2/13/15 - 4:30 pm.  The airport car was ordered for 4:30, but was running a bit late, so we loaded up around a quarter of five.  Although it was about three hours until wheels up, the MassPike had suffered epic snow-related traffic jams recently, and there was no interest in a stress-party somewhere around the Brighton tool booth.  We pulled up to the curb at 5:30, deposited our five roll-a-board bags at an empty Icelandair check-in count, and settled in for a fairly fast dinner at a Terminal E restaurant, right alongside security. 

7:30 pm.  We breeze through a pretty busy security line owing to the kids’ knowledge of how the drill works and our light, carryon-only load.  They are board our flight on time, and we take our five seats scattered throughout the 757 narrowbody.  Our plane was the one-and-only “Hekla Aurora,” a  specially-painted plane

to promote the Northern Lights and Iceland tourism.  The interior ceiling LED lighting also simulated the borealis as it  oozed a constantly-morphing, mellow

greenish-purplish blur overhead throughout the flight.  Ellie is in row 10 and the rest of us are in the back.  Charlie and I end up trading seats with an equally-split-up family and we score our own row with an empty middle seat between us.    The flight is uneventful and gets us to Reykjavik’s Keflavik Airport on time at 6:20 am.  We clear immigration into the EU and head to the Saga Lounge for a quick coffee before the short walk to gate 9 and the 3-hour flight to Paris.  Kate and I are upgraded for the rest of the trip, while the kids are in back.  As the sun slowly rose over the Norwegian Sea somewhere between Iceland and Scotland, we opted for a bloody to get the day started properly.

2/14/15 12:30 pm CET:  Our flight landed at Charles De Gaulle, Terminal 1 about 20 minutes late.  We collected our bags and carted them over to the light rail that would take us to the Gare CDG.  We took the RER B line into Paris and changed to the Metro 4 for three stops to Saint Placide. 

From there, it was a 10 minute walk to our apartment at 90 Rue de Rennes.  The rental agent met us, gave us our keys and showed us around the apartment.  We have a spacious three-bedroom unit on the the 2nd floor (3rd floor per USA) with everything we could need for a great stay in this wonderful city. 

Our first venture out the door was in search of lunch and groceries, which were found less than two blocks from the front door.  Afterward, we returned to the apartment for a bit of a rest, as everyone was feeling pretty shattered with jet-lag.

6:00 pm CET:  Pete and I took a the Metro 4 a few stops to Cité for a quick spin around Notre Dame.  Afterward, we all went to dinner at Le Trait D’Union where the boys sucked down Orangina’s and the cheese ravioli.  By 10 pm, we were settled in for a huge sleep.

Sunday, 2/15/15 12:00 noon:  To our annoyance, most everything retail related is closed, including the boulangerie directly across the street.  Next, we walked north across Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the Seine and to the Musée du Louvre.  Here, we descended through the main Pyramide du Louvre entrance and on to the Carrousel du Louvre shopping galleria where Kate had her iPhone fixed at the Genius Bar. 

Software glitch neutralized (third try), Kate now had the ability to take and store photos.  The kids wanted to walk around the mall some more, so Kate and I snuck off to Cafe RUC

for a sidewalk view of Le Kiosque des Noctambules.  We returned to met up with the kids and walked north to Fuxia for a great italian meal.  Day 2 jet lag kicking in, we returned to our apartment via Metro.

Monday, 2/16/15 10:00 am.  Eleanor and Charlie head off in their own direction, in search of stuff in the 2nd, 3rd and 9th Arrondissements. 

Kate, Peter and I walked three blocks west to the grand Paris department store, Le Bon Marché.  We picked up a few gifts for home and walked across the street for a fantastic lunch at Le Week-End.  Next we grabbed the Metro 12 line for a short run to Concorde where we met up with Ellie and Charles, whose highlight of the day was a ride on the Roue de Paris, the huge temporary ferris wheel at the Place_de_la_Concorde.  Next we caught the 72 Bus for the short ride to Pont d’léna, and the Eiffel Tower. 

