Our 3rd Trip to Paris
We had exactly seven days between Chris’ sisters visit and trip to Italy and the arrival of my brothers…. just enough time to catch up on kids homework and callings, grocery shop, do laundry, wash the sheets, clean the house and get excited for more family!
Dan and Sarah were actually first to book their Europe trip of a lifetime. We’d been planning dates and skyping back and forth almost since we moved here. Soon after Christmas they got Scott and Elisha on board. They flew in on a Sunday morning. Chris, chauffeur extraordinaire picked them up at the Frankfurt airport and brought them back to Sankt Leon. The kids were so excited to see them. We showed them around the house, helped them take their luggage up to the ‘penthouse suite’ (the girls floor), and allowed them a two hour nap. I know, you’re supposed to stay up… but we were headed for three hours of afternoon church, and there’s NO WAY they could have done it. At 12:30 they were up and ready and we drove to church. Even their 2 hour nap didn’t help that much. They were painfully tired during Sacrament meeting. Chris had fun watching their heads nod from the stand. Instead of Sunday School they opted to take a walk and then came back for the last hour. After dinner we packed a little for Paris and then taught them how to play Dominion… favorite new game.
By 8:00 am the next morning we had gotten the big kids off to school, picked up the babysitter, packed the van and the six of us were off. The traveling was fun. The French countryside is gorgeous with red poppies and hilly green fields with quaint onion topped churches in every small town. When we stopped at the WC on the way Elisha and Sarah got to experience a ‘toilet hole in the ground’… which is always pretty exciting, especially because Sarah has ‘bathroom phobia’ just like Nikole and Elisha was asking which way to face. It cracked me up. Ah… good times, girls.
When we drove into Paris all three video camera’s were up and recording. Everyone was excited to be in Paris… and we were excited to be there again. Chris is getting to be a pro at driving through Parisian streets. We drove to our apartment rental office and dropped off Scott and Dan to find the office, pay and get the key. We drove around (there’s NO parking anywhere) for awhile and then came back to pick them up. It worked perfect.
We parked the van in a tight underground parking garage and walked a couple blocks with our luggage to Avenue de Villars. We stayed in a three bedroom apartment with a view of the Eiffel Tower. It was just perfect and only 60 Euros a night per couple.
View from our living room windows…
After getting settled a bit we hurriedly grabbed our cameras and headed on the metro straight to the Louvre.
The LOUVRE
We knew we didn’t have much time but since the Louvre is completely closed on Tuesdays we figured we wanted to do it first rather than leave it to the last day. The Louvre is Europe’s oldest, biggest, greatest, and second-most-crowded museum (after the Vatican). We headed down into the big glass pyramid and bought our 2 day city museum passes and headed in with a plan to see a few of the big ones…
The Winged Victory of Samothrace… this statue of a woman with wings, poised on the prow of a ship, once stood on a hilltop to commemorate a great naval victory.
The Venus de Milo…goddess of love from the Greek island of Melos… a Greek original. She epitomizes stability, beauty, and balance.
The Mona Lisa…
Here we are listening to Chris read about her… “Leonardo was already an old man when Francois I invited him to France. Determined to pack light, he took only a few paintings. One was a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a wealthy Florentine merchant. When Leonardo arrived, Francois I immediately fell in love with the paintings and made it the centerpiece of the small collection of Italian masterpieces that would, in three centuries, become the Louvre museum. He called it La Gioconda. We know it as a contraction of the Italian for “my lady Lisa” – Mona Lisa. Mona’s overall mood is one of balance and serenity, but there’s also an element of mystery. Her smile and long-distance beauty are subtle and elusive, tempting but always just out of reach.”
Opposite the Mona Lisa is The Wedding at Cana which we loved. It’s massive.
We had a great time walking through the hallways and seeing the Greek sculpture and Italian paintings as well. I just LOVE the building itself. Just beautiful.
We had a great time…
The Arc du Carrousel… Opposite the Louvre and entrance to the Tuileries Garden 
We walked through the Tuileries Garden on our evening walk from the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe. The Luxor Obelisk and the Arc de Triomphe are visible in the center distance…
Once past the Place de la Concorde, Paris’s largest square and round about, we continued straight onto Champs-Elysees, Paris’ most famous boulevard. “The tour de France bicycle race ends here, as do all parades. In 1667, Louis XIV opened the first section of the street as a short extension of the Tuileries Garden. This date is considered the birth of Paris as a grand city. The Champs-Elysees soon became the place to cruise in your carriage.” It was fun to wander down and window shop. Sarah and I wanted to take a peak in Louis Vuitton but the line was too long as each guest was assigned a personal shopping attendant. Yes, quite grand.
The Champs-Elysses comes to an end right at the Arc de Triomphe.
We climbed the spiral staircase to the top of the Arc for a great view of Paris and the Eiffel Tower…
Boy did we do a lot of walking today… 11.5 miles to be precise (thanks to Scott’s pedometer). After climbing down the spiral staircase we started heading to the Eiffel Tower… the perfect place to end our first night in Paris.
Our favorite crepe stand in all of Paris is the right beside the carrousel under the Eiffel Tower. We just had to have ‘dinner’ here. Nutella and Strawberry Crepe with whip cream. Oh my. So delicious.
After we ate we walked up to Trocadero for great views of the Tower as the sun set. At precisely 10:00 the tower began to sparkle and the crowd let out a collection ‘ooooh’. Yep, it was magical. I love this city.
