Home Again, Home Again

We are back as of Tuesday, Jan. 6th. It was a looonnngggg trip back home and the jet lag is just about to settle down. We had secured transportation to the airport through a company that would provide a van for all four of us and our "many luggage". We planned to arrive at the airport two hours early to allow plenty of time for checking in for an international flight. This turned out to be a good thing. Once we arrived at the airport, we discovered that our flight was three hours late due to weather. We think there was ice on the runways that slowed things down probably because of the snow the day before. We were glad we were there early because we would miss our connecting flight in Dallas to get us home to Jackson due to the international flight delay and needed to make further arrangements. We knew that there was one more flight out of Dallas that night and hoped that we could make it in time. Sara Beth and Gaiten were able to be confirmed on the later flight. Hallie was also confirmed, but Amy was on standby. The international flight departed the gate at the correct time, but then stayed on the runway to de-ice the wings. This took awhile which delayed us even further. Upon arrival in Dallas, we literally ran through the airport and sprinted up stairs to get to customs ahead of the other three international flights behind us. We were successful and ran to our gate to find that they had held the plane for 20 minutes waiting on us. Amy had been moved into first standby as she was traveling with a "child" and made it onto the plane. The flight home could not have been quick enough and we were so excited to see our family waiting for us. We had an incredible trip and made memories for a lifetime. For those of you who followed our blog, thank you. We posted for you as much as for ourselves and it was so much fun hoping that someone at home was reading it.

As for trips to come, they may be with our individual families or with each other, but we hope to blog them as we go because doing so was just such a blast!

Snow Day in Paris

(Photo 1) Breakfast was included in our room price and with the value of the dollar against the euro, we took advantage of it every morning. This is the "grotto" where it was served every day.



(Photo 3) Coffee and cocoa in the morning with friends, what could be sweeter?


(Photo 4) Hallie left a note for the room attendant asking for more toilet paper. She didn't know if she spoke English, so she wrote it in French.


(Photo 5) Our first glimpse of the snow on the Eiffel tower. Look close.


(Photo 6) When life gives you snow, make snowballs!







(Photo 9) Hallie and Gaiten show off their little snowmen. Hallie's has a leaf for a nose.



(Photo 11) Maison du Chocolat - a favorite place of Amy's.


(Photo 12) Jambon and Gruyere sandwich with Amy's favorite soft drink - Orangina


(Photo 13) Sara Beth's zucchini and cheese gratin. It was delicious!


(Photo 14) Galleries Lafayette - Gaiten shopped at the Chanel Counter





(Photo 15) Sara Beth and Amy in front of what we think is Opera. We are on a catwalk between buildings at Galleries Lafayette.


(Photo 16) The girls ate Nutella Crepes almost every day. This is the biggest jar of Nutella we have ever seen. Sams are you watching?


(Photo 17) Amy's french onion soup which Gaiten said was good as long as she didn't eat an onion. It is not near as salty as the soup we eat in the United States.


(Photo 18) Sara Beth's eggplant and mozzarella gratin. Very good!


(Photo 19) Steak with bearnaise. Sara Beth and I really enjoyed the little salads that came with our meals. The dressing always tasted homemade and very fresh.


(Photo 20) Gaiten's gigantic hamburger. This one came with bacon which looks a lot like ham here. Hamburgers come rarer than you order them. You have to order them well done and sometimes send them back to get them cooked completely through.


(Photo 21) Amy's soft chocolate cake which she shared with Sara Beth came molten just liked she liked it with vanilla bean ice cream. Double yummy!


(Photo 22) Gaiten's last nutella crepe. Sad.


(Photo 23) I promise this is Hallie's dessert although it looks like something Amy would order. It is a chocolate crepe (dark chocolate sauce) with chocolate ice cream. Way too chocolatey for some people but for Hallie and Amy, just right!


