Tapas to Tajine : Sunday in the Park with Sydney

Woke up today in familiar territory. It is nice to have returned to a place that we know well but is still not home. Things have changed a little, the ‘supermarché’ Champion is now a different chain, Carrefour. A resturant we have dined at L’Atlas had a large seafood display in front and a classic bistro look, now the seafood is gone and it has a more standard, hip-joint look. Things move on even in the home away from home.

While in Morocco I found that my French had improved quite a bit. French is spoken there and I found it easy to understand what they said. Progress, or so I thought. Here in Paris the conversations are muddled again. Accents, speed, etc. So I am good in French with a Moroccan accent, still have Paris to go.

It was nice to be in Paris with no real agenda. We took a walk across the Seine enjoying the Sunday Markets on the Île de la Cité. From there we jumped via Metro up to the Tuileries Gardens and La Fête foraine des Tuileries, essentially a ‘Fun Fair’ set up in near the Lovre in the summer months. Sydney thought this was the best thing ever and quite a surprise. Since it is a traveling fair the parents expectations were quite low but they were exceeded. Many typical fair ride, all in decent shape and every rider was given plenty of time to enjoy. There was two different fun houses both surprisingly fun in that old fashion way. And being Europe beer was served. So everyone was ‘happy’.

After we burned out on the rides we walked across the Gardens to Musee de l’Orangerie to see Claude Monets Nymphéas (Water Lilies) again. We only had a short time but it was worth it. Then we did a slow walk back to the hotel down the Seine, Sydney waving to every tourist boat that went by. Our little Ambassador.