Back to where it all began...a cool apartment in Paris!

Almost 18 years ago on a backpacking/rail trip through Europe we got to visit Bob & Lorrie in Paris and see what a cool life they were living and what an amazing experience it was for their kids to grow up in another country.  We thought it would be pretty cool to live overseas with our family one day (if we ever got the opportunity).

Lucky us, we once again got to visit them in a Paris apartment and hear all about what they have been up to for the past few years.  Sadly we missed seeing their kids who were home at Christmas, but hopefully next time they are in town we can catch up.

They retrofitted the elevator to fit in the existing stairwell...the metal cage is the elevator!

It could be the worlds smallest elevator in their building, perfect for someone Charlie's size!

Bob took us on a walk to a few neighborhood sites...

Fun to walk down this little known street!

Cousins!

All the vans are to protect the Arc de Triomphe from protesters.

The only sad thing was seeing the aftermath of consistent weekends of yellow vest protesters and the destruction they have left on such a beautiful city.  Part of it look like a war zone with boarded up windows, broken windows, destroyed ATM's.  Such a waste!  We were very lucky as it was the first Saturday in a few months that people could actually be out walking around and even going into shops.

Partially boarded up pen store...

Scouting report for Auntie Joanne's next trip to Europe...I am sure she can find a bag in there!

Kelly and I took a minute to pop into the coolest Abercrombie  & Fitch store...it was levels of shopping, but really it was the stunning building and grounds that made it so cool.  I guess I'm not a teenager or they might say it was the clothes!

What an entry door!

Cool murals on the walls..tricky for photos though lots of bright lights.

Love the gates..

Charlie took the opportunity to wolf down a 5 Guys burger...isn't that what you should eat in Paris?

This lady gave 5 Guys a pass so she could go hit some more shops.  Kelly was pointing out all the fancy sneakers and brands that all of our fellow shoppers were wearing!

After we finished our nice visit and let Bob & Lorrie get on with their weekend, we headed over to another section of Paris, where Kelly had a swim meet later in the day.  We still had some time so we went to the country house of Napoleon & Josephine.  The house itself was very impressive, but our timing was great because they had a very cool exhibit of old furniture that had secret compartments.

Charlie loved it!

Getting ready to head in..

Josephine's bedroom.

For some reason these guys reminded me of the birds in the Lorax book!

Charlie can tell you where the hidden compartment is...I tried to take photos of a few of the other ones, but its tricky as they all had glass around them.

This guy just needed to be on the blog with this outfit, which Kelly informs me cost him some cash!

The dining room..

 We watched Kelly swim and when it was late Kelly and Charlie begged to drive by the Eiffel Tower before we headed for home..It was a rainy, foggy night...

I took this from the car window...too cold and rainy to even get out!  Always an impressive sight!

We look forward to more chances to visit Paris!  Thanks to our awesome hosts...this time we were a little more squared away than 18 years ago when we didn't even know how to use a local phone to call them!  Next time I will get a picture with Lorrie too!!