Paris Day Three

Took the train in again. Went to the Notre Dame........




with everyone...and although some of the kids are getting tired of churches, they could still smile for the camera


We then hustled off to the station to ship Caroline off to her friend. After waiting in line for what seemed like eternity to get her tickets, we had about two and a half seconds to get her to the platform.

We took the reduced family to the Louvre, standing in line during the hottest part of the day to buy tickets.



Once inside, we scrambled through huge crowds and shot past unbelievable works of art

(Where pieces with a sense of humor gave passers by the finger.)




so that we could see the Mona Lisa



and the shattered Venus de Milo .... It was awesome! (except that we missed the Faberge eggs)




I can't say we strolled through the tuileries, because, believe it or not, it was again the hottest part of the day. Darting was necessary at this point so we zipped from tree to tree, pushing others out of the way when needed, so we could enjoy some shade...and a carousel ride



After all that, the Jeu de Pomme was closed... No Water Lillies... No Starry Night... But it turned out that was okay, because we had changed our focus to finding a bathroom

A little more time on the Champs Elysées and then back to the Eiffel Tower to purchase some sort of souvenir that Mary wanted...




Then we split up. This seemed risky since Jim had not quite mastered the Metro yet, but Ellen took three of the kids back to the campground and Jim went to pick up Caroline at the train station, sad inscription on the wall at the station if you know French:





All went well and at the end of the day we were sitting at our plastic tables under our awning when Jimmy saw a "hamster" run by. No picture of that....




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Location:Paris, France

Paris Day Two

Started the day looking for cream for Mary's arm (spider bite?) at the Pharmacie near The Arc De Triomphe.




.....then down the Champs d' Elysees. As we strolled, Caroline called a friend that was an exchange student from the Champagne region of France. She decided she wanted to take the train to visit him so we spent the next couple of hours trying to figure out how to get her there. Turns out we had to wait until the next day. While we were at Gare de L'Est (train station) we were evacuated due to a security threat. You should see the amount of soldiers in Paris walking around in threes with AK-47's (figured they would not appreciate me snapping photos...I hate getting shot...

Then.......we trudged to Sacre Coeur atop Montmartre




Down the hill to Moulon Rouge




Had a drink at one of the zillions of gorgeous Brasseries at every corner, this one was near St Michel.





Then home to the RV, we call it home now........6 people......84 square feet

Mary brought back half the dirt in Paris on her feet..





Couple of other nice photos:
















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Location:Paris, France

Oui, Paris Day One

Took two days and a million dollars in tolls to get to Paris. We enjoyed a beautiful drive through the mountains




and stopped near Riom the first night. Our campsite had trampolines, a pool, ping pong (seems to be popular in Europe) and some mega checkers/chess games




Jimmy wanted to stay the rest of the month.

Arrived in Paris July 2nd late afternoon and HAD to jump on the train and get our first gander at the city. Maggie on the Seine.....



Straight to the souvenir shops........



from every possible angle..........





.......and a picnic dinner under the Eiffel tower.


Stayed in a cute little town called Porch Fontaine with the obligatory local grocery/ fruit stand.....




And patisserie......



We couldn't make our credit card work to buy train tickets so we took the advice of a local and headed to central Paris and jumped the turnstile.....you would then find us later giving the same advice to other newbies to Paris. Two days in Paris to come!

Location:Paris, France

Kate by the sea

Camped between Calella and St Pol, Spain near Barcelona. Beautiful!!!!! In the water up to our shoulders, we could still see our toes...



Out of the water you could see alot more than toes...Jimmy almost lost his head!



Beautiful babes everywhere!




Snorkeling and ping pong......great pool as well. Look at this view of the Mediterranean from the camper steps...





It was an hour on the train into the city to see Kate Dowrey (our niece)



She is interning in the fair city of Barcelona and was happy to show us the sites







we spent two evenings in the city enjoying a smallish family get together a million miles from home.



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Location:Barcelona

Leaning Tower of Pisa and French Riviera

High tailing it to the south of France, we were distracted by the Pisa sign.....so we followed it!





That is not out in the middle of nowhere by the way...from the pictures I have seen, I always wondered why some idiot built that tower in a field... Guess that makes me the idiot.

Trying to find the next campsite wasn't so easy. With curled toes, and white knuckles, we experienced the terror of having to back up on narrow, busy streets at night while the GPS had a brain fart. We finally discovered a sign for the highway and hit the road. Woke up in a rest stop of a town we didn't know and drove to the French Riviera

A few hours in St Maximes across the bay from St Tropez...

Going against the grain...keeping our tops on...
-








.....and our eyes averted






Jim found ice (first we've seen since NY, rare commodity in Europe) and bought a bag... We enjoyed some cold drinks... Showered the sand off of our toes and hit the road








Stayed near Nimes. We drove into town and found out that Nimes is actually really cool. They have a coliseum that is still complete, and a hopping place... Wish we had found a parking space! We forgot to take any pics, so you'll have to make the trip yourself someday.

Used the iPad to "FaceTime" the Bartletts on Carrie's iPod. Amazing we were in a campground in France at midnight on a video call to someone in their living room in Dayton, Ohio USA.

Heading to Barcelona to see Kate Dowrey!


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Location:Northern Italy / French Riviera

Surely not built in one day

Day two in Rome went a little better. It's like we were locals. Headed to St. Peter's Square (which really is round, those crazy Italians).







The priest told us there was a noon mass with the Pope... W really didn't understand a lot of what the pope was saying, but that was the speediest mass ever. Then there was a benediction in about thirty languages. Amazing... I think the only language he missed was pig Latin. We knew were in the right place when he finally blessed us in English. Here is a picture.







Video to posted later where you can hear his blessing!



After mass we started toward Trevi Fountain on foot






...the start of an amazing 8 1/2 hours on foot ending at the Coliseum.







Lots of cool places in between....







We had the Cedar Point taxi ride back to the campground, didn't know cars could fly......



French Riviera, here we come!

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Location:Roma

Best laid plans...gone awry

We stayed at Village Flaminio in Rome. A pool! Finally Mary could swim. while we set up the site. Caroline took Mary and Jimmy to the pool. Caroline jumped in and was immediately reprimanded for her lack of headgear. We needed swim caps. Well, when in Rome...










We took the bus on a "dry run" to the Vatican. About thirty minutes later we were meandering around the frying pan that is St. Peter's Square.



















We asked a few questions and decided to come back the following day, Sunday, for noon mass. panini from one of the street vendors nearby would tide us over until we got back... Or at least that's what we thought.








....The next part of the story is called "a series of unfortunate events...caused by a number of poor choices"

One wrong bus - to one wrong terminal to - one extra ride to - one right terminal to - one right bus to - one missed stop to - one wrong bus to - one harrowing walk along one major thoroughfare to- more than one personal remark...to -

Six sick McElwains with not one sidewalk...this is where the dry run was about to become the dry heaves.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

It would be wise for heathens and nonbelievers to stop reading here for fear that your eyeballs might roll out of their sockets.

After an exceedingly long walk one way and then turning back to our starting point and saying "we need help" several times, (after about a half hour of bickering and walking) I prayed for help in any form...but especially the "taxi" form. Less than a minute later, in a most unlikely spot, an empty cab pulled up. we all piled into the tiny car and got back to the campground... Three hours later than planned.


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Location:Rome