My exasperating family
We spent some time wandering back from Notre Dame, checking out a big park with a bunch of sculptures and then the Luxor Obelisk, though we didn't realize at the time that's what it was. I pointed it out and Kevin was convinced it couldn't possibly be from ancient Egypt because seeing ancient Egyptian stuff in the middle of a park seemed insane. We looked it up and apparently it was gift from Cairo to commemorate the end of the French Revolution and sits where a guillotine used to. Kevin complained no one gave the U.S. a big Revolution gift and I pointed out that the French gave us the Statue of Liberty, which he responded to with an appropriate "Touché."
Having been up since 4 a.m., we were pretty hungry when we got back to the hotel but apparently my parents and sister were still en route from the airport. They'd wanted to go to a steak frites place for dinner, so we figured we'd wait for them and went across the street to a little convenience store to get some snacks. We got some cookies that were a bit like Pepperidge Farm Brussels, some fruit and the best: a 2 Euro bottle of Bourdeaux that I nicknamed Two Buck Jacques and we drank out of the little cups in our bathroom. I've had better wine but definitely not for $3 (after the exchange rate).
Once my family did get there, my dad, Cassie and Jake decided to go for a run.
Now I have no problem with running in theory but not the way my family does it -- when they decide they have to exercise they don't give a damn about any standing plans or anyone else. This happened most recently when they were in Chicago and we were supposed to go to the Field Museum with them and they changed their mind because the weather got nice. It also happened multiple times in Israel holding up plans. It's not like we weren't getting plenty of exercise walking around everywhere. Sigh.
It was 8:30 p.m. by then and Kevin and I decided we were fed up and went in search of our own dinner. We found a nice, if tourist-heavy, place where we got duck, roast fish and tiramisu and went back and went to sleep. Apparently my family didn't wind up having dinner until 10 p.m.
To their credit they were up around the same time as us the next day and we went to a little café to have croissants, quiche and coffee. It was fine but honestly I've had better croissants in the U.S. made by Brad. Cassie ate a granola bar because of course. While we were finishing breakfast my dad ran next door to a photo shop where he was going to get some prints made of the photos he'd taken in Israel. He'd picked out everything when my mom came in to look and accidentally hit cancel and undid all his work. This triggered a freak out from my mom that chained into my brother, who seemed exasperated by the whole trip at this point, getting upset. He and my dad split off while my mom, Cassie, Kevin and I headed to Musee de l'Orangerie, a gallery of Impressionist works.
Having been up since 4 a.m., we were pretty hungry when we got back to the hotel but apparently my parents and sister were still en route from the airport. They'd wanted to go to a steak frites place for dinner, so we figured we'd wait for them and went across the street to a little convenience store to get some snacks. We got some cookies that were a bit like Pepperidge Farm Brussels, some fruit and the best: a 2 Euro bottle of Bourdeaux that I nicknamed Two Buck Jacques and we drank out of the little cups in our bathroom. I've had better wine but definitely not for $3 (after the exchange rate).
Once my family did get there, my dad, Cassie and Jake decided to go for a run.
Now I have no problem with running in theory but not the way my family does it -- when they decide they have to exercise they don't give a damn about any standing plans or anyone else. This happened most recently when they were in Chicago and we were supposed to go to the Field Museum with them and they changed their mind because the weather got nice. It also happened multiple times in Israel holding up plans. It's not like we weren't getting plenty of exercise walking around everywhere. Sigh.
It was 8:30 p.m. by then and Kevin and I decided we were fed up and went in search of our own dinner. We found a nice, if tourist-heavy, place where we got duck, roast fish and tiramisu and went back and went to sleep. Apparently my family didn't wind up having dinner until 10 p.m.
To their credit they were up around the same time as us the next day and we went to a little café to have croissants, quiche and coffee. It was fine but honestly I've had better croissants in the U.S. made by Brad. Cassie ate a granola bar because of course. While we were finishing breakfast my dad ran next door to a photo shop where he was going to get some prints made of the photos he'd taken in Israel. He'd picked out everything when my mom came in to look and accidentally hit cancel and undid all his work. This triggered a freak out from my mom that chained into my brother, who seemed exasperated by the whole trip at this point, getting upset. He and my dad split off while my mom, Cassie, Kevin and I headed to Musee de l'Orangerie, a gallery of Impressionist works.