Au Revoir Paris

Monday Mom, Dad, Granny and I grabbed a taxi to Foch Hospital in the Suresnes suburb of Paris. It was nice to see different sides of Paris. We were welcomed at Foch Hospital reception where after a while a nurse collected us and took us to Dr George Rodesch’s rooms. It was so awesome to finally meet him after so much planning. Introductions were done and we started chatted – he spoke perfect English making the discussions easier.

When it got to the really technical things I excused myself and kept Granny company in the hallway. After a really really long time, Mom and Dad called me back to the meeting and we had a last final chat. Dr Rodesch asked me some questions but I was very shy despite that he was really nice.

The nurse took us back to the reception where Daddy settled the bill. Everyone was super friendly, patient and helpful, even though there were some serious language barriers.

Mom and Dad were pretty quiet after the meeting, and told us they were ‘processing the information’. I know all of you are burning to hear the outcomes, but Mommy and Daddy are still digesting the information and awaiting Dr Rodesch’s formal report before making any decisions. As soon as we’ve agreed these as a family we’ll share those with you.

We walked into the village of Suresnes which had a really nice community feel. This far out of Paris Daddy’s limited French and the local’s limited English resulted in lots of pointing and giggling and stuff, but again everyone was really patient and helpful.

A taxi drive back to our hotel made quick work of the 45 min trip and we spent the afternoon resting and relaxing at the hotel.

In the late afternoon we headed off to the Place des Pyramides where we had arranged for an evening tour up the Eiffel Tower and a cruise down the Seine River. It was really amazing. First we rode the Seine River east taking in the sites and veering to the right of the Îll de la Cité (City Island) on which the Notre Dame de Paris stands. At Charenton-le-Pont the boat made a wide turn and headed back west toward the Trocadéro, this time taking us down the other side of the City Island.

We docked and headed to the Eiffel Tower. Having priority tickets got us to the front of the queue and in no time we were riding up the Eiffel Tower, first to Level 1 and then to Level 2. The queue for tickets to Level 3 was really long so we opted to take in the sites instead of standing around waiting to go up another level.

Our timing was perfect as we watched the sun set from the Eiffel Tower and then shortly afterward the lights lit up the Tower. As if that wasn’t enough, the sparkling hourly fairy lights did their six minute dance for us too. It was all perfect! Tired, but very satisfied, we headed back down the Tower and hopped onto our bus to finish our night tour. It was close to midnight once we’d toured through the streets of Paris taking in its nightlife and illuminated buildings. I was enthralled.

On Tuesday we were up early to catch a bus to the Île-de-France region to visit the Palace of Versailles (Château de Versailles). Our bus took us to the entrance and after a long walk up the longest cobblestoned pavement imaginable we arrived at the inner court. From there we entered the Palace and started walking from room to room admiring the décor, artworks, sculpture and architecture. Although the place was packed full and made it difficult to move, and caused me to be bumped around a great deal, we eventually made it to the Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors), which was really spectacular. I’d never seen so many mirrors before, all done the length of the longest room imaginable, which magnificent chandeliers every few paces.

We viewed some of the other 1200 rooms and looked at massive tapestries and artwork. The gardens were massive and stretched almost to the horizon. They were immaculately manicured.

Back in Paris in the early afternoon we had lunch at a bistro on the pavement which was a real treat. The waiter once again was brilliant and super friendly. In the afternoon we wandered the Latin Quarter and took in Paris.

Wednesday, our last day in Paris, we visited the Musée Rodin (the Auguste Rodin Museum in Paris). It was spectacular, housed in the Hôtel Biron, which served as Rodin’s ‘workshop’ and home in Paris. It had massive gardens and each room in the house was adorned with Rodin’s art, as well as artworks given to him by his friends by Van Gogh, Monet and Renoir. The museum also displays works of his protégé Camille Claudel.

Daddy wandered around intrigued, as this was ‘his’ thing – the one thing he wanted to do in Paris. We observed The Thinker, The Kiss, The Cathedral as well as many other lesser known pieces and paintings. I was amazed at Rodin’s versatility at working in so many different mediums.

In the gardens I had a long run around, every now-and-then stopping to observe a sculpture that adorned the gardens. It was a great memorable last day in Paris for us.

To end our holiday we headed back to the Trocadéro to have our last pomfrites and chocolate pancakes, and to say goodbye to the Eiffel Tower. Tammy even dressed up for the occasion and looked stunning.

We had some time on Thursday morning before our transfer came to collect us for the airport, so we walked up the Rue des Ecoles in the Latin Quarter. We discovered another of Paris’ many green belts with a play area. I played up a storm.

All too soon we were back at our hotel and on a transfer to the airport. Check-in went smoothly and pretty soon our Qatar A340-300 arrived to jet us off to Doha. We landed in Doha just before midnight (Qatar time) and within two hours we were in the air again.

