 11AM and the kids walked the whole way. I think I said before that you could easily miss the entrance to the zoo if you didn't know what you were looking for.



When we were approaching the zoo we noticed the hoards of school children entering the zoo. I gave a silent "ugh". It looked like field trip day. Here are the kids waiting in line. Luckily there there were some fun Gibbons at the entrance providing entertainment. We didn't wait that long in line and it cost us 7 euro (about $10) for all of us to get in. Gwyneth started spending her French allowance right away on the souvenir coin they were selling. So it looks like we will be continuing the Norway collection. Once we were in the zoo it was quite charming to walk around and even though it was a smallish zoo we hardly ran into the school groups walking around.


This was the cutest thing we saw all day .... I wish I knew what this bird was. The zoo was small, but it was really pleasant to walk around. You were able to get quite close to the animals. It had a lot of water birds/birds that I have never seen before. They had a few elephants and zebras not too many other large animals. The elephant was Ethan's favorite and Gwyneth liked the monkeys by the entrance. The map indicated that they were working on a giraffe and tiger habitat. So I guess we'll have to see that on the next sabbatical.




The zoo also had a large collection of Tamarins (small monkeys), many kinds that I hadn't seen before. I enjoyed the one "avec les mains rouges" or "with the red hands". You can see them (the hands) in the photo. The kids enjoyed reading the map which was in french and trying to figure out what animal we were going to see. Usually we were wrong. Guess I didn't learn too many zoo animal names in French class. Luckily we had brought a picnic as there was not much in way of food that was available for purchase (except for some vending machines). We made use of the toilets too and they were surprisingly clean.




After the zoo we walked over to the nearby playground that I had spotted the day before. Along the way we stopped to feed the swans and ducks in the rather large pool/pond out front. We had 2 pieces of bread left from lunch that Ethan didn't want. Here he is deciding that he wants to eat it now rather than feed it to the ducks. The swans were actually rather nasty ... pecking at much smaller little ducklings when they got a piece of bread. I didn't let Ethan get too close to them with his piece of bread.

The playground had one of these crazy rope structure things. When we first arrived it was loaded with the school kids from the zoo. I got to have some conversations (in French) with the school kids about why I spoke English. The conversation didn't go much past the fact that I lived in "Les Etats Unis". It always ended with "pourquoi?" on their end. Eventually/thankfully the kids left and Gwyneth and Ethan got to climb around on their own. Ethan never climbed higher than my arms reach and I am not sure that he wanted to. So that is a good sign. Not too soon after this photo it started to sprinkle rain, not too hard luckily, and so we left for home. Not before Ethan insisted on going down the now wet slide one more time of course. I then had the pleasure of carrying him and his wet bottom for the 20 minute walk home. He stayed awake however.

Once home Gwyneth did some math homework and I successfully got Ethan down for a nap by reading him some books. Guess he must have been tired! Nic came home around 6PM with some provisions from the grocery store. This included a box wine "Les Ormes de Cambras". (Ormes means Elm in French). Nic liked the wine and I thought it was just okay. I then headed out for the store to get a few more things as Nic mostly came home with (heavy) beverages. I have been enjoying perusing the cheese and the snack aisles in the grocery store. I got home closer to 7PM and a heavier rain, but not too bad. We then had an artichoke from the farmers market with some burgers and potatoes. Oh, and of course every meal must include french bread, cheese, and wine. Somewhere in the middle of dinner Ethan woke up and requested his cow cheese "La vache qui rit" or "Laughing Cow" to you and me. At my latest shopping trip I discovered the Carrefour brand of the Laughing Cow cheese (for about 1/3 the price) so we'll see if I can slip that one by Ethan.



After cleaning up from dinner we all settled in for a movie - "The Tale of Despereaux" - which we have on Itunes. The kids have seen it several times already but this was the first time for me. I found it a bit strange in places, but overall it was okay. We have managed to wear out our Cars DVD on this trip and it no longer plays. So we may have to buy it again on Itunes before we leave France .... we'll see.

Sunday in Amiens

Today there was a prediction of rain and it was raining when Nic and Ethan got up. I'm not sure what time that was but by the time Gwyneth and I rolled out of bed at 9AM it had stopped. I did make some breakfast of scrambled eggs with fried mushrooms, tomatoes, and ham on the side. (Although I am fairly certain that Nic had already eaten some cereal). The kids sucked down some Pain du Chocolate as usual. We lazed around for a bit after breakfast trying to figure out what to do today with the threat of rain still on the horizon.

Oh I guess the big event was Nic spilling his coffee on the couch as a result of Ethan (big surprise) bumping into him. It was a large spill. Luckily the couch was slip covered and we could remove the 2 seat cushions with stains. The labels said we could wash them ... so we did. Tonight all is well, and you would never know that anything had happened.

