Thursday, May 31, 2012

Sister Time!


Well, Katie, Mary and Sadie got in at eight-thirty Saturday morning at the CDG airport. They were suffering from jet lag, eyes glazed over, trying to be happy and excited about being there, but really just wanting to sleep. I knew the feeling, and tried to reign in my excitement and enthusiasm to a tolerable level!
 
I had rented us an apartment for the weekend, it was next to the Arc de Triomphe! Such a fun location, and about the same as if we had rented a hotel in Paris, but the girls could get better sleep here.
We plunged into Paris, I had been studying the metro map, and semi-planned out our day. We walked down the Champs-Elysees- the famous massive avenue full of stores. It’s the place to cruise and be seen. Then visited the Louvre gardens and walked next to the Seine to the Notre Dame cathedral. Along the river are bookstands that sell old books and paintings and photos, that was really fun. 

We waited in the hour+ line to go up to the Eiffel Tower- learn from us and buy your tickets online and wear a jacket! But it was gorgeous, around sunset when we made it to the second story- the third was closed for repairs
Sunday we visited the Louvre museum and saw maybe ¼, probably closer to 1/5 of it- it is sooo big! Everyone had told me this, but I was still just floored when I saw it for myself.  
We walked around the Jewish quarter, saw some other cool historical sites I am forgetting the name of now around the area. We went and saw the Sacre-Coeur basilica that night, really pretty all lit up. 

My thoughts on Paris- it was amazing! The thing is I was with the girls most of the time- and I am gonna have a good time pretty much anywhere with them. The true test of Paris came on Friday when I got there a day early due to my forgetting about the time difference and planning an extra day of our trip- so I got to explore Paris all by myself- and I was still enthralled! The difference was I didn’t have anyone to say “wow look at that old building!” or “what language do you think that group of people we just passed was speaking?”
I can totally see why Paris is the number one tourist destination in the world.

After Paris, we took a train back to Chambery (around 3hrs). The girls stayed the night with me and took a train to Rome Wednesday morning. They came back to me on Friday, and stayed a motel here until the following Thursday. I took that week of school of and took them around to all my favorite places in this area. This leg of the trip was more relaxed and chill- better too because they had gotten over their jet-lag.
I am so glad the three of them came, it was a wonderful time together! 

Et viola! Thanks for reading!