Oh la la PARIS !

How was it? Caliente !!! First our 7 am train was 30 minutes late so we arrived in Paris at 9.30. Right away, we went on the hunt for the mexican ambassy. It took us 1 hour and a half and we walked a lot because we didn't exit at the right subway exit. When we finally arrived there (exhausted) at 11.00, the lady at the front desk informed us that the passport office WAS NOT THERE but at the consulate! Imagine our faces: Each time, Chuy called the ambassy, they transferred him to the passeport office but nobody EVER told him, it was a different place ... I was not a happy camper ! It was 11 already and they are only open from 9 to 12 ... Whe you know it took us 1 hour and a half to find the ambassy, you can eaily imagine the panic that took over me; especially when the lady asked: do you have an appoitment? What? Nobody said we have to take an appointment She added she didn't know if we needed one and she started to explain Chuy how to get to the consulate circling names on our subway map. Except that Chuy is totally lost in the subway so it's totally useless to explain him anything I asked the lady to explain what subway we had to take and where to exit to get another subway and I wrote down all the informations on a piece of paper. The lady looked at me like if I was a little crazy but when we book a trip for 5 persons and when you know you have only a limited time to get there, you are not exactly totally zen, calm and relax ...

So we rushed to the exit ( where we found out there was a closer subway exit than the one we took ... grrrrrrrrrr , all this walk for nothing ... ) It's incredible the amount of time that can be wasted when we don't know the places ... We finally made it at 11.30. We waited in the lobby for one hour while Chuy went to the second floor (we were not allowed there: too many? the kids?) Anyway, we took a little break but everybody was starving at this point. The kids behaved well. The people working there were not very nice and Chuy got very disppointed at his own people ...

We left at 12.30. At this point, we were not going to try to find a nice bistrot to eat but we asked for the closest Mc Donalds: we really needed FAST food !!!

When Chuy went to get a stamp they needed (and never told him to get on the phone ), Steb had a lot of fun chasing the pigeons.

Because we had to go to the consulate, we were not close to the Eiffel tower anymore and we had to make a choice: the Eiffel tower that we are planning to visit this summer or Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur. We chose the latter. Jeez, I don't think we made the smartest choice as Montmartre is very uphill and we had to walk a lot again ... Poor Chuy, he carried Steb a lot ... we were all tired when we arrived Place du tertre ... Pierre took a break drinking water in front of the many painting galeries they have ( be careful if you go there: many galleries have paintings atually made in China sold as paintings from local painters) .

Montmartre is very turistic but also charming:

Place du Tertre, where talented painters can draw your protrait:

Doesn't he look like a typical french painter? (and tired? or bored? )

My folks in front of the Sacre Coeur. (Chuy took a similar picture of the kids and I , except the Sacre Coeur has disappeared from the picture !!! )

View of Paris (I guess it's the pollution ...)

How was the weather? Ask Steb : it was warm and a little cloudy. The bad thing is we had to carry our coats.

Steb had a lot of fun chasing the pigeons:

But if they come too close they are a little scary !!!

I took advantage to snap lots of pictures while he was busy !!! (isn't it that one lovely?)

But as soon as I got caught, I got the usual treatment ... Only if you are an avid photographer like me, you can understand the drama of having a kid who hates pictures

Another view of the Sacre Coeur: isn't it beautiful? We didn't have time to visit it though.

Here is a beginning of the 20 th century subway entrance.

And here is Emma in the train!

We all had a great day after the morning drama was over. It's so nice to go away from home even though it's only for a day !!! We are lucky to live 2 hours from Paris by train so we should do that more often (even without the kids).

Stitching? I haven't touched a needle in 4 days: pretty unusual from me !!! But I got some mail today that could put my BOoo! AND my fuchsias in jeopardy ... Stay tuned !!!