After our brunch @ Marcel, we strolled the Montmartre neighborhood, which is beyond charming (See pics of the boulangerie, fromage shop and fruit stand below – check out the muscat grapes Nonna ;)) and then jumped on the Metro bound for the Musee D’Orsay and to believe it or not, meet up with our friends, the Mooney’s!

The Mooney’s have been in France for the past 3 weeks as Sabine’s family leave near Versailles. Her kids were in need of some kid time and ours of course were thrilled to spend time with friends from home in another country. Crazy concept to grasp for them!

As it was 103 degrees, we really needed a place with A/C. While the kids were desperate to see Mona Lisa at the Louvre, tickets were sold out so we “settled” for a museum containing the greatest collection of Impressionist painting, which also happened to previously be a train station. Literally the greatest museum in a beyond cool location.

I loved seeing some of the paintings that I studied at Santa Clara in Art History right before my very eyes and getting to explain Impressionism to the kiddos and why I was so excited for all of the paintings! Van Gogh’s works are so phenomenal in real life!

The museum handed out little guides for the kids to search for specific paintings and statues, and surprisingly enough, they were interested and also really well behaved. The A/C pumping was also huge!

We rounded out our afternoon with them by jumping on a boat cruise along the Seine. It was also an air conditioned boat and enabled us all to cool off and observe Paris’ beauty and sites from a different perspective.

To beat the excruciating heat, we ate lots of ice cream and sorbet along with gallons of water. We also popped into an air conditioned macaron shop and one of Paris’ many bookshops to get a break! Looking forward to heading out to the countryside and off to Paris Disneyland tomorrow!

Au revoir Paris, you’ve been delicious and beautiful.