Paris

April 5-11: Oh, Paris!!! It is glamorous and pretty and enormous! There is so much to do and see! We had 5 full days to enjoy it, and we could have easily spent another week there. We crammed as many sights and adventures into each day as we could, and even went to museums at night time-every minute was busy. As a result of climbing up the Eiffel Tower and up to Notre Dame's bell tower both on our first day (over 1100 steps UP, and of course we also walked back down!), along with long days of walking, we had sore tired legs the whole week! 100% worth it.



Hi Mona! She has a whole, huge blank wall to herself plus a bulletproof case! I don't think any woman has ever had as many pictures taken of her as Mona Lisa. A celebrity and she may not have been a real person!



Victor Hugo, on the other hand, was a very real person. In fact, this is Jeff in his house standing next to the desk that the master wrote Les Miserables-a stand up desk with no stool. Who writes a nearly 1500 page book standing up? Good ole Victor. His house inspired Shaina to embark on a long journey and read Les Miserables. Jeff has already read it in its original unabridged French. Shaina decided that unabridged English version would be enough. Jeff steals the book when Shaina is busy-one reading wasn't enough!



Shaina admiring our favorite art museum, the Musee d'Orsay, which is an old fancy train station full of impressionism and real art like that. None of that modern stuff for us!



At the Eiffel tower at night-this was a tough picture to take and get our faces visible and the tower too! Did you know that every hour, for 10 minutes, the E.T. has extra lights turned on that make it sparkle? It was So beautiful! We missed the sparkles in this picture, unfortunately



Harry Potter moment: fans, did anyone know that Nicholas Flamel was a real guy??? He actually was an alchemist back in the 1300s! Look at that street sign! We were so surprised to see it!



Shaina and the huge Arc de Triomph, built by Napoleon to celebrate all his victories. Our poor legs couldn't have managed the climb, so we enjoyed it from the ground... one reason to revisit Paris in the future!



Jeff on the stairs in the Eiffel Tower. There were 700 stairs to the 2nd level, and then an hour long line to the required elevator to the top! It was a freeeeezing, cloudy day, and up that high, the wind was Arctic! we were Chilly Willies up there in that line!



Us at the tip top of the E.T. BURRRR!!!



More E.T. time!



One of Notre Dame's famous gargoyles up top near the bell. That's the next Victor Hugo book to read: The Hunchback of Notre Dame.