ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL????

Although the NFL players and owners are arguing over who will become more rich in the upcoming season (if there is one), the French Federation of American Football just finished up its season.  The final game was last weekend.  We decided we would check out the French take on the American classic.  It was... different.  I'm going to use some of the French language in this post because it's actually pretty awesome.

The ads we saw for it online boasted Entree Gratuite (free entry?  we're there!), cheerleading, "Village Americain", inflatables...  Sounds like fun!  We got there a few hours before kickoff so that we could take advantage of the plethora of activities.

The inflatable (yes, singular) was a large inflatable with holes to throw footballs through.  The little guy loved it and spent a decent amount of time doing this.   At times it was a complete madhouse and everyone was scrambling for footballs for their turn to throw.

There were both kids and adults throwing the balls.  I have to say watching people throw a football who haven't grown up throwing a football is amazingly entertaining.  Imagine a group of right handed American guys throwing left handed.  Yes, it was like that.  Not everyone, but enough.  There were a few good arms in the bunch.

We continued to Village Americain, which consisted of a 10x10 tent for ESPN America, a few vendors, and a table selling American football stuff.  One of the big items being sold... an official San Francisco 49ers Jeff Garcia jersey for about $15.  He hasn't played for them since '03.  They did have a number of jerseys for sale, but they were all 49ers.  Apparently, the letdown season last year left a major surplus of jerseys in the US.  Why not ship them to France?  We did see some t-shirts that reminded us of home, though.

Hmmm.  UNC on the top and Duke shoved to the bottom of the pile?  I swear I didn't touch them.  They were like that.

We grabbed a few snacks and grabbed a seat for some of the pregame stuff, including cheerleaders and warmups.  I think these cheerleaders could've given a few high schools a good run for their money.  As my wife so eloquently put it, they looked like they randomly grabbed people off the street and put them into uniforms.  Their routines were so-so. 

Yes, that's a male cheerleader in the pink in that second picture.  I don't know the story with him but he had a film crew following him.  He may have been the official mascot.

As the teams were warming up, we looked at the program.  This was the 17th finale for the Casque de Diamant (Diamond Cup).  It featured the Flash from... somewhere in France vs. the Centaurs from... somewhere else in France.  The Centaurs were warming up and running through drills when we realized there wasn't a single coach on the field.  Not one.  We saw a player (a lineman by the looks of him) come out of the tunnel with a 6 pack of 2 liter water bottles under his arm.  He was carrying the water for the team.  We also noticed there were Gatorade-like bottles of powder that the players were mixing into said 2 liter bottles themselves.  When the game started, we did see a coach on their sideline, though.  One.  The Flash had several coaches and looked like they came to play.

Then out of the corner of my eye I noticed players wearing other uniforms.  They were apparently going to have people from the other 6 teams in the league on the field for something.  Then I noticed that one of the players was a woman.  No, there's nothing wrong with a woman player, but I've yet to see a female professional football player. 

At kickoff, the crowd was maybe around 4000 people.  There were the people that just wandered in for the free entertainment, and then there were the fans loyal to the 2 teams playing.  They were load, had large bass drums and some amazingly loud horns.

 

 

At one point, there was a choir that made their way out to perform prior to kickoff.  We looked at each other wondering what this would be about.  They were a French group singing American gospel music... and they were good!  I don't know if many of the people understood the words, but some of the more rowdy people were on their feet dancing. 

So the kickoff came and in 2 minutes, the Flash marched down the field and scored.  Honestly, the players were decent, considering the pregame festivities.  At halftime, it was 28 to 7.  We decided to leave, as we had dealt with passing showers off and on for most of the first half.  Before we left, we watched the players file back into the locker rooms.  That's when I noticed that they were having to walk over the long jump pit that was covered with astroturf to get to the lockers.  I thought a few guys were going to turn an ankle.

