Few days in Paris!

The week of November 11-17 my friend Carrie came to visit me! We have both been so excited planning out what we would do in Europe for a week! Here are the first few days of our week long adventure. We picked her up from the airport Wednesday morning. Even this was an adventure trying to figure out where to pull in. Thank goodness she had gotten an international phone so I was able to call her! (Charles De Gaulle airport is HUGE!) Carrie being the friendly person she is had made a friend on the flight named Julie. She was so sweet she stayed with Carrie until we got there! We headed straight for Paris Disneyland.... We had so much fun going on all the roller coasters in both Parks. My kids were very jealous when I told them we did Big Thunder Mountain Railroad four times! When we got home from Disneyland Carrie showed me what her and some friends from Boise had put together for me! Yes, an ENTIRE suitcase full of food and gifts!!! Truly, I was so touched that they would do that for me. I am so thankful for good friends! Thank you!! On Thursday morning we headed for the Palace of Versailles. I have been dying to tour this since we got here. It was very impressive. The building of this beautiful palace was begun in 1682, with many improvements and additions since then.

The hall of mirrors was designed to impress the King's visitors! It is still impressing them today. The hall of mirrors is 340-feet long. It was lit by 3,000 candles. The Treaty of Versailles was signed in the hall of mirrors (between the Allies and Germany), which ended World War I. It was a majestic room.

This fireplace is 12 feet long and 7 feet high. There are multiple fireplaces this large throughout the Palace.

The gardens of the Palace. They go on for acres.

We went to the gardens on Sunday afternoon after church.

On Thursday after the Palace we took the train into Paris. There we jumped on a double decker tour bus. We got off at the Louvre. Carrie is standing in front of the Louvre.

The inverted pyramid!
The Louvre is huge! We found ourselves making the same lap over and over again. Carrie got some new tennis shoes for the trip and while walking through the Louvre (when it was very quiet) all you could hear was the squeaking of her shoes! It was very funny. We finally found the Mona Lisa! I was surprised how small it was in real life.

Next stop: Notre Dame Cathedral. While we were inside we had a scary experience. In the back of the church a man was angry with another man and started fighting with him. One man threw the other onto the cement floor. We heard his body crash! It truly was horrific. One man was quite a bit older than the other. It was finally broken up and the younger more aggressive man was escorted out! Carrie and I were a bit shaken. The thought of two men fighting in a place of peaceful worship was disturbing.

(Inside Notre Dame) The stained glass was amazing in person!

And of coarse...the Eiffel Tower! We went all the way to the top. The elevator ride up made me a bit uneasy, it kept going and going and going. The older I get the more heights make me nervous. I used to love heights! What a view!

(Half way up)

(at the very top)

When we were done we saw the light show on the Eiffel Tower! Very cool. I cannot wait to bring my kids to see it.

After the Eiffel Tower we took the Seine River Cruise. This was very cool. We wore headsets and learned more about Paris and it's History. It was a beautiful night. While on the River Cruise we were mooned by a man on the side of the River. The funniest part about that was the woman in front of us said (in her English accent) "Now I can tell everyone I was mooned in Parie!"

On Sunday we drove to see the Arc De Triumph! Mike and Carrie decided it would be fun to pull over and jump out of the car on the Champs De Elysees, run into the middle of the street and take a picture. I was not a fan, but went along with them.

I was really hating it when the ongoing traffic's light turned green and there we were in the middle of the road! (no turning lane)

While Mom was away....

While I was gone the kids had lots of fun with Dad, Grandpa and Grandma! Here are a few pictures that Max took through the week. I cannot THANK Max and Claudia enough for watching the kids while I went and explored Europe! I really appreciate you extending your trip for me and the kids! We already miss you guys being here.

They went to a fun amusement Park on Saturday. I heard all about this place once I was home! It was a hit with the kids!

Lizzy told me this rope design was shaped like the Eiffel Tower.

A favorite was this moving horse ride. Austin was too short to go alone so Mike went with him.

One night for dinner they tried a Creperie by our apartment! A definite hit and I cannot wait to go and try it.

They went to the big outdoor market in Versailles, and of coarse hit the candy sales. The beauty of shopping with Grandpa and Grandma (they each got to take a bag home)!

Fun with Grandpa and Grandma

We went and saw the Gardens of the Palace of Versailles with Max and Claudia. The kids spent most of their time throwing rocks into the water fountains.

We had hot chocolate in one of the tea rooms in the Palace.

We took Grandpa and Grandma to Disneyland!

We were so excited to see the park looking magical with Christmas decorations and hear Christmas music playing so early in the Season!

