Christmas Day

Happy Christmas everyone!!

We spent the day in celebrating. Our stockings were filled and we all had presents to open. Everyone surprised me when I went to take my morning shower, I came out to a decorated Christmas tree. I still don't know how they hid that from me.




We went to a five course dinner at a local inn. It was fantastic. Each place setting had a Christmas cracker on it. You pull it apart and it "pops" open with prize inside, a paper crown and a riddle. We were all served Mimosa's, except Michelle. She had a non-alcoholic version, much to her dismay.



Then we each ordered different appetizers to share. Next, came the champagne sorbet to clear the palette. The main course was delicious, we all had something different (beef medalions, turkey and stuffing and chicken).



Then came the dessert, where Christmas Pudding ruled the day. I can't even describe it, except for brandied moist cake with dried, but moist fruit. It was sooo good. Michelle had three different ice creams and Arielle had a Chocolate Marquis. The whole meal was topped off with mince pies and coffee. It was the longest dinner we every had - 3 hours - but it was tons of fun. Even Isabelle had a good time, and didn't fuss until the very end.

Our dining neigbors were playing all sorts of games like Operation and Jenga. It was a good time for all.

Christmas Eve

Happy 18th Birthday Arielle!!

We headed off to Hamleys, the biggest toy store in the world with 7 stories of wonderful stuff. Being Chrismtas Eve, it was totally insane, but fun too. Isabelle, thankfully, slept through most of it.

We walked to Westminster Abbey


Next to that was Big Ben


Then of course, The Parliament Building



Trafalger Square


And we came across the Opera House where Rowan Atkinson (one of our fav British actors) was starring in Oliver.

Arielle was a bit too shy to order an alcoholic drink, but we had delicious black forest cake and champagne waiting for us in the hotel room to celebrate her birthday.

London

We arrived in London to a really ugly hotel room. It looked like a dorm. We were going to change hotels the next day. After Doug talked to the manager, we moved to a much nicer room with a pretty window to the street. It came with a free breakfast, our first experience with English cuisine. Fried eggs and toast. For lunch we ended up with bacon and salami sandwiches, which consisted of white bread (Webers-like) butter and either bacon or salami for 2 pounds each. The food became better when we learned where to look.

We didn't know it, but our hotel was next door to Europe's largest indoor mall that just opened in October. It is very pretty, and has something for everyone from Prada to Boots (a drug store). They even have grocery stores in the mall. The girls had a lot of fun shopping. They both have outfits that are definitely British and a little bit Austin Powers.


Arielle

Michelle

We went to explore London by using the Tube. Isabelle was really excited. She loves traveling by subway.

Some sites of our first day in London:


A cliche, but we had to have a picture of it


We visited a pirate ship in dry dock

We walked across...

The Tower Bridge

And tried to ride on the top of a double-decker bus, but it was full on top.


We headed back home a bit fearful of English cuisine, and bought KFC instead.

Isabelle was really bundled up on our walks. It was very cold.

The Louvre part two, and some churches

We went back to the Louvre for another visit. Please visit here if you’d like to see all of our pictures from our two visits.

The Louvre Photo Slideshow


We took taxis to Saint Chappelle. Arielle was really wanted to come here because she had just studied it in school.

Saint Chappelle

The chapel above has stained glass walls. It was unbelievable. The pictures don’t do it justice.

Click here for an interactive tour of the chapel

Inside the chapel

We walked over to Notre Dame and walked through the inside. Unfortunately, our camera battery died right before we walked in, so we don’t have any pictures on the inside. We arrived at the perfect time. A service was about to begin and the group of priests marched in a procession through the parted crowd. One of them began a hymn that filled the entire church. The whole thing moved me to tears, a first for me. Before we left, I lit a candle for Doug’s mom.

Michelle and Arielle in front of Notre Dame

Then, we took a taxi to the Eiffel Tower where Doug kissed me dead center underneath it. I wish we had pictures.

We hopped in a taxi to get back to the hotel, grab our bags and catch the Eurostar train back to London. At least the ear popping wasn’t as bad this time.

To see all of our Paris pictures (excluding the Louvre) visit here Paris

The Louvre

We dedicated the whole day to the Louvre. The girls loved it. It closed too early for us. We are going back tomorrow. Some pictures…
Michelle in front of the Louvre
Looking up inside the glass pyramid
Egyptian dice
King Louis XV crown
Mona Lisa

Visit the official Louvre site

December 19 -

We all woke up early and couldn’t go back to sleep, so we headed out to explore Paris. We soon discovered that Paris runs on a 10am to 8pm schedule. Most shops don’t have hours posted, and we were starving. We did find a patisserie and had our first croissants. They were so deliciously perfect – crisp and flaky on the outside and soft and warm on the inside. They don’t curl them forward like we do.

