Check, check, check

Our last day in France.  It has gone so fast!  We would not leave before seeing Giverny, the home of Monet for the last 40 years of his life and the subject of many of his most well known paintings. 

His gardens seemed to reflect him and his painting style.  Bright colors splashed around without any perfect order, but complete balance.  As we roamed through the gardens of magnificent color, we could almost imagine him doing the same and simply basking in their beauty.  He had a wife and 8 children that lived here with him, and so we could also imagine children running through laughing and playing hide and seek or tag.

The part that I was most excited to see was the Japanese inspired garden where the famous water lilies live!  This garden was so different from the last!  Maybe it is just the water that seems to evoke more quiet.  It was mesmerizing.  He had designed this garden so that you meander through greenery, splashes of color, past babbling brooks and ponds filled with yellow and pink water lilies.  There are benches along the way and bridges that cross over just begging you to sit and be quiet for a time. 

That we did…with our last French lunch.  Baguette sandwiches from the local boulangerie.  I am going to miss this.  The picnics, the time to sit and just be, having my whole family to myself, and of course…the baguettes!

It was time to go.  We really wanted (despite Jeff’s requests to reconsider) to go back to Paris.  We needed to finish 3 more things.  Shopping, escargots and ice cream.  As it turns out, and now I can tell you for sure, the best ice cream that I have ever had. 

“Well.  We are done touring France.”  Rachel said as we got into the car to head back to Paris. 

Soren cheered, Jeff sighed, Makenna said nothing, and I felt like I was going to cry.  It has been such a magnificent trip.  There is nothing that I would do different, and I have no regrets.  We saw everything that we wanted to see, and had time to relax in between.  What more could I ask for?  Yes, it was time to go home.  I am ready, but I will miss the dream.

But wait…there is more!  We still got to go back to Paris, and then London!

Jeff’s reluctance in going back to Paris rested solely on the fact that he would have to drive in Paris.  The one thing that everyone tells you not to do!  After 6 weeks of driving in France however, we were confident that all would be well!  I am not so sure that he felt that way!

As we approached the city, we got more excited!  Jeff got more nervous.

“Oh crap!  Is that the Arc de Triomphe????  Are we on Champs-Elysees?”

Ooops.  Yep!

Jeff just held the car steady as motorcycles which Jeff referred to as Ninjas and little cars whizzed past us!  I think that I actually heard Jeff scream, but it was hard to tell because the rest of us were laughing so hard that we had tears coming down our faces!

Well, after he made it through the 50 point round about (or what seemed like 50 points but was actually 12) we made it to the parking structure at the Printemps and the Galeries Lafayette.   Thank goodness for anti-persperant! 

Once here, it felt almost as if we had come home.  We chose to walk so that we could go back by so much of what we had seen 6 weeks before.  The biggest difference this time from 6 weeks ago was the fact that we felt surrounded by English speaking Americans.  I much preferred being here when we heard no Americans.  It just felt so much more real.  Now, I felt like I was at Disneyland!  I thought to myself…it’s time for us to go home.

Not before we accomplished what we set out to do first however! 

Makenna found a very cute leather jacket that will suit her very nicely in high school.  Can’t you hear it now?  “Oh my gosh Makenna, that jacket is soooo cute.  Where did you get it?”  “This?  Oh, I got it in Paris.”  You gotta love it!  Rachel and I found a couple of little things that we are secretly hoping someone will ask us about so that we have the joy of giving the same response! 

We walked by the Opera Garnier, we walked by Place du Palais Royal, the Jardin des Tuileries, and the Louvre.  We walked along the Seine and saw the “beach in Paris” where they bring in tons and tons of sand, chairs, and umbrellas along the Seine in Paris.  It is the city dwellers beach!  Finally we crossed over the river to a great little spot called “Ile St. Louis.” It is here that we settled in for our last French meal.  Soup a l’onion, steak hache and frites, salad vert, and of course escargots. 

There were 6 shells on the plate.  I am not sure that the kids expected to have to work for their food from something that looked like what they are accoustomed to pulling out of their Nana’s garden.  Not only that, but they were smothered with “green stuff!”  I know that is the only thing that will make these little things edible.  It is a garlic butter basil sauce.  To the kids…it might as well have been snot.  Oh to see their faces!  But, none of them wanted to go back to the States without saying that they tried them!

Makenna went first, then Rachel and finally Soren.  The reactions to the delicacy started out mild and by the time that we got to Soren we thought that he might just puke.  However, the mission was accomplished!  They had done it!  That being over, they enjoyed the rest of their meal and the minute the last bite had hit their little palates, the cries for the ice cream that drove us back to Paris commenced.  I must admit…I was probably the first one to cry out!  After trying ice cream all over France, Italy and Spain (and I know that you all know that I did!) I was convinced that this was truly the best!

The famous shop is called Berthillon, and it did not disappoint.  Being that it was our last night here, we all agreed that a double scoop was in order.  The man at the window had to suffer through an order from an obnoxious American just before us, and somehow must have known that we might speak some French and so he insisted that we order in French.  He was delighted when Rachel enthusiastically replied in French with her order, and then Soren and Makenna.  The best part (as far as I am concerned) is how they responded with no hesitation and with excellent accents!  It was a proud moment for me and the man serving us was full of smiles!  I know that you want to know what I got…ok I will share.  I got a scoop of that chocolate that I talked about in one of the very first blogs…you know, the one that tastes like dark chocolate melted and then cooled into a scoop of creamy, melt in your mouth ice cream.  On top of that I got salted butter caramel.  OMG.  Flavor explosion!

We took our ice creams down by the river so that we could sit in the sun, gaze over at the Notre Dame and savor our last hour in Paris.  What an incredible time.  What an incredible trip.  What a great day!  It is hard to be too sad about leaving when we all felt so fulfilled.