Not wishing to repeat tourist mistakes made in the past, Kate and I opted for the wine route, while the kids endured the queue for the elevator to the top.  We walked around the corner for respite at Chez RIBE.   After we collected the kids, we took a taxi back across the river to the 2nd Arrondissement for a noodle meal at a random asian restaurant on Rue Sainte Anne.  5 out of 5 diners were not impressed. 

Tuesday, 2//17/15 11:00 am.  We are out the door for the 3rd Arr. and the Picasso Museum. 

Our 12 Noon ticket got us through the doors pretty much on time and 90 minutes later,

we emerged, sated with images of Picasso, and a gnawing mid-afternoon hunger for food.  We had a delightful lunch at Bar du Marché, a small cafe in the heart of the Marais district.  After walking around a bit, we made our way to a Metro 11 train from Rambuteau, connecting to a 2 train at Belleville for Anvers and Montmarte.  The combination of rush hour and tourist ground-zero made for a very busy metro station.  We walked up the formidable hill to the top of Sacre Coeur for a great view and many pictures of Paris spread out below us.  Ready to escape the crush of people, we headed downhill to Chateau Rouge and the familiar 4 Line and several stops to Saint Sulpice.  By the time dinner was over we were one tired bunch.

Wednesday, 2/18/15  12:00 Noon.  Eleanor chose to explore on her own, while the rest of us boarded the Line 2 for Les Sablons and the Bois Bologne, home of Foundation Louis Vuitton and an interesting  combination of Frank Geary architecture and modern art.  We traversed the entire museum on all levels

including climbing to the very top set of terraces and a great view of northwest Paris. 

After the museum, we boarded the electric trolly to Charles de Gaulle and the Arc de triomphe.  We had lunch at a nice sidewalk cafe (Cafe de Paris) and then climbed to the top of the monument for an additional tourist check box.  Worn out, we took the metro back to the apartment for a dinner at our Saturday spot, the  

Trait d’Union a block from our front door.

Thursday, 2/19/15  Kate and I set out alone for the 2nd and 3d Arr. in search of shops that cater to dogs, to do research for her client, Elly Greenaway, the owner of Classic Hound.  The first store was pretty shabby, and located on Saint Denis near Les Halles, and shared the street with more than one tawdry (putting it nicely) retail establishment.  We beat it out of the lousy neighborhood for San Sebastepol and lunch at a brasserie on the edge of the Marais District.  On the way to dog shop we happened upon la Petite Epicerie, a  fabulous (and tine) store focused on small hand-craft interests.  Kate found a few cool items here, and then we proceeded to dog shop #2 where Kate took many pictures of the the retail displays.  Research complete we waked southwest past  l’hotel de Ville

, where we stopped to see a free exhibit of artisan crafts.  There was a temporary ice skating rink set up in front, packed with skaters, adding to the delightful winter evening atmosphere.  We decided to walk the two miles back to Rennes, and cut across the Latin Quarter and Saint Germain.  Street after street, we were amazed at the quaint beauty of the area and found many places that would be great to visit in the future.

For dinner, we walked two blocks across Saint Sulpice, and ate at

Pizza St. Lucia, a place we learned opened in 1955 and is pretty famous.  The pictures of movie stars eating there proved the point, or maybe they are really good a at photoshop.

Friday, 2/20/15  10:00 am.  Our last full day in Paris greeted us with the first rain o week.  While Kate and Charlie went back to the the Petite Epicerie, Eleanor, Peter and I took the RER C train to Musee d’Orsay.  We blasted through the entire place in about 70 minutes.  Peter said he was dragging until the sight of Van Gogh’s bedroom miraculously “revived him.”  After the museum, we made dinner reservations on lafourchette.com (french version of Open Table) for a small italian place one block from the apartment.  Pierre-André, my Accenture colleague from the COTY project in in Paris last year met us for a drink, and it was great to see him again after two months.  After dinner we returned to the apartment to complete packing for our early departure to London in the morning.

Saturday, 2/21/15  7:00 am.  With packing and cleaning completed, we shuttled our bags downstairs in the tiny apartment elevator, and moved en masse to the Saint Sulpice Metro station where we boarded a Line 4 train for Gare du Nord.  After clearing border control and security, we moved to the waiting area for the 11:10 train.