Paris: The Key To Armoire

Bonjour

Paris, France

March 31st-April 3rd

Day Seven: March 31st

We woke up at 6am, after Alli and Jan had already left for their flights at 4am. We made our hour trek through the over ground and the tube.  Who would have thought that carrying a bag and walking at the same time uses so many stomach muscles? When you're pregnant you find these things out fast. Poor Jeff has become very coordinated at as he carries his big backpacking bag and our two school size backpacks.  We arrived at the Victoria Coach station at 7:30am and boarded our Eurolines bus for PARIS! The 6.5 hour ride was very eventful. There were squeaky windows, dripping AC vents, a dirty toilet, beautiful scenery,  and riding in a bus on a train through the Chunnel for 45 minutes! And to top it all off,  I had a little boy exploring and having the hiccups in my abdomen!

Jeff's first words spoken in France, "It soothes my soul to be driving on the right side of the road again!"

We got to the Charles de Gaulle Airport and the bus driver, who didn't speak English, told us it was our stop and we got off. He then drove off and we were left not knowing how to get into Paris.  But don't you fret, Amber went to the bathroom and inside found a nice girl who literally walked us through the process to get to the train and into Paris. That left us with a good impression of France. We had heard that people weren't the nicest here, but this was working out splendidly. We then followed the instructions to get to our next host's house and upon exiting the metro station Jeff got stuck in the door (too many bags) and accidentally stepped on a lady's foot who was following RIGHT behind him. She was not so nice. She had this incredulous look on her face and said, "excusez-moi" and pointed to her foot like it was hurting her. Jeff said sorry, but inside he didn't feel too bad because why would you follow a person through a tiny opening who was wearing a large backpack and carrying another. Not smart. This left us thinking that maybe France wasn't so nice after all.

We eventually made it into our place and then immediately headed out to see the sights.

The first was Notre Dame. We immediately got there and found a crepe`, because that is what you do when you are in France. Eat. We did a lot of that over the next few days and we have photos to prove it. Notre Dame was beautiful as the sun went down, and then we strolled back along the Seine and went to bed. It was sorely needed.

 The bridge is gold looking because of all the locks that have been secured to it. 

Day Eight: April 1st, 2014 
April Fools Day.

The next day was a busy one: We saw/climbed the Eiffel Tower, ate a crepe, saw the Arc de Triomphe, ate some Macroons, strolled the Champs de Elysse, saw Les Infideles ( where Napoleon is buried), ate more Crepes, ate a baguette with soft cheese and fruit,  and saw the Eiffel tower at night (BEAUTIFUL!!) It was a good day. Here are the highlights of the day.

#1 Someone tried to steal from us/dupe us into giving him money. We were sitting, staring at the Arc de Triomphe from outside the roundabout, more like confined chaos, when a guy walks in front of us and seems to pick up a gold ring. He looks around like we had dropped it and we, being naive to the Parisian shady characters ways, believe it and think we will help him. We point to a couple who was standing in that spot before we got there and he acts like his is going to go and give it to them. The proceed to cross the street and he turns to us and hands Jeff the ring and tries to exchange it for money. . . not what I would think to do. We dismiss him after we start to catch on and at the same time a guy who had a flat tire in the roundabout gets our attention and tells us to watch our camera which was sitting on the bench. We immediately realize what was going on, and take it as a lesson learned.

#2 As we are leaving our spot to go and get close to the Arc we see another shady looking guy with the same ring as our little friend trying to do the same thing to another unsuspecting couple. We watch for a second and then Amber says, " Be careful. He will try to take something." The guy IMMEDIATELY turns and spits at her and walks away VERY angry. The woman in the couple saw what was happening and Amber tried to tell them what was happening, but they didn't understand. No English. She then acted it out, and they understood. Maybe Parisians are that nice after all. I guess those signs every 40 feet warning of pickpocketers wasn't for nothing.

 Interesting fact: Eiffel was a real man. He built the tower and lived at the top.

 I am pregnant mama hear me roar as I climb the tower.... well at least I was trying :) I was a very tired mama too!

At the very top of the Eiffel Tower!!!

 Arc De Triomphe

 No one can ever say I am short again ;)

 Can you find the Louvre and Notre Dame?

 Week 24 of Pregnancy

Here's a video of us going to the top!

 Our favorite Crepes we ate in Paris!!!!Nutella and Strawberries :)

I loved these views!

 Arc De Triomphe

 We couldn't get over how massive the arch was!Here is a good perspective for you.

 The delicious tower of Macaroons 

  Where Napoleon was buried 

 More Crepes!!!

 Yummy French Dinner

 The most delicious Macaroon!!!! It tasted like a soft brownie inside!!!

Here is where we got these delicious delicacies:

 

 Peace written on glass in all different languages

Day 9: April 2nd, 2014.

Today was filled with a lot of old things. We started out by going to Notre Dame again, but this time the inside version. It was beautiful. Much more simplistic and less cluttered with marble than Westminster Abbey. Here are some pictures and a few videos. Thanks Tim for letting us borrow the GoPro! We love it!

The inside:

The outside:

After that we went to the Louve. Talk about a museum. It started out in the 1400's ( We think, everything was in French so we are guessing here) as a house for Ann of Austria, whoever she is. Later the beautiful rooms and hallways were changed into galleries for the Antiquities that the family had collected, and from there the collection has grown. Needless to say we spent 4.5 hours in there and could have spent a lot more, except our feet were done and the pregnant one just wanted to sit. We did go through  pretty much every gallery, but we certainly did not stop and look at everything. We would still be in there if we did.

