Springtime in Paris
What started out as an innocent trip to McDonald's with my parents ended a couple of weeks later in a whirlwind of art, arcitecture and history in Paris, France. At McDonald's my father subtly asked if Clint could find a babysitter and he and I could go with them to meet my younger brother, Shane, and his family (who were taking their annual family vacation to Euro Disneyland -- since they live in Albania that's the closest Western Hemisphere kid entertainment to be found.) The long and short is that Clint told me later, I called my father and asked, "Were you serious or joking?", and he said, "Go on the internet and look for tickets. If they match my price I will pay for them." -- So I did and they matched and Clint is thinking, "Terry is never going to invite me to come with him again." Then it became a family affair and Brock and Ali were invited too and in less than a week and 1/2 we got our homes cleaned, babysitting squared away and found ourselves in planes and airports for a 16 hour minimum (one way).
Once we were on the gound, rested from jet lag (Shane and Jen kindly let us crash at their place) we took off to explore Paris. We were prepared. We had an itnerary and we stuck to it pretty well even through 32 degree weather with a wind and light rain. On Thursday we saw the Eiffel Tower, Hotel de Invalides (Napoleon's Tomb), Notre Dame and Musee de Dorsey (all the impressionists -- Renior, Degas, Monet, etc.) with Brock and Ali. On Friday we went with the whole family for a 2 hour train ride to the Chateau de Versailles and then came back to Paris and split up with CW and I going to the Louvre (Mona Lisa) and everyone else going mall shopping and back to rest. On Saturday we all split up and went our seperate ways. CW and I climbed the 283 steps of the Arch de Triomphe, walked the Champs de Elysee, saw the Royal Palais and the Petit Palais, the Egyptian Obolisk, Madeline Cathedral, enjoying very thick bitter hot chocolate at Angelina's by the Louvre and making the, it felt like, 500 steps striaght up from the metro to the hill where Sacre Coure was located and then calling it a day and meeting our family at the mall for dinner and toy shopping. That was our stair day our legs were just shaking. Sunday we got on the plane and left and got home all in the same day -- seeing our kids at about 7:30pm. Our kids were so loved and cared for by our awesome neighbor and friend Amanda, that they didn't want us to come home. They warmed up to us when we brought out the souvenirs.
All in all -- CW loved learning the metro/RER (train) system and the immense history of the cathedral architecture, I loved the bagettes, chocolate and crepes, the bird man and the history and feeling so young as a country. Paris is all that they say it is. It is filled with romance, pastries and people playing their guitars in the public square under the Eiffel tower. The people were very kind and helpful and very well-dressed -- especially the cute kids. They have a lot of pride in their country, as they should there is so much to be proud of.
It was so wonderful to be there with my family. I love them so much and what a great way to take a family vacation -- completely spur of the moment and in a place where history and architecture and art abound. I loved holding my sweetheart's hand in the middle of the romance capital of the world and taking it all in with him, I loved hob nobbing around Paris with Brock and Ali, reading Junie B. Jones to Ainsley on the train to Versaille, holding Ollie in the rain, seeing Adlyn's sun-shattering smiles and just getting caught up and exchanging deep thoughts and ideas with Jen and Shane. I love hearing my mom's indignant French people stories and watching my dad spoil his grandkids he doesn't get to see all that often. And when I told Ollie I had to go back in a plane to take care of Faith, Joy, Jacob and Luke he brought me to tears when he said, "I come with you?" I wanted to kidnap him right away. These are some of my most treasured memories of Paris. I know that I could be anywhere with the people I love and it would be a treasure to me. Thank you Dad and Mom -- your the best.
Click here to see the fabulous photos of Paris.