We were in Paris last week, and while we'd hoped that it would be a great cultural experience for Jory, he had a different agenda. Here's an example:
Mommy: Jory, look! This is Notre Dame cathedral!
Jory: Wow! Look! Look at that! LOOK AT THAT GARBAGE TRUCK!!!
Mommy: Jory, do you want to go inside the church?
Jory: I want to go for a ride in the garbage truck! GARBAGE TRUCK!!!
So while we took Jory to lots of museums, he now has atypical experiences with the Louvre:
The Musee d'Orsay (especially the cafe):
And the Orangerie outside Place de la Concorde:
Predictably, a love affair blossomed between Jory and pain au chocolat:
Jory wasn't really fantastic in museums, as you might expect from a two-year-old. I spent a lot of time on the floor at the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay, playing with trains.
We did, however, have a spectacular experience the second time we went to the Louvre. I had Jory in the stroller and I was passing the Mona Lisa room, which is always a circus with about 200 tourists frantically trying to snap a picture of the painting from behind a series of velvet ropes.
I'd had no intention of going in (I don't even like that painting!), but then I realized that it was incumbent upon me as a mother to take my offspring to see the Mona Lisa. I was trying to edge him and his stroller into the very fringe of the crowd when a docent tapped me on the shoulder and motioned me into the handicapped viewing section - which is in front of all the other tourists and only about three feet from the painting!
I told Jory about the painting, and he blew kisses at her, and the docents all thought he was adorable. He won't remember the experience, I'm sure, but I definitely will!
Mommy: Jory, look! This is Notre Dame cathedral!
Jory: Wow! Look! Look at that! LOOK AT THAT GARBAGE TRUCK!!!
Mommy: Jory, do you want to go inside the church?
Jory: I want to go for a ride in the garbage truck! GARBAGE TRUCK!!!
So while we took Jory to lots of museums, he now has atypical experiences with the Louvre:
The Musee d'Orsay (especially the cafe):
And the Orangerie outside Place de la Concorde:
Predictably, a love affair blossomed between Jory and pain au chocolat:
Jory wasn't really fantastic in museums, as you might expect from a two-year-old. I spent a lot of time on the floor at the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay, playing with trains.
We did, however, have a spectacular experience the second time we went to the Louvre. I had Jory in the stroller and I was passing the Mona Lisa room, which is always a circus with about 200 tourists frantically trying to snap a picture of the painting from behind a series of velvet ropes.
I'd had no intention of going in (I don't even like that painting!), but then I realized that it was incumbent upon me as a mother to take my offspring to see the Mona Lisa. I was trying to edge him and his stroller into the very fringe of the crowd when a docent tapped me on the shoulder and motioned me into the handicapped viewing section - which is in front of all the other tourists and only about three feet from the painting!
I told Jory about the painting, and he blew kisses at her, and the docents all thought he was adorable. He won't remember the experience, I'm sure, but I definitely will!
