We say Good-Bye to Europe--for now

After the Louvre, we headed to the O'rsay, which is another amazing art museum, with more contemporary artists like Degas, Van Gough, Picasso.  We couldn't take pictures in there, though.  But it had some amazing paintings.  It is always surprising to me how much more colorful, alive, overwhelming a painting can be in person as opposed to a print.  The texture of the paints, the size of the canvas, the darkness and light--I am so grateful we got to see all these masterpieces!
On the bridge to the O'rsay, they had street vendors selling locks. Which seemed wierd, until we saw all the locks on the bridge. You and your loved one "lock your love" on the bridge, throwing the keys into the river, and your love lock hangs on through bitter winters and shiny summers--all but impossible to remove.

Although we spent most of the day walking around two huge museums, we decided to walk down the Champ de Elyees.  It starts out near the Louvre in a beautiful park, and then as it gets near the Arch de Triumph, it is lined on both sides by high brow shopping (L'Coste, Prada, Louis Vuitton, etc.) Notice the geometrical trees.  Most of the trees in the parks in Paris were manicured into squares, rectangles, or perfect circles. 
The kids had a fun time shopping.  I discovered that I don't like shopping, even in Paris.  We ate at an Italian restaurant along the way that was clearly geared for tourists.  We were relieved to find someplace that could take 6 people, but the food was tasteless and uninspired.  We had had our best meals of the trip in Paris, and our worst.
In fact, the next morning dawned frigid and both Brian and I felt some GI distress. It was Sunday morning and we were heading home later that afternoon. We discovered that the Paris Marathon was passing right by our hotel that morning, and most of the city was shut down as a result. So rather than try to fit anything else in, we stepped outside and cheered the runners on. Then we grabbed breakfast out of the grocery store and watched the rest of the marathon on the t.v. There weren't any names I recognized, since most of them are saving themselves for the Olympics, but it was still fun to see all of the runners in person. It would be fun to go back and actually run it someday!

Then Brian made my day by calling a taxi to take us to the airport rather than the original plan of schlepping through the subway and then taking a bus.  I was pretty done with trying to lug our bags up stairs and through crowded tunnels.  It was so nice to just get to the airport, check in, and wait for our plane. 
I have to say it was also a relief to finally land in Atlanta.  Walking off a French plane onto American soil, seeing signs in English again, I felt like I had just put glasses on again.  That confused, fuzzy feeling in my brain that seemed to haunt me in Paris dissappeared with the clarity of familiarity.  It struck me that half the passengers were stepping into clarity, while the other half were suddenly going to start squinting, trying to figure out how they do things here in America. 
When we finally arrived back in Charlotte, it was past midnight.  Our car was alone in the parking lot.  We drove home and crashed.  The kids got a free day at home that Monday (although we surprisingly woke up at 8).
It was a great trip.  Especially looking back at it several months later.  It was great to see Mom and Dad, and Edinburgh is still our favorite city.  It was amazing to see these old castles and palaces in Great Britian and the Eiffel Tower was breathtaking.  Our kids didn't seem to appreciate everything as much as I hoped at the time, but now that we see the same sites on the TV while watching the Olympics, they get pretty excited.  I definitely think it was worth the time, money, and stress.  I hope we get to do it again someday!