JR's World Tour - 4th Stop : Paris

Once again, our stop in Paris was short and sweet.  Only two nights.  In the two years we've been here, we really haven't done the city of Paris justice.  We only go when something motivates us to go - medical appointments, visiting friends or family, piggybacking on other trips.  Of our half dozen trips to Paris, only once did we go just to see Paris itself, and never have we stayed more than four nights; usually its only two.  Before our time in France is up, I'm hoping we can take an entire week to explore the city; it really feels endless.  There are more restaurants and shops and sights and museums than one could ever fully tire of, and no matter how many times we go, I just can't get enough.

This particular two night trip was cut even shorter than normal, due to our early flight out the next morning.  But we had about a day and half to enjoy the city, so we did our best.  For me, Paris conjures images of gourmet food in lavish, belle epoque dining rooms.  And it should, the dining options here are fantastic!
Just one problem:

There he is!!!

So this is what dining in Paris really looks like for us these days:

We sprung for a room with a great Eiffel Tower view, and searched the streets for Parisian sweets, champagne, and yes, pizza.  Take-out food.  Because it's just not always worth it trying to get the baby to sit through a meal at a restaurant.  

The next morning we headed out on a nice walk along the Seine, stopping for a few minutes at the famous bridge of locks.  No, we didn't add one.  They are constantly cutting the locks off to keep the bridge from collapsing from the weight of all that metal, and knowing it would probably only be there for a few months kind of takes away from the romance of it.  So much for "forever", right?

Musee d'Orsay was our main destination of the morning.  A vast central hall, with several rooms full of paintings jutting off of each side, we wandered in and out for the better part of an hour, particularly enjoying the Degas and the van Gogh sections.  I do remember seeing a large number of grotesque paintings though; I wasn't such a big fan of the depictions of blood and death on half of the walls.  Photos are not allowed inside the museum itself, so we also entertained ourselves by counting the number of people that don't understand the meaning of this symbol

and have to be told off by the employees.  In one hour, I think I counted five.  It's not that hard people!!

That afternoon we met up with the rest of our gang for a small picnic at the tower.  In typical French fashion, we grabbed wine and a couple of baguettes, and parked ourselves in front of the Eiffel Tower for a while.  And then played dress-up with the baby:

Alas, no mustache for le bebe this time.

I never feel I've had my fill of Paris.  It may be in France, but to me, it is not French - it is uniquely Parisian and barely even resembles our city of Montpellier.  A city full of life, with surprises around every corner, j'adore Paris!








      

JR's World Tour - 3rd Stop : Santorini

Santorini... where to start.  What a magical place.  It really is just like the postcards, and every bit as wonderful as you dream it up to be.  From Crete, we took the two hour mega-jet ferry to Fira (JR's first boat ride!), where we set up camp for the next four nights.  We stayed at the Majestic Hotel on the outskirts of town, and I so wish I had snapped a photo of it.  The property was a bunch of white, two-story buildings connected by narrow, open walkways, and they must have had a brainwashing, relaxation inducing soundtrack playing in the background, because the entire property had a spa-like atmosphere.

We got ourselves settled in, let the little one have a small siesta, and then spent the early evening hours wandering the streets and shops of Fira and admiring the caldera view.  Santorini is actually made of five separate islands that were formed a long long time ago when a volcano erupted and left a huge crater more or less surrounded by five islands, thus resulting in a caldera.  And by some remarkable stroke of luck, it happened to occur in a location with some of the most brilliant sunsets in the entire world.  So it's a special place, to say the least.  Our hotel room had a nice sized terrace with a sunset view, and after we wore ourselves out poking in and out of tourist shops with cartoon donkeys and rainbow sunsets stamped on everything, we settled in with the babe and watched the sun go down from our hotel.  JR was in a great mood, so between a happy baby and gorgeous view, we were feeling pretty spectacular.

Donkey crossing outside our hotel

Streets of Santorini

Happy baby!

Admiring the view

Santorini Sunset

The second day we planned an evening trip to Oia (pronounced Ee-ya) for dinner with a sunset view.  Oia is also a bit more picturesque than Fira and well worth a few hours of wandering around; in fact it is so beautiful, it almost doesn't look real.  Every walkway and building is in tune with the atmosphere and perfectly kept up.  I actually preferred to stay in Oia, but Fira is more central and allowed us to access other parts of the island more easily, so in the end, practicality won.  Anyhow, we asked the front desk at our hotel to recommend a restaurant for us with a great view, that would also be baby friendly, or in other words, nothing too fancy.  They reserved us a corner table at a place called Sunsets Cafe, where we would be able to watch the sun drop and splash it's light off the water and onto the white buildings blanketing the cliffside.  You know, postcard stuff.  We realized as we were leaving we didn't quite know how to get to the restaurant, so we stopped by and ask for detailed directions.  It was a different employee working, but we knew the name of the restaurant, so figured she could easily help us.  After all, the island is not that big.  We asked for directions to a restaurant called "Sunsets" in the town of Oia.  "No problem!" she said, :Here is how you get to Sunsets Tavern...".  Can you see where this story is going?  Not good.  She instructed us to walk into the town and for directions to Amoudi Bay, we would need to go down some stairs, around 100 she said, and then there were four restaurants in a row and ours was the third one.  We were a bit put off by the 100 stairs, considering we had a baby strapped to us, but we thanked her anyway and headed off.  The five of us got to Oia with no problem (the bus system in Santorini is fantastic) and followed the crowd into the city.  We were a little pressed for time, so immediately started looking for some stairs and asking for directions.  People were very helpful!  The Greeks really are a friendly bunch.  But sunset was quickly approaching, the crowds were coming in, and somehow our group got separated.  Kerry and I with baby hurried off down the stairs, while Mom and Karla disappeared somewhere behind us.  But by this time we had found the stairs and there was only one path down; we figured they would catch up.  I had the baby, so Kerry took off to make sure they didn't give away our table.  I slowly shuffled my way down the "100 stairs".  No.  The stairs go all the way down the cliff.  And they are switchback style, back and forth and back

