Weekend wrapup

This past weekend was a long one for Betsy, augmented by Friday's Assumption Day holiday. That's a great thing about France - a random holiday in the middle of the month when the entire country is away on vacation!



We took advantage of it and the lovely weather by going on a scavenger hunt to find the Medallions d'Arago. They are 135ish small medallions embedded in the pavement of Paris, on a line tracing the proposed "Paris Meridian" that ended up losing out to the Greenwich one. We started south of the Observatory and ended at the Seine (from E100 to A049 on the list above and map below, working upward).


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It was less than 2 miles as the crow flies, but we probably walked 4-5 total, fortified by an early dinner / happy hour at the delightful Academy de la Biere. Oh, and gelato at Amorino, but we sighted Grom with a week to go before it's opening - it was our favorite in Florence last December and I confirmed its magnificence by visiting it's Greenwich Village location a couple of weeks ago.

We have all been hankering for a family bike ride, so Saturday we headed out to the northwest side of town to explore the Canal d'Ourcq. The boys were disappointed it didn't feature orcs, nor a visit to the Cité des Sciences, but we biked about 15km from the rental place in the city well out into the post-industrial suburbs. While we took the camera, we didn't take it out of the bag, so here's a google map to give you some flavor.


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Afterward we strolled along the Bassin de la Villette, which this year is hosting part of Paris Plage, the month-long beach-in-town festival. We did take some pics, so I'll end with them.



Oh, we also went to the movies - the adults to see Batman Saturday nights while our friend David watched the boys, and all four of us Sunday to see Kung Fu Panda. Quite a busy weekend!