PARIS!

“Mom, where are we goin'?” Zack asks, while driving in the car Friday afternoon.
“To Paris”
“WOW!” Zack yells. “I want to play with Paris!”

That is exactly what we did. We played hard in Paris. We drove there Friday night. It took us about 8 hours because traffic was so bad. Construction is every where, even outside of Utah. We arrived a little before 10:00 PM. We hadn't had dinner yet, just snacks in the car. There was a crepe stand just around the corner of our hotel. We grabbed some crepes and took them back to our hotel. Can I just tell you how god they were? They were delicious. I had never had a crepe with ham, egg, and cheese before. I was a little worried about trying it. But they were so yummy! I am going to have to invest in a crepe skillet when we get home. I really think they are the best 'new' food we have tried. Anyway, the next morning we headed out to explore Paris with our friends the Hunters. First stop: the Eiffel Tower. This was an amazing structure. It was even cooler than what picture show. To me it looked very similar to a bridge. The designer had won some contest and that was why it was built. The designer was a famous bridge builder. I forgot his first name but his last name was Eiffel, hence Eiffel Tower. We found out that when it was first built most everyone in Paris thought it was an eyesore. One of the higher up people would eat lunch in it everyday just so he didn't have to look at it. Now it is the thing to see in Paris. It was very, very crowed. We took the elevator to the 2nd floor and looked at Paris. It is a beautiful city. We wish we had know exactly what we were looking at, but we just enjoyed the view. We decided not to go to the top because the lines was hours long. We wanted to see more things in Paris. When we got to the bottom, there was a huge area blocked off and police every where. Everyone was staring at the tower. We looked up and saw a guy standing on the outside of the first floor of the tower threatening to jump. Of course we took pictures! Then we left. We don't know the outcome, but I'm pretty sure they had ropes around him by the time we left. Pretty Crazy!

Next we walked to the Arc de Triomphe. This was an amazing arc that Napoleon built to commemorate his victories. We had to walk under the street in a tunnel to get inside the arc. Inside the arc was a huge France flag. It was a beautiful structure. The engravings were amazing. It had many names on it. There was also a flame burning with flowers around it. We weren't quite sure what that symbolized or whose flame it was.

After the arc, we walked down the Champs Elysees. This is the most famous street in Paris. We enjoyed the walk and loved looking at all the old building. We just took in the Paris atmosphere. At the end of the street was the Place de la Concorde. There was a monument that looked very similar to the Washington monument in DC. This was given tho Paris from Egypt as a gift. This is also where the guillotines were during the revolution. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were beheaded here. We also saw some French Poodle walking around. We had to take a picture of that.

From here we walked through the Jardine des Tulleries. We stopped here for lunch. Guess what we had? CREPES! I think I am addicted. I might have to go back to France just to get one. They were yummy! We also had some French french fries. They tasted pretty much just like fries, but without salt. Still good. (did I mention I am going to come back 20 pounds heavier?)

At the end of the garden was the Louvre. This was the most massive museum I have ever seen. It was amazing! It is such an old building. We learned that if one person was going to spend just one minute at every exhibit in the museum, it would take 4 months to go through the museum. We decided we didn't have that sort of time. Sorry, Mona Lisa, we will catch ya next time.

Next we walked across the Seine river to the Notre Dame Cathedral. On our walk, we found THE wedding dress for Becky. You have to check it out. It is in the slide show. Someone make sure Becky sees it! I'm sure we can make it temple ready. :) Notre Dame was also a very cool building to see. The gargoyles were very neat. The line was very long to get inside, so we just looked at the outside. The back side looked even cooler than the front. The bell was very fun to listen to. Also around the Cathedral, there were hundreds of pigeons and a few people feeding them. One couple was nice enough to let Zack feed them. At first, he was a little timid but I think he liked it. It was all he could talk about the next day. Josh also loved the bird. The lady put some seed on his stroller. He was hollering and cooing at the birds. It was pretty cute to see.

From here we walked back up towards our hotel. It was already past 5. We saw a few more sites but I can't remember the exact names. I know we saw the place where Napoleon's tomb is and some universities. We enjoyed looking at all the sculptures. There were so many of them. We even saw one of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. I really like the ones that weren't any one in particular, just women or men or babies. They were neat.

For dinner, we had a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower. We sat under a tree and had our sandwiches. While we were eating, I felt something drop on my head. Sure enough, there was bird droppings in my hair! How many people can say they have been dropped on in front of the Eiffel Tower? Thank goodness we had lots of wipees. We ended the day there and got the boys to bed. I wish we could have seen the city at night, but we had already wiped the boys out. We figured out late that we walked over 9 miles this day!

The next day we went on a boat ride down the river. Zack really liked it. We was excited to be on a boat. But the wind started blowing and it got kind of cold. So his excitement didn't last long. It was neat to see the sites and learn more about them. After the ride, we head to the Versailles Palace. As we were driving out of the city, we were able to see the Statue of Liberty. I wondered if we were crossing the same bridge that Nicholas Cage was on in National treasure. It looked very similar, but there are a lot of bridges.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com