Tigger was such a tease. He pulled mine and Lizzy's hats off, then he would not let Lizzy go!

I meant to get a picture of the kids and Grandma by the Crush's Coaster ride. When we first got there the kids were dying to do this new Nemo ride. We did not know how intense it would be! Poor Grandma ended up going with Lizzy while I went with Parker. As we were twisting, dropping and screaming I felt so bad that we had brought her on this ride. Lizzy and Parker's excitement made the experience worth it for her. And now she can say she has been on Crush's Coaster!

Normandy

What an experience going and visiting the sites in Normandy. We left on Friday and came home on Sunday. (Nov. 6-8) Max and Claudia were there with us, which made it all the more special. It was only a 2 ½ hour drive from Paris. We stayed in a fun hotel that had an upstairs loft for the kids. They quickly claimed this as their tree house! We had a great time at the breakfast buffet each morning. On Sunday we attended church outside of Normandy and had some very kind members translate for us since the missionaries were speaking that day. It is impossible to express through pictures the emotion that you feel when you are looking at the sites where D-Day actually took place in World War 2. There was such a peaceful feeling. A quiet respect for what took place on June 6, 1944. Seeing pictures and hearing stories of what took place that day and in the days to follow was very humbling and touching.

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Our first stop was at the Batterie Allemande at Longues Sur Mer. This was located between Gold and Omaha Beaches. Here we saw some German bunkers. Some had been destroyed by allied air forces the night before the attack. It was impossible to imagine these guns in action the morning of June 6th. These bunkers look out over the beautiful ocean in such a peaceful way now.

Mike, Lizzy and Parker standing in front of a bunker.
When looking up close at these massive guns you could see holes in the metal where the allied forces had attacked back.

The amazing view from the site.

The crew sitting on top of one of the bunkers.

It was a cold day, but we came prepared!

It was a strange feeling to think back to that dreadful day in this very location when our day was filled with joy and laughter.

We went to a circular theatre of war pictures near the town of Arromanches. That town is behind us.

We plugged our next site into the GPS and this is the road that it took us down. Very glad we did not end up in a mud pile, and it seemed to be a good short cut!

Our next stop was the American Cemetery. This Cemetery overlooks Omaha Beach. There are 9,387 American soldiers buried there. This was such an amazing place to visit. To look out over all the crosses was a humbling site. The grounds there are immaculate and beautiful! Nothing compared to this site! After viewing the cemetery we walked down to Omaha beach. Omaha beach was known as “Bloody Omaha” as this is where many American soldiers lost their lives. Over 34,000 men had landed on this beach, but at a cost of over 2,000 deaths on Omaha beach alone. The pictures of men dropping into the water and rushing up onto the beach are heart breaking. Once on the beach they then faced high cliffs with German soldiers fighting from the top. Thinking of what all the soldiers did that day and many months to follow was moving and inspiring. It brought us such gratitude.

Omaha Beach

Grandpa and Austin fitting right in with their berets. I absolutely love this picture! Austin has a soft spot for his Grandpa.

On the way to our next site Mike wanted to get an up close view of the ocean in the Renault. I had horrible visions of the Renault floating out into the ocean! Mike's Mom felt the same way I did!

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Our next stop was at La Pointe du Hoc. Here you are surrounded with steep cliffs. You can see that many bunkers still remain here and the many large bomb craters all over the ground. Some of these holes were 6-8 feet deep. As we walked around the holes we had to be careful as the ground was very uneven. Sources had told the Allies this point was an important point to hit with many guns and stored ammunition. The Allies sent 225 Army Rangers to scale the cliff and take the Pointe. Only 90 survived. This point played a huge role in the success of the entire operation!

Family shot with Pointe du Hoc behind us.

Mike and the boys popping out of a bunker.

Pointe du Hoc has an amazing view!

Bomb craters showing the intense fighting 65 years ago!

Many of the German bunkers on this site were severally damaged from the intense bombings. How thankful we are for the soldiers who fought so many years ago for our freedom!

Versailles in the Fall

Versailles in the Fall is so beautiful! There are leaves everywhere! This is my favorite street, it leads right into the palace. I love Parker's coat in these pictures. He always has a mind of his own when it comes to getting dressed. He refused to wear his nice coat! The kids had lots of fun playing in the leaves. They had leaf battles.

Oh what a night....

