NEW YEAR'S EVE IN PARIS

I got so excited sharing our "snail experience" that I closed the last blog and completely forgot that it was our NEW YEAR'S EVE dinner.

We had planned to go to Montmarte, which is a hill on the north side of the city, with beautiful views. It would have been a perfect place to see ALL the fireworks all around the city, without the outrageous crowds around the Eiffel Tower or on the Champs de Lysses. But the fog was so low that we decided to stay in and enjoy the night in our apartment - and out on the balcony.

Midnight came and we all went out on the balcony to watch the light show at the Eiffel Tower and watch and listen to fireworks in and around our neighborhood. After about 10 minutes or so, Carol said, "I don't think those were firecrackers." We all listened. Sure enough, they were gunshots. We decided that it was time to go inside and call it a night.

The next morning I got up REALLY EARLY and went to the Louvre to get us all tickets and avoid the line.

Didn't work - I stood outdoors in line for almost an hour.

Oh yeah, it DID work. Carol, Andrew and Emily came later and didn't stand in line at all.

Once inside, we split up. Andrew wanted to see the Egyptian section first. Emily and I had gotten our fill of Egypt at the British Museum. Here are some of the things Andrew and Carol saw











Emily and I went into our American Tourist mode and headed straight for the things that Emily's French teacher had put on her "Must See" list.







and continued on through gallery after gallery of incredible sculpture







And as I've said before, Emily will find horses wherever we go






This one is solid silver



After a quick lunch, we split up again and then came together at the apartments of Napoleon III. Half way through this section we decided that although we had been thoroughly impressed with the Biltmore Estate last summer, compared to the "real thing", the Biltmore is a double-wide. "Sorry, Mr. Vanderbilt. Nice try."

Here are some pictures so that you can judge for yourself.









Some much beauty, so little time - and energy. We wore ourselves out and then went on to see more.

This is a section of the original fort, built on this location in the late 12th century.



The paintings were incredible, too. But Emily really likes sculpture more and the crowds made it almost impossible to get good pictures of the paintings.

And the day STILL wasn't over.

It's New Year's Day - BOWL DAY back in the States

AND Penn State is playing in the Outback Bowl.

AND the rumor mill is rampant with stories that this will be JoePa's last game. We hear this almost every year, but this year we heard things like, "The family has chartered several jets so that all of his children (5) and his grandchildren (17) can be there."

AND he was going for his 25th Bowl win - against a highly ranked Florida team.

OK, so we're in Paris and American College Football is not real high on their list. There must be SOME option. Tom and the internet come through again. He finds "The Moose", a Canadian Sports Bar in the Odeon section of Paris. He calls them on Friday and they confirm that they will have ALL THE BOWL GAMES.

So after a long day at the Louvre, we head to The Moose to meet Tom, Ann and the kids. We get there first.





But we are told, "No, the Outback Bowl will not be on. It's not on any of our FOUR satellite boxes. We're not sure why." I become VERY upset and ask to talk to the manager whom I believe is the person Tom spoke to on Friday. He's not there, but will be in 15 minutes before kickoff. Tom and crew arrive. We decide we have no other options at this late date so we sit and wait for the manager. Who confirms that for some reason, the game is not on satellite.

BUT if we don't mind a little jerky picture at time, he'll be happy to put an internet stream on a big screen.

WE ARE HAPPY ! Good food, GREAT BEER and an exceptionally friendly and accommodating staff.



And with 5 kids ranging from 4 to 14, we did test them !

Laughed with a guy who was cheering for Florida and asked if he had gone to Florida. Turns out he didn't. He went to the Naval Academy and played football against Penn State back in the 1960's.



OK, so we lost the game. And JoePa announced that he had no intention of retiring, he was still having too much fun.

We still had a GREAT TIME !





PS - Except for the pictures at The Moose, Andrew's pictures at the Louvre and four of the ones at Napoleon III's apartment, EMILY took all of the pictures in today's blog. I shared some of her incredible flower pictures last summer. She really is a very talented young lady.