Eventually it was lunchtime so we ate and it didn't seem like the kids wanted to go out very at all. They were still having fun with the Lego set. It also looked like Ethan needed a nap, so we let G & E watch a movie. Nic took a little snooze on the chair, since the couch was no longer available. I decided to go out and scout a few things since we were not sure how far some things were.

First stop for me was the zoo and about a 20 minute walk. The section of town wasn't all that nice that I had to walk through but I did see 2 playgrounds on the way. As they told me in the tourist office there really is not convenient way to get there by bus. The only entrance that I could see was accessed by a pedestrian mall which was a longish walk from the nearest bus stop. It really is looking like we could use a stroller here. We are so close to the center that the buses are of too much use to us. We really are within walking distance of all the interesting sights withing Amiens. After circling the zoo and determining that indeed this was the only entrance I headed back towards the center and the old section of town near the canals.

The first thing that I noticed that was that everything was quiet on Sunday. No stores were open and there were not many people out. My favorite shopping place - the Carrefour - is closed on Sunday. Another grocery chain store across the street - the Match - said it was open on Sunday from 8:30AM to 11:45AM. Good to know for the future I guess. I found things a bit bustling around the cathedral as it was open. The 2 surrounding gift shops were open too and I just had to go in. In one of them I overhead a funny conversation between an American just speaking English trying to ask if he could get his purchase "bubble wrapped" because he was riding a bike and the French gift shop worker just saying she didn't understand. He kept repeating himself but always in English as if eventually she would get it. Finally he said he had a French speaking friend who was still in the cathedral who he would ask for help. I didn't stick around to see the result. And I didn't feel like jumping in as I thought he deserved it for not at least throwing one French word into the conversation.

Next stop was another park area called the Hortillonnages. It is a large marshy area connected with pieces of land connected by a series of canals. The land us used for gardening, fishing, etc ... now by the people in the Picardie area. There was also a rather large nice park that I took a walk around. I saw this nice Grey Heron - there you go dad - I identified a bird. There were some other ducks and things swimming around too. I am fairly certain that some of them were coots but I will need to examine my pictures more closely.

The park also had a very nice looking playground that I will have to take the kids back too. Okay, so this was not it but the playground did have a smaller version of this rope climbing thing. I may need to make sure that Ethan doesn't see this one or else he may want to go to the top. There were lots of people in the park so I guess that is what you can do besides go to the Cathedral on a Sunday. It had lots of nice paths and bridges to talk around on and I am sure that I can have some fun with the kids there.

Last stop before heading home was to find the place where you could take a boat ride (about 40 minutes) through the canals. I finally found it, but it was bit hidden. I am finding that unless you know where something is you may just walk right by it .... Anyway this looked like it will be fun with the kids on another day. I headed home and it was probably another 20 minute walk back through the center of town. I walked down the large pedestrian mall and I found a bakery that was open so I purchased a baguette (.88 euro or about $1) for dinner. My French was going fine until she told me how much it was .... for some reason it is hard to comprehend the numbers, it seems like they are speaking so fast. Anyway, I eventually got it quarte-vingt-huit or four-twenties and eight. So I walked the rest of the way home in the spitting rain with my baguette and probably got there about 5:30PM.

Nic and Gwyneth got dinner ready. She really has been excited about cooking and helping out on this trip. I will need to make sure she keeps her enthusiasm up when we get home to Colorado - it could prove useful. We had some gnocchi, with some sauteed chicken breasts and zucchini. Of course we had the baguette with some cheese too. We also opened the 5 euro bottle of Bordeaux which did seem to taste better than the 2 euro version, but I am really not much of a wine connoisseur. The kids inhaled a chocolate bar for dessert. I got 3 chocolate bars (the big ones, 100g) from the Carrefore for 1.5 euros .... a veritable bargain. Before they got it they had to say some phrases in French first ..... which they did and it was cute. Nic and I each ate one of the Amiens Macaroons that Veronique had given us a gift. They are a specialty of the region and oh so tasty. It is made out of almonds and other things and to me it tastes like a compacted Angel Food Cake .... if that makes any sense. They are yummy and I'm sure we'll be bringing some of those home. I have already spotted the place that they come from - Jean Trogneux - and I know where to get more.

After dinner Ethan fell asleep in Nic's arms while watching soccer on the computer I think. Gwyneth did some Singapore math. She is almost done with her 4th grade books. We had promised her a Wii when she finishes them and it looks like we are going to have to pay up soon. Veronique gave us a sup rise visit (luckily the apartment wasn't too messy and we had the couch back together!). She was dropping by to tell us about her car that we can use while we are here. We fumbled though a half French/half English conversation. So it looks like we will have some wheels to take a few day trips. Yahoo.

