Eurojournal- 7 Sept 2006

Au revoir Paris! We are on our way to Luxembourg on the TGV train. Byron and Luna are doing homework and Liam is looking at the scenery.

This week was pretty challenging as I was trying to adjust to missing James and preparing for our departure from Paris. I got pretty attached to Paris and did not like to idea of uprooting. It is fine for me or both James and I but a different situation altogether with the children. At the same time I remember how fortunate we are to have this opportunity to be on this journey. I just wish it were as a whole family with James. That said, after talking with the children (they miss James, puppies and village) we will most likely return a little early to the village in November instead of December after Barcelona.

We saw more sites in Paris. We went to the park at the Eiffel tower, Grevin wax museum, the Cite des Sciences, Salvador Dali museum, Claude Monet’s house in Giverny, Versailles, Quai Branly museum, Pere Lachaise cemetary and revisted the skatepark and vegan Chinese restaurant. The children loved the science center especially Liam. Giverny was really beautiful. Liam loves Claude Monet’s “magical bridge” and was thrilled to see it in person and walk on it. He even sketched it. The Dali museum was located in Montmartre which is a fabulous section of Paris. It is where both Sacre Coeur and Moulin Rouge is located. In Montmartre is La Place de Tertre which has artists everywhere sketching and painting on top of cobblestone surrounded by cafes and galleries. I loved it. This is my favorite part of Paris. We attempted to see various famous graves at Pere Lachaise. After getting lost we were ready to leave and decided to just see Jim Morrison’s grave. Byron had no idea who Jim Morrison was. So I explained and downloaded the movie by Spike Lee to watch one of these days. Musee de Quai Branly is a museum with art from Oceania, Asia, Africa and the Americas.

I took a few hours to myself yesterday to regroup after this week. I went to the store and bought some of the best vegan chocolate ever to mail to James. We had it when he was here. I went to a café at the Trocadero, near the Eiffel Tower, ate strawberry sorbet and read. It was nice. For once it was hot in Paris. Last night Byron went to the Louvre.

We spend two nights in Luxembourg and leave at 3am for a bus to the airport in a random part of Germany to Norway. This month will be quite an adventure travelling around. We will see 6-8 countries in 3 weeks. How exciting!