One of the funniest parts of the whole thing was the music that was played after a touchdown.  They played the theme song from Magnum PI.  Can't think of it?  Click here:  Magnum   Yeah.  Doesn't that just sound like touchdown music to you?

The back page of the program had the general rules of American Football and how to play the game.  Some of the better French translations are L'Attaque (Offense), Saise Obstruction (Holding), and Premiere Tentative (First Down).  Touchdown is still Touchdown, even in French. 

In spite of many aspects not really being like professional football in America, we had a great time.

Musee en Herbe

No, it has nothing to do with herbs.  I know.  I was disappointed, too.  This was a museum designed for kids that Morgan had read about and really wanted to go see, so we did.  Like much of our experience in Paris, it was not what we had expected. 

It was more or less in sort of an alleyway.  

They were having a special collection of work by Keith Haring.  He was an artist in the 80s that started as a graffiti artist.  If you've seen this image, you've seen his stuff:

The entrance was fun, unfortunately you aren't allowed to take pictures.  I quickly took this one before anyone found us.

We had fun, but honestly there wasn't a lot to the museum.  There was some history and a number of pieces of his work, but after about 45 minutes we were done... and that was stretching it.  The good thing is that it inspired the kids to want to do more painting, so we went to the store a couple of days later and got paints, brushes, rollers, paper....  and we got artsy.

After we left Musee en Herbe, we did a little walking around and some shopping.  We had to buy a cheese slicer and grater.  It's Paris and we survived for 3 months without either.  Anyway...

We wandered into an area that had another great kids' park.  I'm going to do another post just on the parks here, but for now this one was a lot of fun.  In a huge open area, there is a giant hand and head for the kids to climb.

There is also a fenced area with a lot of play equipment, including a rope walk.  How's this for a park backdrop?

They had fun climbing, running, and just being kids... including rolling down an astroturf covered hill.  I think they were ring leaders as other kids started rolling, too. 

As has happened many times, the day wasn't what we had planned but we had a very good day!

The Louvre, Part 2

The other night we went to The Louvre for our second visit.  There is a special exhibit of Rembrandt's works on his figures of Christ.  It was a collection of his works on Christ, those of his students, as well as works he personally owned.  There were maybe 40 to 50 total works there, all of which were amazing.  The problem is that we weren't allowed to take pictures, except for this one.

After that, we went to part of the Louvre that was Napoleon III's apartments.  They were amazing.  It's tough to believe someone actually lived there.  At one point, Nick said, "Dad, I want to be Napoleon!" 

I think Morgan enjoyed the crown jewels.

Once we were through the apartments, Nick helped us find some more stuff just beyond the apartments.

Including Napoleon's Throne.

And an awesome dressing table.

Sandy also caught a great glimpse of the Eiffel Tower from inside the Louvre.

Overall, it was a fantastic night.  Sandy and I really enjoyed the Rembrandt, and the kids got to enjoy seeing how the other half really live.  We will plan out our next trip in the future to see more of The Louvre!

Schooooool's Out for the summer!

Well, the kids are done with school.  Morgan even had to take her End of Grade tests (momma is so sneaky).  The really cool thing is that last Thursday was the last day of school for the kids back home.  Morgan was finishing up her 5th grade year.  They have a 5th grade graduation since the kids move on to middle school.  In the afternoon, Sandy heard the noise of someone calling on Skype.  She answered it and... it was Morgan's graduation.  As a last minute thing, they wanted to include her in the graduation, so they took a chance that we would be home.  Sandy and the kids were.  They used an ipad so that they could take her around.  All of the kids said "hi" to her.  She was able to graduate with her class.  Honestly, it was very special for both her and mom.  Her teachers made it a very special day for her. 

The Happiest Place on Ea... um... in Paris

So, we went to Disney.  It was a blast.  It's less than an hour by train from our apartment, which isn't bad.  The RER train that takes you there drops you off right at the front gate.  We got there just before it opened, which was perfect timing.

