Paris March 2011-Full Story

Finally we have had time to post the pictures from Paris. If you know anyone that works in education you know that as the end of the school year comes closer the busier things get. We have also been doing a little traveling in California to check out law schools. Here are the pictures and stories from Paris:

Jason and I both agreed that this time visiting Paris was even better than our first trip. Maybe it was having my parents around or finding the best food or the wonderful weather- whatever it was it worked. Paris was mesmerizing! I think all of us would return to Paris in a second.

Day 1:

We left London early one morning and jumped on the train that headed through “the Chunnel” under the English Channel. This is always a fun ride but surprisingly only takes about 2 hours, so it never lasts as long as we would like it to. The next thing you know you go from busy downtown London and then you are getting off the train in Paris. First thing was to find our hotel and drop off our luggage. We found this great hotel that had one important aspect to it- a balcony that looks at the Eiffel Tower. After our first trip to Paris we had several friends and family ask what the hotels are like in Europe. Rather than tell you we can show you with this video.





We still had most of the day to spend in Paris after we dropped off the luggage, so we were off. The first thing we went and did was to go and see one of the museums in town (since there are so many we have to spread them out). We went to the Musee de Orsay, which is just across the river from the more famous Musee de Louvre.

FUN FACT: The Louvre was originally the main museum in Paris for works of art. Eventually it got so full that they decided to convert an old train station into an art museum. The decision was to move all of the modern pieces from the Louvre to Musee de Orsay. That is why you can find such famous works of art by Van Gogh, Monet, and Rodan.

We spent several hours at the museum before we were ready to move on to the next site. We wanted to show mom and dad the Tulleries, which is basically a nice garden area in the center of Paris, with fountains and chairs to sit and enjoy the scenery. We sat on the bridge looking over the Seine for a bit and then went and enjoyed the garden.

A fountain found downtown Paris.

Cleopatra's needle. If you read our posts when we were in Egypt you would remember us talking about these obelisks. There are 2 pairs of these obelisks found in the world: NYC, Paris, London, and Egypt. We reached our 4th one in Luxor, Egypt but we still like seeing the others when we are in town.

Once we had taken a rest we continued on to the Arc de Triumph. This is such an iconic site in Paris and you wouldn’t believe how huge it is. We kept getting closer and closer to it and I kept thinking it couldn’t get any bigger, but it did. We were just in awe with the detailed workmanship of the arc and how mammoth it is compared to the modern buildings that are around it.

RANDOM FACT: The Arc De’ Triumph was built by Napoleon as a monument for himself. It was built in the center of town because he wanted everyone to see his burial site. Now it is best known as the center of a huge roundabout where 6 lanes of traffic merge around it, causing a big traffic headache. It is also the location of the tomb for the unknown soldiers, or in other words for all of the men that have sacrificed their lives for France. Oh, and Napoleon isn't even buried here.

We knew we wanted to climb the stairs to get to the top, but that must have been before we found out that there are 284 steps to the top. We climbed up this spiral staircase for a long time and then finally we came out on top. It was breathtaking. We could see all of Paris from up there. It’s different than being on the Eiffel tower because there is multiple levels to the tower and you can always travel up, but once you are on top of the arc that is as high as you can go. Nothing but sky is above you and a 360 degree view.


Some views from on top of the Arc de Triumph.

You can almost always see the Eiffel Tower in Paris.


I think we weren’t all expected to have done such a physical workout at the arc, so once we had climbed down we were starving! It was also pretty dark so most of our favorite cafes and restaurants were closed… but we saw a McDonalds. I know it sounds so touristy to go to McDonalds in another country, but you need to try a familiar food chain in another language. Mom and dad enjoyed seeing the McDonalds, even though most of the menu wasn’t anything we recognized. If you ask me, the food is better at the French McDonalds.

We were just exhausted after this full day that we went back to the hotel and slept great.

Day 2:

We awoke to a sunny day in Paris and it stayed that way all day long. We had seen a little patiserie down the street from our hotel so we thought we would pick up breakfast. Let’s just say that after our stay in Paris, we had so many pastries from that cute little shop that we were sad to leave that as much as the Eiffel Tower. Our favorite: the almond croissants. Mom’s favorite: ALL OF THEM!!
A picture of the almond croissants. Someday we will learn to make the beauties! They are to die for!

We spent most of the day at the Louvre. Just as we could have spent the whole day or week at the Louvre, so could we talking about all of the amazing things about that museum. It is one of our favorite places in the entire world to visit. Of course some of the famous pieces in it would be the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo, but we have also found some other favorite things about the Louvre. We love the statue area, because it is an open courtyard feeling and it is just a marvelous site to wander and get lost in. Jason got to see the Code of Hamuribi, which is the first written legal code in the world. So appropriate for our future laywer. I have to always see my favorite piece of art, Cupid and Psyche.

Mona Lisa... as if you didn't know that!

Cupid and Psyche. We were lucky enough to find a miniature replica of the statue to bring home, so now I can enjoy it every day!

