Passport to Paris: Day 4

July 4th,

Happy independence day! Although I have to say it didn't feel much like the 4th being in a different country. I slept in until almost 10am this morning due to the dang blast shields, those would be dangerous for me to have at home! I quickly got ready for the day and we were off. We went to the local market, leader price, and got food to take with us on a picnic. Then we caught the metro into the city. On Wednesday my Aunt Mandy and cousin Amelie go into Paris to the American Library for story time. The ALP is located about a block away from the Eiffel Tower. There are a lot of parks and grassy areas around the tower so we went to one of those playgrounds to have out picnic lunch. Picnicking is VERY popular in France. It was pretty cool to look up from my sandwich and see the Eiffel Tower. That doesn't happen everyday! Since it was a BEAUTIFUL day I decided I needed some more pictures of the tower on such a perfect day. They sky was so pretty!

After our picnic we headed over to the Library.  We got there a little late and the group was talking about famous building in Paris and in the United States. Then they read a story about the statue of liberty, which was of course a gift from the French that was made in Paris. It was fun to have a little patriotism in my day and a lot of the kids were dressed in red, white and blue. After the library we went out in search of a place that sold the Paris "Museum Pass." With some help from a nice little French lady we were able to find a stand that sold them. It was pleasantly surprised when I looked across the street to see the street "Rue Cler." Cynda and Ben where just in Paris and they told me one of the things I had to do was walk down "Rue Cler." Also my "Pocket to Paris" Rick Steve's guide book had a whole walking tour of the street. It was filled with markets and cheese shops, crepe stands and boulangeries (french word for Bakery.) It was really cute. I got a strawberry jam crepe and my heart melted, so delicious! It was fun to walk down but no different than a lot of the streets in Creteil where my Aunt lives. 

After out walk we headed back to Creteil. We went to the grocery on the way back to the apartment so I could grab stuff to make dinner for everyone. I got a rotisserie chicken, which are sooo much better in France, from the butcher and I even ordered it in French!! GO ME! Then I got al the things I needed to make bowtie pesto, tomato, motz. pasta for dinner. I spend the next hour working in her tiny kitchen. The only counter space she has is where the drying rack goes, so you have to use the stove top as a prep area until you start making things on the stove- then you are out of space. It was a lesson in well thought out cooking. 

The good news was everyone enjoyed my pasta dish. After doing the dished I made some calls home to  my family and Mike to see how their 4th of July was going. It was weird to have them just be starting their day when I was just about to end mine. I guess six hour time differences will do that.