We're still not on the right time schedule. John and I were up maybe after 10 AM. The kids were up after noon. The goal is to eventually get up in time to go to one of the free markets somewhere. They're usually over by noon.
John got crepes for breakfast. Zach ate most of his since it had chocolate in it. Asia didn't go for it as much. She's like me, not great with sweet stuff for breakfast. She ended up eating the one that John got for me since it had cheese in it and I wasn't about to risk having cheese for breakfast, even if I took a Lactaid pill or two. I already was having decaf coffee with Splenda which sometimes works funny with me - even if it was decaf without sugar. So I made some instant noodles that the apartment owner had stocked in the pantry. They were pretty bad, but a little soy sauce and hot sauce, and it was edible. I also had some baguette with spicy Mustard. After breakfast, we walked to the 3rd and 4th districs (we're staying in the 11th) so we could do some "real people" shopping. Supposedly. This book said that's where the real people shop, not the millionaires. It's like how when we lived in Chicago, we didn't shop on the Magnificent Mile - Michagan Avenue - which is where the more expensive stores were. We went to malls like Old Orchard or Water Tower or the new Target they built in the Roosevelt/Halstead area. So anyway, we took a long walk that was quite chilly. It was supposed to rain today as well. We ended up in this park square called La Place de Vosges. It's surrounded by these brick mansions. Victor Hugo lived in one of them. And one of the King Henry's was beheaded in the park. We had also visited this park during our honeymoon. John's friend Mike had taken us to the park and told us a bunch of history about the park. So that was a nice deja-vu. It was past lunch time, so Zach and I sat on a park bench. I read, he drew a cartoon. John and Asia went in search for food. They came back with fresh strawberries and two types of pasta. That was devoured pretty quickly and then the kids played for a bit in a deep sandbox in the park.
It was starting to get grayer, so we decided to leave the park and start looking for some stores. That way if it rained, we could at least find shelter. We ended up missing one of the rain showers while we were in a toy store. Asia found this mechanical rabbit that she wants. I took a picture of it in case I get it for her birthday. It had American packaging anyway. She's been talking about wanting a real rabbit. Everytime she sees one in our backyard or someone else's yard, she wants to catch it and keep it. See older posts about the little baby bunny that Asia did manage to catch one summer. So anyway, this mechanical bunny made some yipping noise and jumped. Very cute. Very annoying. But better than a real rabbit anyday. I told Asia that when she has her own house, she can have whatever pets she wants. She plans on having one or two or three dogs, a rabbit, and a bird. Good luck to her future husband! So at the toy store, John bought this game that consists of a plastic blue shark that has his mouth open and you take turns pushing down one of his teeth til his mouth comes crashing down on your finger. When I played the game with the kids tonight, for some reason, I was the one that kept getting my finger eaten. It never failed. We also let the kids pick one thing that cost 1 euro - Zach got a glider (just like he always gets at Chuck E Cheese) and Asia got a chinese fan. I think the fan will come in handy when we're in a restaurant with no A/C. Unless this cool weather keeps up.
We also took a break in a little bistro where the kids had hot chocolate, John had a beer, and I had a decaf in this cute mini yellow mug. It's just so French. The hot chocolate wasn't what I expected. I remember going to a restaurant with John and Mike before and getting this decadent mini pitcher of melted chocolate to pour in your milk. Now that's real hot chocolate. Unfortunately, they'd have to have soy milk or something now if I want to enjoy it. Paris is NOT for the lactose-intolerant. Argh. I will have to go into lactose-detox when I get home. Ha. John and I brought at least 3 boxes of Lactaid pills with us on this trip, plus some stomach ease tea, and ginger candy. Anything to help the digestive system of the lactose-intolerant.
We visited a mall on our way home since we need an adapter for my work phone. I got some clothes for Asia as well that was on sale. They had some really fashionable stuff that Asia liked but with the Euro to dollar conversion, weren't that cheap. Asia fell in love with this patent leather black jacket. Eeks the girl has expensive taste.
