Paris Day 3 Thursday: The Musée D'Orsay and Spiderman
The breakfast buffet at the hotel brings back strong memories of the summer I spent in Caen when I was 17 years old. Eggs, ham, Italian bacon, cheese, yoghurts, fruit, juice, hot chocolate or tea or coffee, and baguettes, croissants and the piece de resistance the amazing pain au chocolat as I’ve only ever tasted in France. Every so often I try pain au chocolat outside of France and each time I’m left sorely disappointed. I had started to wonder if it was pure nostalgia that had generated the taste in my memory but I am delighted to report that the soft moist croissant-like pastry with the equally soft and sensuous strip of chocolate lining the inside is as I remembered. When I took my first bite this morning the heavenly taste was magnified by the simple luxury of it being warm. Being awake since the wee hours brought the reward of our early presence at the buffet, giving us the privilege of these freshly baked morsels of paradise.
As for the rest of day, how could it possibly top breakfast???
Ashley and Caitlin spotted a Playstation 2 console in the hotel lobby and discovered the sole game that it presented: Spiderman 3. Ashley and Caitlin have a very basic awareness of the existence of Spiderman as a result of Ashley sharing a pre-school classroom with little boys who emulate their Spidey hero in the games they play and the Hallowe’en costumes they wore last year. While James checked on his bike briefly, they played around with the controls and discovered that they could make Spiderman run around and jump into a river. Each time he splashed they collapsed into fits of giggles, which intensified each time they repeated the process. Pretty soon the girls were drawing the attention of the staff and other guests who genuinely seemed delighted to witness the very spontaneous, and deeply joyful, laughter erupting from these two little girls in the lobby.
The girls finally parted with the game when James was finished with his bike and we set off to explore Paris. Our original goal was to head for the Eiffel Tower as that had been the primary focus for the girls in our build up to the trip. However, Degas’ “Little Dancer Marie” (as they call her) knocked Paris’ pride and joy off from the number 1 spot and the girls decided they would rather visit the Musée D’Orsay first. Armed with their little albums of pictures of art to hunt for at the museum we set off to catch the bus to St Quentin’s train station and then take the train into Paris itself. For Ashley and Caitlin, riding the bus, using their tickets in the turnstiles at the station and experiencing the double decker train ride could have been a complete and happy day’s activity in itself.
Unfortunately the complete contentment didn’t last very long beyond our arrival at Invalides train station. As we made our way towards the Pont Alexandre III with the Hotel des Invalides majestically behind us, Ashley and Caitlin’s energy reserves were challenged as they tried to adjust to sharing the double buggy we brought with us for the trip. Their ability to negotiate and share who sat where and who had enough head space emphasized that they will take some time to adjust after jetlag. Although at one point James and I considered abandoning the trip, the girls’ desire to see Degas’ “Little Dancer Marie” resulted in their willingness to negotiate (or at least put up with their situation) and we continued our walk to the Musée D’Orsay. We turned right in front of the Alexandre III bridge and walked along the Quai Anatole, admiring the Obelisk in the Place de la Concorde before passing the French National Assembly and finally arriving at the Musée D’Orsay.
Fortunately, the sight of the line was not too shocking as we had been expecting. We hoped for the free passage to the ticket line that we had heard of for families with strollers. We did feel it wiser to have lunch first before entering the museum and found a lovely little eatery called Evangelista,with a surly but not impolite lady proprietor, on the Rue de Bellechasse. Fortified with lunch we did in fact bypass the line outside the museum and went straight to the line for the ticket counter, which wasn’t long and moved very quickly. On James recommendation we went straight to the top floor and work our way down. The top floor is also where the works of Degas, Van Gogh and Monet are located and as these are three of the artists the girls are most familiar with we felt it would be a success if that was all we saw.
Our plan paid off. The girls were openly enthusiastic and excited in their hunt for the works they know. They drew amused looks for the people around them as they squealed with delight at finding Van Gogh’s Siesta and Self-Portrait, all their favorite Degas pictures of ballerinas and the much anticipated “Little Dancer Marie”. Caitlin was the most excited about finding a Degas painting called The Rehearsal of a Ballet, which is in her little rhyming book called Dancing with Degas. She had very specifically wanted to pack this little book to bring on our trip so that she could search for the pictures!
The complete success of the fifth floor was worth the challenges that followed when we were finished looking at the pictures there. The girls were so excited and happy that it was hard for them to listen to us to about staying with us. When we found ourselves losing patience with them we put them in the buggy. They were not happy but finally gave up as tiredness set in. We managed to make a quick stop on the fourth floor so I could see Gaugin’s work and, given that he is another artist whom they like and have pictures in their album, they were somewhat open to taking a quick pass at seeing his work. By this time they were starting to fall asleep, so we looked through the Cezanne to Picasso exhibition on the first floor before saying farewell to the Musée D’Orsay.
As we left the museum Caitlin had fallen into a deep sleep and Ashley settled for a dose on James shoulder. The prospect of an earlier promise of ice-cream kept her conscious and she revived as we walked back along the Rue de Bellechasse as we made our way towards the Invalides train station again. On the way Ashley spotted a little playground in front of a church just off the Rue Saint Dominique. While Caitlin napped, Ashley enjoyed the slide and the sandpit and even plucked up the courage to ask a French lady if she could use her child’s sand toys. She was very proud of herself as she played with them. James and I enjoyed the beauty and sheer tranquility of this unexpected little oasis in our afternoon.
During the train ride home the girls seemed to exchange energy levels and by the time we sat down for dinner at La Marina restaurant in St Quentin, Ashley was crashed out in the buggy and Caitlin enjoyed Carbonara and ice-cream with us. Just as we thought the girls were on their last legs and ready for bed they revived on the return bus journey to the hotel eager to play on the play structure at the hotel and have another little go at Spiderman. Finally, finally, they passed out happily at 9:30pm and slept for about 11 hours. A full day of mixed energy and fluctuating enjoyment levels that typifies a day in the life with little ones-only more exaggerated with jet lag and located in Paris instead of Seattle, which makes a lot of difference 
Ashley’s new French word for the day: Bonjour