We set off this morning for France Miniature, an attraction 20 minutes outside of Paris that boasts all of France's major sights conveniently located in one place and shrunken to 1/30 their normal size. I know what you are thinking but I have such fond childhood memories of visiting Cullen Gardens (a similar destination in Southern Ontario), that I knew I had to take the girls to see it. Getting there was an adventure in Parisian public transit - metro to train, train to bus and a fair walk from bus stop to the park - but it was worth it. The girls really seemed to love it and Jacqui especially enjoyed learning about the different sites with her audio guide. Jack and I enjoyed it too because it was a little trip down memory lane for us, remembering our driving trip around France 10 years ago. Good times, good times!
After we were all miniatured out, we popped across the pond to visit the 'playground' section. It was really more of a self-service midway and what stood out for me was the sheer variety of ways that kids could dismember themselves. This place would never fly in the US. I'm proud of my girls though - they were apprehensive about joining the fray of screaming French kids but they did it and earned their ice cream afterwards! As we were just digging into our treats, Jack checked the bus schedule and announced that we had 6 minutes to make the next bus! So we ran, full bloody tilt, to the bus stop - ice cream flying everywhere. As it turned out, he read the schedule wrong and we actually had 20 minutes but at least everyone got their workout for the day.
Date night got off to a late start but we managed to fit in a visit to the Eglise de la Madeleine which is just around the corner from us. It doesn't know if it's a Catholic cathedral or a Greek temple but it's breathtaking either way. It seems the only things we have in North America that are of any scale are shopping malls and sports arenas! We took a now familiar stroll through the 8th to our restaurant, Le Regalade St. Honore.
My iPhone french to english translator app let me down at a critical moment tonight while trying to decipher the particularly cryptic menu at our restaurant. I typed in the menu item and got 'Chest of farm pig with crusty pork rind over green lentils', it sounded good so I ordered it. I didn't realize that it was actually pork belly until it arrived at the table next to us! Our neighbors had a good chuckle listening to me try to change my order before I too was served a big slab of uncured bacon - blech! I should have known better - earlier in the trip, the iPhone translator left me hanging again. I typed in the menu item and this is the translation I got: 'Saint hones raised in net stove' I still don't know what that dish was ... as with tonight, I played it safe and ordered the boeuf. Over dinner we were planning out the rest of our trip - still so much we want to do ...
After we were all miniatured out, we popped across the pond to visit the 'playground' section. It was really more of a self-service midway and what stood out for me was the sheer variety of ways that kids could dismember themselves. This place would never fly in the US. I'm proud of my girls though - they were apprehensive about joining the fray of screaming French kids but they did it and earned their ice cream afterwards! As we were just digging into our treats, Jack checked the bus schedule and announced that we had 6 minutes to make the next bus! So we ran, full bloody tilt, to the bus stop - ice cream flying everywhere. As it turned out, he read the schedule wrong and we actually had 20 minutes but at least everyone got their workout for the day.
Date night got off to a late start but we managed to fit in a visit to the Eglise de la Madeleine which is just around the corner from us. It doesn't know if it's a Catholic cathedral or a Greek temple but it's breathtaking either way. It seems the only things we have in North America that are of any scale are shopping malls and sports arenas! We took a now familiar stroll through the 8th to our restaurant, Le Regalade St. Honore.
My iPhone french to english translator app let me down at a critical moment tonight while trying to decipher the particularly cryptic menu at our restaurant. I typed in the menu item and got 'Chest of farm pig with crusty pork rind over green lentils', it sounded good so I ordered it. I didn't realize that it was actually pork belly until it arrived at the table next to us! Our neighbors had a good chuckle listening to me try to change my order before I too was served a big slab of uncured bacon - blech! I should have known better - earlier in the trip, the iPhone translator left me hanging again. I typed in the menu item and this is the translation I got: 'Saint hones raised in net stove' I still don't know what that dish was ... as with tonight, I played it safe and ordered the boeuf. Over dinner we were planning out the rest of our trip - still so much we want to do ...
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