Saturday and French Markets!

I think I was the last one up today around 9AM ... I've just felt exhausted lately. Nic went down to the bakery again for 4 pain du chocolates! They were enjoyed by all! We decided to head in the direction of the cathedral today and perhaps doing some shopping along the way. We at least needed one more shopping bag as one that we have brought from home is ripping. We also noticed that the French version seems to be much larger. We were also considering a little cart that you roll around on wheels for groceries, but mostly we've only seen older people using them. We've decided not to stoop to that level yet. We got out the door around 11AM and one of the first stops was Les Halles which houses the toy store and the Carrefour.

The weather shows rain for the next few days and Amiens does not seem to have many rainy day options for kids. So we sprung for a lego set at the toy store to give the kids something else to do besides computers when we are in the apartment. Gwyneth really wanted a playmobil pirate set and we told her she could save her euro allowance to get it if she wanted. She seemed okay with that. After the toy store we hit the Carrefore one more time. We picked up a large reusable shopping back and a 10 pack of Pain du Chocolate for 1.5 euro ( a little over $2). The 4 that we had gotten at the bakery this morning had cost us 4 euro for comparison. After that, we headed down a street where we had seen an outdoor market with goods, food, and flower. The picture above shows Gwyneth at the market.

The market was quite large with many vendors. I talked to one and she said she was there Wednesday and Saturday. (Mecredi et Samedi). So I assumed that was the same for most of the stalls. We waited in line a vegetable/fruit stall and got some artichokes, broccoli, strawberries and cherries. There was a little discussion about the strawberries and we finally decided he was trying to tell us that if we got 2 we got a better price. So we did. He nicely wrote the price down on a piece of paper as we had already pulled the "je ne parle pas francais tres bien" card already. We walked around most of it. Gwyneth definitely wants to come back with her euro allowance. I will need to come back for some of the rotisserie chickens that I saw. We weren't prepared for that today. By this time the kids were hungry again so we decided to give the panini shop and second try and show Nic where it was. This time we successfully got 3 paninis - cheese, bacon, and jambon (ham). They were enjoyed by all. Ethan was especially excited by it and it is good to know that he won't starve in France.

After lunch we tried the playground with the rope bird's nest. Then we walked towards the cathedral and got some more information in the tourist office. This time we came away with a few more pamphlets ... you never know what you are going to get. We looked at the cathedral from the outside and tried the nearby public toilet. It was fine, although we never would have found it without directions. There was an attendent and you were supposed to put .4 euros in the cup. We were down by the old town with the canals briefly. That is where this picture was taken. Then we walked up on the other side of the cathedral to playground number 1 from yesterday. Gwyneth and Ethan got a into a little game with a french girl and boy (they were between Gwyneth and Ethan in age I think). They were all trying to run up the (short but steep) slide to make it to the top. It was fun and you had the parents cheering them on in French and English. "Bravo", "Good job", "Allons, Allons", "Go Go", etc..... Everyone said goodbye in the other person's language.

We were tired by now, it was close to 4 o'clock. We decided the free number 8 bus (which travels in a figure 8 pattern around the center of town) to get us closer to home. It came very close to the playground, but then took us out of the center then back in based on where we were in the 8 pattern. Nic likened the ride to freak show. There were a lot of people on the bus first of all, and then were all sorts of strange characters. There was this one woman with this horrible teeth .... sorry but it was hard not look at. Anyway, the bus took us toward the train station where it stopped because of switching drivers. Then we gathered that it wasn't going to leave for another dix-huit (18) minutes whereas the bus behind us was leaving in quatre (4) minutes. So we all got off and on the other. In the process we lost our seats and Nic was carrying Ethan at this point. It was no easy task for him to stay upright while the bus was moving. Eventually we did get to our stop and we were closer to home, but I'm not sure that it was worth our while. We may not do that again. On the walk home, the kids and Nic bought me some flowers as today was Mother's Day in France.

Once home, the kids (Nic included) played with the legos while I did some Internet banking. I couldn't imagine how we'd be doing this trip without the Internet. We did tacos (lame but easy) for dinner and used up another can of beans (2 left!). The kids LOVE baguettes so I don't think we'll have any food issues while we are here and I am not worried about using up the beans. After dinner we ate the 2 pastries that Gwyneth and I had picked up at the bakery on the way home. One was a "Truff" which was basically a giant meringue covered in a chocolate frosting. Gwyneth had picked that one but I think she was a little surprised (disappointed) at the meringue in side. I had picked something called a "Jalousie" and it was flaked pastry with some kind of cakey filling. I realize now that I should have taken pictures. Too late, they are already "in belly". They were tasty.

