Restrictions Lifted!

Last Thursday, the Prime Minister lifted almost all of the restrictions around France.  This was a huge surprise, as we anticipated restrictions to be lifted in phases.  So starting yesterday, restaurants were allowed to open to outside seating, maintaining social distancing between tables.  We are allowed to travel all around France again, with no limits on kilometers.  Parks are now open, with chateaus and some museums following suit.  People are still asked to wear masks and use hand sanitizer.  The police still patrol public transportation, and security guards won't let you in many stores without a mask.  Gatherings are still limited to 10 people.

This truck is outside our apartment spraying the sidewalks to keep them clean.  

Hand sanitizer bottles are at the entrances of parks.

Hand sanitizer at all the bus stops.

To reduce the number of people on public transportation, one of the busiest
streets, Rue de Rivoli, has been turned over to cyclists, buses, and taxis.

Two of our neighborhood restaurants spent Monday preparing to open for service outside.

Along the Champs Elysee on Tuesday, people took advantage of the outdoor seating.

You can see how separated the tables are and how the flow of traffic is to proceed.

This has really surprised us!  We didn't think we would get further than 100 kilometers from Paris,  before we flew home at the beginning of July.  As a result, we are carefully taking advantage of the openings and opportunity to travel.  We have plans to rent a car and see some of the Loire Valley next week.  Even with only half of the chateaus open, we are excited to just drive around and explore.  We will come back to Paris for a week, before heading to the south of France for about 7 days.  We are really looking forward to some time at a beach.  While we don't have a set itinerary yet, we know that we hope to see some of the small towns along the Mediterranean.

In the past week, we have too advantage of some of these new freedoms.  We met our friend Ashely for a picnic lunch on the Champs de Mars.  We even got to check out her compost system.  It is amazing the things you can do in a Paris apartment.

Lunch with Ashley!

Will loved her compost system

Will updated his wardrobe with some new Paris St. Germain football gear.

I was able to finally meet all the women who made sandwiches for the homeless during quarantine.  We met under the Eiffel Tower, on the Champs de Mars.

Heading out for an evening with other adults.

All of these women worked with Serve the City to make sandwiches for the homeless during quarantine.

The sunset that night was spectacular.

On Saturday, I had a day to myself to clean the apartment and shop at the newly opened Galleries Lafayette.  Jeff took each kid on an adventure.  In the morning, he first took Edy to a flea market that sells mainly books.  In the afternoon, he and Will took the train out to the town of Gisors.  Edy also started back to her weekly art class, that was put on hold during quarantine.  We met back up at night to watch Bob and Doug launch in to space.

Will in Gisors

Ready for lift-off!

Cuddled up together in bed for this spectacular moment in history.

On Sunday, we took advantage of the nice weather and went to a park we fell in love with back in the fall - Buttes-Chaumont Park.  This park seems to have been transported from somewhere else and plopped down into Paris.  It has a waterfall, hills, and ponds.  We loved seeing it again, after weeks of quarantine.  

On the way to the park, the kids still love to "surf" on the Metro.

The view of Sacre-Coeur from Brutte-Chaumont Park.

The one on the left is wearing all Pars clothing.  The one on the right is sporting US clothing.

Such a Parisian photo.

Family selfie!

The kids loved rolling down one of the hills.

After the park, we decided to reward the kids with ice cream, like we do every year on the last day of school.  Even though we were two days late, we thought the location of the last day of school ice cream treat was well-worth it.  

Edy moves on to 8th grade!  I will be teaching 4th grade.  Will moves on to 6th grade!

Amorino has to do, since they don't have Dairy Queen over here.

On Monday, we walked the 4.4 kilometers of the Coulee Verte.  If you are familiar with the HIghline in NYC, this is very similar.  It is an elevated railway that has been converted to walking paths.  Half of it is elevated and the other half on ground level.  Jeff and I explored some of this three years ago when we came to Paris in the spring.  On Monday, the kids and I explored it all.  We loved it.

Here is a few at the elevated walk-way from the street level.

Another view of the elevated walkway.

You forget you are in a city when you are walking alone the elevated paths.

One of the unique vegetation along the path.

We saw this beautiful prefecture - police station - from the trail.

For part of of the trail, it was like we were in the woods...

going through a tunnel...

and along an abandoned train track.

It was really hot!

We loved this marker along the path.

The old train lights covered up with vegetation.

Every now and then parts of Paris look like the tropics.  We came across this square leading up to the tropical aquarium.   

The Tropical Aquarium of Paris

For Will, a French war monument.

Yesterday, we did something I have been wanting to do all year long.  In Paris, they call it tree climbing.  In the United States, we call it a high ropes course.  A few outside of Paris opened up this week.  So the kids and I took a train out to Saint Germain-en-Laye for our first tree climbing experience.  We signed up for the hardest course.  I have to admit when we first got there I thought this is going to be easy. Boy, I was mistaken.  I have never been so scared in my life.  It was a combination of zip-lines, walks across tree tops, free-fall jumps, and monkey bar acrobatics.  The kids were amazing.  I was hyperventilating the entire time.  Also, in total French fashion, we didn't sign any wavers; we weren't required to wear helmets; we went through all seven courses on our own.  A guide did wait on the ground for us, to direct us to the next course.

Masked up and gloved up for tree climbing.

From here, it doesn't look so bad.  These are the courses for the little kids.

Ready or not!

Accrocamp Tree Climbing

I snapped this picture of Will after he was flung off the platform and landed in the net.  

Intricate system of cables.  Will called these "spurs," like with the trains.

An example of one of the "climbs" to get to the ledges.

Our guide stayed with us, albeit on the ground, to help us if we got stuck.

A few views of Saint Germain-En-Laye.

 Saint Germain-en-Laye Chateau

Eglise Saint Germain

Inside it had beautiful wall coverings.  

The pews were marked with where people were to sit.

I loved this little town because, unlike Paris, it promoted picking up after your dog.

Lots of gelato shops in Saint Germain-en-Laye

As of last week, our flight home was canceled.  We anticipated that it would be because it was going into Boston. At this point, flights from Paris are only arriving in JFK, Atlanta, and LAX.  Now that it is canceled, we are able to rebook it without any change fees.  Unfortunately, there are not many options for flights across that Atlantic, and even fewer once land at JFK to get us to Minneapolis.  As a result, we have to delay coming home a few days to get the best flight.  We now plan to arrive at JFK on July 3rd, spend the night, and then fly home to Minneapolis on the morning of July 4th.  I anticipate us being sad and very tired.

With these new plans, today marks one month until we fly home.  That is just 30 short days left in France.  There are so many emotions tied to this, especially as we have more freedoms.  We are definitely filling up our days, trying to stay hydrated in this heat, and enjoying what we can of this remarkable country.

Love,
Betsy