Landing in Johannesburg on Friday morning we discovered it was cold and raining. Clearing passport control and customs we waited for our luggage at the carousel. Tammy and Granny’s cases came our first, and they bid us farewell, as Garth was there to collect them. I was really sad to see them go, and hugged them again and again and again.

We grabbed our luggage and collected the car from the valet service. It was sparkling clean inside and outside. All traces of my chocolate milk, food and art had been expertly cleaned away.

At home it was awesome to see Roxy, Lucy, Mickey and Missy again. They were as thrilled to see us. The rest of the day was spent at home resting and chilling out, with me reacquainting myself with my trains.

On Saturday Mom, Dad and I went to Montecasino to see The Croods, which we all thoroughly enjoyed. The afternoon was spent at home catching up on sleep.

Sunday we visited Ryan, Paul and Claudi. It was so nice to see them all again. Although I had a really good holiday I had missed my friend a great deal. We played hard to make up for lost time, and sadly, while climbing a tree, I fell and hit my head really hard on the ground. Everyone rallied to help me and check me out and it all seemed okay. I did have a huge headache though.

Well, that’s it for my last week in Paris.

Love

Jarrod

Video 1 Sparkling Lights on Eiffel Tower (click here)

Photo 1 One of these was ours

Photo 2 Our B777-300

Photo 3 On board

Photo 4 Arrival in Paris, a week and a half ago

Photo 5 Panaromic shot of Pont de Arts

Photo 6 Loving the puddles

Photo 7 The back streets of the Latin Quarter

Photo 8 While everyone else had to use the €0.50 toilets on the Champs-Élysées, I got to wee at the exclusive Warwick Hotel

Photo 9 Our hotel ‘memory card’ as I called it

Photo 10 On the River Seine cruise

Photo 11 View from the river

Photo 12 National Assembly

Photo 13 Paris’ Cleopatra Needle at the Place de la Concorde

Photo 14 Somewhere on the left of the Pont de Arts are my, Mommy and Daddy’s locks

Photo 15 Paris architecture

Photo 16 Paris architecture

Photo 17 Notre Dame waterside

Photo 18 More Notre Dame from the river

Photo 19 Looking back at the Notre Dame

Photo 20 Enjoying the view

Photo 21 Just Jay-Bee

Photo 22 View from the Seine River

Photo 23 Dusk in Paris

Photo 24 My favourite carousel

Photo 25 Looking up

Photo 26 Getting ready to go up the Eiffel Tower

Photo 27 Me, Mom and Buzz Lightyear heading to the lift

Photo 28 One of the Tower’s anchors

Photo 29 Getting ready

Photo 30 Paris!

Photo 31 Looking out at Paris from the Eiffel Tower

Photo 32 The Seine below

Photo 33 Mommy kisses above Paris

Photo 34 Tammy with the sunset over Paris

Photo 35 Checking out down below

Photo 36 Posing with the Eiffel Tower

Photo 37 The fairgrounds

Photo 38 Modern Paris

Photo 39 The market below

Photo 40 my favourite carousel on the trip down

Photo 41 Lit up!

Photo 42 Yay! I went up the Eiffel Tower

Photo 43 Loving the Paris nightlife

Photo 44 Paris at night

Photo 45 Off to the Palace of Versailles

Photo 46 Hectic at the Palace

Photo 47 The Inner Court

Photo 48 Getting ready to go in

Photo 49 Wandering through the Palace

Photo 50 This was titled ‘Dude with iPad’

Photo 51 Hectic!

Photo 52 The Hall of Mirrors

Photo 53 With Mom in the Hall of Mirrors

Photo 54 Statues in the Hall of Mirrors

Photo 55 The Mirrors

Photo 56 Queen Tammy and King Jay-Bee at the Palace of Versailles

Photo 57 Hotel Biron for the Rodin Museum

Photo 58 His signature

Photo 59 Dad and I with Rodin’s original The Thinker

Photo 60 The Thinker close-up

Photo 61 The Thinker

Photo 62 The Kiss

Photo 63 The Cathedral

Photo 64 Loving Rodin’s gardens

Photo 65 Hotel Biron

Photo 66 Sculptures in the garden

Photo 67 Tammy and I exploring the gardens

Photo 68 Spinning in the gardens

Photo 69 Another Thinker

 

Photo 70 Playing with my Rodin finger puppet

Photo 71 Saying goodbye to the Eiffel Tower

Photo 72 Daddy getting creative

Photo 73 The beam

Photo 74 Daddy being more creative

Photo 75 Goodbye carousel

Photo 76 My last play in Paris

Photo 77 Stretching

Photo 78 Dad and I

Photo 79 Spinning

Photo 80 Heading home