Sorry for the long break in writing. Since we got back from Paris, things have been very busy, mostly at work. I'll try to catch up a little bit, but I'm sure I'll miss something.

The end of our Paris trip was fine. We spent the last Saturday in Versailles. I'd recommend buying your tickets ahead of time (that is, before going) as we waited for two hours in the line to buy tickets, only to realize that after we'd bought our tickets (probably another hour from where we were) we'd have to stand in a second line, at least an hour long, to get into the palace. Instead, we went directly to the gardens (10 minute wait) and enjoyed wandering around statue gardens and such. The past kings of France didn't spare any expense, that's for sure. We spent some of that afternoon with a rented rowboat on one of the canals near the palace. It was a nice change from the urban environment we'd been in for the past several days.

On the way home on Sunday, we were confronted with a very rude Dutch man. For a small portion of the trip, the train was very crowded (standing room only) and he got on just at that point. He said something to us in Dutch and indicated that if we had our boys sit in one seat, then he would be able to sit down. We declined, knowing that two boys in one seat would result in fighting. The man proceeded to kick one of our seats and yell and fume until his fellow passengers calmed him down. I suspect he wasn't being as rude as he seemed to us, but we stood our ground. There may have been 100 reasons that he was asking for the seat, but nothing really excuses his response afterward. It's a bit of what we've been learning over here. It doesn't always feel nice at the time, but sticking up for yourself is useful.

Since we got back, work has taken a distinct shift. I'm working just as hard, but now I fell like I've accomplished something at the end of each day. I'm making big progress on big things and it feels good. Much better than grinding through tons of e-mail and wondering what it all means in the end.

Thursday was Ascension Day, making this a four day weekend. We initially had grand plans for taking off somewhere for all four days, but instead we stayed home and settled for renting a boat and sailing around one of the neighboring lakes. It was fun, and it was good for us to stick our necks out and do something new locally. We all had a good time, and it won't be so intimidating when we do it again.

Not much more to say tonight, I'm afraid. Even though it's been a few weeks since updating, that's about all that's been going on. We hope to finalize our summer holiday plans tomorrow and then there will be a bit more to tell. In the meantime, hope you're all happy and healthy.

I guess I missed a few days. Below are some reasons why.

Tuesday, we spent at the Jardin d'Acclimatation. This was a cheesy little theme park with a couple of very small roller coasters, but mostly summer fair type rides. Nevertheless, the boys had a great time. There was also a small farm and a few other things to see. It managed to not rain on us until we were leaving, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as a must see.

Wednesday was a very busy day. We started by going to the Centre George Pompidou, the mueseum of modern art. It was a great hit with both the boys because they had a large exhibition on Alexander Calder. He was an American who moved to Paris when he was in his mid 20's. He spent much of his life creating toys for himself and to amuse his friends. His greatest work was his "Circus" which was made from twisted wires, bits of cloth, etc. He was able to re-enact an entire circus event, including lions, tight rope walkers, sword swallowers, etc. It was beautifuly done, and there was a video describing how he would rummage around for bits of wires, etc. This inspired the Older, who has been picking up stuff off the streets since then. He's already constructed a couple of simple machines, but I've now convinced him that we can afford to buy/acquire anything thing he wants, and that picking up bottle tops and clothing tags might not be necessary.

After that, we went to the Jardin des Enfant (the garden of children). This is a small, supervised playground for older children and the boys were very excited by the prospect of a ball pit experience. In the end, the place was closed due to rain, so we bought some lunch at a nearby grocery and ate it at a neighboring normal playground. The Older was especially upset with us (as though we ordered the rain) and insisted that we would come back the next day!!!

Next we saw the Musee de la Magie (Magic Museum). This was an amusing enough place, but all of the displays were in French, as was the magic show. In the end, everything was pretty well self-explainatory, but unless you really like old magic stuff, it probably wasn't worth the stop. On the other hand, the part of town the museum is in was interesting, as it was a bit off the beaten path and full of interesting little shops (unlike where we are staying which is basically just above a Gap.)

