Paris

OK - there are actually several blog posts floating around in my head... so here's to checking 1 off the list :-) (with more to come hopefully!). We're leaving on Friday for our 1st week-long European vacation, and yes, I am motivated by deadlines :-)

Paris was amazing!! I think it was truly a "pinch me" sort of weekend: When we went to Paris 9 years ago, we tried to see it ALL, b/c I really thot there was a good chance we would never be back. So this weekend, it was truly surreal to realize that, yes, we really do live in EUROPE!!! Yikes!! Really too amazing to be true! But yet it is...

A highlight was seeing Katie's face the 1st time she saw the Eiffel tower up close - so fun. It's on Jason's computer, but I'll try to post it when I get it over here. I think a highlight for Katie was riding the carousel near the Eiffel Tower... ah, the simple joys of childhood. She was SOOOO excited about that carousel :-). If you ask her what her favorite parts were, she will say the Eiffel Tower, then the gargoyles - followed closely behind by the carousel :-).

We did visit the Eiffel Tower 1st thing when Katie & I arrived on Thursday - we got off the Metro at a stop where you cannot see the Tower... but then you round the corner at a building called Trocadero and there it is! Very cool. We then bought some yummy crepes and wandered toward it - a very fun experience!

A side note - whatever few words I learned in French for the last trip are now badly mangled by my learning Spanish - I would say a few French words (again, the only few I know...), then inadvertently throw in some Spanish words. :-) One guy actually said to me "Why don't you just speak English??" Well, of course... We actually were surprised how many English speakers we found all over the tourist areas! And TONS of American tourists!

Friday morning Katie & I met a nice lady from Barbados at breakfast in the hotel. She was interested in the Louvre & needed some company, so she ended up spending the rest of the time with us :-). She was a big help and great company for me while we were w/o Jason! So we headed off to the Louvre and saw the famous art :-). Here is Katie being coerced into a picture w/the most famous lady herself. The Mona Lisa is displayed very well now and I really enjoyed seeing her! (9 years ago she was a bit of a disappointment :-) But that's from me who's absolutely clueless about good art!!) Katie's favorite part was the Marly horses - the reason I wanted to take her to the Louvre! They are beautiful! And in a huge, grand room. My favorite thing that we saw is the Winged Victory that is from around 200 BC - truly amazing!! This is not my best pic of it, but I figured you all might be as interested in seeing our girl :-).

Then we got a fun surprise in that Jason took the rest of Friday off! He did not have time, but did anyway so that he could hang out with us :-). So after eating yummy French sandwiches in the park near the Louvre (Katie had ham & cheese w/ butter :-) ), we headed to Notre Dame. My biggest (only?) disappointment from 9 years ago was that the towers of Notre Dame were closed due to high wind and we did not get to see the gargoyles. So this trip, that was high on the list! We stood in the line for over an hour, but the ice cream shops across the street made the time pass a little quicker :-). And it was well worth the wait! AMAZING!! I know Jason already posted a gargoyle picture... but it was sooo cool!!

Katie enjoyed chasing the pigeons and dancing in the square in front of Notre Dame while we regained our equilibrium (it was very high up there and you had to travel on a very long and windy staircase to get down!!). Jason posted another pic of this before - you have to kind of look for the pigeons. This one has me and our friend from Barbados (Virginia - in the white sweater) in the background.

After dinner, we headed back to the Eiffel Tower since Virginia hadn't seen it. Somehow we ended up there at 9:30 - and they turn on these beautiful sparkly lights all over the Tower starting at 10. So we decided to wait for it (bedtime was non-existent both nights!!) and sat on the steps of Trocadero with a bunch of other people to watch it. We got dessert crepes :-), and enjoyed the show. It was worth the late hour! Very beautiful! I think Jason already posted a pic of the light show.

Saturday we did not get around early at all since we'd worn ourselves out on Friday. So we walked to the Arc de Triumphe to see it up close. Next time we'll have to go up in it or the Eiffel tower when we have time to stand in line. And then we went shopping on the Champs Elysses :-). (They have the Gap - we had to visit!) A small purchase was in order :-)

It was amazing - truly a WOW sort of weekend. We definitely hope to go back before too long - it's a good thing that Jason is there many weeks for business!

This Friday we're headed for our 1st week of pure vacation - we'll be in Switzerland for 4 nights and then in Rome for 4 nights. We are very excited!

Becca