Europe Trip: 3rd day in Paris

Jet-lag= getting better...for Joshua anyway!

We decided to start out our 3rd day in Paris at the "Arc De Triomphe". I honestly didn't know anything about this place until we decided to go. There are no Metro exits next to the Arch so we got off 1 mile before and walked down to it. The moment we came up the stairs the Arch looked like it was right there. We started walking and walking and walking and the Arch stayed exactly the same size. It was so trippy because it was so big and seemed right there in front of us but no matter how far we kept walking it was never within reach. I can't really explain it but it was a weird feeling. This thing is HUGE. If you notice in the background of our family picture you can see how small the people look while they're standing right next to it. They have an underground walkway to get to the arch that was a little hard to go through with a stroller but we ended up making it no problem. We spent a little time walking around it and looking at the incredible art work on the walls then headed down the Champs Elysees.

The street was crowded but really fun to walk down. Their are so many different shops and theaters and cafe's that it was fun to just stroll. We even found a Disney store with a French Mater (Mater with a beret on!) in the window. Daniel took him inside for a little while to look at all of the cars stuff while I stayed outside with a sleeping Joshua. We ate lunch on our stroll down the Champs Elysees then headed towards the Musee De Louvre.

We let John play in the park/gardens just down from the Louvre and there was this really cool fountain that people were sailing small sailboats in. It was pretty neat to walk around and see so many statues and fountains and people everywhere enjoying a stroll. We walked down to the entrance of the Louvre (which took us a while because the Louvre itself is extremely big) and right as we got up to the front they told us it was closed for the day and to come back another day. That was the only thing I wanted to do that day and we didn't even get to do it! Oh well, it was much better going on another day anyway because we were able to spend more time. Plus the kids were getting tired and hungry so we decided to go back to the apartment and watch a movie.

I decided to try and brave going to the Carrefour Grocery store (by myself) to buy some sandwich stuff for dinner. Scariest experience EVER! I felt like I was on my mission again not knowing ANYTHING anyone was saying to me but this time I didn't have a companion there to bail me out if I needed help. Thank goodness the cashier was nice to me (although she was probably thinking 'Stupid American' the whole time without me even knowing it!) and I went home with a few breakfast lunch and dinner items for us to eat. I have to admit that was one of the scariest/out of my comfort zone experiences I had the whole time I was in Europe.

When I got back this is what I found...

Poor John was getting mauled in his sleep by Joshua who was bored out of his mind trying to find someone to play with!

Europe Trip: 2nd Day in Paris

The next day, after a terrible nights rest, Daniel made me breakfast in bed (scrambled eggs and juice) then we got ready and headed out for the day. Note: This was my one and only “good hair day” of the entire trip! Daniel took the boys down to the small park right next to our apartment while I got our bag ready for the day. John was having so much fun that he didn’t want to leave until we mentioned we were about to go on the train. He then ran over to the stroller and buckled himself up.

We traveled to Notre Dame first and I got to ride on my first actual train (not just the subway). It happened to be a double-decker train which I was super excited about (I’ve always wanted to go on a double-decker anything since I was little). John had a blast looking out of the window and watching the opposite trains go by.

Notre Dame was just as beautiful as I thought it would be. The lines were too long so we decided to wait to go inside for another day. We stayed outside and let John chase the birds and play at a little park to the side of the Cathedral. We had plans on meeting a friend around lunch time so we just took our time walking around and Daniel finally got to tell me all about his trip with the choir. We walked over the bridge behind the Cathedral where they have all the “Love Locks”. Apparently people put padlocks (or smaller key locks) on the bridge to signify their “everlasting love in Paris”! It was amazing how many locks were on the bridge. Daniel (joking) said we should just take a sharpie and write our names on the backside of one of the locks so that way we can leave our mark but not have to give up one of our locks!! When we got to the other side of the bridge Daniel just happened to see one of his friends that he made in a Hostel in Tours, France a few weeks before. It was so random to see him there because Daniel never thought he would see this guy again. He was originally from Japan and was in Europe drawing pictures. He was an amazing artist and even gave Daniel and I free postcards that he had drawn himself.

We kept walking down to the McDonalds where we were going to meet Daniel’s friend that he use to be in the LA Children’s Choir with when they were little (her name is Julia and she is great!) and jet lag hit the kids and they both fell asleep. This was one of the only days we didn’t bring the stroller with us because Daniel thought it would be more difficult to get on and off the trains and subway with. It is more difficult that’s for sure but after carrying sleeping babies all day we were exhausted and decided to never forget the stroller again! We ate at McDonalds while we waited for Daniel’s friend Julia to get there. When she arrived we sat and visited with her for a little while then walked through the “Jardin Des Plantes” together (which is the main botanical garden in France). We walked through the garden (which was huge) and John saw a merry-go-round that he couldn’t pass up. We let him ride it once and he was ecstatic. Julia then took us over to a little café across from the garden for drinks. It was the cutest little place. There were these cute little birds that kept flying all around the café looking for crumbs. John was in heaven and wanted nothing more than to catch one of the birds. He never got close but he would get so excited when a bird would land close to our table. We walked Julia back to the Metro and said goodbye then sat in the garden a little longer to feed the birds some of the hardened croissant I had in my bag.

We decided to make our way over to the Eiffel Tower but didn’t want to go up to the top until another day because we were getting hungry by that time and didn’t want to be there too long. It took us a while to finally get a good picture there because the Eiffel Tower is so big we had to figure out a good angle for the camera. We ended up putting a blanket on the ground, setting the timer on the camera and then Daniel would move the blanket with his foot in order to get the right angle. Like I said, took a while but well worth the trouble! We bought a few souvenirs then headed back to our apartment. By the time we got there we were all really hungry so we stopped off at a pizza place on the end of our street. We decided to keep it simple and order just a cheese pizza and we both ended up hating it. They threw on a bunch of French cheeses that smelled like stinky feet. I was definitely not a fan of the French so-called “pizza” so we decided never to order pizza in France again!