The entrance is beautiful, and The Magic Kingdom and Disney Studios are right next to each other.  There were lots of trees, fountains, and flowers, and of course a Mickey to greet us.

Here is the entrance to Disneyland.  You walk through those gates, but that is the Disney hotel above it.

And here is the happy family ready to experience Disneyland Paris. 

When we were at Disney in Orlando several years ago, Morgan got into the pin trading.  Basically, if you have official Disney pins, you can trade with any employee that also has pins and they have to swap (as long as the pins are in good condition).  Naturally, we left those back in the US somewhere in our storage unit.  So, we went into one of the big stores inside and bought the kids lanyards and a basic set of pins.  That way they could build up their own collection.  Once that was done, we headed down Main Street USA toward Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

Wait, what?  Yes, in Paris they have Sleeping Beauty's Castle, not Cinderella's Castle.

 

We stopped at the sign that said "Kodak Photo Opportunity" in front of the castle for an official family photo.  We found someone that understood us to take the pic.  It wasn't until we were done that we realized we stood around the sign for the picture, effectively messing up the view of the castle.

We had been watching the Pirates of the Caribbean movies prior to going there, so we naturally headed back for that ride.  Upon getting into Adventureland, we found this.  I think we're close.

We also found this ship.  Nick naturally called it The Black Pearl.  It appears to be under repair, though.  

We only had about a 5 minute wait for the ride, which was great.  The other great thing was that neither kid remembered riding this before, so it was brand new for them.  It's pretty much the same as the one in Orlando, although the narrations were in French.  I don't think they spoke French in Tortuga, though....  Here are some shots of the ride.

I think the family has decided to turn into pirates after going on the ride, too!

There was an island of pirate caves to explore outside of the ride, including a very cool suspension bridge.

Here is Morgan and me atop the overlook of the bridge

We walked around and looked in some of the shops... as well as traded some pins.  I found a great hat, but it was a little too small for me. 

We had some lunch and walked around some more until we came to the Haunted Mansion!  Again, it's pretty similar to the Orlando version, except that it's mostly in French.  

Once it got to be about lunchtime, we noticed that lines were becoming very long.  We probably went on one of the busiest days of the year.  We didn't get to go on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, but this is what part of it looks like.  It goes out onto an island.  We'll definitely ride it when we go back.

One thing Morgan has been talking about wanting since we've gotten here is cotton candy.  We really haven't found any, except an occasional premade version in a plastic tub.  That's not really cotton candy, though.  Well, they have it at Disney, and it comes in a HUGE amount.

There was so much there, the kids said they didn't want to finish it.  Sandy and I naturally helped out so that none went to waste. We headed to Discoveryland.  I think it was my favorite area.  It was definitely designed more recently.  From Videopolis to Space Mountain, it had a much different feel than Orlando.  

Space Mountain is one ride that is definitely different than at Orlando.  That's a picture of it directly above.  That tube that is going up is where the ride starts.  It's the type that immediately shoots you to top speed.  It was a blast.  Nick was blown away by it.

We waited a while at the Star Tours ride and had some fun until Nick's new sunglasses fell off his head and down into part of the Star Wars area.  We couldn't get them back.  He was sad.

At one point, Sandy told Morgan and me to act normal.  I think we did a good job.

We went to the Buzz Lightyear ride and I had to chuckle.  I saw this guy in line behind us.  My wife was nice enough to pose for a pic that I pretended to take while I got this one.  When you think of someone that is Thug and listens to Tupac, I'm not sure this is the guy you'd think of.

Anyway, we had a great time shooting all of the targets in Buzz Lightyear.  The ride kept stopping for some reason, so we got extra time in it. 

We finished up on the Carousel, which was a lot of fun.  The animals on it were amazing... including my kids!

Overall, it was a great, but long, day.  We had a blast.  We will go again in the fall when kids are in school so that we can enjoy some of the rides that we couldn't do this trip.

And here is one last pic of my girls.  Aren't they pretty?