Lindsay is student teaching!

Lindsay has completed her first week of student teaching! She is teaching Kindergarten at Pleasant Hill Elementary School in Pleasant Hill, Iowa, a suburb of Des Moines. Lindsay has really enjoyed her first week - by the second day she knew all of the kid's names, and a little bit about each of their personalities. We can't wait to hear about her second week - here is a link to the school she is teaching at http://www.pleasanthillpto.org/

Our Last Day in Paris

We came upon this hotel named for Tim while walking in Paris!
Our metro stop!
Trace television station - the girls always had this French music video station on whenever we were in the apartment!
Rachel and Lindsay relaxing in the apartment playing Sims on Lindsay's computer before we headed out for the Eiffel Tower on New Year's Eve.
Les Deux Magots (the namesake of the famed cafe)
One of the streets in "our" neighborhood with its holiday decorations
Rachel and Tim enjoying sandwiches from the Croissanterie.

Needs no introduction!

We decided to spend our last day in Paris by going to the Eiffel Tower and doing a little more shopping! We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower during our last visit, and didn't feel a need to stand in line to go up again, but we did want to go and see the monument (in daylight) once again.

After leaving the Eiffel Tower we returned to the Saint Germain des Pres area for our last shopping opportunity. I mentioned to Tim before we left how much I'd love to buy a new handbag in Paris, but once we got there and saw how expensive everything was (Paris is expensive anyway, but the value of the dollar vs. the euro makes it worse) I decided it would be a bit more extravagant than would be prudent. Tim, however, really wanted to buy one for me (he has been indulging my handbag problem for years now!) so he took me shopping on Saturday while the girls went off to do some shopping of their own. We ended up purchasing a beautiful bag from Longchamp, which will be a daily reminder of our wonderful trip to Paris!

After shopping we met Kim for dinner at a great little restaurant called Chez Janou. It was a charming place, and I wish that I had taken a picture during dinner, but I forgot! After dinner Kim, Lindsay and Rachel left to go and meet some of Kim's friends, and Tim and I took the metro back to the apartment to pack. I have to admit that I was a little nervous leaving the girls at 9:30 p.m. to go off by themselves and navigate the metro back to the apartment after midnight, but Kim and her friend Sophie walked them to the metro station and they got home just fine. The girls had a great time meeting several of Kim's friends, and wished that they had had more time to spend with them!

On Sunday morning (Jan. 4th) Marc Gallice very kindly picked us up at the apartment and drove us to the airport. We had 8 pieces of luggage and 4 carry-on bags, and thought for sure that we wouldn't be able to get it all in Marc's car, but thankfully it fit, and so did we, and off we went! We had a WONDERFUL two weeks in Paris, and we can't wait to go back!

Along with the pictures from the Eiffel Tower I am posting some random pictures from our trip...

Dinner with the Gallice Family (1/2/09)

After leaving the Opera Garnier we walked over to the Galleries Lafayette on Boulevard Haussmann for a little while, then we returned to the Saint Germain des Pres area (where our apartment is located) for a little more shopping. After our afternoon of shopping we went to the Latin Quarter where Marc Gallice's store is located. Marc imports beautiful rugs called kilims (which he also designs and has made), and some furniture, from Turkey and the Middle East. We purchased two small kilims and picked out a beautiful painted box and hat, which Marc very generously refused to allow us to pay for. He also gave us two boxes of delicious Turkish delights candies. Marc made us delicious Turkish tea at the store, and then after closing the store for the evening he took us to the Paris mosque for some of the most delicious tea we've ever had! Then we drove with him to his home where Dominique had prepared a delicious dinner of spinach lasagne, and tarte tatin for dessert. (From the left clockwise around the table - Eliot (Kim's boyfriend), Kim, Marc, Rachel, Lindsay, Tim and Dominique).

Le Palais Garnier (Opera House)

Today the Opera Garnier is used primarily for ballets, and the occasional concert. The less opulent (and less elitist) Opera Bastille was built in the 1980's under President Francois Mitterrand on the place de la Bastille (where the French Revolution began in 1789) and today is used more than the Garnier as an opera house.
The stage... they were working on the lighting while we were...
A closer look at the balcony work.
The etching of the glass is beautiful, and you can see the red velvet curtains of this box behind it.
These are three of the many doors to enter the auditorium. While the building itself is very large the auditorium seats only 2000 people.
The beautiful chandelier in the auditorium - it looks like it's right out of Phantom of the Opera. Speaking of The Phantom of the Opera, there is a small lake beneath the Palais Garnier which inspried Leroux's hiding place for the phantom, but it is unfortunately not open to the public.
The beautiful gold and red velvet seats in the auditorium. On the very left is one of the boxes which actually has a partially obstructed view of the stage, but is supposedly where those who came to be seen, rather than to see, sat!
Here is a look at the chandelier in the auditorium. The painting was done by Marc Chagall in 1964.
And the view down the street (Avenue de l'Opera) from the balcony outside.
The very ornate (I can't think of another adjective to describe everything!) columns in the foyer...
And a wider look at the ceiling.
Here is a look down the foyer...
The chandelier in the Grand Foyer.
Here are Rachel and Lindsay standing in front of one of the fireplaces.
This is the ceiling in the Grand Foyer flanked on either end by beautiful, ornate fireplaces.

