I haven't forgotten about posting, I've just been super busy. I have some down time since it is nap time so I thought this would be a good time to tell you about my day in Paris. On the 2nd Thursday of Spring break (which was 2 weeks ago now), I was able to go to Paris with Kym and the 4 kids. I was so excited! We were a little nervous about the weather, but God had it under control. We could not have had a better to go to Paris!! It was the perfect day. :) We left at about 9 or so and headed to Paris. We drove the van because we are only just over 2 hours from there. We were planning on driving to the outskirts of Paris and then taking the train to where we wanted to go. We got to Paris just fine, and then once there we could not find the train station we were looking for. We ended up driving around the streets of Paris for a good hour and 1/2. We definitely got to see more of Paris that way then if we had taken the train. It was a stressful situation because we had no idea where we were going, but I felt very peaceful about the whole situation because I knew God was in control. We were trying to find a place to park but we weren't finding any. But the God moment in all that for was that on the Ipod that was playing were all these praise songs. I was singing along with them and it was a cool God thing for me!!
Finally after driving deep into the city we found a parking garage close to where we wanted to go after we would have taken the train, so it ended up we didn't need to take a train at all. Another cool God moment was in the parking garage we found, there was a spot big enough for the van which is a big deal in Europe because they do not make the parking spots big enough for American vehicles, but God knew we needed a spot so there was one waiting for us. Once we got out of the car, we found a map on the street telling us where we were. We were near the Hotel De'Ville which was one one of the stops of the BATO Bus we were going to take. The BATO Bus was a boat taxi that stops at all the main places off the Seine River that you would want to see while in Paris. You can get on and off at each spot and take your time. We headed off to the location where we needed to get on the boat. On the way there we stopped outside the Hotel De'ville at this two decker merry-go-round and the kids and I rode it. That was fun, I can't remember the last time I was on one.
Walking down to the Hotel De'Ville
The Hotel De'Ville (Now the home of City Hall for Paris)
You can see the tip of Notre Dame from the Hotel De'Ville
Emarie & Brady on the Carousel
Collin on the Carousel
Next we walked to the stop for the BATO Bus, only to find out that half of their stops were not working because of the flood levels of the Seine. There was good and bad news to that bit of information. The bad news was we had to do a little bit more walking to get to the stop where we could get on, but that wasn't a very big deal. The next place we could get on was at the Louvre. The good news was that we didn't miss out on seeing anything we really wanted to. We were close enough to the Notre Dame Cathedral we could walk there, so it all worked out very well. We then headed to Notre Dame and stopped at a couple little shops on the way there. We did not go inside the Notre Dame Cathedral which is something I would like to do the next time I'm in Paris, but the Outside is absolutely amazing! Every little detail is just so cool to see.
Front of Nortre Dame Cathedral
Notre Dame
Me in front of Notre Dame Cathedral
Right on the corner by the Notre Dame Cathedral there was a food vendor, and it was well past lunch time. We decided to get food there. While in Paris we wanted to have some real french crepes. I ordered a chocolate/ bananna one, and it was soooo good. I made a little bit of a mess of mine, but it still tasted yummy. After we finished eating we headed on our walk to the Louvre to get on the BATO Bus. It was about a 20 minute walk, which wasn't bad and we got to see more of the streets of Paris. We walked along the Seine River to get there.
View along the Seine River as we were walking to the Louvre
View of Eiffel Tower as we were walking
Once we arrived at the Louvre we just walked around outside a little bit, and then we walked around the inside in the parts that we didn't have to pay to get into. The Louvre is huge and there is no way we would have had time to look at the exhibits and still have had time to do everything else we wanted to do while we were here. You could easily spend a whole day just in the Louvre, if not more than that.
Me in the back court-yard of the Louvre
Back Courtyard of the Louvre
The Pyramids in the Front of the Louvre
Inside the Louvre looking up through the Pyramid
After the Louvre we found the BATO Bus and we rode the BATO Bus to the Eiffel Tower. It was definitely a cool experience riding a boat down the Seine River in Paris. We didn't get off at the stop for the Arc de Triumph because of time restraints, so when I come back to Paris [because I'm definitely coming back sometime :) ] I would like the see the Arc de Triumph. The closer we got to the Eiffel Tower the more excited I got. The Eiffel Tower is definitely very cool! It met my expectations and surpassed them. It was an impressive site to see. We decided to wait in line to go up the Eiffel Tower which made my day! The line actually moved really fast. We went up to the 2nd level and not the 3rd because of money reasons (with so many of us) and lack of time as well. I was happy enough going up that far. There were some gift shops up in the Eiffel Tower that we stopped in while we were walking around.
The first good view of the Eiffel Tower from the BATO Bus
Close-up of the Eiffel Tower
Standing under the Eiffel Tower
Me up on the Eiffel Tower
Little Tiny me by the Eiffel Tower
When we were done at the Eiffel Tower we went to get on the BATO Bus to take us back to the Louvre. Right as we were getting to the dock the boat was ready to load passengers so we got there just in time and didn't have to wait for the next one. On the ride back we stood in the very back and watched the Eiffel Tower fade away. The BATO Bus had a glass ceiling and windows, except the very back was open air.
The Eiffel Tower fading in the distance
Looking back after we had gone under one of many cool bridges on the Seine River
Can you tell I love the Eiffel Tower?? Because I do! :) After we got off the BATO Bus we walked back from the Louvre to our car. It was a 20 minute walk back to the Hotel De' Ville, plus a little further to our car. On our way back to the car we stopped at another street vendor to get some food. I got another crepe but this time I got a chicken and cheese one. Hot off the press! We were all exhausted by the time we got back to the parking garage, and then we had to remember which elevator we had taken and where we were parked. We took one elevator and it ended up in this really weird location that looked like it was a place we weren't supposed to be, so we quickly got back on the elevator and went back out to figure out which one we were to take. The next one still wasn't the right one, but it got us closer to where we needed to be. We wandered around the parking garage a little finding our car. Kym decided to use her panic button and the noise led us to the car. The kids were very cooperative during the whole time, so that made it a lot less stressful. Jackson (the 3 year old actually walked ALL day) we had him on a leash hooked to the stroller. I can't imagine how tired he must have been. I was exhausted and his legs are much shorter than ours, and he kept up with us. Walking from the street vendor to the parking garage we really were booking it, because it was getting close to 8 and close to the sun setting and Kym wanted to get out of the city before dark. We just barely made it out of the city by dark, but we found our way out!! That was much easier than getting to where we wanted to be in the morning.
The Phrase that came to mind while we were in Paris was God is Good...ALL the time! He was so evident in the small details of the day. It was so cool to see that! I have heard many people say that Paris is not a friendly city, but I would have to say from my observations that it wasn't true. Maybe we just came across all the friendly people in the city. :) One guy walking down the street even let Jackson pet his dog. The whole day I was in Paris, I kept thinking, I can't believe I'm in Paris!!!! It was so amazing! I can't wait till I can go back again. What a day it was, definitely one for the books!!! What a faithful God we have that he would watch over us and keep us safe, especially in the moments where we had no idea where we were or where we were going. So, once more I have to say God is Good...ALL the time!!!!
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