A picture of one of the ceilings in the Louvre. Even those are decorated with beautiful paintings.


We had a quick meal at the Louvre and mom and I went shopping in the museum shops. It was hilarious because I know a few phrases in French and was buying something and the cashier just kept talking to me in French. I kept guessing what she was saying and responding, but eventually I said in English that I didn’t know what she was saying. She laughed and said that she thought I was French so that’s why she kept talking to me.
Pictures of everyone outside the Louvre.

We split up from Mom and Dad for a few hours and apparently both couples got so exhausted we eventually sat down in different areas and tried to rest. Mom and Dad decided they wanted to take a little rest on one of the window seats. After dozing off for a few minutes, a window washer had to come and kick them out because he had to clean the window. He felt bad though and he kept saying “You look tired” to them in broken English.

The Louvre is a huge building and after spending half of the day there we wanted to do something more relaxing that evening. We had decided that we wanted to take my parents to the Eiffel Tower at ngiht.

Jason and I had never been to the Eiffel Tower at night, so this was going to be a new experience for us too. Our hotel was so close to the tower that we just went for a lovely 5 minute walk and we were there. The greatest thing was as we were walking we suddenly saw the Eiffel Tower light up with a dazzling array of twinkling lights. We forgot that it does that every hour so it came as such a shock to us.

It is probably one of the most beautiful and memorable things I have ever seen in my life. We made our way up to the different levels of the Eiffel tower to see the city of Lights stretch out before our eyes. It was the perfect end to the evening.

A picture of us on top of the Eiffel Tower. It gets pretty windy up there so you have to cuddle to stay warm.

SIDE NOTE: We’ve had a lot of people ask us if we experience “culture shock” in different countries. We don’t really feel it in the countries where English is the main language, but it is an odd feeling to be in a country where you don’t understand the signs or what anyone is saying. Jason and I are kind of used to it now, but Mom and Dad did really good about not getting frustrated with confusing maps and unhelpful people. Once you learn to relax and figure things out then you don’t really feel culture shock.

Day 3:

As you might of guessed , our last morning in Paris was filled with more pastries. After our stomachs were full we were off to one of the most iconic religious sites in Paris: Notre Dame. We decided to climb to the top and see the gargoyles and bells from up top before we went and walked around inside. Once again, we had to climb a ton of steps to reach the top. I almost am glad that we had to climb the stairs, because the staircases are actually quite gorgeous, but it also made us feel iike we earned the right to enjoy such famous landmarks. We even got to see the famous bell claimed to be one rung by Quasimodo.

The bell that was mentioned in the novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."

The infamous stained glass window in Notre Dame.

While trying to take this picture of the candles my hair almost caught fire. That's all we needed was to deal with a burned head.

Jason caught this hilarious picture of my parents and me taking a quick nap in Notre Dame. I have to admit that it was a quiet place to rest our eyes.

One activity that my parents had requested to do in Paris was to ride a bato, or in other words a “boat.” There was a stop that was just outside of Notre Dame so we jumped on one of the boats there. If you’ve ever seen “Charades” with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, they ride a boat down the Seine river, so I was very excited to try to recreate that movie moment. It was so much fun to float down the river at a relaxing pace and see Paris from a boats perspective. We eventually made a loop and came to the stop by the Eiffel Tower, so we got off there since we just walk to our hotel from there. We had to take in some of the Eiffel Tower because it is still impressive to see during the day. After walking around for a bit (and running into a woman from Cedar City) we went back home to pack up our luggage and leave the City of Love!

We really had a wonderful time in Paris and couldn’t believe how wonderful the weather and the food were.

Some delicious foods that we found in Paris!

Another favorite treat in Paris: Crepes. Last time I became addicted to the Nutella crepes, but this time we were big on the savory crepes. Here is a video of one that we got from a street vendor. He made my mom an egg, cheese, and ham crepe. Please restrain from drooling on your keyboard.

Next Up.....Rome!

Favorite Picture Friday: April 15th, 2011

Can you see the Eiffel Tower in the distance? We are standing on top of Notre Dame in this picture.

Favorite Picture Friday: April 8, 2011

London March 2011- Full Story

Our trip through Europe began in one of the most amazing cities you will ever visit: London. This was our second time visiting the city of Big Ben and Fish 'n Chips, but that didn't mean that we found it boring or wanted to move on, because London is such an exciting city that you never want to leave. We always tell people the quote that says "When a man is tired of London he is tired of life" by Samuel Johnson.

Day 1:
We arrived at Heathrow Airport after a long day of traveling. I think we all slept at least some of the time on the flight over, but that didn't mean that we weren't all a little groggy. It was just after 7am when we got through customs and passport control, and one rule that Jason and I have is that the first thing you do when you get off an international flight is to find a snack. This helps reset your body clock to the current time. So we stopped and had a few croissants and drinks and then we took off!