This is part of the grand staircase which leads up to the orchestra stall entrances.The torchieres flank either side of the bottom of the staircase. The entire staircase and what seemed like everything around it was built in marble of various colors.
Yesterday (1/2/09) we went to the Opera Garnier. This beautiful, ornate building was completed in 1875 as part of the Paris reconstruction project under Baron Haussmann (there is Haussmann influence in buildings everywhere in Paris!). The architect for the building was an unknown 35 yr. old named Charles Garnier, whose plans won a competition. It took 15 years to complete the building work (due in part to interruptions from war). In 2000, the facade of the building was completely renovated to bring out the original colors and golden statues at the top. I've posted a LOT of pictures because it's so hard to pick just a few!

Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise

Here is the grave of French singer Edith Piaf, "La Vie En Rose" singer, who died in her late 40's after a difficult life filled with tragedy. Her daughter, whom she gave birth to at 18, died at only two years of age, and she is also buried here.

Here lies Frederic Chopin, or Fred, as he must have been affectionately called!!
Oscar Wilde's tombstone

This is the tomb of Oscar Wilde, (which has been defaced by kisses from his fans) the Irish playwright imprisoned for "gross indecency" for two years when it was discovered he was having a love affair with a lord. After his prison term (and after being abdoned by his wife who refused to allow him to see his children) Wilde was exiled to Paris where he died in a hotel room from an ear infection at the age of 46.

American writer Gertrude Stein and her partner Alice B. Toklas are buried here.
Marc Gallice and Lindsay and Rachel were having a conversation about something!
Here is the grave of the comic playwright Moliere...
I don't know who is buried here, but I thought it was cute that a cat was sitting on top of it. (It's a real cat!)
It was cloudy and cold, and a bit misty...

There are many, many famous people buried here. Here is Jim Morrison's grave, obviously a hit with visitors. There were many people standing around the gravesite today.


Today (1/1/2009) we went to Pere Lachaise cemetery. Marc Gallice was kind enough to pick us up and drive us out there, and tour the cemetery with us since he had never been.

Bonne Annee from the Eiffel Tower!

And the Eiffel Tower was aglow. This all took about 15 minutes or so , and it was a sight to behold! What a way to start off the new year! Bonne Annee to all!
Until the blue was almost completely replaced and the twinkling began to cease...
And be replaced by a golden light as it continued to twinkle...
And as it twinkled the blue began to fade a bit...
Midnight, the twinkling of lights began..
After shopping and dinner on the Champs-Elysees we came back to the apartment to get warm and to rest. Since the Champs-Elysees was so crowded, and we were cold we weren't sure if we wanted to go back out again to ring in the new year or not. We came back to the apartment and warmed up and rested, and then decided we couldn't miss being at the Eiffel Tower to start off 2009, so we headed out for the metro at about 10:45 p.m. We got to within a couple of metro stops of the Eiffel Tower, and it was a zoo, so we decided to walk the rest of the way, and we were there within 10 minutes. The Eiffel Tower was blue until midnight, when it started to twinkle!

Champs-Elysees

When we were in Paris in 2003, the hotel that we stayed at was right near a restaurant called Pizza Pino. We were tired, and it was convenient, so we went there for dinner one night. We all enjoyed it, and Rachel thought it was the best restaurant she had ever been to. Anyway, we ended up going back for a second time during that trip, and for years after when anyone would ask Rachel what her favorite restaurant was she would say "Pizza Pino in Paris". Tim and I decided it would be fun to take the girls back to that restaurant so we went to that one (I believe there are six in Paris) on the Place de Republique on Tuesday night. Then last night we were walking along the Champs-Elysees, and since we were all hungry we decided to go to Pizza Pino again!


This is the Louis Vuitton store on the Champs-Elysees, and if you look closely you will see that people are lined up to get in to it!
My picture is very fuzzy, but here are the lights that line the Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe in the background.