Eating lunch at the Louvre!!! Our best advice if you don't want to spend all your money on food, but still eat delicious food buy a baguette for one euro, spreadable cheese (these are the two we went for) and Nutella!!! And then finish off your meal with some macaroons and fresh fruit (cheapest if you buy from Carrefour). The fruit here is so crisp and DELICIOUS!!!

Can you find Jeff? This is part of the Louvre.

He Loves his macaroons!

Here are the highlights:

#1. There is a ton of naked marble people. That's the Greeks for ya, but it was beautifully done.

Aphrodite

 You can see her again in the distance

One of my absolute favorites! Just Beautiful!!

#2 

The Mona Lisa is very small. Beautiful, but small. They must have put the Mona Lisa behind a special glass because people were taking pictures like there was no tomorrow, with and without flash.  That is a change from the last time that Amber was there. Here are some videos and our picture with the beautiful lady.

#3. There are many more impressive things. Here are a couple more pictures.

"The Seated Scribe" from around 2200 BC... 

Incredible!!!

 Napoleon Bonaparte lived and worked from a wing of the museum. Here is a glimpse into how fancy he liked his home.

#4. The need of a bathroom can get tricky when you are pregnant and they seem to be nowhere to be found. Amber needed to go real bad so she set of while Jeff spent some time reading some signs. It was a good trade off for each. The problem arose when Amber went to find said bathroom indicated on the map. It was nowhere to be found, and the workers weren't what you would call super helpful. She continued to look around and finally found one, but the typical plague of women's bathrooms had reached France as well. Lines. There was a line that was way out the door and down the hall, and when a pregnant woman as to go, she has to go, so come hell or high water, she will go. Now don't go thinking that Amber went all crazy on the other unsuspecting women, she did the other obvious choice. She went into the men's bathroom. There was no line, so what's the worst that could happen. Well she got in and there were a few men, but she avoided eye contact, and because men in the bathroom close off to the world completely, she wasn't even noticed. The problem arose when she left and she saw a Spanish couple outside the door. The woman was also pregnant and not liking the look of the aforementioned line , so when she saw Amber come out of the Men's bathrooms she gave Amber this sideways look, asking with her eyes , " I can go in too???" Amber shrugged her shoulders, smiled, cupped her hands around her belly and kept walking. Hopefully the Spanish lady wasn't scarred, but at least she got to go pee.

After that we went and put a lock on the bridge and threw our keys into the Seine. Watch the video.

Leaving the bridge and we found a little restaurant and had some pasta and creme brulee. Very romantic and picturesque! 

We ate outdoors, because that is what you do in Paris, but there were a few things that took away from the ambiance. First the smoking. EVERYBODY SMOKES! Ok, not everybody but tons. We saw one little no smoking campaign sign in the entire city, but that was it. Somebody in the Public Health Department needs to step up the publicity machine. 

Second, the drunk man trying to steal smokes from the tables next to us. We wish he would have gotten them.Hopefully then the chimneys next to us would have stopped. The pasta on the other hand was delicious and we got to stare at some iconic French streets, a little park, and a fountain.  That part was very enjoyable. Oh, and throughout the day we got crepe`s. Couldn't leave that important fact out.

April 3rd, 2014

We woke up this morning and headed out to find the Sacre Coeur, the Sacred Heart. It is a cathedral on the top of a hill in Northern Paris. It is a beautiful cathedral that is dedicated to the Heart of Christ and His Love. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

This group was so fun to watch! We think they were taking a portrait for their company. 

Kissing in front of the sacred heart! Seemed appropriate :)

It has an adorable artsy courtyard near by!

 We then wandered around the area surrounding it and we were greeted with pretty little shops, a chocolate replica of Notre Dame, tons of artists who wanted to take draw us a portrait, and good pastries. This time we tried an éclair. So much better here than in America. The same goes for all the Macaroons we sampled. Janet, you have to come to Paris and get macaroons. They are so good! We had quite a few in your name. :)

We then went in search of the Moulin Rouge. Sure there is a semi-scandalous movie about a prostitute by the same name, but it can't be that bad down there. Right?? WRONG! Don't do that thing. It is the red light district. Now there weren't prostitutes out on the corners, but we were there at 2PM. Come nighttime, who knows what happens. It gets even more scandalouser. If that is possible. The problem was that we had come all the way down the hill, but thankfully the metro station was right there, so we took a picture of the building and then we got on the metro and went home to get some rest for the long voyage ahead of us. 

At 9:30 PM we got on a bus and started for Frankfurt. A few months ago it seemed like a good idea. Spend the night traveling, we don't have to spend money on accommodations, and we get to have more time in the cities. Yes that is nice in theory, but in reality it is full of bumpy rides, no place to lay down, frequent stops and passport checks at 3:10 AM. Not fun. We did manage to get some sleep though and pulled into Frankfurt at 6 AM. We then spent the morning freshening up in the bathrooms (Luxury!) and eating some food in the main train station until our car was ready at noon. Conveniently it was in the same building so there needn't be  any long walks with bags this time.

We then got the car, a Seat Toledo 5 speed diesel for those who care, and headed out to Nuremburg! Till next time!