Today has been a low energy day. Melissa and Chris got up around 8am to get pastries, and about an hour later Melissa and Everett went to the Rodin Museum for the audio tour. Chris met them there around 11:30 so that the boys could go to the Catacombs. Unfortunately they were closed due to a strike, so we walked to Boulangerie M’seddi which currently has the distinction of making the best Parisian baguette. We bought three, then took the Metro to Concorde so that Everett could buy a beret.

Next stop was the Orangerie Museum to see Monet’s Water Lilies. Then home sometime around 2:30pm. Meanwhile Melissa went to the Conciergerie and got home after 3pm. The smalls and the talls have been home all day having quiet time – neither Ted nor Gwen seemed to have much energy or interest in getting out today. Unfortunately the smalls got up early today, before 9am, and are desperately in need of a nap.

We spent the afternoon at the apartment, resting and watching movies and playing Minecraft. Chris and Cress went to a market to get some produce. Chris and Everett made an afternoon excursion to print a page containing the Eiffel Tower stencil for the 3Doodler he got for his birthday. Before dinner we spent time making one side of the model, then the kids had dinner and went back to their iPads while the adults ate. Around 8:15 we walked to the Arc de Triomphe and the kids literally ran all the way to the top, then ran around the top for about 30 minutes, then ran down and home. I think we could have done this three more times before they got tired. Please remind us not to keep them home again for an entire day of rest. We got home around 9:15 and then had a one hour bedtime extravaganza. As with most of these trips the sleeping arrangements change every night. Tonight Gwen is in one bedroom while the boys are “sleeping” in a nest on the floor in Gabby and Grandaddy’s bedroom.

Today we went to Versailles to see the palace. It was magnificent. Melissa has been there many times but no one else in the family had seen it before. It is truly on a scale beyond anything Chris imagined (no wonder the peasants revolted). It feels like worlds within worlds, and it must have taken an army to build and maintain it to this day.

The children were fantastic today. We got them up early (9am counts as early on this trip), fed them and walked to Charles de Gaulle – Étoile Metro, took the train to Bir Hakeim Metro, and then took the RER to the Versailles Chateau station. Much faster than we expected, and the childrens’ tickets cost less than 2 Euros each. From the train station we walked to the entrance, went through security twice and then toured the first and second floors. Afterward we headed to the gardens and ended up walking for about eight miles total. We stopped at a garden cafe for lunch, took photos and explored many parts of the palace grounds including Trianon and the Queen’s Hamlet. Among the favorite things to see for the children: the farm animals at Le Hameau, including sheep, goats and a cow who walked up to sniff us; the gift shop because it had swords. One curious thing about getting back: Chris and Melissa agreed that by the time we reached Le Hameau we were far from home with no easy return trip if one or more children became exhausted and refused to walk anymore. We are still able to carry Ted or Gwen short distances, but they are now too big for us to carry them for 1-2 miles (which was the distance back to the train station). Chris thought about calling an Uber but we had no idea where they would be able to pick us up. We were getting pretty concerned about this but at the moment we left Petit Trianon we found one of Les Petits Trains waiting with seats available. Chris and Melissa really wanted to walk back, but out of concern for the kids we bought tickets and settled in. Each of them ate a couple handfuls of granola and Ted fell asleep quickly afterward. About 20 or 30 minutes later we were back at the Chateau, rested and ready to head home. Melissa and Ted went to the gift shop to pick out his special treat from Gabby, then we walked to the train station and were home by about 6:30pm. The kids were starving – they were asking for food the whole way home and at one point on the Metro Ted just kept his mouth open like a baby bird in the hope that Melissa would put some food in it (which she did, and the grandmotherly woman sitting next to him thought this was hilarious).

On every long trip we eventually get into a rhythm. This changes from trip to trip, partly because the children are constantly changing, and partly to take into account whatever is special about the place we are visiting. On this trip our rhythm has been to sleep as late as 11am (unheard of for our family!), then have an outing for 6-7 hours, return home for dinner and then “bedtime”. This is the time of year when bedtime evaporates. The sun sets around 10pm here in June.