For dinner, we went to this place that had high ratings in TripAdviser.com - Bistrot de L'Ouelette. The service was really great. The head waiter or owner or manager could speak English so we didn't have to flounder trying to interpret the French culinary terms that are not in my dictionaries on my Palm Treo. They also had English menu's obviously due to high tourist traffic. We got there right at 7 Pm when they opened and looking in, saw that the staff seemed to be still sampling the night's menu. We waited a few minutes and then went in. Luckily since we went so early, we didn't need a reservation. During the course of our meal, we heard plenty of diners get turned away and one lucky diner group was told to come back in 1/2 an hour (which is around when we would be done). Guess that's where still being on the American timezone helps. We're early eaters.
The actual dinner was okay. One of the appetizers we got was a foiegras with figs and sour cherry tomatoes with dark bread. I really liked it. John didn't. Another appetizer was a fish called mullet that came with a flaky crust (like one layer of puff pastry) and carmelized onions. It was okay. Asia really liked it and ate most of it. And the last appetizer was this same flaky crust but made into a sandwich with really cream goat cheese and herbs. That was really good and everyone liked it. We got to main entrees - a sea bass with ratatouille and the classic cassoulet - white bean stew with duck meat. They both were good but not fantastic. The dessert was really good though. We had to pre-order it since they said it takes some time to make. It was a flaky pastry with apples inside served with a side of rum-ice. Yum. And the kids shared a dish of raspberry, strawberry, and green apple sorbet. Of course, afterwards, they said they wanted to go to Ben & Jerry's (we had passed one on the walk to the restaurant). I told them what they had was much healthier.
The walk home was a little difficult. First, we could see gray clouds moving in. Second, it was windy and chilly and the kids were wearing T-shirts and shorts because their jeans hadn't been washed from a day at the beach in Toronto over the weekend. Third, everyone had to go to the bathroom and really wanted to wait til we got to the apartment. Parisian restaurant bathrooms are pretty nasty. The ones I've been to so far are usually unisex and thus only one toilet. They put all this nice decor in the restaurant, but forget about the bathroom. Funny. Kinda like Asian restaurants in the US.
Okay another night in Paris. It's 2:20 AM in Paris. Hmm...... guess I should be in bed.
John got crepes for breakfast. Zach ate most of his since it had chocolate in it. Asia didn't go for it as much. She's like me, not great with sweet stuff for breakfast. She ended up eating the one that John got for me since it had cheese in it and I wasn't about to risk having cheese for breakfast, even if I took a Lactaid pill or two. I already was having decaf coffee with Splenda which sometimes works funny with me - even if it was decaf without sugar. So I made some instant noodles that the apartment owner had stocked in the pantry. They were pretty bad, but a little soy sauce and hot sauce, and it was edible. I also had some baguette with spicy Mustard. After breakfast, we walked to the 3rd and 4th districs (we're staying in the 11th) so we could do some "real people" shopping. Supposedly. This book said that's where the real people shop, not the millionaires. It's like how when we lived in Chicago, we didn't shop on the Magnificent Mile - Michagan Avenue - which is where the more expensive stores were. We went to malls like Old Orchard or Water Tower or the new Target they built in the Roosevelt/Halstead area. So anyway, we took a long walk that was quite chilly. It was supposed to rain today as well. We ended up in this park square called La Place de Vosges. It's surrounded by these brick mansions. Victor Hugo lived in one of them. And one of the King Henry's was beheaded in the park. We had also visited this park during our honeymoon. John's friend Mike had taken us to the park and told us a bunch of history about the park. So that was a nice deja-vu. It was past lunch time, so Zach and I sat on a park bench. I read, he drew a cartoon. John and Asia went in search for food. They came back with fresh strawberries and two types of pasta. That was devoured pretty quickly and then the kids played for a bit in a deep sandbox in the park.