So here we are. It feels good to be caught up on the blog. Ethan is next to me playing some computer games. Nic is relaxing on the couch - thinking about mathematics. Gwyneth is working on her engineering skills with the legos. Bon Nuit!

Friday in Amiens

Today was to be Nic's first day in the office. We all walked in with him so we could see where it was and also so he could point out some of the other markets to me. We found the Carrefour and the Match. Later on I will return to the Carrefour and will fall in love with it. Well, not exactly, but I will have found my grocery store for the rest of the trip. It is in a place called "Les Halles" which also has some other shops (the kids noted the toy store) and some specialty food shops too. We were at Nic's office by 11AM, not the early start he had hoped for but he put up with us :). After a quick look at where he would be, I went off with the kids in search of some playgrounds that we also did not make it to yesterday. Right near the university is an older section of town criss-crossed by these canals. It is quite nice to walk around. Here we are at the start of our walk. Ethan is showing me his happy face - Not!

Here we are on our way to the first playground which was in the shadow of the Amiens Cathedral (the tallest complete cathedral in France). You can see it in the background here. The kids had fun on see-saw and small slide. The started a small game of hide and seek as well. They started to get hungry so we decided to walk to the next playground hoping to find food along the way. We found sustenance at "Le Plaisir du Pain Chaud" or the "pleasure of hot bread". The place was small an busy because it was lunch time. But I had noticed people walking around with these nice looking sandwiches that were coming from this store so I decided to take the plunge. When I got the front I fumbled through an order of 2 panini's (one cheese and one "hot dog" or so I thought) and then 1 panitiere with jambon (or ham). There was some confusion about "hot dog" but I thought he eventually got it. While I was ordering I had planted Gwyneth and Ethan near the Ice Cream freezer and at some point I turned around and noticed that Ethan was missing. I asked Gwyneth and all she did was shrug. I then noticed Ethan coming back into the store weaving his way through the line as he went. It will be a miracle if he never gets lost on this trip.

Once we got our sandwiches we went outside and at near this fountain. All of the sandwiches came on 1/2 a baguette and cost about 3.5 euros or $5.25. In retrospect I could have gotten away with ordering only 2 but c'est la vie. The paninis where hot and melted and the panitiere was more like a sub sandwich with lettuce, tomato, chopped hard boiled egg, mayonnaise and the chicken. (I had ordered ham, but again something was lost in the pronunciation I guess). Ethan LOVED the cheese panini and I ate the panitiere which was good but had a little too much mayo for me. Gwyneth ate her "hot dog" panini but part way through she said it tasted like tuna fish. I tasted it and she was right ..... so she finished off Ethan's cheese panini when he was done. So I'm not quite sure what happened there or what a "hot dog" panini would have looked like anyway. From now on I think Gwyneth just may stick with the cheese.

After lunch we found the second playground on our list. It was also nearby and in the shadows of the cathedral again. French playgrounds seem to be nothing like the Norwegian ones but the kids amused themselves for almost a couple of hours here. The thing they are climbing on here dumped out into a big nest made out of rope and they had fun trying to figure out how to get from the where they were into the nest. Around 3PM it was clear that big E was getting tired and I should think about getting him home. We were probably a 15-20 minute walk from the apartment here. Not very far if you don't have to carry a sleeping 3 year old boy. Unfortunately for me I did. Very quickly into the walk home he wanted to be picked up, and not soon after he started fading to sleep. We made it home around 3:30PM and I plopped him into bed. Not before he woke up a little bit to say "that was a long walk". Then I said to him that I think he should rest some more and he said "I will". He slept until past 7PM.

Nic came home around 5:30PM or so and went to the bakery near our apartment for a baguette and to the butcher below our apartment for some pork chops. I was hoping to do some shopping while I was out with the kids, but things didn't work out that way. So once Nic came back a second time I decided to go out to one of the other supermarkets that were recommended to us and Nic worked on dinner. I found the Carrefour and it was wonderful. (The picture is from us being there earlier in the day.) It was big and had a good selection of things. It was also fairly cheap - especially things under the Carrefour brand. I will be back!

Back at home I was treated to a lovely pork chop dinner cooked by Nic. They were juicy and tender (much better than yesterdays steak). I should note that we do not have an oven here so it will be all stove top cooking for a while. We finished off the bottle of wine from the night before and then it was myself who was off to bed early. Just before that it was Nic who noticed I had a split right up the back of the seat of pants. Honestly, I don't think I was eating that many waffles in Norway. Kind of a bummer because I was wearing them a lot on this trip, they had good pockets with zippers and stuff. The only way I can think that it happened was when I had returned from the outing with the kids. I had to squat down holding Ethan to open the bottom lock and I remember it was some work to get up back standing again. So it means that I was probably walking around the carrefour with my backside showing but at least I was wearing underwear!