Happy New Year! It’s 1:30 am here, but I keep this blogging-every-day thing on EST.
We spent the day at Montparnasse. I shot some little videos at the old and new train station and the cemetary so that my students could see where The Invention of Hugo Cabret takes place. I’m reading it with the 3rd graders from now until…whenever we finish it! Then we wandered around the area, debating whether to get on the very long line for the Catacombs. We did not.
Me outside the Louvre.
A short video of what we saw.
But before noodles…
La Bibliothèque nationale de France. We swung by on our way to noodles. Most of the books are in a new, modern building now. But this is the original.
We had a rough start to the day, but it was still so much fun. It was pouring rain and in the 50s, which was inconvenient since Adam and I had heavy, too-hot winter coats and no umbrellas. Almost all the museums in Paris are closed on Tuesdays, so we tried and failed to go to the Centre Pompidou. Adam’s stepfather thought it would be open, but when we arrived it wasn’t. But it’s an incredibly cool building. I don’t even need to go back to see the inside, the outside was enough for me.
We took the Eurostar from London to Paris today and arrived in the city a little after 4pm. By the time we got to our hotel and got settled, we didn’t have time to do much besides dinner. And oh, what a dinner. A 3-hour extravaganza of pate en terrine, steak frites, cheeses, creme caramel, and lots and lots of wine. For 32 Euros, which was beyond a good price. And everything was delicious, it was the best start to this trip. My tongue even felt looser and more in control of the French pronunciation by the end of the meal. It was at Brasserie l’Europeen right across from Gare de Lyon. It was a price fix menu that was well worth it. So good!
Adam, his brother Thomas, stepmother, father, and I went into London yesterday to see The Snowman at the Peacock Theatre. It’s a production based on Raymond Briggs’ classic wordless book and the classic holiday animated film of the same name. The show was put on by Sadler’s Wells, and it was really nice. This photo is from the publicity photos from the show, and you get the idea of how they did the snowman. I showed the film to my pre-k through 1st graders before the holidays, and they loved it. I love the music from the movie, so I really enjoyed this entire experience. So much fun, and the kids in the audience loved it.