Then we headed off to the Cite des Sciences et de l'Industrie (Center of Science and Industry). This was a typical interactive science museum, and our boys love these sorts of things. All of the exhibits were in both English and French, and most were quite well done. We got a late start, so we only spent about 90 minutes there, but I really liked the exhibit on vowel sounds (apparently, we adults simply can't distinguish all of them...) and the boys liked the Jeux de Lumiere (light games) where they got to play with optical illusions and other light bending experiements. We finished the day at Hippopotamus, a Red Robin like chain that caters to families.

Thursday we started with the Musee Rodin. This is a great museum if you like sculpture, and the boys do. Most of the exhibits are in a large, well kept garden. The boys recognized The Thinker, of course, but it wasn't even their favorite piece. After that, we went to the Musee d'Orsay and spent about an hour getting lunch and looking at Impressionist works before the Younger had had enough. His patience for museums is much more limited than the Older's. So, he and I headed back to the hotel where I took a nap and he played a word game on the computer. M and the Older spent a bit more time in d'Orsay, and then headed to the Louvre, where they quickly saw the Mona Lisa and the Nike statue and left. We made dinner ourselves in our appartment.

Today was May Day, and almost nothing was open other than restaurants and churches. We goofed around until 2pm, then headed out for a quick look at Notre Dame. As we got into the place, we realized that the Jardin des Enfant would only be open for another hour, so we made a quick circuit of the church (the towers were not open today anyway) and hurried over. The boys had a good time playing in the gardens, but there was, apparently, no ball pit as advertised.

After that, we tried to go to a Thai restaurant listed in our guide book. It was over near the Bastille, so it seemed like a good excuse to see that as well. It turns out that May Day is a day of protests for the French. The Bastille is closely associated with French Independence (their first revolution started there) and so it is also a place to hold and start protest marches. The restaurant we were looking for was closed today, so we ended up at another Hippopotamus watching the crowds yelling and chanting outside the window. It was a fun, if not expected, dining experience.

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A couple of notes on our experiences here so far.

We've all had a great time, but I'm learning some things about us:

1. We have a HUGE inertia. It is hard to get us moving if there isn't something dramatic to pull us all out of the house. This makes us bad people to travel with (as our friends who met us in Nice found out.) We move at a different pace, and we haven't gotten out of the appartment before 10am on any given morning.

2. We need to plan ahead a bit. This is a corollary to point 1. If left to our own devices, we will stay in our hotel room indefinitely, driven out only by hunger. The boys and I would rather play computer games, and M would rather read. We like the things we do when we get out, but we also like doing whatever it is we're doing at the time.

3. I am very bad at geting enough sleep when I'm on vacation. I think my natural schedule is something like getting up at noon and going to bed at 3 am. This is not a luxury I have as an employed person, but if left to my own devices, my sleep cycles will head in this direction. Having a new computer game to play doesn't help, and the kids are still getting up at 6-7 am. Something M has paid for on the couple of nights she stayed up with me.

4. Eating at the right times is key. We already knew this one, but it becomes more and more dramatic over time. If we wait too long, we are all get so tired, hungry and grouchy, that we can't agree on where, or what to eat. At this point, someone usually has to just take charge and put food in front of us, which quickly solves the problem.

There are couple more personal points, like I should never answer my work phone when I'm on holiday (it puts me in a bad mood...) and that I feel much better on days when I run (again, not a surprise, but even lack of sleep can be compensated somewhat by this.)

Tomorrow, we're off to Versailles, the country palace of Louis XIV. It's apparently quite beautiful, and a nice change of pace from the urban life we've had over the past week. We're all pretty much ready to go home now, which is good, because our train leaves at noon on Sunday. Paris has been fun, but we're missing our own beds and routines.