Paris

OK, I'm finally able to sit down and start writing about our wonderful trip to Paris. This is going to be a long one...

So, my wonderful mother flew over to watch our kids Friday night, and we were off by Saturday afternoon. We arrived two hours early just to make sure, and our flight ended up being delayed by a couple hours. Normally I would have been so stressed and irritated, but I was just so excited to be alone with Adam and to have a whole week with him ALONE I could have cared less.

Neither of us could sleep on the plane, so we watched movies, played sudoku and crossword puzzles and read. We got there Sunday morning and had no problems figuring out the train system, thanks to the great directions from the Shurtliffs, the wonderful couple that let us stay with them. They live about 10 minutes from the Eiffel Tower and within walking distance to everything else. It couldn't have been more perfect. So, we got to their apartment and crashed, literally. We slept about 6-7 hours. When we woke up the Shurtiffs had made dinner for us. Then we walked to the Eiffel Tower to see the lights. So beautiful. Really, during the day, it's nothing special. But in the evening, it sparkles on the hour, and is so pretty. Of course, our camera doesn't even begin to do it justice.



The next few days we just walked around Paris and took in the sights. We bought a museum pass and went to several museums.

• Our favorite was the sewer museum... not really. Honestly, what was I thinking. I was thinking that they would have cool stuff about Jean Valjean from Les Miserables, and the scene where he's going through the sewers, or the Phantom of the Opera, since, apparently, his abode was in the sewers, which now, all I have to say is that that must have been disgusting. But no, it was really about the history of the sewers of Paris. Really. And people pay to see this. Anyways, I don't even think we have any pictures of that.
  
• We also went to the Orangie museum where they have some Monet paintings,
  
• The Louvre, of course, which was so neat to see the statues and paintings I've been learning about for years.
  
• Napoleans tomb (apparently, he's a hero there),
• A WW2 museum, which was very interesting seeing history from a different point of view. According to President DeGaull, they defeated the Germans on their own. Oh, and we also learned, that it was because of the French that we won the Revolution.
  
• We walked along Champs Elysse a few times, and climbed the Arc de Triumph, which was very interesting because there was a lightening storm coming on. Everyones hair was standing strait up. We took our pictures and climbed back down. It really was a beautiful view, though. Oh, you wouldn't believe the traffic. In roundabouts in Paris, the person coming into the circle has the right of way. Enjoy the video. I thought it was crazy.

On the third day we decided to go to Versailles. I read a book about Marie Antoinette this summer and was really excited to see the castle. It was amazing and so decadent. There wasn't much about Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI or the revoltion though, which I was disappointed in. It was mostly about Louis XIV, or the Sun King, who was apparently "The King" of Europe at that time. He was very much in love with himself. The thing that I found interesting was how little privacy they had. None. The gardens were beautiful, and Adam and I spent half the day walking around and laying under some trees. The weather was perfect.

The next day we rented a car and went south of Paris to a town called Amboise to see some Chateaus. We stayed in a hotel for the evening, which was nice. The first day we went to what had been a hunting cheateau called Chamborg. We really didn't want to spend the money to go into the castle, so instead we rented some bikes and went around the property. It was so fun. We rode through the forest, and around the grounds. It was probably one of my favorite things on our trip.

The next day we went to Chenonceau and I loved it. It's a castle that was built over the river Cher. We decided to go into this one, and I'm glad we did. My favorite part was going into the servants quarters and seeing their kitchen and other rooms. It also had beautiful gardens. During WW2 the river was the dividing line between unoccupied France, and Nazi occupied France. Because the castle is on the river it was used as an underground, hospital, and a place to exchange prisoners. Very interesting. Oh, and if you ever want to read about some crazy people, read about the royals that lived in this castle.

It was an awesome trip and I've been yearning to go back all week. We were thrown right back in this past week with Adam being at school all day, and Drew has been really sick so I've been up most nights. I miss being around Adam all day, but am so grateful for the chance we had to feel like "newleyweds" again. We're also excited for our kids to get a little older so that we can do this stuff with them as well. I will admit that several times during the week we were thinking how much Abby and Drew would have enjoyed certain things. But I wouldn't trade that time with Adam.

Sorry it was long. Oh, one last thing, because people ask. I thought the French were very nice and kind, especially because we don't speak any French. We only met one guy that was surprisingly rude, but otherwise, we were very impressed by those we met.