The blessings of great weather unfortunately did not extend to today. One of the activities we had saved for today was to go up in the Eiffel Tower. We had only seen it in the evening on our first day so this was going to be the day to view it in all of its’ glory. Gaiten was very excited because she was planning to go to the top level. We had been watching the weather report and it was calling for snow, but there was no indication as to when it would start. Well, we woke up to snow falling lightly and decided to go ahead and go to the Eiffel Tower anyway and maybe we could go up even if it was just to the second level. We were quite disappointed when we arrived to find out that the ticket office was completely closed because of bad weather. The snow had begun to fall much heavier so we had to make the best of our time there. Amy took a few pictures and the girls made snowballs and little snowmen. Hallie had actually said earlier in the week that she thought it would be pretty to see the Eiffel Tower in the snow. It was very pretty and we are afraid that our pictures will not do it justice. By the way, snow turns into water pretty quickly and most of you know that Amy does NOT like to get wet, which meant that we would need to find something to do inside and for us that meant more shopping. Sara Beth remembered some little shops under the Louvre that she wanted to see again and we decided to eat lunch there. We did not go into the Louvre because the girls were tired of museums, but our lunch was delicious. The girls and Amy had a sandwich and Sara Beth had a delightful little zucchini and cheese gratin. Amy tasted it and deemed it not yuck and actually wished she had chosen that instead of another jambon and gruyere sandwich! We then headed over to Galleries Lafayette (a large department store) where Sara Beth and Amy shopped for perfume. We found a gourmet grocery store there and picked out several goodies to bring home. We mostly just wandered around until we realized we were hungry and thirsty and still had packing to do. Sara Beth and Amy had scouted the area around the hotel a couple of evenings earlier and found a steak restaurant that looked interesting. We decided to go there for our last evening meal in Paris and had a fantastic dinner. This was our most expensive meal of the trip since we have mostly been eating crepes, omelets and sandwiches and we were glad that we saved it for last. After dinner, Hallie and Amy took the long way back to the hotel which gave them a peek at the Eiffel Tower over the buildings so that Hallie could see it sparkle. It sparkles at the top of the hour and Hallie said she was so glad that she was able to see it before we left. She wishes she could have seen the whole thing, but a peek at the top third would have to do. We have had so much fun here, but we dearly miss our loved ones and friends back home. Hallie said she can hardly remember arriving in London because it feels like it has been so long ago. She is very nervous about our trip back over the “big water” so please pray for us and especially for her as we end our journey. We hope you have enjoyed our blog as much as we have had fun sharing it with you. It made our early evenings much more exciting to go through our pictures and pick out the ones that told the story of our trip. If you have been following the blog, we added a movie clip or two today to previous posts so you may want to go back and check them out. We are all packed and ready to leave tomorrow. As they say here in Paris, Au revoir (Good night)!

Musee d'Orsay and beyond

(Photo 1) Musee d'Orsay





(Photo 5) Sara Beth - this is better than chocolate!


(Photo 6) Hallie's bridge - Alexander III







(Photo 12) Concord


(Photo 13) Laduree - home of the yummy macaroons


(Photo 14) macaroons - our favorite is the chocolate





(Photo 16) Arc de Triomphe


(Photo 17) chocolate fondue with 6 flavors of ice cream, brownie and cookie pieces, fruit and toffee sprinkles. Yummy!





