Paris at Last

We had a challenging start to our day today as we flew from London to Paris. Navigating the airport and a new airline in northern London was difficult: avoid Easyjet if you are able to. Then getting cash, train tickets and taking the 1 1/2 hr metro trip (with several line changes) to our hotel was also rough. 

But it was all worth it when we emerged from the underground to street level in our arrondissement and were surrounded by the ornate buildings, cafes and ambience of Paris! 

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!

We promptly got a 10 minute rain shower  (very Parisian) and checked into our tiny hotel room. We had just enough time to grab dinner in a cafe, the food was delicious and it had such a unique atmosphere. I am sad to announce that Rubén and I have lost a year of our life on this trip though due to all the secondhand smoke-yuck!

A Workout and Some Great Views

It was our last full day in London, and we made the most of it. We visited the British Museum and saw some amazing artifacts from history. Lots of mummies! Then we toured St. Paul's cathedral and climbed to the very top of the dome for a spectacular view! It was 350 ft up and lots and lots and lots of stairs. Next we hit the Tate Modern for some modern art. It was.... Interesting! I've included a fascinating piece we saw (with a blank white canvas) and I want to ask you: "What does this piece say to you?" To us it says not all modern art should be called art.... But I loved this Picasso, now that's great art!

Lastly we took a spin on the London Eye. More awesome views and no cardio involved. Headed to Paris tomorrow!!!

 

We saw the Queen!

It was a great start to the day today when  we saw the Queen in her motorcade while we were taking a double decker bus tour! I just saw her white hair, but it was a memorable moment! Although Ruben wants me to say he doesn't care. He also was not super crazy about the National Gallery, a huge collection of paintings that we breezed through. This does not bode well for the Paris leg of our tour-when we visit 3 art museums. :)

But we both enjoyed the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. We were pretty far away but I especially loved the important role of the drum and Fife corp.... Fifes are similar to piccolos!

We had a nice lunch in St. James park, it was beautiful weather today. We ended the day by seeing Wicked. I will sing Defying Gravity for the next few days at least, it was amazing! 

Can't Believe We're in London

We had a good flight across the pond last night, although we didn't figure in the time difference and we landed at about 1:30am Florida time...which means Ruben and I didn't get ANY sleep on the plane! But we were filled with adrenaline because of our excitement and we hit the ground running. After figuring out the train and tube systems, we made it to our hotel to drop off our bags. I can't believe how packed Victoria station was during rush hour, though! 

Then we set up our phone and started sight seeing! Today we toured the Tower of London and Westminster Abby. TheBeefeater (watchmen) tour of the the tower was great. The crown jewels were amazing, I'm just bummed I couldn't take photos of them!

But the Abby was our favourite. I loved the intricate stained glass windows depicting the life of Christ, and it is so huge! 3K people are buried there, including some royalty and Brits who've done some great things!

We also got to see an Evensong service, which was mostly their boys choir singing. What angelic little voices! (Makes me miss my angels at home.) Again no photos of the inside of the Abby but we took some outside. And Big Ben that was right beside it. More tomm, I'm falling asleep writing this now...

Time for Takeoff!

This will be our last post from US soil....it's time to fly! We said some hard goodbyes to the kids (Samuel broke my heart with Mommy please don't go), and overpacked a little (We tried, Rick Steves!) and boarded our plane. Next post from London! 

Fun with Family

We're visiting family before we take our big trip and the kids are loving playing with their cousins! Samuel and Ayden have been catching bugs (unusual catapillers and huge grasshoppers!) and Maya and Alysa have been pitching to each other and working in the garden. Maya also likes to gather the chicken eggs from the coop in the morning. We went to a yummy seafood dinner on the Homasassa River and it was great! Samuel ordered an enormous blue crab boil that we all ate a little from. The kids are going to have a great time playing with cousins and visiting their grandparents while we're gone!

Excited and a Little Worried

Well we are only a few days out now from our big trip! I'm SO excited! But also nervous a little. I'm afraid something will happen to my kids and I'll be so far away. Samuel has recently discovered (thanks to the big magnolia tree in Nana's yard) that he loves to climb trees. Of course this isn't an easy hobby to indulge in Arizona. (note to non-Arizonians: desert trees are generally wispy, skinny little things that are probably perpetually thirsty and therefore wimpy!) I am afraid to answer my cell across the Atlantic and hear that Samuel fell out of a tree and broke his arm! I pray for my kids often but I have a feeling I will be praying for them non-stop during this trip!

Thanks to everyone who's offered to help while we're out of town. We appreciate your love and support! Also please be patient with this blog thing. I'm new to this so we'll see how it goes!