J'Ador Paris Part 1

I've been ignoring my blog for awhile, and I do apologize, but with the kids home my only excuse is that summer has taken over my life. I'm going to start with Paris and then move on to Santa Monica, some pool fun, an update on Jordan and then Dutch Wonderland...so here goes Paris...

We decided to go to Paris, France this summer to celebrate our 10th Anniversary. WOW what a F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C trip! There are over 1000 photos so I just gave you some highlights...if you are interested in seeing the photos leave a comment with your email and I will shutterfly them to you.

We flew overnight on a Friday so we would arrive early Saturday morning. It's a 6 hour (ahead) time difference and the first day was pretty rough because even though we had premium seats on Air France we still didn't sleep much. Upon arrival we made it through customs, got our passports stamped, headed to the currency exchange and then onto the shuttle to Euro Disney where we were staying. After checking into the hotel and getting settled we decidede to take Sophia to Disneyland. Dave and I were walking zombies but we made it through with a sugar high off pepsi and then crashed hard that night. The time difference didn't really effect us much but it was wierd to think that we were having lunch when the kids were just waking up.

Disneyland Paris was very much like Disney World, but honestly it was more of a disappointment after being to Orlando. It was very small, not well taken care of and the people were rude. It was also dirty and the trash was overflowing, it was like they didn't have enough Cast to work and didn't plan well. The plus for us was that it was a 10 minute walk to our hotel, very safe and next to the metro station. There was this very cool Alice in Wonderland attraction. We spent alot of time winding through Alice's fun maze and climbing the castle...

On Sunday we decided to venture into Paris on the metro and get our footing a bit. Riding the metro became just second nature to us. It was super easy, fast and convenient. It took about 45 min to an hour to get to the city and back every day, but we used the time to plan our day and review what we did. The only thing that got old quick was that there are these begger people who hand out cards on the train every day that say 'I'm homeless, I have 4 children, I can not feed them, please give me money,' and it's the same card but a different person every day! There are also various musicians who get on and off at different stops and plan string instruments and ask for donations. It was funny because on the NYC subway you get a trio of black men who sing and look super clean up and have beautiful voices (we gave them $5 on our last trip there because they were so good)...and in Paris you have string instrument players...so Europe to me!

Our first full day in Paris was spent at the Louve Museum, the largest museum in the world that has been home to many Kings and Queens. It was incredible, in fact, it was one of those great "awe" moments. Just looking at it takes a full 180 degree turn and several hours to soak in all the beautiful asthetic work of art that is actually is. It's huge, long, beautiful, ornate, facinating, incredible, and that's just the outside...the inside was beautiful also. We toured the midevil Louve, and then literally ran into a Spinx...up the stairs to the Mona Lisa, Venus De Milo and several other famous paintings and sculptures. It was pretty incredible to be staniding there in front of these works of art and taking photos. I could only imagine when and where they were originally made and the circumstances behind each one. Truly incredible. We didn't get through the entire museum so Dave had to go back on Friday to finish up while Sophia and I went shopping. But later that day we took a great walk around and were just in awe at how beaufiul Paris is and we went into the little district around the Louve and toward L'Opera.

Monday we headed to the Eiffel Tower...we reserved the tickets in advance and walked right on to the elevator. We had lunch on the 2nd floor, it was pretty cool and the view was amazing. Afterward we decided to ride the hop on/off bus for 2 days and so we got a great tour of the City... and the Notre Dame Cathedral, which took 200 years to build! Can you imagine???

Tuesday was another day spent in the City exploring and taking in the Notre Dame Catherdral and Luxemburg Gardens. Sophia enjoyed renting a mini-sailboat and pushing it around a fountain with a stick. The highlight of my day was a trip down the Champs Elysees and the Louis Vuitton store...:-)

Wednesday was Bastille Day, basically France's celebration of Independence, and we entered the City in rain and to our surprise, most of the stores were closed! UGGG But it was still a fun day dodging the storm and we stood under awnings to stay dry. Needless to say, Sophia was NOT happy about this. The funny part was that we got to see the French President, in fact I got him on video tape...see below...waving to us. He's pretty short and from what I heard not too popular.

Thursday we went to Belgium and that's Paris Part 2...

Friday started with another view of the Eiffel Tower and then on to conquer other areas of Paris...It was our last full day so we ventured back into Paris so Dave could go to the Louve again while Sophia and I went shopping. We also went to the Natural History Museum which was like Night of the Museum goes Europe!!! Also the Piere Lachase Cemetary where Jim Morrison is buried and had a lunch at an awesome cafe!!! Later that night we did our last tour of the Champs Elysse and then headed home to collapse and pack.

This was the BEST vacation ever. I can't wait to scrap the photos...and make a book for us to always remember it!