Our Paris and London Adventure

We have been absent from the blog scene for a long time. I think I had too much to blog about to know where to start. So, today I'll start with our trip to Paris and London. Jake and I left the boys with my mom and went with Jake's sister Deanne to Paris and London. We had a blast!

We flew into Paris and immediately rented a car and started driving. Thank heaven for GPS navigation systems because even with it, we had a hard time getting away from the airport. I think we made at least 3 circles before we got out. The Paris airport is huge! Jake did all the driving and did a great job. The first day we only drove for 2-3 hours because we didn't sleep on the plane (no wine like the rest of the people around us). I think that day was my favorite because I loved seeing northern France and the French countryside.

We decided to stop but we didn't really know where we were or anything. We used the GPS to help us find a hotel and we just showed up and asked for a rate. We got a good rate at a Best Western in Hardelot, France. It was a very nice place in a beautiful area. While looking for a hotel, we drove through several little towns (very little) and we all loved seeing the buildings and houses. It was a blast. We ran into a little church and cemetery in Condette, France. It was really neat, but not as old as we first thought it would be.

This first night was fun to see some rural areas and all the French countryside. We got a wonderful taste of France and Deanne decided she would love to buy a second home there. I promise to come visit!

The next day we continued driving to Calais, France where we took the ferry across the English Channel to Dover, England. The ferry took about an hour. The interesting part of all this was we rented a car in France where they drive on the right side of the road, like us, and the steering wheel is on the left. So, when we drove off the ferry in England we were in a car with the steering wheel on the left and drove on the left side of the road. It was a very strange experience just to be passenger, but probably worse for Jake as the driver. He did great, though, and only needed 2-3 reminders to stay on the left when he was accidentally trying to drive on the right.

So, using the nav system, we drove all the way into London that morning. We parked on the street with all our luggage in the car. We were quite nervous about that, but did our best to hide it and then crossed our fingers. So, that day we got tour bus tickets and tickets to Wicked. We spent that afternoon on the top of a double-decker touring London and then saw Wicked at the Apollo Victoria theatre. We loved it. Wicked was the only show we could get tickets for that night and it was the one show both Deanne and I would have picked out of them all. We were so excited! And it was great!

We stayed in London that night and the next. Our second day in London consisted of more touring and the Tower of London. We really enjoyed this, too. There is so much history there with good stories and interesting people. Also, we were always drawn to the REALLY old stuff and the first Tower was built in 1078. We liked that. We got to see the crown jewels and a special exhibit of Henry VIII's personal armor, as well as the execution spot where Anne Boleyn and others were beheaded. Always fun.

The "Look Right" pic is to remind us of our confusion walking around the street and forgetting which way to look for oncoming traffic. We naturally look to the left before we cross. And when it's a one-way street, we would only look to the left, but that can be disastrous in London. We nearly had an accident or two. That's why they've painted signs on the street.

We saw all the wonderful and fun sights we could see in a quick 2 day London trip and decided that we would definitely return to England someday.

Then we took the ferry back and drove back into Paris. Paris is a beautiful city and we enjoyed it almost as much as London. I think we would have loved it just as well if it hadn't been for the extremely expensive nature of the city and the naturally "rude" Parisians. It's just their nature, but it's hard to get used to as an outsider.

We spent 3-4 hours in the Louvre, which isn't even close to enough time, even for a cursory visit. But we enjoyed it, nonetheless. It's enormous! The building itself is beautiful and worth a visit. They've got SO MUCH in there, it's overwhelming. But we took an ancient artifacts tour and saw the oldest artifact in the Louvre, which is about 9000 years old. Of course, we saw the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo among many other famous pieces of art. I enjoyed the small bit of ancient Egyptian art and artifacts we saw. It's so interesting. Egypt is on my short list of places to visit.

Our favorite site in Paris was the Notre Dame. We saw it at night the first night and then spent some more time there the next day. The stained glass windows are incredible and mind blowing. We were there during mass, so it was nice to hear the music echoing through that cathedral. But our favorite view of the Notre Dame was from the back. There is a little park behind there where it's quiet and the view is amazing. It's so detailed and different from anything else. We enjoyed some time back there taking pictures and relaxing and watching people.

One of our nights in Paris, we decided to go out for a nice meal (we pretty much ate as cheaply as we could the rest of the time, which was not cheap at all). Jake found a 4 star restaurant away from the tourist sites, kind of hidden. It was great! Nobody spoke English so nobody could tell us what we were seeing on the menu, but we did get a couple of recommendations through broken english and acting out motions of a duck, etc. I got the duck, which was incredible. Jake got a pork steak and Deanne got eggplant lasagna. It was an adventure and we definitely enjoyed eating out on the streets of Paris. It was a memorable experience.

Of course we spent time at the Eiffel Tower. We went at night when it's lit up because it's so much prettier. Something new that they weren't doing when I was there in 2003 are the twinkling lights. Every hour for 5 minutes they turn on these extra lights that twinkle (picture on the left). It's really cool and a great addition to a beautiful sight. Everyone just waited around for the top of the hour to see it. At the Eiffel Tower, we were messing around taking pictures and being silly and had put our bag down. Luckily Deanne and Jake noticed a guy inching closer and closer and eyeing our bag before he got a chance to grab it and run. So, due to Deanne and Jake's attention, he turned away and then Jake stared him down til he left. We were nearly victims of a prevalent type of crime in Europe.

What a trip! Of course we saw a lot more than I've shown and talked about. It was an experience to remember. I'm really glad we went but it was probably too long to be away from the kids. They did great at Grandma and Grandpa Bailey's, but we won't be doing that again until they are much older. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU mom, for taking such good care of them. They sure do love you. A day or 2 after we got home, Zach asked me if I would go on another trip so he could go stay with Grandma Bailey again. I really don't think he missed us at all. They had a blast!

It was great to be there with Deanne, who is always a lot of fun. Now we want to go back and do everything else we weren't able to do this time. Maybe next time we'll schedule in some sleep...