Once again we were blessed with a beautiful blue sky day. The forecast is calling for snow tomorrow but it seems to change daily so we will see. We started our day a little earlier today because the Musee d'Orsay is free on the first Sunday of the month and closed on Monday. Museums are not a first choice of the girls, but they were very patient with us as we hit the highlights and enjoyed the impressionist art wing. Hallie took in all of the statues including the Degas exhibit of his models for a ballet series that he painted. They were beautiful. Amy is a fan of Monet and Pissaro. Gaiten was very interested in the pointalism style and Sara Beth enjoyed all of it, especially the famous blue painting of Van Gogh's small room. Sara Beth's quote of the day was that seeing the art in Musee d'Orsay was better than chocolate. Her companions did not exactly feel the same way, but I think everyone enjoyed something of what they saw. We left the museum gift shop hungry and found a delightful cafe that could seat us. Sara Beth and Gaiten shared an omelet,Hallie ate a chicken and cheese sandwich and Amy ate a mozzarella and tomato pannini. Yes, you read that correctly, Amy ate tomatoes and it was very good. After that we took off on a journey to find "Hallie's bridge". We weren't exactly sure which bridge it was, but the painting that she bought at Montmartre featured this bridge with the Eiffel Tower in the background. While walking along the Seine, we found the Alexander III bridge. This bridge has golden statues on the top of it and it is very ornate and beautiful. This we deemed "Hallie's bridge". After taking a gazillion pictures of all elements of the bridge, we walked across to the right bank and down toward Concord to rue Royal. We were looking for Laduree's, a famous tea salon that was supposed to have some of the best macaroons in the city. These are not the coconut ones that we know of at home. They are a colorful meringue based cookie with a variety of fillings. We found Laduree with it's pretty green awning and stepped into a line of people waiting to buy their macaroons. It was in a very fancy neighborhood reminiscent of 5th avenue in New York City. Upon tasting our macaroons (we all got chocolate), we decided that they were delicious, kind of like eating a chewy brownie. We then boarded the metro for a trip up the Champs Elysees toward the Arc de Triomphe. After a quick bathroom stop, we noticed that many police and riot vehicles had begun to gather and line both sides of the avenue. This was unsettling, but strangely comforting because no one seemed to know what was going on and we did not feel like we should ask the policemen. We knew we were in the area of the embassies and assumed that it had something to do with the unrest in the middle east. We then shopped a little on the avenue and our suspicions were confirmed when we asked the clerk and he said that it must have something to do with a demonstration somewhere. We decided it was best that we leave the area but not before we had a little break at the Haagen Daz ice cream salon. There we stuffed ourselves with ice cream fondue and other delights. Gaiten was anxious for us to enjoy this experience which she first had last year in Paris and we were happy to find this on the avenue. We then went back to the hotel and grabbed a sandwich for later and gave ourselves time to share some of our photos with you.

The Artists of Montmartre

(Photo 3) Our closest metro station was only a block from our hotel. We thought the vending machines were cool in the metro station. The little shelf went up and retrieved your item for you instead of dropping it to it's death





(Photo 4) Cheesin it for the camera!


(Photo 5) Sacre Cour








(Photo 12) A view of Paris from the steps of Sacre Cour


(Photo 13) Monmartre


(Photo 14) Gaiten with one of her favorite artists from Montmartre


(Photo 15) Hallie standing with the artist that Amy bought from on her last trip to Paris


(Photo 16) Sara Beth and Gaiten took a picture last year in this same spot. Sara Beth is now sporting a new chapeau she bought in a shop on the way down from Sacre Cour


Today was a beautiful day in Paris with bright blue skies. We took advantage of that by heading to the highest spot in the city, Sacre Cour at Montmartre. From there, we new we would be able to see Paris stretched out before us. The girls were very excited about this as it is the place to find artists at work in the square and the opportunity to purchase some original art. Sacre Cour is a beautiful white cathedral that sits very high above Paris. We experienced this first hand as we had to walk up hundreds of steps (no exageration!) just to get to our destination after exiting the metro. Amy tried to help Hallie find a bathroom once we reached the top. Ordinarily, this would not be too difficult, but we are after all in a foreign country and we don't speak very much of the language. We know how to ask "where is the bathroom", but we don't understand the directions that they give back to us. We went into a restaurant that told us with a gesture and a slew of french words where the bathroom was. Hallie and I went outside to try and figure out where he had pointed to and what he had said when he came out and asked us in English why we went outside when he told us it was up the stairs. Well, if he had told us where it was in English, we would not have been standing outside, now would we! Anyway, that business was taken care of and off we went to the square. The artists were out in abundance as well as their many admirers. We found several artists that quickly became our favorites and everyone is coming home with original art pieces from Montmartre. Amy was delighted to find an artist that she had purchased from on a previous trip. We had a good lunch in Montmartre and headed down the hill, which was easier than going up, to go back to the warmth of our hotel. After resting awhile, we struck out for a light dinner and found a chinese restaurant right down the street. Sara Beth and Amy spent the next hour in the hotel lobby contemplating the next couple of days events. There is so much to see and do and just not enough time for everything! We did find the computer adaptor that we needed and maybe tomorrow we can throw up some pictures for you. Until then....