Each of the kids has their own iPad on this trip. Everett has had one for some time, but the twins have only had iPod Touches before. We told them this change would happen at the beginning of the trip, and they took to the iPads instantly. Chris loaded them up with movies and apps beforehand. However, the only game they seem to be interested in is MineCraft. This is a game Everett has played for some time and he taught the twins. After a few days, through some mechanism that no one quite understands, Ted joined Everett’s world in Minecraft, followed by Gwen. This was interested in that they could work together. It was also infuriating for us because this allowed them to simultaneously fight in the real world and in a virtual world at the same time! We had never before imagined that more fighting an bickering might be possible, but we were wrong. If only Chris and Melissa were also on Minecraft then we could have understood the magnitude of it firsthand, and could have issued multidimensional proclamations such as “No one is to touch anyone every again in this world or any other!”

The kids could be happy browsing souvenir shops all day every day. They don’t insist on buying much, rather they are just interested (as the parents are) about the things you find in other countries. Along the way we have picked up a few souvenirs here and there. Some are treats payed for by the parents or grandparents, and some things Everett pays for with his own money. Today we went to the Galeries Lafayette to shop for upscale souvenirs. Everyone looked around for some time when Gwen found a unicorn that turns into a rainbow neck pillow – probably the most perfect gift ever for her! The boys saw how this worked and then each of them wanted something similar so they got whale pillows, later named Herman (Everett’s) and Sherman (Ted’s).

Afterward we stopped at a boulangerie to get each of the kids and individual quiche, then walked toward to Musée d’Orsay. It seems astonishing that it could take 3 or 4 hours to make one brief stop and walk to a museum, but we don’t seem to do anything quickly. There are several standoffs a day with each of the twins (curiously never at the same time), but they are consistently walking about 5 miles a day with good endurance. We keep a stash of candy bars and lollipops on hand for bribes. Everett has saved the day more than once by giving everyone Swedish fish candy.

We usually have 1 to 2 hours at each museum before the kids reach their limits. At the Orsay we focused our attention on the impressionist gallery. Everett wanted to see paintings by Monet, and Ted took an amazing interest in many of the paintings with Melissa. He started explaining the subject matter and feeling behind each of them. Fascinating to see him so engaged, and not entirely surprising given how much creative energy he has had over the past year. At the end of the impressionist gallery is the most comfortable couch ever made.

Last night we took the kids from our apartment uphill to the Arc de Triomphe, then through the tunnel under the circle to get to the base, and then climbed the stairs to the top. They never stopped running, jumping or talking the entire way there or back. So much energy! And this was after a full day out during which we went to the bird market, then Chez Flo for lunch, then the Musée des Arts et Métiers. Then the Gabbys took the kids home on Uber while Chris and Melissa had an adventure around the Eiffel Tower.

Whenever we travel, especially to other countries, there are always a few things we struggle to figure out. In Paris there are far fewer of these events because of everyone in this travel group, 3 of the adults used to live here. One curiosity is that the dryer doesn’t actually dry anything – it makes lots of noise and spins and beeps but it doesn’t actually remove any water from the clothing. Upon closer examination it’s clear why: there is no air flow into or out of it. The inputs to the washer/dryer are water and power, while the only output is waste water. Centrifugal force doesn’t dry anything. On a related subject, all of the appliances in our apartment like to make the same beeping sound for reasons that are usually unknown because we don’t speak beep. Each of them have controls with very detailed icons and no text, so we spend a lot of time trying to figure out which appliance is beeping and what it wants. We imagined that this might be a funny new Muppet that only communicates by beep, acknowledging that this might be funny for a couple minutes but is less so when it goes on around the clock.

We have heard from many Europeans that American public spaces are over air-conditioned (we agree). However, there must be some compromise between the chilled public spaces in the US and the similar places in Europe where the only climate control is heat, and there is never any moving air (apparently it’s deadly).

