gabriella & jd (and alex! and vincent!)

Pictures. The open house for Alex's preschool on Sept 4th was dark, cold and rainy - hope that's not what the Fall is like in Paris! We had a nice time visiting Alex's new class, where there was an escargot station, among other great toys. There are 20 children in the class, 15 boys - it will be a fun year (especially for those teachers). At the apartment there was cape time, and we got Lincoln a new brush he desperately needed. On Saturday we tried to go to Jardin des Plantes but is was cold and rainy, so we went shopping at the Grands Magasins (Galeries Lafeyette and Printemps) which have great rooftop views. On Sunday we enjoyed the marche in our town and playing in the park, where Alex walked across the spiderweb climbing thing all by himself.

Pictures. Alex's friends from school last year are all moving on - Jamie back to Australia, Carson to the US, and Grey to another school in Paris. We all gathered at Grey's apartment for a good-bye party. Alex and I went to the Cite des Enfants one more time for the summer. It was the day after schools went back in Paris, so it was empty! We also went outside to see the "geode", and discovered a submarine we could go inside. Alex found a Space Shuttle in the gift shop he really liked.

Giverny. On the drive back from Normandy, we stopped by Giverny. Montmartre. On Carrie's last day in Paris, we went to Montmarte. Alex walked up all the steps himself which was great. We had escargot and onion soup for lunch, and then walked down by the Moulin Rouge. It was a nice, hot, sunny day. Little did we know that the next day, September 1st, would dawn cool and gray and rainy, exactly as Carrie was leaving.

Normandy - Etretat. On Saturday we headed across the Pont de Normandie to Le Havre, a busy harbor town. We weren't sure where to drive next. The ferry to England would take 5 hours, which we didn't have. Then we saw signs for the town of Etretat, and JD said a woman he worked with suggested we go there. After a short 20 minute, we pulled into town and parked near the water. Carrie got out of the car, walked up the street and some steps to investigate. She came back and said "I can't tell you what's up there, you have to go see, right now". She had this look of awestruck amazement on her face. From the pictures you will see what we discovered - the most amazing white cliffs and natural arch, and the stone beach. We had a wonderful time in the town, walked around, had wine and cheese as the sun set, and mussels for dinner. All the hotels were booked, so we headed back to Le Havre to stay in a hotel. On Sunday, we drove back to Etretat and went up to th

Normandy - Honfleur. We rented a car last Friday when Carrie was here and decided to go to Normandy, a 2 hour drive. We drove to Honfleur, where JD had been for a work meeting in late June. We didn't have a place to stay but decided we would find one when we arrived. We were lucky and found a room at the Hotel Dauphin, up many flights of skinny stairs to the top floor, with a cute room we could not stop taking pictures of, including the view of the rooftops of Honfleur out the window. We proceeded to have a great meal that night sitting outside at a restaurant in a cobblestone alley. Alex liked the house special fish soup. Saturday started out gray and rainy, so we walked around the market and had snacks. Then the weather cleared as we took off for the Pont de Normandie, a very cool bridge across the Seine to Le Havre. We had no idea where the day would take us....

Carrie in Paris. Carrie came to visit us for a week! We had a great time, and these pictures are only from the first two days. After a jet lag nap, we hit the Trocadero for a view of the Eiffel Tower. On Thursday, we decided to take an open top bus tour to cover most of Paris. It was cloudy and drizzled a bit - but that was the worst weather we had the entire time. Of course we introduced Carrie to our "wine and cheese course" before dinner.

Week of August 26th. On Sunday we went to the Bois de Vincennes to meet Liliane for lunch, my former manager who hired me way back in 2000! She's from Paris and we met for lunch and decided we both looked the same, even though we haven't seen each other in seven years. She took us to a great outdoor restaurant on the lake in the Bois de Vincennes, then we walked around. It was very hot that day. During the week, Alex and I went to the Jardin d'Acclimation again with his friends from school - Carson, Jamie, and Juan Martin.

Saint-Germain-en-Laye. We went to a small town about 10 miles outside of Paris the weekend before last, Saint-Germain-en-Laye. We walked around the park(which had a great view of Paris and La Defense)and the town, and had a nice meal in a quiet courtyard. Then we headed back to Paris to watch the Manchester United Game at a bar, and then walked a bit since it was a nice Saturday night.

Week before last. I am behind in posting, we had great weather all of August so lots of playdates with Alex's friends, and then Carrie was here the past week (those pictures are forthcoming). A day at the Tuileries where they were having a summer carnival, including trampolines. Then we spent a very hot day (95°F) in the Jardin d'Acclimatation with Carson. The boys went in the water sprays and rode the rides. On another day, we met up in the Jardin Luxembourg, then went to Anne-Marie's beautiful apartment for lunch and a party for Juan Martin's birthday.