Two and a half days in Paris

Our second stop on the way to kayaking this summer was Paris.  I will admit that two and a half days does not really give enough time to really see Paris, but we jumped right in with our Rick Steves guide book and hit the tourist trail.  We arrived mid morning, found our hotel and then took a river tour of the Seine. I still feel like the river is flowing the wrong direction, but it was a lovely first look at Paris. 

This is the famous footbridge that used to be covered with padlocks.  The temporary siding really isn't as pretty as a bridge full of padlocks.

After the cruise we took our tour of the Eiffel Tower. We had planned to stay touring the tower until the lights came on, but jet lag caught up with us and we had to go to bed.

This was the final day of the French Open and you could see hundreds of people watching it on a giant screen in the park below.

The view from the top

And a selfie that could be anyplace, but was on the top of the Eiffel Tower.

The next morning we got up and had a breakfast of crepes and hot chocolate at a local cafe then made our way to the Louvre.

We each had downloaded a Louvre tour to our phones and then wandered off in our own directions.  These are my highlights, I'm not sure what Calvin saw. I did see the Mona Lisa, but from behind a huge selfie snapping crowd. I liked this Winged Victory mostly because I caught it in a moment between tour groups.

The view from under the glass pyramid.

My favorite picture is the Two Tax Collectors by Marinus van Reymerswaele circa 1540.

And something I would have walked by without a second glance, but took a picture of because it was "important."

The Seated Scribe, and ancient Egyptian antiquity.

We gave up on the Louvre in the late afternoon, and it is possible we missed one our two things there.  We followed it up with a Rick Steves guided walk along the Left Bank.  Still feeling a little jet lagged we called it a night.

The next morning we started our day with a tour of Notre Dame.  After seeing all the guilded cathedrals in Germany and Austria, this one looked a little plain, but still an impressive achievement in its day.

Joan of Arc

An original rosette window

We followed Notre Dame with a visit to St. Chapelle with its amazing stained glass windows.

And the Hall of Justice just next door with its famous Liberty, Equality, Fraternity over the entrance.

Our final stop was to the d'Orsay Museum.  Calvin and I didn't even attempt to stay together on this tour.  We stayed until closing, but I was a little museum weary by the end of the day. 

 I loved this clock, but it appeared impossible to take a picture without a gaggle of tourists in the way.

I enjoyed most the Impressionist collection.

Calvin spent his time admiring the wood furniture and I think it is possible we missed a thing or two in the d'Orsay as well. In fact we might have missed a few things in Paris all together.

New York City

On the way to our kayaking trip we managed to make quick visits to several very large cities.  We had about a 24 hour lay-over in New York and decided that the best way to see the city quickly was by taking the New York City Water Taxi tour.  Our first stop was the Statue of Liberty.

While we were taking photos of Lady Liberty, Fireboat 343 cruised past.  It is the largest single purpose fireboat built and has the largest pumping capacity of any fireboat ever built.

We got out at the World trade center stop and strolled to the new 9/11 Memorial, but even walking in NYC has complicated street signs.

We walked back to the Water taxi pick up along a delightful waterfront walk which did much to improve my opinion of the city.

And of course we took pictures of ourselves.

The last stop was the Brooklyn Bridge.  I have ancestors that lived right in the shadow of that bridge, in fact they lived all over Long Island and Manhattan. It was fun to actually see places that had just been names on the map.

Eleuthera

Calvin and I spent a lovely two weeks on Eleuthera in the Bahamas doing basically nothing.  The weather was warm and sunny with gentle tropical breezes, the mosquitoes were fierce and the beautiful pink sand was firm enough for long walks on the beach.  Eleuthera is about 100 miles long and varies between  1/2 and 2 1/2 miles wide.  There are beautiful beaches on both the Atlantic and Caribbean sides.  One particularly beautiful beach now belongs to French Leave, but is still sometimes called the Club Med beach.  It is 2 miles of beautiful pink sand with a slow gentle slope into the Atlantic and there is virtually no one using it. Although someone did leave a few lounge chairs. 

The sand really is pink. There are tiny pink shells of foraminifera that give it the pink color.

We stayed in a house called Desert Rose that had its own pink sandy beach.

There are only a couple of paved roads on the island and we spent a lot of time bumping along sandy tracks.  Our house was at the end of such a track.

