Vacation, part 2

We were in London for ten days. It seemed a shame not to dash over to Paris for at least a day. The last time I traveled from London to Paris we went by ferry. This time I booked seats on the Eurostar.

Except for the sardine can that was the tube from Victoria to St. Pancras, the trip was incredibly easy.

Departure from St. Pancras, London.

A little over two hours later, Paris!

View from one end of the Tuileries looking toward the Obelisk.

Little Brewer #1 wanted to visit the Eiffel Tower. This was a total act of maternal love on my part because Brewgal does not like heights.


Of course, the lines were insane.
This is the queue to get tickets to go through security so you can get in the queue for the elevator to go up.

The view was worth it, however. I had never been up the Tower at night and even though I couldn't make it all the way to the edge, the panorama was stunning.

Every so often (once an hour?) the flashbulbs on the outside of the Tower go off in display.

Sparkly!

We stayed at the Park Hyatt Vendome (Hello, Hyatt? Love the Next Big Thing Promotion!) so I ordered room service breakfast.

I SO want to live in this hotel.

A quick dash to Notre Dame,

at which point LB1 started to wear out.

It's the "Do we HAVE to?" look.

Finally, Gare du Nord back to London.

Children change your life in many ways. I can no longer stay up past 10pm. My house is filled with plastic toys. I get fabulous morning hugs.

Having children has interfered with my movie viewing habits. I used to see movies all the time. Between being too tired to find babysitting and "that's not appropriate for you," my movie viewing has taken a nosedive. The last movie I saw in the theater was Wall-E. A delightful film (I love Pixar!), but not the intellectual fare I used to watch. Or as my DH says, "no car chases." Ahem.

Yesterday I found Amelie on Ovation. I didn't even know we got Ovation. Apparently there are many channels higher on the TV dial than BBC America (264) and Bravo (273). Heh. I said "dial" in reference to TV channels. How retro is that?

So anyway, I've wanted to see this movie for many years. I sat on the couch with my glass of wine (it is a French movie, after all), and watched Amelie. I got a full hour in without interruption. After that, the kids and DH joined me. The questions started almost immediately.

"Why is she sad?" She is thinking about her Dad.
"What's that?" What is what? Can you be more specific?
"What's going to happen next?" I don't know sweetie, I haven't ever seen this film.
"Why did that happen?" This question was in response to the scene where Amelie dissolves into a puddle of water when she lets Nino walk out of the bar without speaking to him. At this point I had to shrug my shoulders in Gallic fashion and say, It's French.

I SO want to go back to Paris now!