Paris Part Deux

It's funny, our second trip to Paris and all we can do is compare it to our first back in 2006. Last time we were here it was an unusually cold March, Dylan was just nine and we were feeling quite seasoned as travelers. This time it's warm (though thankfully not as hot as it is in Moscow right now), crowded beyond recognition and Dylan is remembering things in flashes, like bits of a dream she might have once had. Kind of like the movie Inception. She remembers random things like the bathroom of the restaurant where we celebrated my birthday and the store in the Louvre where we bought some washcloths, but Notre Dame, Montmarte, and the Metro feel new for her.

While we're trying to see a lot, we're not in a manic state trying to get to all the sights. Went to the Pompidou yesterday and unlike our last visit, ventured inside to check out the gift store--very cool--and ride the escalators in the habitrail. I'm not sure of the official name of the tubes running outside, but we came up with habitrail and since I felt kind of hamster-like inside it, the name will stick. The views were amazing, almost as good as the chocolate cake we shared; I'm not sure why frosting isn't inside all chocolate cakes, it works much better that way, less mess.

We're covering a lot of territory, walked the Marais yesterday and today from the Louvre, to Notre Dame and onto the Isle du Cite; all this in flip flops. Getting really bad sleep here in Montmarte. If you put together a frat house during homecoming with revelers on Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras, you might come close to the noise level outside our apartment each night. I'm wishing a special karmic hell to the guy who blasted europop from his car stereo at 5:00 this morning. It's almost 10:30 pm and I'm starting to fade.

Two new developments on this trip: Dylan said a perfect "S'il vous plait" complete with French accent and I had to pick up a pair of magnifying glasses because everything I was reading was looking blurry and really small.

Note: Due to technical difficulties, we may not be having pictures on the blog, nor any more postings thanks to the downright wonkiness of Andy's work computer. My tiny iphone is working better for us on this trip than his mega machine.

Wandering the City of Light

After a ten hour flight and an hour and a half train ride we arrived in the City of Light where we will hang out for the next few days while Andy works. Not THE City of Light, as in Paris--that's next week--but Eindhoven, the fifth largest town in the Netherlands.

This is the town that Philips (innovators in lightbulbs) built, hence the moniker, City of Light. As much as I travel, I never lose the sense of wonder that crosses my mind when I step on a plane in one place and mere hours later can disembark in an entirely different country, let alone continent. We tend to take it for granted--the online printing of boarding passes, the whisking of luggage down a moving sidewalk and the ability to watch three movies and yet travel across an ocean, but it remains a wonder and privilage of our modern age to travel this easily--despite how uncomfortable it is to sit in coach for ten hours.

We're all discombobulated. Andy sped off to work while Dylan and I wandered the winding streets that make up the town center. Dylan was thrilled to find an H&M right away and I'm just glad I could get us back to our hotel without getting lost. We quickly picked up our habits developed after spending countless miles on the road: grabbing a hotel card to stash on ourselves so that we can remember where we sleep, setting up our mobile telecommunications center, and quickly adjusting our pace to that of the locals. It's good to be on the road again.