Day 1: Driving Around

After the Eiffel Tower, we kinda decided that since it was SOOOOO crowded in Paris that day, we would just drive around to a few of the sites (since the girls didn't care all that much in them) and just take a few pictures.


1. Arc DeTriomphe...the arc that symbolizes and pays respect to the soldiers who fought in during the Napoleonic Wars. They have a memorial for the "Unknown Soldier" with a fire burning and everything. It's pretty cool. They say that this was the place Napoleon marched through when returning from a famous battle. It's at the very end of a 2 kilometer stretch of one of the most famous streets in Europe, and possibly the world, called Champs Elysees...a very posh road of high end shops and a Palais (or palace) at the other end.



2. Champs Elysees- So, as I explained about this famous strip, we didn't walk along it, much to my shopaholic daughters' chagrin. We did drive down it and point out lots of fun stores. The girls were in awe, and of all places, they wanted to go to the Disney store. They were convinced they had different things, more French things, than America. Probably they're right. But I still didn't want to stop. It was so crowded.



3. Moulin Rouge-We secretly drove passed this. I didn't get to see it the last time, so it was one that I really wanted to at least "drive by". I was told that it wasn't in a very good part of town, so doing a "drive by" was fun too. And for those of you who know my obsession with the movie, will know why I needed to go. :) We didn't really tell the girls what we were doing. They were doing other stuff in the back seat...probably reading the map, or playing their DS, or reading Harry Potter.

My thoughts? Way different area that what I envisioned. I thought I was going to be driving down this dingy, dirty, stinky side alley where the Moulin Rouge was nestled amongst run down buildings. Not so. It is on a busy street amongst many people coming and going, just going about doing business, shopping at the stores nearby, and attending the theater down the street. And is it still a "brothel"? Or a modern day version of it? The website is really cool, doesn't mention anything of the sort and makes it sound like it's more of a Vegas show now. Anyway, it exceeded my expectionations, nonetheless, so it was a good diversion.

Can you see the reflection of my hand in the picture? :)

Next Stop: The LOUVRE!!!!

Day 1 Paris

Day 1-Visiting the Eiffel Tower

Of course this HAD to be our first stop. We stayed overnight in a hotel down south of the city near the Orly airport so it took us about 15 minutes to get into the center of town.



It was so fun the minute the girls saw the Eiffel Tower. (Remember, this is mine and Brian's second time being here so we didnt' have any expectations, save a few sites, that we felt we wanted to go to. As Brian said, "This is all about the girls. Whatever they want to do." So we wanted to hear their reactions to when we got close to it.) We definitely didn't see it for awhile and then all of a sudden we turned a corner and saw it bursting from the clouds. We got the, "Mom, Brian, Look! The Eiffel Tower. Look! There it is! It's huge! Oh my gosh!"



It definitely made both Brian and I excited they were excited to be there. We both have commented that the trip could have gone two different ways...they could have been really into it...or they could have been typical pre-teens "I'm so bored. I hate this. I just wanna play my Nintendo DS". But they went the first. They have been so excited this whole trip. Asking all sorts of historical questions,



"Why don't the people live in castles anymore?"
"Why do they use these bricks (cobblestones) for their roads?"
"What's that slit in the walls of the castle for?"
"Why do people get in wars and destroy such beautiful things?"


and then with the Eiffel Tower...it was:
"When was the Eiffel Tower built?"
"How tall is it?"
"How many people did it take?"



They took pictures of EVERYTHING. I definitely have weeded out A LOT. And this was our first day to the Eiffel Tower. The second day they wanted to go back...so I have a slew of pictures of that one...but let me reassure you they are definitely different of this batch.




So, here are pictures of some of the things we did on this trip to the Eiffel Tower...

We decided not to go up. The lines were horribly long...I was told it was an hour and a half just to get a ticket...then an even longer line for the elevator, and then once you go up, it's a line to get back down. Now if anyone knows my newly found fear of heights...I was definitely happy the girls let it go on really having their hearts set on going up. I think Xoe was a little nervous too. So, we just ended up sitting on the beautiful grounds and gardens surrounding the Tower, in front of the Palace there.

1. We took lots of pictures...of each other...

...and Brian practiced his skills on photography with the beautiful flowers and greenery. He did pretty well don't you think?

...I was so awestruck by these black (purple) pansies, enough so that Brian ended up taking a bunch of pictures of them for me. I've never seen black pansies before, and a "black" flower is so hard to find anyway. I just couldnt' believe it.2. We got ice cream from a little stand...we also shopped for souvenirs (something that we did OFTEN our whole Paris trip...due to Xoe & Xanthe's fetish with shopping..."I want to go into EVERY souvenir shop mom...just to look, of course.")

...how cool are their cones?

3. The girls played in the playground nearby (not pictured).

4. Spencer slept. And he had a hard time when Brian wanted to wake him up for a picture...just to document that he was actually there. :)

5. The girls drank (kept stealing) mom's Diet Coke. (I guess it serves me right. I kept stealing tastes of their ice cream cones.)

6. We took silly pictures next to the Eiffel Tower

...(do you see the Diet Coke in her hand below?)...how amazing is this next one? It looks totally doctored/fake...like we cut and pasted Xanthe's body in there. But I swear we didn't. Hilarious, huh?

7. Xoe read Harry Potter...8. And Brian continued to practice his photography skills on his three girls...

Bonjour de Paris

Sorry we've been gone from the internet world for a few days. We took off to Paris on Friday, which was a 5 1/2 hour drive from where we are, and got back late last night (Sunday night). We had the most awesome hotel, but they charged like $25 US Dollars per day for the internet, which I wasn't about to pay seeing as we were going to be gone most of the day.

Yup, we were virtual-world-free for the weekend, which felt a bit weird, seeing as no one knew our cell phone number as well. Which meant if anyone needed to get a hold of us, we were truly "missing off the map" from all the people we know. That felt really weird. But refreshing too... not having to check your email and cell phone all the time.

And because we got back so late, I've been working all day to settle back in (laundry, unpacking, grocery shopping), and have been a bit tired from the drive, so now I don't have it in me to post pictures. :) Hopefully I can get to it before Xanthe and Xoe blog about it. hehe. I guess it'll be old news by then.

Hope you all slept well and I'll post soon.