Weekend in Paris

April 26-28, 2008 I never understood all the fuss about Paris. That is until this weekend. The old part of the city is full of history and beauty.

We rented a VW van and armed with a map of France loaded the crew up and followed the signs to Paris. Getting to Paris was no problem. We had a few discussions about what various road signs meant and figured out the tolls by following the flow of traffic. Driving through Paris to reach our hotel is a whole other story. Have you ever driven through a round-a-bout in Paris? No order what so ever. The goal is to get off of it without getting hit. Lots of honking, yelling, accelerating and brake lights. (Leaving Paris we made three loops around the round- a- bout because we didn't know which exit to take! It was kind of fun. We were using our map quest directions in reverse. So it took a few loops to count the exits accurately. All the while the kids are laughing hysterically.) Thankfully we were able to leave the van parked at the hotel and take the train into the city center each day.

We checked into the hotel and caught a train to see the Eiffel Tower. It is enormous and beautiful and oh so graceful looking. The iron work reminds me of lace.

We walked around the city (partly because we were searching for the WC) taking in the architecture and loving the warm springtime weather that we haven't had in Basel. The flowering trees that lined both sides of many streets were in bloom. After a delicious dinner of roasted chicken, Asian noodles and vegetables we walked back to The Tower. Landon was happy to be eating ratatouille in Paris-you know the movie.

It was nearing dark by now and so we got in a very long line to buy tickets to ascend the tower. The closer we got to the ticket window the more of a chicken I became. We purchased our tickets and started to climb the 600 plus steps to the second level. I did not make it very far until I chickened out and abandoned my family. They have wonderful photos of the view.

That was day one in Paris.

Olivia really did not eat all that food. She had Robert's plate in front of her. She is quite a good little actress though!

Robert and I with our new biker friends. Keaton started to take a picture of the two of us when these two guys got into it. Then they took one of our family.