out of kingdom

For being a relatively small city square footage wise, Paris has a surprisingly large number of parks. We spent an afternoon just playing near one, doing nothing in particular, but still enjoying ourselves immensely.

P.S. Note even the all-American hotdogs here are served on a baguette!

 

Today we went to Arctic Disney…aka Disneyland Paris. It was so cold, I broke down and bought a sweatshirt that I am pretty sure cost more than my wedding dress. We lasted as a family for about 15 minutes, then Brian and the girls ditched Olivia and I to go on some “real rides.” I have no idea what they did all day, but I rode Pirates of the Caribbean 37 times! By the end I was more than ready to say “au revoir” to Jack Sparrow, but clearly someone else was not…

We fought the Louvre…and the Louvre won. Apparently we picked the busiest day of the year to visit France’s most famous museum. Notice the queue in photo #2. Even with Brian’s foresight to buy Priority Passes and hire a personal tour guide, we only saw maybe 5% of all the art exhibited here. Our tour guide seemed to take perverse pleasure in shocking us with “Must See” exhibits of enormous naked male body parts, weird hermaphrodite statues, and creepy eyeless baby wedding sculptures. At the end, Brian was catatonic and the girls were slightly traumatized. Paige’s verdict of the Louvre, “I liked Graceland better.”

 

Olivia…fully embracing her inner French girl. Olivia has officially drank the Kool-Aid. She adores everything French, the Fashion, the Culture, the Food!

 

Sunday in Paris: Attended church at Notre Dame, an impromptu concert because apparently pianos in the street are no big deal, a little retail therapy on the Champs Élysées, and ice cream for dinner at the famous Berthillon.

 

In Love…with the City of Love! In honor of the Eid holiday, we are spending a week in Paris and falling completely under her spell. Our first day spent strolling the gorgeous city and sampling croissants, croque monsieurs, and cafe au lait. C’est Tres Bon!

 

Even though the Sofitel is a French hotel, there are lots of traditional Bahraini touches like the nightly Sunset Lantern Lighting Ceremony, which is breathtakingly beautiful. Also, some lovely some French influences…Brian and I enjoying “Le Gouter”, the French version of High Tea. And Paige ready for dinner…unlike Florida, guests are expected to “dress” for dinner every evening in the restaurants.

 

The Sofitel in Bahrain is a gorgeous resort hotel that bears an uncanny resemblance to Cancun. The pool is fabulous, and the kids love the swim up bar. The beach however, cannot compare to Florida. The sand is sharp and rocky, the waves are nonexistent, and the water is uncomfortably warm. We are still finding plenty of fun things to do though!

 

Bye bye Bahrain, we’ll miss you! We’re going back to Saudi, Saudi…our holiday weekend has officially ended. 😥