Tuesday May 12

Oh boy, now it's Wednesday night and I'm going to try to remember Tuesday, oh boy, where to begin. I have lots of pictures to add but I'll have to wait for Chad and Sarah's return for that and then I'll fill them in.
I woke everyone up at 9:00, they're beginning to adjust. Last fall when we went to Strasbourg we remembered that one of Milo's favorite activities was the boat trip, so we decided to do that. We walked across the Seine to Ile St. Louis (I haven't figured out how to do accents on this MAC, so please excuse my French, it's difficult for me after teaching accents for 30 years not to use them!), then walked across to Ile de la Cite where Paris began in 300 BC (I'd love to go on and tell you all the history but I'd lose you all, so I'll shut up). As we approached Notre Dame de Paris I got out the Madeline book to show Milo. I think he gets it. Notre Dame in his book is orange and it's gray in person, but I think he knows it's the same place. It was swamped with tourists and the line to go in was an hour long, and this is May, not spring vacation nor summer vacation. So we continued through the island and glanced at Sainte Chapelle and walked through the flower market. By this time Milo was tired and hungry so we went back home for lunch and nap. During his nap I went to a nearby department store: BHV (Bazaar de l'Hotel de Ville) to look for stuff to do with Milo while Chad and Sarah were gone. I bought 4 activity books. Then we walked to the dock for the boat trip. We chose the glassed in covered boat because it's been rather rainy and cool since we got here, not bad, just not sunny. Just as we got on the boat the sun came out and we cooked inside. We were saving climbing the Eiffel Tower for a sunny day. The batobus that we took stops at all the monuments and you can get out and take the next one anytime during the day, so we decided it was time for the Eiffel Tower. Only one elevator was functioning, the only other choice was to walk up with Milo in one arm and the stroller in the other. thankfully Milo doesn't realize that going up is an option, so we just looked at it. In the distance Milo saw a playground and ran for it. What a disappointment. We're really spoiled in the States with our parks. Even our backyard play equipment is better than what I've seen in Paris. This is a HUGE park (Champs de Mars) and all they had for children was a tiny enclosure with awful stuff. The slide was so short and steep that Milo about broke his neck. There were tons of garbage containers, but not the cans, just the plastic bags.

Anti-terrorist plastic garbage bags in Paris

The crows pecked them all apart so that there was garbage everywhere. (I learned today from Agathe that this is new since 9/11, after 9/11 they got rid of all garbage cans and now have all clear plastic bags so that you can see inside. Agathe was surprised to hear that we still use cans since we're the ones who were atttacked). So we went to a Patisserie to treat ourselves to tarte au citron and tarte aux pommes. Milo rode the carousel on the Seine in front of the Eiffel Tower, another 2 euros, then we took the batobus back home. Just before bed Milo reminded me that he wanted to go on the helicopter and I reminded him that he had to poop on the potty, so he demanded to be seated on it and as he was doing his duty he announced "I get to go on the helicopter."