Thanksgiving in Paris!

Dan & Ruth came to visit us during the week of Thanksgiving. (see the last post here for what we did the rest of the week) We enjoyed a "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner with 150 friends at our church on Sunday before Thanksgiving. So for Thanksgiving itself we went to Paris :-) Dan & Ruth had never been and we were happy to show it to them!

I am still blown away by the fact that we found ourselves in Paris so many times these last 2 years. It is truly a magical city!! It was our first European city to see and it is still our favorite. One of the cool things about this trip was that the Christmas lights had all just been turned on - it was magical! 2 years ago when Jason first started this job, he told me about these teardrop lights on the Champs Elysee - and it was so exciting that I got to see them! We got to stay on the rue Cler again - such a great street in a great neighborhood.



Thanksgiving Day, I headed off to see a friend, Deb, who lives in Paris, while everyone else went to see Notre Dame. Then we all met in the garden of the Tuileries near the Louvre for our Thanksgiving feast. We had gathered the ingredients for the picnic on the rue Cler that morning. And it was truly a picnic feast! French cheese, fresh bread, Spanish wine, dried meats and fruits. Yummy!! And best of all was the atmosphere and company :-). We also agreed that the prep and cleanup of Thanksgiving dinner couldn't be beat! The birds were happy to help us out with the cleanup. :-) Katie was soooo excited that one actually landed on her hand!

After eating, we visited the Louvre again. Highlights of this trip were seeing ruins of ancient Assyria - artifacts from the time of the captivity of Israel described in the Old Testament! It was very mind blowing!




The next day, Dan & Ruth took all 3 girls up in the Eiffel Tower while Jason & I wandered the streets of Paris. It was cool to get to discover some new areas that we had never seen before. We also saw the site of Princess Diana's sad car crash. After we met up again, we took the metro to the Champs Elysee. We enjoyed a yummy snack and then wandered down the beautiful avenue. We were still there when the lights went on - it was magical! We also found a fun Christmas market to browse. This ferris wheel was in the Place de la Concorde, where once was found the guillotine.

A funny story - you can take the Americans to Europe, but you can NOT make them suave Europeans... Katie and Jason actually pulled one of Katie's teeth inside a cafe on the Champs Elysee. Yes, I was dying of embarrassment. No one seemed to be staring at us.... but I'm sure we were the talk of the place after we left. :-) Ah, memories :-)


A definite highlight of the trip was Friday night - my friend Deb had helped us find a babysitter, and even allowed us to stay at her apartment for the sitter and kids to have more space. So the 4 adults got to go out to dinner - it was a true treat!! We enjoyed a several course meal and such great conversation (remember the theme I mentioned in my last post? :-) ). The guys topped off the evening with a couple of Cubans as we walked down the Seine. Ruth snapped this pic - gotta love those completely candid shots!!

Saturday, the guys took the girls back to Madrid while Ruth & I hit Les Puces - a famous flea market in Paris. The area was quite dodgy :-), but the flea market was great! We enjoyed a great day of shopping and laughing with some great keepsakes!

Sunday when we got back, the Christmas lights had just been turned on in Madrid as well. So we headed downtown for a mostly driving tour of the lights. It was a great way to end a great week :-)