Home Sweet Home!

We have been home for almost a week now and the jet lag is finally lifting and it is time to finish up and write a final installment to our France blog!

On the last day of our trip, Bobby took the kids to Aquaboulevard (the largest water park in Europe) while I cleaned and packed.  They had a great time when they realized that Speedos make the slides even faster!

That night, we said goodbye to our home in Marly Le Roi.  This is such a cute little town and we will miss it.

We left home at 2:30AM to drive to the airport.  (Note to self, starting a long trip with sleep deprived kids is not ideal.)  From Paris, we flew an hour to Frankfort and then boarded a plane for the 8 hour flight to Dulles.  Once we reached American soil, we had to pause for a presidential photo opportunity.

Next, we boarded our final flight to SFO.  After 26 hours of travel we arrived at Grandpa and Grandma's with some extremely tired kids.  For once, they were actually too tired to argue with one another.  On Sunday, we drove home from San Jose--this trip was only 8 hours--piece of cake....

We were so happy to arrive home with the family intact and our happy dog.  Our month in France was a wonderful adventure filled with many high points.  We have made some great memories as a family and Jacob and Maddie both agree that the trip has made our family stronger.

Our primary goal for this trip was to show the kids that the world is not confined to their Orange County Bubble--mission accomplished.  We all learned a lot from this trip and appreciate the ease of living in California.  For me, the thing that resonates the most is that no matter where I go in the world, as long as I am with my sweet husband and crazy kids, I am home--Home Sweet Home!

The Peripherique

There is a circular boulevard surrounding Paris called the Boulevard Peripherique.  It is actually a freeway, but they call it a "Boulevard".  This is the road we have taken each time we drive into Paris.  On the Peripherique, we feel confident and secure, but once we need to exit, we don't feel as confident.

Today, we drove into Paris for the 4th time.  This was our final trip into the city and we wanted to go back to the Ile St. Louis which was our favorite area of the city.  We promised the kids ice cream and a park and they seemed ready to go.  We found great parking in Montparnasse near the Pantheon and walked through the Latin quarter to get to the Ile.  As we walked down, we ran into a sweet little street fair with great vendors.  It was quiet....not a lot of tourists.  I have been hoping for a street fair like this since we got to Paris---the vendors were kind, prices were good, yummy food to eat. Wow....after feeling like I was running out of steam, I got a second wind.

We then walked across the bridge where everyone hangs their locks and tried to get a family picture.

Unfortunately, Bobby leaned in front of Maddie and Brooke was looking down, but it still may be the Christmas card pic if we are desperate (that is Notre Dame in the background)! We made it for ice cream and went into a few shops and then headed back to the car.  We also visited the Luxemborg gardens, but the kids were exhausted so we headed home.

One of the luxuries of staying in France for a month is the fact that we can go into Paris and stay on the Peripherique....no pressure to visit a museum, or Notre Dame, or Sacre Couer, or the Louvre.  When you stay on the Peripherique, you run into a perfect little street fair....it lives out on the fringe/the periphery.  What an amazing gift to live in this place for a month.  Truly, truly blessed!

Running out of Steam

So, we are into week 4 of this trip and we are finally running out of steam.  We even called United Airlines yesterday morning to find out how much it would cost to change to an earlier flight.  Needless to say, changing flights won't fit into the budget.  I guess we are all just a little homesick---we are still having fun, but as with any family, too much togetherness starts to break you down.  Jacob even decided to run a fever yesterday so he could spend some time alone in his room....no really, I am not kidding!

Once we realized we weren't going to be able to give up and get out, we went into Paris looking for a street fair and awesome park I had read about.  Unfortunately, the GPS led us the wrong direction and we were once again driving around the Arc de Triomphe---scariest rotary in the world unless you are on a bike for the Tour de France.  We never found the street fair, but did find the park.  Brooke had a great time!

On our way back home, we stopped at our local Marly le Roi church.  Rumor has it that Louis XIV had a secret marriage at this church.  The girls stopped to make a confession to each other. 

 Today, we put our best foot forward and went to Versailles.  We knew it would be crowded, but decided to go anyway and just have a picnic in the gardens.  After all, we are only around 9km from Versailles.  Once we arrived, we realized we were in over our heads.  Bobby compared the crowds to an Angels vs. Yankees game.  He may have exaggerated a bit, but he made a good point.

We took a quick picture of the kids in front of the gates and made our way back to the car.  As I said, we have run out of steam....

Chartres

Yesterday, we visited a town called Chartres.  The kids pronounced it "Shart" and had many laughs over this to my great annoyance.  It is actually pronounced "Shartrey", just in case you were wondering.  This is another day trip we took to visit a town with a cathedral--and the cathedral is amazing.

One of the features of this cathedral is the labyrinth made out of tile that pilgrims would walk around while they meditated on God.  We couldn't see the actual labyrinth because they had chairs set up for a concert, but they have something similar in the grass behind the church and the kids had a great time racing to the center.  Trust me, they were not meditating on God...

After the racing, we had dinner and walked the town.  Most of the shops were closed because all the shopkeepers leave town in August for their summer homes, so annoying.  We wanted to stay for the light show on the cathedral at 10pm, but had to find something to do to hang out for 2 hours so we bought the biggest lollipops I have ever seen...

Maddie tried to eat hers, but eventually her tongue started to bleed....no joke....

We are such good parents:)

The lights of the cathedral were absolutely beautiful 

and we ended the night driving home without getting lost....unfortunately, I saw a brief flash of white light on the toll road and am pretty sure we got a ticket for going 100km/hr in a 90 zone.....the "perfect" end to a "perfect" day with a "perfect" family.  

