Our Last Day of Vacation

Well, yes, laugh on, laugh on, but the fact is that tomorrow we start our French classes, and have to be at the school at 8:15, which means no more sleeping in, and using our brains, and doing homework.  One of the most wonderful part of this trip has been getting all the sleep I want almost every day.  I've been contemplating the effect on my body of the fact that needs about 9 hours a night (that's what I sleep on average if given no constraints) but gets about 7 hours a night during "real life."  I can tell you that I am a lot more relaxed, even though we've been through a series of fairly stressful events the last three-plus weeks.  Sleep is good.  Not enough sleep is bad.

Today we decided to divide up the boys.  I was going to take them to a science museum in northeast Paris (the Cite des Sciences in the Parc de la Villette) in the afternoon and then Suzie was going to take them in the evening.  So the boys and I set off about noon, taking the Metro from one end of the city to the other (even so, it took less than 40 minutes to get there).  We didn't get to see the grounds (we ran out of time), but one highlight was the view of the Geode (which, on the inside, is a 180 degree movie theater):



The museum was very interesting, situated in a large, spacious, modern building infused with a lot of natural light.  There were exhibits on the evolution of the Citroen (yes, the car), on genetics, an exhibit on the "Story of the Universe" (which was a bit disappointing), and an excellent exhibit on sound and language.  There were also a couple of things that were flat out fun:  An electronically-controlled image of the Mona Lisa that you could cause to lip-synch to words you said into a microphone (it sounds stupid but it was laugh-out-loud funny to see it; an interactive on-line version is here), and a large covered cylinder that held about 15 people, and spun around like a merry-go-round; it was filled with soft rubber balls that curved to the right when you threw them (because of the motion of the cylinder), and when you exited, your body 'naturally' wanted to walk to the left, which was what it had to do inside the rotating cylinder in order to travel "straight ahead."  By the time we got back at 5, we were tired from the go-go-go, and we had a quick dinner, watched some TV (yes, it appears that Suzie was successful in her battle with the Orange Livebox and decoder), then the boys went down the street to skateboard (those cell phones come in handy).  Here are some pictures.

A DRAGON ON OUR CEILING (as mentioned, this apartment has incredible old, detailed ornamental plaster all over and around it; spookier than the dragon are a couple of odd faces, which peer straight down at the corners of the rooms).



SUZIE IN THE KITCHEN:



THE VIEW OUT OUR LIVING ROOM WINDOW, the other direction from the one in this post:



THE VIEW SOUTH DOWN AV. DU GENERAL LECLERC:



And finally, the calls have gone out for pictures of my new Paris haircut, so as much as I loathe pictures of myself, I am closing my eyes and posting this one.



I am going to force Suzie to blog this evening, so stay tuned.