Bonjour!

As most of you know, my wonderful hubby surprised me with a trip to Paris for my 30th birthday. =) Since my b-day was just 3 days after Davis was born (in Sept), he planned it for April. What a good husband, huh?!!

We had an AMAZING time and I totally fell in love with this quiant city. It was so incredibly beautiful and clean......much more than we expected. It's a romantic city known for not only it's beauty but for a variety of monuments. The weather was nice- mostly sunny and breezy. One afternoon we had the coolest thunder and lightening storm. I loved it!!! The streets were lined with trees and cafes galore. Just about every restaurant has seating outside, with the seats facing toward the street. It's different sitting down and watching people & the city there vs. here in the US. Much more beautiful and interesting! I could have spent an afternoon people watching and listening to the whiz of cars and chirping of birds. And at night, the buildings light up, giving off a beautiful, soft glow.

For some reason, I loved the streets. Maybe it was the green trees, but the streets were more narrow and each buidling was sorta "rounded" at each corner. It was very pleasing to the eye! I must say too that they are crazy drivers! We were entertained just by watching people drive up and down a street. They have a "roundabout" street and the INCOMING traffic has the right away. We were in a taxi going at least 45 mph and the driver just shot straight into oncoming traffic. It almost felt like the driver held his breath and punched the gas, as if to say "Here we go!" John and I couldn't stop laughing. Kinda like a roller coaster ride where you want to squeal in fright and giggle with glee at the same time! =)

Everyone has been asking me what my favorite part was, but the whole trip was so great there wasn't one thing better than another. Definitely spending time alone with John was the biggest highlight. No distractions from work (at least not too much), kids, phones ringing, etc. It's been a while since we've had that. But, if I had to pick, I would probably say the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. Really though, I loved it all. Except for French food. Yuck! They can bake up some great pastries, but other than that I was excited for good ol' US food. You can definitely tell they know how to cook and spend their time in preperation. It's just WHAT they cook that is gross, to me at least. I think my taste buds like simple food. But I was forced to be a bit brave and tried such things as foie gras (duck liver) and au caviar, among "other things. " Our hotel did have an incredible breakfast each morning and we had the most DELICIOUS donuts and hot chocolate. The donuts couldn't have been more perfect and the hot chocolate was so thick and chocolately that they serve it with milk to thin it out.

So...we left Friday evening and John surprised me by arranging for a limo to take us to the airport. I told you I married a good one! We didn't arrive in Paris until Saturday afternoon and as we approached our hotel, we drove around the the amazing Arc de Triomphe. It goes
without saying that these pictures don't do justice; you really have to see these things for yourself! But, to gain perspective, look at how small the people look next to the Arc.

After checking into our hotel (Prince de Galles), we walked to the Champ de Mars and the Eiffel Tower, crossing over the beautiful Seine....because Paris isn't Paris without the La Tour Eiffel, right? The park before the Tower-Champ de Mars- was so green and peaceful, I could have spent an afternoon there reading a book and marveling over the beautiful tulips. Walking up to the Eiffel Tower was great, but I was amazed when I was standing next to it and directly under it. It is HUGE and you can't get that from pictures or even a movie. It took them 2 years to build and weighs 10,000 tons! Again, these pictures don't give you a true perspective of how it feels to be next to the Tower, but check out how little the people are next to it!













Did you know that the same builders of the Eiffel Tower (Auguste Bartholdi and Gustave Eiffel) also built the Statue of Liberty and a mini replica of Miss Liberty exists in Paris? I didn't! There is also the same "flame" from the Statue on display in Paris and the pic below shows it, with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Kinda cool. The Eiffel Tower is beautiful at night! I don't know

if you're getting tired of reading, but I'm getting tired of typing so I'll try to wrap this up a bit. Other highlights, besides Notre Dame (below), was driving by the Musée d'Orsay, taking a trip the Palace at Versailles (below), and seeing the Mona Lisa at Musée du Louvre (pyramid pic below). We didn't get very good pictures of the Louvre or Versailles because they are so huge (and beautiful), although we are still a bit confused as to why the Mona Lisa is so popular. =) The day before we left, we took the Eurostar to London for the day. The Eurostar is so cool! It's very quiet, smooth and goes approx 186 mph! In about 2 1/2 hours, we arrived in London and took a tour around the entire city. We didn't have the best experience there (yucky weahter, bad tour, etc), but it was still great to see all the historical monuments and experience another city.

To my wonderful husband--thanks for an incredible trip and wonderful memories. I will never forget it. I'm so thankful to be married to you. Love you!