The famous Metro sign

We jumped back on the Metro (subway), which is a lot of fun, but you have to be quick. The doors open and close quickly. We saw an elderly man almost get the door shut on him, until a young man risked his fingers to hold the door open until it was clear. Another man had his jacket stuck in the door and had to wait until the next stop to get loose.


Inside the Metro

Isabelle loves the Metro. She hums and makes sounds like the metro, including the warning alarm before they closed the door. It’s so cute. We jumped off the Metro at Montmartre where many famous artists had studios like Picasso, Monet and Van Gogh. There wasn’t much to see for us because everything was still closed up, so we took a long walk to central Paris.

Place de la Concorde with the Eiffel Tower in the background

We walked from the Place de la Concorde a famous square where Marie Antionette used to stroll...

The Arc de Triomphe.


to Champs Elysees, one of the most famous fashion streets in the world. It ends at the Arc de Triomphe. All the fashionable stores were amazing. Nothing that any ordinary American could wear, but it was fun to look. It was bitingly cold and Isabelle was not very happy. The sun sets at 4pm, and the temperature drops dramatically. We ended up cutting our journey shorter than we wanted before we headed back to the hotel.

The girls walking down Champs Elysees withe the Arc peeking around the trees

The journey begins...

After Doug, our neighbor and pet care-taker, dropped us off at LAX, we were in for quite an adventure across the Atlantic.


Isabelle taking a nap on Daddy at LAX

The plane was delayed because of a broken windshield wiper. Do they really need one at 36,000 feet? They weren’t even sure that they had the part. Lucky for us, they found one two hours later and we boarded the plane. The boarding was a bit premature because we had to wait for a special glue to dry. We sat in the plane for another 1 ½ hours. It gave us time to meet our neighbors. All of them lavished attention on Isabelle. She soaked it up. Since the plane was three ½ hours late, it was well past Isabelle’s bedtime. After the take-off, which freaked her out a bit, she passed right out. I had to wake her after we landed. Several passengers came up to us during the immigration lines and through customs to tell us how good she was on the plane. Fingers are crossed for the flight back home. We made up two hours in the air. We had an incredible tail wind, so we weren't that late landing at Heathrow.

I was fine through the flight. I slept and held a sleeping Isabelle. Doug had 5 vodkas in 20 minutes – then he was fine. Michelle couldn’t eat the airplane food so she traveled on an empty stomach. She paid for it later. We’re buying her some Dramamine-like stuff for the ride home. Arielle had a fine time, but she couldn’t sleep.


The Eurostar train station

We gathered our luggage and went to the Tube (subway) station in the airport to the International train station that took us to Paris. TheTube was a lot of fun. It was fun to just sit there and listen to all of the different accents. The Eurostar train took us to Paris in 2 ½ hours. Traveling under the English Channel hurt all of our ears. They were popping like crazy. We all fell asleep; we were so tired.


Michelle and Arielle on the Eurostar

We took a crazy taxi ride to the hotel. Paris streets don’t have lanes, so people drive everywhere. It’s insane. Paris is a maze. It took us 20 minutes to go four miles through side streets. By the time we got to the hotel, we were exhausted. I don’t remember much after riding to the hotel. It was a blur. We all passed out for 9 hours.

Halloween

Here are a few Halloween pictures.

Doug had a friend put on his make up for him. It looked a bit scary. Isabelle wasn't fooled. She knew her Daddy was under there somewhere.


Isabelle was so tired after trick-or-treating, she actually sat still on the couch.


The scary crew on the front yard.


Our front yard.

So it begins...

This is the start of an adventure in blogging. It's starting near the eve of our Europe trip so everyone can keep track of our adventures and look at pictures. And for my mom, who can't get away from dial-up because of where she lives - hopefully the pictures are faster for you to download.

We are off to London on December 17 (my mom's birthday). We're flying out of LAX, much nicer than our usual John Wayne Airport take-offs that leave your stomach flattened to the floor of the cabin. We are flying non-stop, which is a blessing with a 8 1/2 month old.

We have someone staying at home to take care of our dog, tarantula, gecko, bearded dragon and russian tortoise. The last is a new addition that came knocking - literally - on our screen door a few weeks ago. The dog went crazy, since we can't turn away a stray, she came to stay. The reptile store said she was between 40 - 50 years old. She's the oldest one in the house. We haven't named her yet. Any suggestions?

I hope to keep this going regularly through Europe. I guess it depends on the wifi connections available. Fingers are crossed.

'Til next time...