Maddie and Jacob--The Louvre and the Eiffel Tower

 Hi, this time it is not my mom,  it’s Madeline.   I’m here to write about the Louvre and Jacob will write about the Eiffel Tower.   Anyway, we all left the house at about 11:00 to get in the car and drive to Paris.  Once we got to Paris we parked close to the Eiffel Tower.   As Jacob, Brooke, and Dad walked towards the Eiffel Tower, Mom and I started heading towards the Louvre.

Once we got there, the first thing that we saw was this big pyramid that had a cool design on it.  

Then Mom said, “Okay Maddie, get ready for some long lines.”   Actually the lines weren’t that bad after all.   The security line moved rapidly and there were like 20 places to get your tickets.  Luckily we had a Rick Steve audio guide to lead us through the whole Denon wing in the Louvre.

 First, we went through Greece with all of the statues, Gods, and Goddesses-we even saw “Winged Victory” and “Venus De Milo”.  

Then we saw the Rome section it is practically a copier of Greece.  Next was the Italian- it has lots of paintings and of course the famous Mona Lisa!  

It is not the best in person because it is a lot smaller than you think and there are crowds covering it.  Also in the Italian section there are two statues called the “Slaves” by Michelangelo. After that are the French and the romance sections.  It is all about the kings and queens and there are lots of beautiful paintings.

By then the audio guide ended and we decided to see two more things- the Egyptian section and the medieval section.  In the Egyptian section we saw a sphinx and we went inside a pyramid with drawings on the walls.  

In the medieval section we went inside a dark cave and saw a real dungeon!!! 

I liked how the Louvre was decorated with all of the pictures everywhere including the ceiling!   We ended our day relaxing at the parkJ

         Maddie took up all the space so I’m keeping my part short and sweet.  Right when we got on the Eiffel Tower I started sprinting up it but had to stop like 20 or 30 times to wait for Brooke but we finally made it to the first floor.

            When we made to the second floor we waited in the line for an hour and a half to take the elevator up.  At the top it was cool to see all of Paris and to look down.  There were pictures that showed how the Eiffel looked like back in the day. There was also a room where the showed the guy who made The Eiffel tower. 

            After the Eiffel, we took a mile walk to the park.  At the park Brooke and I had fun doing a really fun log ride rollercoaster. 

Then we found Maddie and mom and went home for some yummy leftovers.

Day 3-Amsterdam

Yesterday, we headed out early to visit the Anne Frank House.  By far, this is my favorite part of our visit to Amsterdam as it really helped me to conceptualize what Anne's life was like for the two years she was in hiding.  Seeing the original bookcase that hid the door to the annex was overwhelming and I shed more than a few tears as I imagined her experience there.   At the end of the exhibit, they show short films regarding controversial issues and the audience is asked to press a button to vote with their opinions.  This brought up some really interesting conversation with the kids and was one of the highlights of the exhibit.  The Anne Frank House is another place I wish every child in America could visit.

After Anne Frank, we walked to the Van Gogh museum where we waited in line for 2 hours.  This was our longest wait in Europe so far and we almost reached a point of despair when it started to rain.   As usual, we refused to give up, pulled out our umbrellas and stuck it out.  The museum was terrific--Maddie and I enjoyed it the most, but I think we all felt it was worth the wait.

Because it started raining harder while we were inside the museum, we finally relented and took a tram back to the apartment.  Of course, we had to run for a crowded tram and get in through the back door with our wet umbrellas--total chaos.  Once we were on the tram in the back, we couldn't figure out how to pay the driver in the front and snuck off like criminals at our stop.  I have a feeling the Amsterdam police may put us on their Most Wanted list!



Today, we said goodbye to Amsterdam after one last visit to the street fair...the kids were counting on having another waffle, but the waffle guy wasn't there today and they were devastated.   I think Jacob may take a train back tomorrow to look for him!

Exploring Amsterdam

Yesterday was such a fun day for the family!
We took a canal tour...

Next, we walked to the open air market and ate the most delicious waffle ever....

After that we walked through the flower market and stopped at a park to have some fun...

Last, we walked back to the apartment for a little rest before dinner.  I think we actually covered around 4 miles on foot and saw most of the city.  We fed the kids in the apartment and then Bobby and I went downstairs for a delicious Indonesian dinner.  

Amsterdam

We started our day with a 3.5 hour train ride to Amsterdam.  Although we traveled second class, I must say that this trip was MUCH easier than our car ride to Normandy.

We arrived in Amsterdam around 2 and immediately got lost, of course.  I am so tired of getting lost in foreign countries I could cry.  As we were dragging our bags and Brooke in the direction we hoped was correct, our host, Vlad, arrived on bike and pointed us in the right direction.  He spotted us in a sea of people and yelled out "Mister Bobby, Welcome to Amsterdam!"  This appears to be a pretty friendly city:)

We arrived at our apartment and climbed the very narrow stairs to the 3rd floor.

This is a true canal home built in the early 1700s.  So amazing!

The canals are beautiful and we are in a great district with cute shops and restaurants.

The thing that strikes me the most about this city is the amount of bike riders.  I knew Amsterdam was a bike friendly city, but I have never seen anything like it.  At dinner, we counted 39 bikes to one car cruising by in front of the restaurant.  We had Italian for dinner---yes, we decided to keep the kids happy.

The evening came to an end when we tried to get a picture of Jacob with a cool Vespa (to send a copy to Jackson) and as soon as he touched it the alarm went off.

I have never seen him run that fast!  Now, we have the kids watching a movie and Bobby and I are off to have a brownie:)!