We rented a four wheel drive car that couldn't really get above 45 mph with a right side steering wheel because they drive on the left in the Bahamas.  We also rented a kayak which almost fit on the car.

The kayak was not as fast as out sleek tandem, but we didn't have to get anywhere very fast, just to the next beach.

Here is the obligatory shot of Calvin in the kayak

And this is what Calvin sees from the back of the boat. Mostly me not paddling very hard.

Some days Calvin caught dinner for us.  This giant lobster was delicious and slightly illegal because it was out of season.

We also saw giant sea stars, which we did not eat.

And in one protected area we saw dozens of speedy sea turtles.  When we paddled up to them they took off like rockets. Just look at that streamline.

Some nights we would go into Governor's Harbor to eat. 

We saw this raft in the harbor a couple of times.

We also saw a few yachts, but nothing like we saw in Ft. Lauderdale when we took a water taxi ride on our lay over night. There are lot of people with a whole lot of money that congregate in that town.

I'm don't know why you would want a yacht when you can throw a kayak on top of the car and go anywhere you want to go.

Tiny Toucans Dance Recital

Last weekend we were in Alexandria and got to see Clare's first dance recital.  The recital was made up of about fifteen groups of mostly three and four year old ballerinas.  The recital was themed from the Jungle Book, so Clare's group was the Tiny Toucans, which is not immediately obvious from their costumes.  But all of the girls were adorable and it was fun to watch.  Both the dress rehearsal and the performance took place during Garrett's nap time, so Calvin and Toby split Garrett duties while Sarah and I watched both shows.

This was a serious recital and Clare got a little stage make up before the performance.

I apparently like her costume best from the back.

Well deserved flowers for the ballerina

My phone camera doesn't take the best inside pictures, but I needed to include this one of Garrett.  He has learned to help out by clearing the table.

Here he has just cleared his meal onto the floor and is very pleased with himself.  He is looking like he is going to be a fun two year old.

A Superior Weekend

This weekend we went to Colorado for the blessing of our newest granddaughter, Lucy Faye Smith.  The bonus was playing with her brothers and a snowstorm in May. Calvin and Austin spent some time creating amazing flying machines that run on solar power while we waited for Zach to get home from school on Friday.

Saturday's soccer games got rained out, so the boys showed us their prowess on their scooters during a break in the rain.

Calvin even got in on a little scooter action.

Zach went to great lengths to avoid being photographed on the scooter, but I got a picture when he was distracted with a little dam building.

We took the boys swimming at our hotel in the afternoon and finished up with a little ice cream.

Zach didn't realize that his ice cream is not safe when granddad is around with a spoon.

Sunday we woke up to snow which quickly melted so we were all able to get to Lucy's blessing. She behaved beautifully and Butch gave her a beautiful blessing.

Lucy wore the same blessing dress that Emily and her mom Barb wore. Three generations of beautiful women.

It was fun to see Jason, Katie and Nora Pence while we were in Colorado.  We don't get to see enough of them.

While all this commotion was going on Lucy was just perfectly happy to hang out in her chair.

But she was even happier to get a little loving brotherly affection.

What a wonderful loving family. We are so proud of them.

A weekend in Santa Barbara

Last weekend Calvin was riding the Chico Wildflower Century race, an event he has enjoyed for the past twenty years or so, and I decided that I had explored the wonders of Chico sufficiently and it would be more fun to spend the weekend in Santa Barbara. I have been to Santa Barbara a few times as well but I enjoy it every time I go. 

Alice is at an age where she is changing rapidly, in looks and personality.  When she is awake she usually running full speed ahead, so most of her pictures are a little blurry. You just have to catch her as she races by.

Rosie and Jay on the other hand will sit still once in a while.

Rosie, Alice and I made an outing to the beach in Carpenteria. On the way to the beach we stopped by some beautiful roses for a photo op.  Alice was a little more interested in the bees in the roses than the camera.

 The beach is Alice's natural element and she literally embraces the beach.

Rosie looks natural here too.

The beach park had a really cool roller slide.  It gives kind of a bumpy ride, but Alice kept going back for more.

We finished that outing with lunch at a beach grill where kids could play in a sand box during lunch.  What a great idea!