It was starting to get grayer, so we decided to leave the park and start looking for some stores. That way if it rained, we could at least find shelter. We ended up missing one of the rain showers while we were in a toy store. Asia found this mechanical rabbit that she wants. I took a picture of it in case I get it for her birthday. It had American packaging anyway. She's been talking about wanting a real rabbit. Everytime she sees one in our backyard or someone else's yard, she wants to catch it and keep it. See older posts about the little baby bunny that Asia did manage to catch one summer. So anyway, this mechanical bunny made some yipping noise and jumped. Very cute. Very annoying. But better than a real rabbit anyday. I told Asia that when she has her own house, she can have whatever pets she wants. She plans on having one or two or three dogs, a rabbit, and a bird. Good luck to her future husband! So at the toy store, John bought this game that consists of a plastic blue shark that has his mouth open and you take turns pushing down one of his teeth til his mouth comes crashing down on your finger. When I played the game with the kids tonight, for some reason, I was the one that kept getting my finger eaten. It never failed. We also let the kids pick one thing that cost 1 euro - Zach got a glider (just like he always gets at Chuck E Cheese) and Asia got a chinese fan. I think the fan will come in handy when we're in a restaurant with no A/C. Unless this cool weather keeps up.We also took a break in a little bistro where the kids had hot chocolate, John had a beer, and I had a decaf in this cute mini yellow mug. It's just so French. The hot chocolate wasn't what I expected. I remember going to a restaurant with John and Mike before and getting this decadent mini pitcher of melted chocolate to pour in your milk. Now that's real hot chocolate. Unfortunately, they'd have to have soy milk or something now if I want to enjoy it. Paris is NOT for the lactose-intolerant. Argh. I will have to go into lactose-detox when I get home. Ha. John and I brought at least 3 boxes of Lactaid pills with us on this trip, plus some stomach ease tea, and ginger candy. Anything to help the digestive system of the lactose-intolerant.
We visited a mall on our way home since we need an adapter for my work phone. I got some clothes for Asia as well that was on sale. They had some really fashionable stuff that Asia liked but with the Euro to dollar conversion, weren't that cheap. Asia fell in love with this patent leather black jacket. Eeks the girl has expensive taste.
For dinner, we went to this place that had high ratings in TripAdviser.com - Bistrot de L'Ouelette. The service was really great. The head waiter or owner or manager could speak English so we didn't have to flounder trying to interpret the French culinary terms that are not in my dictionaries on my Palm Treo. They also had English menu's obviously due to high tourist traffic. We got there right at 7 Pm when they opened and looking in, saw that the staff seemed to be still sampling the night's menu. We waited a few minutes and then went in. Luckily since we went so early, we didn't need a reservation. During the course of our meal, we heard plenty of diners get turned away and one lucky diner group was told to come back in 1/2 an hour (which is around when we would be done). Guess that's where still being on the American timezone helps. We're early eaters.
The actual dinner was okay. One of the appetizers we got was a foiegras with figs and sour cherry tomatoes with dark bread. I really liked it. John didn't. Another appetizer was a fish called mullet that came with a flaky crust (like one layer of puff pastry) and carmelized onions. It was okay. Asia really liked it and ate most of it. And the last appetizer was this same flaky crust but made into a sandwich with really cream goat cheese and herbs. That was really good and everyone liked it. We got to main entrees - a sea bass with ratatouille and the classic cassoulet - white bean stew with duck meat. They both were good but not fantastic. The dessert was really good though. We had to pre-order it since they said it takes some time to make. It was a flaky pastry with apples inside served with a side of rum-ice. Yum. And the kids shared a dish of raspberry, strawberry, and green apple sorbet. Of course, afterwards, they said they wanted to go to Ben & Jerry's (we had passed one on the walk to the restaurant). I told them what they had was much healthier.
The walk home was a little difficult. First, we could see gray clouds moving in. Second, it was windy and chilly and the kids were wearing T-shirts and shorts because their jeans hadn't been washed from a day at the beach in Toronto over the weekend. Third, everyone had to go to the bathroom and really wanted to wait til we got to the apartment. Parisian restaurant bathrooms are pretty nasty. The ones I've been to so far are usually unisex and thus only one toilet. They put all this nice decor in the restaurant, but forget about the bathroom. Funny. Kinda like Asian restaurants in the US.
Okay another night in Paris. It's 2:20 AM in Paris. Hmm...... guess I should be in bed.
