| Wednesay, June 19, 2013 -- Orléans, France -- Biking Day 1 | We arrived in Orléans at 12:30 PM and had lunch at a Chinese restaurant (kids choice) since the bike shop was closed from noon to 2 PM. We then caught a street car from Orleans to the bike shop in Saint Jean de Braye, a few kilometers east. We spent at least 90 minutes adjusting and adapting the bikes, including the luggage trailer for Robin's bike, favorite seat exchanges for Amy, Eric, and me, ...

| Tuesday, June 18, 2013 -- Paris, France -- Day 3, Part 2 | We arrived at the Eiffel Tower for a pre-scheduled trip up at 5 PM. Apparenltly just two hours earlier that afternoon, some guy was caught climbing the outside of the tower with a backpack and the tower was closed with some people evacuated while the police brought the climber down. We stopped at the second observation deck for some photos before proceeding to the top observation deck at 280 meters a...

| Tuesday, June 18, 2013 -- Paris, France -- Day 3, Part 1 | Today, we slept in until 10:45! I guess yesterday's travels and wild weather swings wore us out. It is sunny and warm today. First stop after breakfas was the the military museum (Musee d'Armee) at the Hotel de Invalides. Dylan has an keen interest in WW II history, and also likes the armor and weaponry of the Medieval and Rennaissance periods. And this place had a fantastic collection of armor a...

| Monday, June 17, 2013 -- Paris, France -- Day 2, Part 2 | We me our docent Nicole at 3 PM for a private tour of the most famous Paris cathedrals, all of which are located on an island in the center of the river Seine. Nicole is finishing a PhD in gothic architecture at Columbia university in NYC. She had a notebook prepared for DB and really engaged him as we toured and compared various cathedrals, including Sainte Chappelle and Notre Dame. Dylan learned abo...

| Monday, June 17, 2013 -- Paris, France -- Day 2, Part 1 | We woke up to rain and felt right at home in Paris, coming from Seattle. Our plan was to walk along the Seine from our hotel to Place Sainte Michel in the fifth district, where we were to meet a docent at 9 AM who was going to take us on Context Paris walking tour of gothic architecture. However, shortly after we left the hotel at 8 AM, the rain turned from light to heavy and then to full on downpour...