On Tuesday night I dropped the kids off at the Papes and headed into Paris to meet Mike, Max and Claudia for dinner! That is when my adventure began. I did great getting all the way to my freeway exit in Paris, then I got lost. I had no idea where I was or which direction I was heading. There was nowhere to pull over and nowhere to turn around. Welcome to Paris! I needed to focus on my driving and talk to Mike while trying to figure out an address to plug into my GPS. Now I can laugh and think of it as comical. At the time not so much, more fighting the tears. So I ended up on the Champs Elysees (of all streets) headed straight for the Arc with the CRAZY round about. I stayed calm until the police car next to me started honking at me and told me to roll down my window. Oh great, I knew cel phones were illegal while driving but I was desperate. So I rolled down my window and got yelled at by a French policeman in French, so I didn't understand any of it. I said, "No phone," and dropped my phone. I was so glad he did not want me to pull over. There was no where to pull over. All this happened while we were still moving. Through all of this Mike was so patient with me. He was never annoyed or stressed out. How does he do it? I am so thankful for Him!! Mike and his parents were waiting patiently for me. I finally got them and we had a very nice dinner at an authentic French restaurant. When we were home that night Mike said what a great night for you. You drove the roundabout at the arc, the Champs Elysees, and you ate duck liver.

Let's go up!

On Monday (Nov. 2) we met Mike at the Eiffel Tower for our first adventure up! It was a chilly morning with a bit of wind. The very top of the tower was closed, so we went half way up. It makes me realize I will be nervous to go all the way to the top! It was a beautiful day, even the walk to the Eiffel tower was gorgeous with all the Fall leaves. And what a view!! When it was time to go back down we decided to have a race. Mike took the stairs and the rest of us took the elevator. We won! But he got some good exercise.
Parker was very excited to see the Arc De Triumph through the telescope.

I had to put this picture on to show the wind was blowing!

Paris is so impressive! What a sight! I absolutely love walking or driving along the Seine River. There is something magical about it.

Looking up to the top from half way.

Lizzy waiting in line.

The crew waiting in line.

After we went up the Eiffel Tower we took the metro to a restaurant right by Mike's work. He likes to call it the Coherex Cafe. It felt good to get inside and get warm! Here are Grandpa and Austin on the train.

Trick or Treat to Eiffel Tower

On Halloween night we went and trick or treated the Eiffel tower. The kids were so curious what that meant when Mike said that is where we were headed. They were excited to see it meant a ride on the carousel, popcorn and cotton candy. Yes, all this when we just got over the stomach flu that morning!

Halloween Costumes

Here they are: Yoda, Little Bo Peep and Thomas!

The kids dressed up to do the scavenger hunt. We were going to have them wear their costumes into Paris, but they decided they did not want to do that! Probably a good choice. We put them on again later that night to go and trick or treat Grandpa and Grandma's hotel room!

Halloween Day Crafts

In France they do not celebrate Halloween. So we did our own celebration! It was extra special since Max and Claudia got here the day before Halloween. We had a big Halloween lunch. Then we made spooky houses, did candy corn art, made scarecrows, and had a spooky scavenger hunt! After our fun activities we headed into Paris to trick or treat the Eiffel Tower.

(Austin's house)

(Lizzy's house)

(Coming back from a clue on the scavenger hunt)

Hit with the flu bug

Both of our boys got the flu on Thursday night(29th). What a crazy night! Austin missed the trash every time. Which made for lots of laundry the next day. We had to take two of the down blankets to the dry cleaners since we can't fit them in our washing machine. We got a good laugh when the total was 40E, so $60 to clean them. I had to get a picture when they both fell asleep at the same time on Friday. Lizzy and I enjoyed the peace and quiet. Max and Claudia came into town the next day (30th). We are so excited to have them in France with us for a few weeks! When the boys were feeling better the 3D glasses went on and they watched a spin off of Monsters vs. Aliens.

Trip to Frankfurt Germany

Mike needed to work in Frankfurt Thursday and Friday (22-23) so we decided to make a family trip out of it. We left on Wednesday after we took the missionaries to dinner and drove 3 hours to Metz (France). Thursday morning we finished the drive into Frankfurt (only 2 1/2 more hours). One of Mike's favorite things about Germany has got to be the Autobahn. Germany's no speed limit freeway! We could not believe how many toll booths we passed through. We are very used to driving on our freeways for free. It was $40 each way in just toll fees. The kids were thrilled to hear that the name of the exits in Germany are Ausfahrts. They thought that was great! Here he is on the Autobahn, notice the speedometer at 201 km (or 125 mph).
On Friday the kids and I went to the Frankfurt Zoo. The day started out a little rough when we had to walk for over an hour to find an ATM. The zoo only accepted cash. The kids were troopers and we finally found one. In France there is one on every corner, not the case in Frankfurt! Once we had money we had a great day! We went to Pizza Hut for lunch, then spent the rest of the day in the zoo. Their zoo was fantastic and huge!! They had a building that was an amazing aquarium, and tons of other specialized buildings (one was creepy and dark with bats).

