BONJOUR Paris!

Pictures of the dinner Saturday night. Highlights of this evening included a presentation by Robert Tonner, giving a background behind his creation of Ellowyn Wilde. I really enjoyed the idea that he was planning to write a 1,000 page book about his doll and her whole existence.. he really does view his dolls with such depth of character!

There was a fashion show with full size models, loads of prizes on the dinner tables, and everyone got their Barbie and Sydney dolls which had been ordered in advance. It was a fun and colorful night. And the food was really good too!








Greetings from Paris.. what a challenging trip.
I'm editing this post from the first day of the Paris Fashion Doll Festival (Paris Doll Expo 2007) to finally include some of the photos I took. During this trip we had to rely on our hotel internet connection that went up and down every six minutes. So I had to wait until my return to really dig in and post these photos. Enjoy!


We managed to leave Newark airport last night, with most of the airport flights cancelled due to storms. Our plane underwent extensive de-icing before we could leave. They worked on it over an hour and we crossed our fingers that it would work. Ice pellets were still coming down and there was so much slush on the streets. The flight out was a bit frightening and turbulent. Nobody slept a wink. At 2 am, the lights flipped on and breakfast was served. It was fun watching the GPS system on a little headrest screen to see where we were... and Hayleigh noted quite astutely that we'd flown over Ireland on St. Patrick's Day! Happy Day to all!

We arrived at the airport and got a taxi, but there was quite a wait. Someone had left baggage unattended, so literally the French bomb squad had to come out and blow it up! Our driver kept saying ,"La bombe, la bombe!" but nothing prepared us for a large explosion as the bomb squad blew up the bag, most likely containing someone's forgotten knickers.

The Novotel Tour Eiffel is just a block or so away from the Eiffel Tower. You can see the location on the map below. I'll have more pics when we venture outside and the foggy weather clears. I do have some first pics out our hotel window though...

Here is our grand foggy view of the Seine. We are directly in front of Radio France and to the left you can see the French Statue of Liberty... a miniature copy of the one they sent to the USA as a gift many years ago. She's very pretty and has shiny brass accents. Ah the days before "Freedom Fries"... weren't they grand?







Here is a view of a Bateau Mouche, which is a type of tourist boat that offers tours and meals on the Seine. They are particularly spectacular to take at night.. when Paris is truly aglow. We can't wait to see the Eiffel Tower tonight, all lit up.

Close up of the Statue of Liberty

Oh, back to the Paris Doll Festival! We have our big formal dinner tonight and will be getting a special edition Sydney and Barbie. I'll show you what they look like when we get back. And tomorrow morning at 8 am we've got to set up the sales area and display of all our dolls. Ohio-time, that's 3 am : - ) Hey, we're running completely on adrenaline now so anything is possible. I miss you all, and will write later....