Fontaineblue & Vaux-le Vicomte

That opening picture is our make shift seder plate, but I'll get to that later. I haven't updated my blog in a while and I really am having severe memory loss from the last time I updated. So much has happened in such a short period of time, so I will try to explain all of it, and of course include plenty of pictures. Starting with Friday! My FAMILY came!! Sitting through class Friday was super brutal. I had theater in the morning, and then phonetics in the afternoon. My family arrived in Paris at around 12:30. They had a pretty rough flight. They left Chicago Thursday night, and an hour into their plane ride they had to turn back around and land in Chicago due to technical errors. An hour after that they took off again, so needless to say they were very tired once they got here. I met them after phonetics at five and we hung out in their apartment for a little. Then we ventured off to find a place for dinner. We ate at an Italian restaurant. I didn't order anything because I was super excited to eat the Macaroni and Cheese my parents brought from home, but instead I ate off everyone's plate and all the bread so I wasn't even hungry when we got home. After a few rounds of bananagrams we went to sleep because everyone was pretty exhausted.

Saturday I had to wake up bright and early for an excursion to Fontaineblue and Vaux-le Victome, two chateaus about an hour outside of Paris. The first one was a castle of royalty. It was Napoleon's favorite, and that's really all I understood about it. It was very beautiful and the rooms looked very similar to the one's in Versailles. In this picture the two little specs at the top of the stair well are Erin and me! We walked around for a while listening to our audio guides and when we were done hopped back onto the bus to the next chateau. Vicomte was actually a chateau of a commoner. Of course he was a very wealthy and powerful commener, he was not nobel so it's very interesting that he had is own castle. The castle's inside wasn't that impressive-perhaps the manniquens acting out the scenes made it a bit corny- but the outside and the gardens were beautiful. We walked through the inside pretty quickly and then me and Erin just sat in the gardens and talked for a while until it was time to leave again. Then back on the bus for the hour ride back to Paris.





When I got back I hopped off the bus and straight to the Champs Elysee to meet my family. They really had been sleeping due to jet lag since I got back. We strolled down the street, got some ice cream, and then went to my mom's favorite...the Louis Vitton store. Me and Marley were bored and so we decided to do our hair the same to pass off as twins...what do you think?We waited in the line to get in-yes there actually was a line, with a bouncer- and then my mom explored. She found a purse she wanted, and so did Hayley, so they indulged and now have true Paris Louis Vitton purses! We then continued down the road and went to the Arc de Triomphe. My dad, Marley, Kiley and I went up to the top just in time to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle. Then we ventured back down to find my Mom and Hayley. A metro ride took us back to our area and we had a true French meal, cheese plate and everything. It wasn't great (again I didn't eat in hopes to be hungry for Mac and Cheese) but I did try escargot for the first time! I didn't love it but the sauce was really good. After dinner we got home and of course played bananagrams- no mac and cheese:(

On Sunday I got my family to get up early which, if you know my family, is a HUGE accomplishment. Our first stop of the day was the Bastille market. I introduced my family to Fraise seches, and Comte cheese, both they didn't like. They were intrigued by the market but only ended up getting bakery treats (you can never go wrong with a pain au chocolate). After the market we obviously stopped at Starbucks, but after that we went over to the Marais. A few weeks ago at the Marais music was playing and the place was hopping, but the rain really put a damper on things. It wasn't as exciting, but it is still a great area. We met Julie, Amanda, and Max (visiting) for lunch as L'as du Falafel. Marley, Kiley, and I didn't eat but my Mom and Hayley loved it so it was successful. After that we explored a little but we really didn't want to stay outside becuase of the rain. We went to the Holocaust museum as well. It was interesting, more for me than my family because I can read French, seeing everything from a different perspective. They have some moving exhibits so I was glad we were able to check it out. Poor Kiley was too young and had to sit outside :( After that we headed back home because Hayley, Marley, and I were headed to dinner at Baby Bottles soon. We headed to dinner and got there at 7 for our 14 person reservation. It was nuts but fun to see all the visitors. Melanie and Josh were there, and I even saw Eric Stupinsky- flashback to high school! And Erin, Erin and Caroline our dollar was up!! It was kind of a bust becuase my sisters didn't enjoy the fondue or the wine, but at least they can say they had a going out experience in Paris, that's all that matters right? After dinner I came home and my Mom and I tried to plan the rest of the week. After today I feel like we will just be winging it the rest of the week.

Today we woke up even earlier and headed out to the Louvre. After two hours of standing in line for tickets we finally got in. The night before my mom had circled everything she wanted to see so we tried to hit all those areas. We were pretty succesfful and didn't get too lost. It was so crowded in there. We saw the standards, Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, and some other beautiful things. After a few hours we went to Angelina's for lunch. While the food wasn't bad, and my family actually liked the hot chocolate, they were not pleased with the French hospitatlity. Just a little culture shock settling in. After lunch we went over to the Eiffel Tower. My dad, Kiley, Marley, and I waited in line for a very long time to go up. We went to the second floor and got a great view of Paris. Afterwards we took millions of pictures and just messed around. Then we walked to the Vel D'Hiv memorial. This was a memorial for the French Jews who were victems of the round up responsible by the French police (not the Nazi's, but under Nazi orders) during the Holocaust. The memorial was little and no one else was there but it was actually very meaningful. The creation of this memorial showed the Holocaust amnesia in France was actually lifted slightly. I personally liked the memorial and was glad I went. After that we went back to our area and was on a frantic search for Seder food. Our guests were arriving at 7:00 and it was 5:30 and we couldn't find any matzoh insight. My dad took a cab over to the Marais frantically but everything was closed, he tried going all over the place, but eventually we told him to come back. Me and my mom found "fruity" red wine... no manishvitz but this was very make shift in general. Then me and Hayley ran out and found rotisserie chickens in a bag that you microwave. We bought three of those, and actually managed to find matzoh at a franprix. Right as we walked in the door all my friends had just gotten there. Lauren, Julie, Amanda and Erin were all guests at the Seder. I was really nervous because Passover is probably my favorite holiday and it is very important in our family but I really couldn't have asked for a better group to come celebrate it. Especially since my dad brought new song books, after dinner all we could do was laugh while singing Jewish paraodies to songs such as YMCA, Barbera Ann, and then some...epic. Then everyone went home and it was off to sleep for us, becuase Isaacson family what are you going to do next? We're going to Disney world! Yup, that's right, Euro Disney in the morning. C ya real soon ( I really hope someone got that reference, maybe a boy that is in his 20s who still works at a camp)!