They had a petting area with goats that Lizzy loved! She could have spent half the day here.

Austin kept putting his puzzle and car in the goats face and then he would scream, "The goat loves my toys!"

We got a kick out of this bird. The German name was Helmkasuar.

We spent a long time at the play center in the zoo. This was a fun unique swing they had. This German girl was so nice and pushed the kids forever! I offered to push, but I don't think she could understand me.

After the Zoo we picked Mike up and headed to an English Movie Theatre! That was very exciting to be able to see a movie in ENGLISH! We saw G-Force.

The view from our hotel. Very cool shot of downtown Frankfurt with no fog!

On Saturday we spent the day in downtown Frankfurt. We started out watching a bit of a kids Marathon. We tried to get our kids to join in and get a shirt, but they wanted no part of that! So instead we got the boys haircuts! This picture makes us laugh because Austin DID NOT want to get his hair cut. I finally bribed him with candy and he calmed down, but the Italian man cutting his hair was so funny! He would say every word he could think of in English, or just copy what I would say and add Austin at the end! I think he freaked Austin out.

Then on Saturday we ate at Vapiano's for the second time. We LOVED this restaurant! Someone needs to open this restaurant in the States. It is pizza, pasta and salad but they make it right in front of you. You have a card to go and order whatever you like, swipe the card and then pay at the end. The food is awesome!!

After Vapiano's we went exploring and found a very touristy street. We loved these classic German buildings behind Mike and the kids.

Then we came across this church that was still standing after WWII. We bought this postcard to show what it looked like right after the war in 1945. Everything around it had been destroyed, and it pretty much stood alone. The next few pictures are that church today. One of the only buildings that made it through the war in Frankfurt.

Lizzy loves taking our picture, and she is getting better and better.

The Bridge that crosses the Main River!

There was a play land right next to the Main River. Of coarse that was a hit in our family.

Before dinner we went and saw the Frankfurt Temple. It looks a lot like the Boise temple. We were expecting to see it from the road, but you cannot see the angel Moroni until you are pretty much in the parking lot!

Another Lizzy shot!

The kids were dying to do a goofy shot!

After we saw the Temple we went to dinner at an authentic German Restaurant named Fido's. It is a little place and they didn't have any more table space, but the cute outgoing waitress would not turn us away and put us at bar stools! Mike ordered for all of us and we had pig knuckle and weinershnitzle. Surprisingly both were very good! On Sunday we went to the Frankfurt International Ward, which is in English. It felt really good to hear church in English. We even made friends before we left that would want to get together next time we are in town. We got a very warm welcome that made us a bit homesick for friendly Americans. Lizzy really wants me to mention that when we were at our hotel we were on the 5th floor and Austin decided one morning to throw his poopy diaper over the balcony! Lizzy and Parker died laughing. All in all a good week filled with adventure!

We love the Elders

These are the missionaries in our ward here in Versailles! They are all GREAT! We took them out to dinner the other night to say "Thank you" for all the help that they give us! They translate for us every week in church (they even go into Lizzy's Primary class). We figure food is a great way to tell Elders we appreciate them, and need them desperately in the next 7 months!! They are a great group. When we got in the car after dinner the kids all had a handful of candy that the Elders had given them.

What a Saturday brings

The kids got new Halloween jammies in a package from Grandma Gayle! They were thrilled. Austin now says, "I want to wear my pirates....argggg matey."
We all got a new jacket. We were all in need of new Sunday (nicer) coats. Austin already had one but could not resist this Cars coat. Once he put it on in the store we could not get it back off.

We found a bowling alley, and the kids had fun playing!

Austin was so tired at Carre Four he was falling forward and back going to sleep. We try to keep him awake everyday so that he does not want to go to bed at midnight. (It doesn't work!)

New Car

Mike is modeling our new ride here in Europe. We got a Renault Scenic with a third row. It is a big change from a suburban, but fits great in tight spaces! It was brand new a few weeks ago and has already been thrown up in (poor Parker and being car sick) and we have already hit a pole and dinged up the back. We are in Europe this will not be the last time we get a ding! I am just glad that Mike did it first. Please notice the red plates. At first we thought I wonder why it is red? Then we learned it is because we are "Americans!" Oh no, not a great thing in France! Mike said I am being paranoid, but it does mean "Foreigner." Is that really better? Now I feel like people are staring at us with the "Red Plate."