gabriella & jd (and alex! and vincent!)

FINALLY I downloaded all the pictures.  We had such a great time!  And ate lots of octopus and drank tons of vino verdhe.  yum. Friday Paris to Lisbon, checking into Sheraton.  Lunch at traditional Portuguese restaurant Rei Da Pescada. Back to hotel, naps, drinks at the restaurant rooftop bar, meeting Kathleen and Marek in Alfama, dinner in Fado restaurant. Saturday Room service breakfast (Vincent needed pancakes), pool, more pancakes, pizza for a late lunch, a walk through town, touring the Carmo Convent ruins left after the 1755 earthquake.  Beware, there is a picture of two creepy mummy children in the museum.  We hustled Vincent past them quickly! More walking through the shopping district and Plaza, walking to Alfama area, wine and cheese bar, dinner outside. Sunday and Monday Pool, delicious meal at Descobre, a walk along the water, seafood platter for dinner.  Back to Paris on Monday after finding some sushi for lunch. more  pi...

Alex returned Thurs July 27th from camp, we went to pick him up at Gare Montparnasse he was on the TGV from Toulouse.  Vincent was overcome with emotion and would not stop hugging Alex. Then there was sushi for dinner, ASAP. pictures

pictures Alex is still at camp in the South of France, he returns this Thurs July 27.  We have received email updates and pictures from the camp team, and we can see Alex in a few of the photos. We spoke with him a few times.  He went kayaking and said it was amazing. Alex chose the cinema workshop and they did a remake of "Jurassic Park" -

pictures A nice sunny day walking around Paris with Tiernan who was visiting from Manchester.  Bus into Paris, the scaffolding was being dismantled from the July 14th parade the day before.  Through the Tuileries, to the Louvre, over the Pont des Arts, past the booksellers and over the Pont Neuf bridge to Île de la Cité, past Notre Dame, on to Île Saint-Louis and past all those ridiculous lines for Berthillon ice cream, into the Marais, past Centre Pompidou, and metro back home.  Duck for dinner, and repackaging the sausages to freeze from our butcher who is going on vacation. JD's birthday Vincent blew the balloons up the night before.  A visit to the Rodin exhibit and Gardens exhibit at the Grand Palais.  Lunch at Mandalay in Levallois.  Chocolate birthday cake with lots of candles!

you can actually see "Armee de L'Air" written underneath the planes pictures Walked to watch the military planes fly over Paris for the annual Bastille Day parade (the French call it La fête nationale).  The parade is on the other side of the avenue down the Champs-Elysees.  Great weather, it never ceases to be exciting to see all those cool military airplanes flying directly overhead! "President Donald Trump watched U.S. and French soldiers march together through the Paris sunshine on Friday in a double celebration marking 100 years since the United States entered World War One and France's annual Bastille Day holiday. The Paris parade this year marked the centenary of the United States entering World War I in 1917 and featured 63 planes, 29 helicopters, 241 horses and 3,720 soldiers, including US troops dressed in the brown uniform and gaiters of the Great War. By the end of the 1914-1918 war, more than a million U.S. troops were stationed in Fran...

Lee & Amy pictures Lee and Amy, good friends for a long time (JD met Lee in 1995 at PFCU) were in town with their daughters for the start of their grand France vacation.  We had a nice dinner at Vagenende where Vincent lost his first front tooth on the escargots.  Then we met up with Lee and the girls again on Sunday night for drinks at the Pont d'Alma, and an unplanned but fortuitous trip to the new Five Guys on the Champs-Elysees - 3 stories and they sell beer, I am used to the one in Maryland that does not sell alcohol. A walk around the Arc de Triomphe, a metro ride back down to see the twinkling Eiffel Tower.  We had so much fun and were sad to say goodbye, no one more so than Vincent, who was sad for 3 days.  I know because he told me. singing in basement pictures JD's singing teacher participates in an amateur singing night at a Turkish restaurant Le Kibele in the 10th arrondissement in Paris.  JD was invited to join this month.  There...

last day of school July 7th - It was hot!  After school we enjoyed some cool drinks and food outside at our new favorite spot around the corner, a tapas bar and restaurant some folks we know opened. off to camp Alex heads to camp.  Mahanetzer 4, two and a half weeks in the south of France near Toulouse.  We dropped him at the train station Sunday morning.  He was very excited to go, he went two years ago and had a great time.  Vincent was sad to say goodbye to his brother. playground Then we headed back into town to the Jardin du Luxembourg for some fun at the playground, then lunch and back home. swing video 1 swing video 2 swing video 3 swing video 4 swing video 5 cool swing in the Jardin du Luxembourg playground - realiser des constructions:

pictures Vincent's class was the third class to come outside - it's an astronaut parade! Annual end of school parade at Vincent's school (the maternelle).  His class made their astronaut costumes and were playing the drums.  They paraded around the block, through the park, and back through the elementary school next door where Alex was.  So cute!  Then we had sushi for lunch. 2 more days of Grand Section (kindergarten) for Vincent, then on to CP (first grade) at the elementary school next door.  And Alex is off to 6th grade at the "college", in another part of town. parade video 1 parade video 2 parade video 3 JD pictures   finally! This is Eva his "amoureuse".  He was sad she is going to another elementary school next year.

It was the escargots at  Vagenende  during our dinner with Lee and Amy that did it!