We have gotten into a routine of sleeping late in the morning, having an afternoon activity and then returning home for dinner. Everyone is on a similar sleep schedule, which makes this much easier! Today we left the apartment late in the morning and took the metro to Pont de l’Alma to ride the Bateaux-Mouches up and down the Seine. Several photos are here: https://gallery.dromomania.net/Travel/2018/Paris-2018.

Then we took the metro to the Latin Quarter and split into two groups for lunch. The Gabbys ate at a seafood restaurant while the Butsons had gyros for lunch.

We walked from the Latin Quarter past Notre Dame and made our way to Angelina’s for an afternoon treat which turned out to be dessert dinner: each of the kids ordered hot chocolate (this is seriously the best hot chocolate in the world) and two desserts. Amazing!

Today is Everett’s 10th birthday. It is also our third day into a visit to Paris, so all of us are recovering from jet lag. Everett, Ted and Melissa were up for a couple hours in the middle of the night last night, but eventually everyone settled down and slept in (i.e. after 9am, which might as well be all day). Everett and Melissa went out for breakfast bread treats and then we all sat down to eat and open presents.

For the next hour or two Chris and Melissa continued to try to figure out how the clothes dryer works. There are two appliances in the apartment: a washing machine and a combination washer/dryer. Neither of them are remotely intuitive, even though the designers seemed to think they are by using a nonsensical set of icons (with no explanation) to convey what they do. We could not find a user manual in English, but we did find a printed user manual in French, so we decided to try to figure it out. We thought this shouldn’t be too difficult because between us we have 8 advanced degrees, of which Chris has 3 in engineering, and Melissa speaks fluent French. We spent hours on it and then conducted several experiments to try to get our clothes dry; each one in fact made our clothes wetter by adding water. Finally on Everett’s birthday morning we mastered it, and came to the realization that after running the dryer for the maximum amount of time at the highest temperature the clothes would merely be damp, also known as French dry.

Around 10am there was a knock at the door: the Gabbys had arrived! They were amazingly energetic after a long flight but it was important to them (and all of us) that they get to join Everett for his birthday.

In the afternoon the Gabbys rested while Chris, Melissa and the kids made a trip to Sacre Couer and had a picnic lunch. Afterward we walked through the Place du Tertre, and then Melissa took the twins home while Chris and Everett had an adventure and went to the Louvre and the Opera House and then home. In the evening we had dinner at Relais de Venise et son Entrecôte. Dinner was just as delicious as we imagined. Everett has now eaten at Entrecote in Geneva New York and Paris. He keeps falling asleep in his profiteroles.

It is now almost 10:30 and the twins are both wide awake despite being “so tired” for most of the day.

Happy Birthday Everett!

06/02/18
Our 2018 summer adventure began on 5/23/18 when Melissa and the kids flew to Cincinnati. All of the kids had a special day at school that morning: Everett had his celebration of life while Teddy and Gwen graduated from pre-scshool.

Chris stayed and worked for about 10 more days and joined everyone in Cincinnati on 06/02/18 so that we could all fly overseas together. He recently described this trip, and other prior trips, to a colleague who has four children a bit older than ours. He replied that he would never try what we are doing with his kids because it would be a madhouse. Chris told him that it IS a madhouse, but that Melissa and I feel it’s important and we are both completely committed to it. Also, it’s going to be a madhouse whether we stay home or travel, so we might as well do something we love together.

The original motivation for this trip is Melissa’s high school reunion in Paris. We are scheduled to be there for two weeks starting June 5. We are staying in an Airbnb which was listed as having air conditioning but upon further inspection we found out this meant French air conditioning, i.e. a fan. Fortunately we just realized that during our time in Paris the temperature is predicted to be below 80F (no idea what this is in metric). None of us have scarves, but no doubt these are on sale year round in Europe.

06/03/18
Today Chris was in Cincinnati. We spend the morning getting organized, then rented a boat a Winton Woods to have some outside time. All three kids got to drive the boat. Is that legal? It must be under maritime law, an international coalition that extends to bodies of water as small as a creek deep in the interior of any sovereign country.

We had dinner at El Rancho Grande for Matt’s birthday, then went to Trader Joe’s to get plane snacks and meet the store mascot (a tree frog named Wart).