Spilling the Beans: Paris

David and I decided it was finally the right time to take our kids on a grand international adventure! He had to go to Europe for school, so we decided to meet him there. We had gotten the kids passports earlier this year, but it wasn't until after a stressful time of planning YW camp and Trek, that we sort of spontaneously booked tickets to Paris. I spent a few short days vigorously researching all that we would want to do and booked hotels and Air BnB's in several different cities. I had an idea of some places that were a must see for me, but other than that, we were kind of spontaneous.

In DC ready to set off on our adventure. We only took backpacks.

I caught Dallin offering up a little prayer before the flight took off.

Finally at the airport in Paris. I was terrified to step off the plane and somehow figure out how to get myself and 4 kids through customs and then find a cab to get to our hotel.

Day 1: We arrived in Paris early this morning. David still has one more day of classes, so we set out to explore on our own. We visited the beautiful Parc Monceau where we found a playground to play on. Then we had lunch at Hortense. We ended up having to wait a half hour to eat because lunch is not served anywhere until noon. We played I spy while we waited. After lunch, we were trying to overcome major jet lag. We took a two hour nap and then left to find the Arc de Triomphe. It took us several tries and a bit of patience to figure out how to get across the very busy roundabout surrounding the Arc. After navigating Paris underground we found our way rising above the tunnels at the Arc. It was much bigger than I expected. Here we also enjoyed ice cream and crepes! Now we’re back in our rooms trying to wait up a bit longer before we finally go to bed. We can’t wait for David to join us tomorrow!

Day 2: Eiffel Tower day! We had an early morning tour of the Eiffel Tower, but started the day off badly with Dallin throwing up several times. Once in the hotel hallway and then several times on the sidewalk near the tower. We decided to sit in this cafe and try to get him rehydrated. We way overspent on drinks and of course had to get some macarons! He seemed to be feeling better after some water so we headed on the tour. Words can’t describe the Eiffel Tower! It’s beautiful from the bottom and from the top! We took the elevator up and then the stairs down and even were brave enough to walk out on the glass floor. We spent several hours here and then had to rush to check in to our Airbnb.
While we transferred our things from our hotel to the Airbnb, we gave our kids their first international grocery shopping experience. I didn’t get a picture because it was a little chaotic with everyone throwing things into the cart. We settled into our new place and rested for a few hours.
We then headed to Notre Dame, although burned and unable to enter, I still wanted to see it. And if we hadn’t, we never would have found these gelato filled macarons!!! Yes, round 2 of macarons....
Next we took a Seine River boat tour. It was wonderful to view Paris from a different angle. It’s just such a beautiful city. Once off the boat we walked past the Louve, but no pictures because everyone needed a potty ASAP. By this point it was 9pm and we decided we should have some dinner. Crazy how light it still is at 10pm!! After dinner we decided to head toward the Eiffel Tower to see it at night. It was probably a good hour walk away...you can see in the pictures how close we got before it started to pour rain! We saw it sparkling from a distance and it was amazing! But we called for an Uber and headed home! Phew! What a long day. We are so blessed to be able to see this amazing city!

Day 3: Today was the Sabbath and church didn’t start until 12:30. We took advantage and slept in really late. We prepped the kids about attending a ward in a different language all morning and encouraged them to stay for the classes. We showed up at church to find that it was an English ward, just for visitors and they only hold Sacrament meeting. 🤣 It was actually kind of nice! And we ran into a family from our stake back home! After church we ate a yummy lunch and then walked about an hour along the Seine River over to the Musée d’Orsay. (GPS said only 25 min. but it took us a long time...) It was Aliza’s dream to see original Monet and Van Gogh artwork, which is why we chose here over the Louvre. After the museum, it was home for dinner and one of our best Come Follow Me lessons ever. It was a low key day, which I think we needed after yesterday! My legs and feet are sore and my throat is dry from the heat, but we are loving this adventure. Tomorrow is our last day in Paris.

Claude Monet art - Aliza did a research paper on Monet and even recreated his "Lily Pond" painting. This may have been the whole reason we were prompted to make this trip. She really wanted to see some of his original work. Little did we know that the actual Lily Pond was just outside of Paris. We planed to visit it right away!