One Amazing Trip!

It seems I just can't get caught up and stay that way. We are so busy these days and I am usually just worn out in the evenings and can't seem to find time to blog.  But I want to! 

 

Intro

 

Geoff and I went to London and Paris in April, I got to turn 30 in Paris and it was amazing! Geoff turned 31 while we were there, so it was a great birthday celebration for us both. Since Geoff travels for work we were able to use miles to fly first class the whole trip! So the flights themselves were as much a part of the trip as anything! We ate 4 course meals on the plane, watched the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 movie, and reclined in our PJ's and down comforted "beds" to sleep. Seriously, if you have a bucket list, flying international first class needs to be on it!

Ok, so it is impossible to put a trip like this into a single post! Since I am doing it anyways I am obviously leaving out a lot. I do want to share some of the highlights. Geoff planned this trip for us for over a year, and he did an amazing job! He researched everything from our flights, to our amazing hotels, to the sights that we saw, and he was kind enough to include time for me to shop on our itinerary! I love to talk about our trip so if you want to hear more, let's talk.

London

One of the best things about our time in London was speaking English! Well, that was a big help, but one of our best experiences was going to an Evensong choral worship service at Westminster Abby. We only had 2 1/2 days in London, so we had to pick and choose what we could do. You could tour the Abby, but it was pretty expensive. However, they hold choral services everyday, so we checked the time for Saturday, got there a little early and had the best seats in the house! We were literally sitting right beside the choir... the same choir that sang for William and Kate's wedding! Yes, we heard them in person from about 10 feet away! It was so neat worshiping in a place with so much history. We were there as worshippers so no pictures of that, but it's not something I will soon forget.

I also loved going to Bourough Market, a huge outdoor market in Central London, and buying fresh bread, hummus, olives and juice for a picnic lunch. So Yummy! We also went to Hillsong Church London on Palm Sunday morning for church. We were so impressed that out of 300-400 or so people they recognized us as visitors and took us down the street for coffee and conversation after the service. They were so warm and welcoming, and we really had a great time talking with them for about and hour after the service.

First class international flight on Lusthansa

 The day we got to London we went on a tour of the city.

Buckingham palace

 

The guide picked us up in his black cab and showed us all the sights.

 

Westminster Abby

 

We saw so much more but I'm trying to do this whole trip in one post since I am so far behind!

 

 

Standing beside the Tower of London.
The Queens jewels are kept here!
   

We spent a morning exploring the Churchill War Rooms.

It was fascinating to learn about how Churchill managed WWII from those rooms.

We saw this play on opening night at Hempstead Theatre. It was terrific!

 

And the London city marathon took place the Sunday we were there!

We would have run, but we really wanted to go worship at Hillsong Church London,

so we did that instead :)

Worship on Palm Sunday at Hillsong.

 

Our huge room that we got upgraded to in London! We stayed at Grosvenor House in Mayfair.

We traveled on the Eurostar between London and Paris which passes underneath the English Channel.

Paris

We had an American expatriate (who just obtained French citizenship) give us a private tour on our first day in Paris. It was great because not only did she show us amazing parts of the city, she also gave us pointers about using the metro and some phrases that would help us get along with Parisians. We felt much more acclimated after our time with her and were ready to venture out on our own. It was amazing to see how old things are and how much history Paris has. It is truly a beautiful city and it helped that we had the most gorgeous sunny and 70's weather the whole time we were there.

The Louvre was huge and impressive. I loved going but would have liked it if I could read some French or perhaps just knew more art history :). Part of the adventure was that we didn't speak the language and had to manage to make due on our own. We definitely had an adventure when we were pretty lost and confused trying to go to Versailles. Turns out you have to use a different Metro with different tickets to go to the "suburb" type areas. It took about twice as long to get there as it should, but we finally made it with the help of this very nice lady who spoke a little English!

Paris is an incredible city for walking. Every corner you turn reveals a picturesque landscape. We loved walking down the banks of the Seine, the many parks, broad avenues and the narrow alleys.

On to Paris, much smaller but beautiful room at the Renaissance Le Parc Trocadero.

 

We got another private tour in Paris.  We went to La Sainte-Chapelle on the Ill de la Cite where the royalty worshiped. It was consecrated almost 763 years before the day of our visit (April 26, 1248).

 

Notre Dame de Paris

Huge and amazing!

 

 

The back of Notre Dame

 

Rooftop view out over the city from the Arab World Institute.

 

 

Eiffel Tower

  

Courtyard view of the Louvre.

Mona Lisa and I

I wasn't going to push through the mob to get closer.

We really loved the section depicting the history of the Louvre.

 

We returned to our room on the afternoon of my birthday and the hotel had left us champagne and a birthday card.

 

Birthday dinner at Les Ombres, which sits on a roof terrace of the museum Quai Branly and offers panoramic views of the Eiffel Tower. After dinner we spent about 45 minutes just sitting on the terrace and taking in the view.

 

The amazing gardens at Chateau de Versailles.  We ate lunch out here and just wandered the gardens on a beautiful day!  These gardens are huge and incredible and worth the very long wait to get in!

We went through the inside of the overcrowded palace smushed like sardines,

I'm sure it was amazing but I really only saw the heads of the people in front of me, not so fun!

 

We ended our time in Paris by walking along the Seine.

