Paris day 4

"only in Paris where the light is pink does that song make sense"

~ line from the movie Sabrina in reference to La Vie En Rose

Today is and has been Elizabeth's 16th birthday and the main reason why we came to Paris. She had been promised a trip to Paris for her 18th birthday (Andrew's trip is in negotiations between african safari and Australia), but given that we are in Sweden this year, we decided to do her 16th up right instead.

We set off this morning to take the train to Versailles. A couple of stops in, the lights and heating unit in our car started to smoke (guess the car didn't read the no smoking signs - ha!). A stop later, the conductor noticed and we sat on the platform watching the smoking traincar while nobody did anything about it. A few minutes later, some magic signal was passed between the french people who knew enough to climb back onboard and we followed suit and the train, smoking car et al, continued all the way to Versailles. In warmer, drier weather, we'd have wandered the gardens as well, but the goal for today was the interiors: King's apts, dauphin's apts, hall of mirrors. Andrew liked looking at the gardens through the windows and Elizabeth liked the opulence of it all. Lunch in a nice creperie. Dessert to go at a patisserie (for a country known for its pastry, we've had an awfully hard time finding patisseries). Musee D'Orsay - my favourite Parisien museum. We almost had painting overload by the end of the afternoon. My eyes would glaze over a bit, then I'd wake up as we switched to art nouveau furniture. I knew the D'Orsay had been a train station. What I didn't know was that it had also been a hotel. They refurbished the ballroom and I thought it was more beautiful than anything at Versailles. If I could have, I'd have snuck a picture of the chandeliers, but photos weren't allowed, and security was everywhere.

Tonight was E's birthday dinner at the Jules Verne in the Eiffel tower. Beautiful view over Paris at night. Incredible food. Great service. A waiter who's wife is from the north of Sweden (Luléa). He happened to overhear us say something about it being E's birthday, so he brought her dessert out with a candle in it.

Thanx to my parents who came to join us for the week and make the whole thing more special.