One cool thing about London (one of many) is the underground subway system, known as "The Tube," and how darn convenient it is. There is actually a line that runs right out to the airport, so with our luggage we all found a seat and made our way in to the heart of London on the Tube. We found our stop where our hotel was located at, called Bayswater, and just a couple blocks of walking we found our first hotel. It was a nice location along a street filled with little and big shops and souvenirs. It is right next to a huge store called "Whitleys," a very popular shopping center in London.

FUN FACT: If you ever watch "My Fair Lady," the place where they decide to go by Aliza Doolittle's dress for the horse race was at Whiteley's. How neat!

A picture of the trains in "the Tube."

Our favorite phrase from London: "Mind the Gap." You start hearing that phrase in your sleep and every time we stepped off a train in Paris we wanted to say "Mind the Gap!"

Mom at our Tube stop.

That first day we ran and grabbed some tickets to hop on the infamous red double-decker buses. On our way to get those tickets mom and dad got to see some other famous sites right away, such as Big Ben, Westminster, and the London Eye. It was fun to see their faces as we emerged from the Tube and to be hit by such iconic sites as those. On the double-decker bus we were a little cold because London was a bit cloudy that day.







We eventually got off the DD Bus and it was in the afternoon, which meant... Tea Time! We went and had some sandwiches and yummy herbal peppermint tea at the Marriott hotel that looked out towards Big Ben. One of our favorite places for tea time!

Here is Lisa having tea time. It's hard to tell, but notice that the pinky is sticking out.

We continued to walk around, seeing sites and getting off at our favorite stops. We did a little bit of shopping that day, and by the end we were ready for a warm meal. Of course, when you are in England you need to have Fish n' Chips. Here is the proof that we did.

Day 2:
The first thing we did on our 2nd day in London was to go and ride the London Eye. If you have never heard of the Eye before, basically it is this huge ferris wheel that has little "pods" that you stand in as it rotates so you can see all of London. The wheel is turning so slow that it takes 30 minutes for the whole thing to go around, which means that you don't even feel it turning. It's a smooth and beautiful ride that I want to go on again and again. It was such a nice day that we went for a walk around Big Ben and the Eye and got some neat views across the river.


Pictures of us before we got on the Eye.




Pictures while on the Eye. What a view we get from up there!

Close up shot of Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.

Then it was on to another famous site of London: The Tower of London. Jason and I had already been there, but it was such a fascinating historical site that we didn't mind taking my parents. We learned that the first things you go and see at the Tower are the Crown Jewels. No one is allowed to take pictures in that building, but let's just say that you walk out seeing all of the diamonds and gold and want to go buy something sparkly.


Fun Fact: The ravens that live at the Tower of London are famous. Supposedly there was this superstition that if the ravens that live at the Tower were to someday be gone, then London will be destroyed. So out of tradition, the ravens that live around the Tower have their wings clipped to keep them close and make sure that there is at least one around.

Here are some pictures of us at the Tower.

Jason and a suit of armor found in the Tower.

Right next to the Tower of London is Tower Bridge, one of the most beautiful bridges in the world. Mom and Dad just loved walking across it and seeing it during the day and night. We stayed near the Tower because we had a special event happening that night.

A few months ago we had come across an opportunity that was incredibly unique for us to do in London. Every night at the Tower of London, there is a traditional ceremony done where the gates to the Tower of London are locked up for the evening. It is called the "Ceremony of the Keys." The neat thing about the ceremony is that only a few people get to view it each night, and in order to get tickets for the event we had to write an essay explaining who we are and why we wanted to view the ceremony. Obviously Jason's writing was incredibly persuasive because we got the tickets and were amazed at the precision and significance of the ceremony. It was a truly unique experience that so few get to view, even those who live in London.

Here are some other pictures from the 2nd day, where we went and saw Westminster Abbey and downtown London.





Outside of Westminster Abbey.





Outside of Parliament.




Of course we had to take pictures in the red phone booths that are located around downtown London. Really no one uses them to make phone calls, but they are still iconic.


Day 3:
The third day was spent shopping day and seeing the last sights to see in London. Our hotel was just one stop away from the famous antique flea market: Portobello Road. Here are some pictures from there.



We wanted to show mom and dad the British Museum.

Here we are in front of the British Museum.

The Rosetta Stone at the museum.

Inside the British Museum.


After the museum we made our way back to the hotel. We saw a few more sites along the way.

Here is a picture of the guards standing at their post. We just left them alone.

A picture of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

FUN FACT: This cathedral is where the birds are fed in "Mary Poppins."

One more look at Big Ben. So lovely!


Our last night was celebrated by us going and seeing a musical. One of the best things about London is that they have all of the most popular Broadway plays and musicals over there. I think you get a better deal because you get to see the plays that contain the same quality as New York, but you get British accents to top it off! Last time we went and saw "Wicked," but this year we wanted to see something new for us, so we saw "The Lion King." Here is a video from inside the theater.

I know it seems like a ton of information and pictures, but this post really can't describe how great London is, or how much fun we had there!

Coming soon... Paris!