The Food

I have to devote an entire paragraph to the amazing food we ate. I don't think we had a single bad meal in Paris. Breakfast came with our hotel so we ate yummy fruit and croissants and coffee, and Geoff enjoyed smoked salmon with cheese every single morning. Our first night in Paris we ate at a Bistro down the street from our hotel that served pizza with egg on it that was probably the best pizza we had ever had! We enjoyed yummy crepes and pastries and gelato for afternoon snacks. One of our very best meals was on our last day in Paris. We were shopping in Marais and passed a restaurant tucked back in an alley that was packed. This is always an indicator of good food because the locals go where the food is good! Most of the restaurants had some English on the menu or a separate English menu. We had seen enough English under the French throughout our time that we had picked up on some French words, which came in handy. This particular restaurant had no English anywhere, and when we asked our waiter spoke none. We looked at the specials written on a chalk board, picked out a few words that we knew (and would like) and ordered, without being completely positive what we had ordered. It was fun waiting to see what would come out, and both of our lunches were great! (The restaurant's name is Le Loir Dans la Theiere for those who are in the neighborhood.)

Our picnic lunch from Borough Market.

Chocolate Easter Eggs in a pâtisserie.

 My birthday cake!

(from a bakery down the street from our hotel - the inside was chocolate mouse!)

Evidence of successfully ordering from an all-frence menu in Marais. 

Nutella crepe in St. Germain des Pres.

Closing Thoughts

The best part of the trip was having this adventure with my best friend! Geoff and I had a great time exploring new cities together and just spending time focusing on each other. We had lots of great conversations and made wonderful memories! We firmly believe that our kids will be much better off if their mom and dad have a great relationship. Stability in our marriage gives them security as well as a happy home. It was hard being away from Quinn and Riley for so long - well it was easy at first - we all need a break sometimes, but I definitely started missing them. However, they were in great hands with their grandparents, and had so much fun with them!

Thank you Nana, Papa, Grammie, Pop, and Aunt Jean for truly making this trip possible. We couldn't have gone without you volunteering to care for our children. Oh, and having Quinn and Riley come meet us at the airport when we got home was such a sweet reunion!

Geoff and I made plans to return to Paris (by ourselves) for my 60th birthday, so I only have 30 years until I go there again!

Trip to the Mountains

There is another new post below so keep reading...

We went to the mountains for a week at the beginning of October. It was so great to just get away together as a family. You can see Quinn was excited about having a new place to explore!

And Riley was very happy to have mommy and daddy to play with all week!

They discussed this turn of events with both mommy and daddy around all day and decided it was a very good thing. I wonder if they will develop their own language, I've heard that twins sometimes do that.

Quinn decided that he's tired of just rolling from place to place and used our vacation as a chance to start working towards crawling. He gets up on all fours, rocks back and forth, occasionally actually moves backwards, but hasn't gone forward yet. Soon I'm sure!

We stayed in Maggie Valley, North Carolina and our condo was right on a golf course with views of the mountains all around us. We would often spend time before bed sitting outside enjoying the views!

Sometimes they are very grabby with each other and will grab any body part they can, here it is Riley's forehead, she's not thrilled!

One morning Quinn was sleeping in so I got to stay in bed and listen for him to awaken, while Geoff fed Riley breakfast on the porch looking out at the mountains. Can it get any better than this?

I love this picture because you can see how big my armful of babies is getting. I sometimes carry them together and boy is that getting harder and harder!

We took a drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway and stopped to enjoy some views! It was so beautiful! The leaves were just starting to change. A few more weeks and they will be full of color. Funny story is that at this stop a bee started chasing Quinn and I and wouldn't quit, so we hopped in the car pretty quickly and left. About 10 min. down the road Geoff realized he is missing his sunglasses. We decide that it had to be at this stop that they got lost, he was trying to get the bee off Quinn and I and they probably fell out of his pocket in all the commotion. We drove back and there was a car parked right about where we had been. I spot something under the car, just inside the left tire, sure enough it was his glasses...unharmed!

We went into several small towns and shops and loved carrying the kids around in our Bjorns! We often carried them facing out but here Quinn was tired and we thought he might sleep if he wasn't looking around at everyone...he didn't.

One night the kids were pretty tired so they went to bed very early. About 7 pm Quinn woke up and wanted to visit for awhile. Since the golfers were all done for the day Geoff took him to the course and let him sit on the grass. He's sitting really good these days so I just love this picture!

Quinn is so very expressive when he wants to be and makes the funniest little faces!

Riley has such a cute toothy smile here! I do realize that it seems like they stayed in their pj's all of vacation...that is not the case. I think we just took pictures while we were playing in the morning (I don't change them to clothes until after their morning nap) and in the evening before bed.

We did have lots of good play time together. They especially love playing with daddy, he makes them laugh!

Quinn has decided he likes putting both hands in his mouth. He does it all the time, riding in the car, in the stroller, it is so cute!

They are really interacting with each other so much! Part of Riley's therapy is to get her to turn her head to her right, so I often put Quinn on her right and know she will turn that way plenty to see her brother!

Towards the end of the week Geoff's parents came up to the mountains to spend a few days with us! Now the kids had even more people to give them undivided attention! I was a little worried about going home and it just being me all day...but they've done well and adjusted to that too! One night Geoff and I got to go out for a date while his parents kept the kids! Thank you Grammy and Pop for babysitting!

We got the kids dressed up in their dedication outfits and took some more pictures!

Grammy and Pop!
Yes, it was very windy!

The focus isn't great on this picture but I just thought it was so cute. Quinn is saying "now don't you wish it was you on vacation in the mountains!" Yeah for vacations, it was so good to just get away as a family!