Labels

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Une Grande Famille dans Paris


The day after Andre’s parents and friends left we decided that we too should go to Paris to spend more time together since Andre had been in Normandy all week. We left the Saturday morning and met everyone for lunch near the Champs-Élysées. We then headed over with Andre’s parents to meet the Lamirande’s; Andre’s Aunt, Uncle and two cousins who had just arrived in France that day. We all walked up to the Arc de Triomphe to see Andre’s wreath, which as you can see is the biggest attraction these days.From there the group divided up to go see the sights. Andre and I went with his Mom to the Orangerie to see Monet’s paintings Above Right: Two Pouty French men outside Royal Hotel
The Lamirande’s and their friends from Holland went down the Champs to see La Place de la Concorde and the Tuileries Gardens. The Orangerie was actually very busy and not the meditative haven/escape from the masses of tourists, that I had been told it was by my professors in University. It was still something to see though; with Monet’s late work the des Nymphéas, sweeping across the curved walls in the two oval rooms.



Typical Tour Guide Face Orangerie

That night for dinner we had made a reservation for our party of 12 at a restaurant in the Latin Quarter. We all hopped on the metro and walked along the Seine and across L'île de la Cité to see Notre Dame.

At the restaurant we had a gigantic table upstairs it was wonderful to all sit together.

We took the metro back to our hotels after dinner, and just as we think we’re all safely out on the platform we turn around to see Andre’s Uncle still inside the metro train waving as it goes past! The doors had closed before he was able to get out! So we stood waiting for the next train to go by the opposite direction, and sure enough as it came in we could see Uncle Rob waving as the train pulled in! There was a bit of confusion after that, since there are so many exits to different streets from the metro stop. But we did find him at last!

The next day Andre, his parents and I returned home to Arras and Anne. Their friends from home flew back to Canada, and the Lamirande family stayed in Paris to see more of the sights.

No comments:

Post a Comment