Paris

Our first ever family trip (first ever meaning going somewhere that was not to family and it was just us) began on May 4.  Here was the true test to see if we still liked each other after two straight weeks of being together 24/7.

We landed in Paris on May 5 around lunch time there (here it was more like 3 am).  We went through border check fairly quickly and found our way to the trains to go towards our apartment we had rented.  It took some time to find just because there were so many exits out of the station at this particular stop.  Instead of just taking a quick 10 min walk up the road we went the round about way and took more like 40 mins. Once we got all checked in and showered from the long airplane ride, we took another train over to the Eiffel Tower.  On the way over we had to stop and get some "lunch".

Payton enjoying his first real croissant - yes he ate the whole thing!

Mike holding our first real crepes - there was more food there than it looked like and we could not finish it all.

We came to the Tower and were stopped by  "beggars" wanting us to pay 5 euros for a caricature of Payton after the fact that they had already told us that they would just draw it and if we liked we could pay for it and if not then no big deal.  We were also hounded to give money for the infant orphans by the same people.  After we got done with this ordeal, we walked up to the Tower.

We decided not to go up the stairs to the tower nor do the elevator as the lines were long and it was very crowded.  They had shut down anyone going up because there were too many people already up.  (and I would not go up the stairs because that was way too high for me and my fear of heights!)

We decided to go over and take a boat ride on the Seine River.  This was a big mistake for people that were trying to stay awake - as the boat rocked back and forth, we were nodding off.  The boat was covered with dirty windows so the photos we took are not great. 

The next day we decided to start at the Louvre.

There is a sidewalk there but it looks like they were walking in the fountain thing.

The Louvre was crowded and hot!

   

This was about as close as we could get.  We know we had found her when we turned into the room and saw the crowds.

This was to show how large some of the painting really are.

Payton liked all the heads and feet

Mike thought it was funny to pretend to be the missing head on the statue.

They allowed you to go the basement to see some of the original bricks and foundation of the Louvre.

We then took the train over to the Arc of Triomphe.

This is coming out of the train and Mike wanted a photo with this movie poster - it was translated from Hangover 2 to Very Bad Trip 2.

 There is the huge round about that you see in movies so you have to take an underground tunnel to get over to it.

These are the stairs you have to climb up and down to get to the top - well middle section - then there are a few more to go.  I bravely scaled them clinging to the wall side so I could not look down - there is one side for going up and then another for going down.

The best experience for Payton here was the restroom.  You have to pay to use most toilets in Europe.  There was one here at the Arc so we took advantage of it since it was free.  There was a line to get into the men's and once Payton got in, he locked himself in and could not figure out how to get out.  Mike was not with us so I had to get him to come over and help.  Mike had started to climb up and over the door when Payton finally realized how to unlock the door.

We decided to take the street that was full of high end names and just window shop.

Cartier!

We were so tired by the time we got to the end of the shops that we took our first pedi cab ride a few blocks down.

Us in the pedi cab in the middle of the round about with about 3 or 4 lanes of traffic.

The next day, we took the train out to Versailles.

This shows that Rockerfeller helped to restore it.

The King's Bed

The Queen's bed -someone asked if it was a Queen sized mattress.

We still had a little more time after Versallies so we decided to stop at Notre Dame - it was an hour until it closed and it was our last day in Paris.

We left Paris on Mother's Day heading to Wiesbaden, Germany (close to Frankfurt) where my roommate from Ricks is living with her family for a few years.  While making the train reservations a few months ago, it was only about 20 euros more to go first class then second class.  I have never gone first class anything.

We had purchased some pastries to have for breakfast on the train since we left at 9.  We did not know that our price included food - we had yogurt, croissant, roll, cheese, meat and orange juice.