and.

forth.

the never.

ending.

stairs.

So many stairs...          

Finally, I reached the bottom.  250 stairs later.  We found Sunsets Tavern.  They did have a table for us, but it wasn't under a reservation from The Majestic for 4 people and a baby.  This should have been a big clue... also, it wasn't really what I was looking for.  We had a sunset view, but we couldn't see the beautiful cliff of perfect white buildings stacked on top of each other.  I wasn't satisfied, we left.  We figured we would leave and catch Mom and Karla on their way down, and tell them to turn around before they went any further.  So back up we went.  My legs were shaking before I even started.  I did unload the babe and let Kerry take him on the way up.  Up, up, and up, back and forth, back and forth, and no sign of our travel buddies.  What??  We had to stop a few times to catch our breath, by the time we reached the top, we were both damp with sweat, hungry, and panting for something to drink.  Meanwhile, Mom and Karla had somehow found a restaurant called Sunsets Cafe, and were patiently waiting for us to join them.  We were sucking down 6 euro lemonades and wiping sweat off our faces.  So yes, on the tiny island that is Santorini, there are two restaurants in the same city named "Sunsets".  Our hotel reserved us a table at one restaurant, then gave us directions to the other one.  Not cool Majestic... Kerry and I stopped in at the first place that looked like they might be able to give us food while we watched the sun go down, and then we headed back to Fira.  We never did meet up with the other half of our group again that night, but I'm told the view was great, they had the best table in the house, and enjoyed a great Greek dinner...

At least the 250 stairs had a nice view

Exhausted and sweaty, buying lemonades to quench our thirst

A view of the staircase of death, from the bottom of the cliff, all the way to the top!

At least we managed to see the sunset

The next day Kerry and I took advantage of our babysitters and spent the afternoon exploring the island on our own.  We rented a 4 wheeler and drove back to Amoudi Bay (on purpose this time) for a swim in one of Santorini's best swimming holes.  To get to the shallow swimming waters, you have to hike around the corner of the red cliffs, climb over a few rocks, and then descend down into a small, relatively flat area where you can jump a few feet off of the rocks and into the water.  Can you see why we left the baby behind?  It's not a secret spot by any means, but I think the entire hour or two we were there, we probably only saw about 30 other people.  It felt very un-touristy, which was neat.  Normally I'm quite happy to be a tourist, but this entire excursion felt very authentic, which was a nice change.  It's also one of the only spots I know of in the world where you can swim in an actual caldera, so that's kind of neat too.  Santorini has beaches, but most of them are on the other side of the island, facing away from the old volcano.  We whiled away a couple of hours swimming and lounging on the rocky cliffs, then headed back up to Oia for some smoothies with a view, followed of course, by a little shopping.

Amoudi Bay

Traversing the rocks to get to Amoudi Bay

Beautiful Oia

For our final day in Santorini, all votes were for visiting a beach.  Black, red, or white?  We chose black - no regrets!  It was an easy 20-30 minute bus ride, and it stopped right outside Perivolos Beach, where there were plenty restaurants renting chairs and umbrellas.  Some people prefer secluded, calm, untouched beaches.  Not me.  Give me those lounge chairs and bring me food and drinks with little umbrellas and pineapple slices on the rim.  Eeeeaaasssy.  And with a baby, the easier the better.  We got an early start to avoid having the baby in the afternoon sun, and JR made it nearly two full hours before we had to head back!  We were thrilled!  The sand was in fact black, and the water was a perfect ocean blue.  The water itself was a little rough, too rough to get the baby in, but for the rest of us it was actually a lot of fun; the waves on the shore felt like a wave pool, and we had a blast sitting on the shoreline and letting the water toss us around for a few minutes.    
    

Perivolos Beach

Black sand!

Our final evening, Kerry and I enjoyed one last date night.  Dinner at Selene, easily the most renowned restaurant on the island.  It was a very unique gastronomical experience, and a perfect end to our Greek vacation.

Riding off into the sunset :)