Ryan returned several hours ago from St. Petersburg...yes that St. Petersburg, the one in Russia! My sixteen year old has just spent a week of his life in Russia...I'm not too jealous. He attended a mock UN meeting with some classmates and then did some sightseeing. So follow along with me: my American son going to school in Italy was in Russia at a mock UN meeting representing South Korea!!! Unbelievable. Can't remember where St. Petersburg Russia is? Check it out:
A little fuzzy but it is that orange arrow in the west, just south of Finland. He came back exhausted but had a great time, especially interacting with the other kids...lots of late nights. He apparently met some great kids from Panama and Egypt...yeah that Egypt, not Egypt Texas (is there an egypt texas?). Great stuff.
So back to my trip a couple weeks ago: after a couple of spectacular days in Rome we flew to Paris. I have been there several times before. I know a great little hotel five minutes from the Louvre if anyone is going (Hotel Therese). As in Rome, we stayed in a great location and walked everywhere, though we did end up on the subway one night.
We spent some time in the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay, quite possibly my favorite museum in the world...housed in a renovated and spectacular old building that used to be a train station. The Louvre is also spectacular, though can be overwhelming there is so much to see. Ironically, they have a great section on ancient Etruscan art, likely found close to Florence. The boys with a Roman dude:
These Romans all had significant bootys...or junk in their trunk!
We hit Notre Dame and the Arc de Triomphe. I love this picture of Evan near the front of Notre Dame...completely staged...he was more interested in getting a picture of the soldiers with the machine guns!
More to come on Paris in my next post....a magical city!
