Halloween

We had a small little Halloween party with the Jensen's.  Some pumpkin stew, fun cupcakes.  Nothing exciting since Halloween isn't really celebrated here.  But, of course, the kids loved it!

Oh, and this random picture of Noah sleeping with a dress on.  Haha!

Paris - Part 3

For Day 4, we headed a little outside of Paris to the Palace of Versailles.  I have a memory of learning about the history of the Palace and of Louis XIV and then later of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI.  Since then, I have always had a desire to walk down the hall of mirrors and take in the splendor of one of the greatest palaces in the world.

 I was glad to have the experience, but this was probably my least favorite part of our trip.  The crowds were so crazy, you could barely move or even see anything and a large portion of the palace was closed.  So, it was a bit disappointing.  Oh well, still neat.  We had voice tours with us, which made it more interesting.  The kids especially enjoyed that part.  But the crowds were seriously so awful.  We enjoyed it more once we got out of the palace and onto the grounds.  It was a pretty cold day, so we didn't linger for an extremely long time, but we did walk around for a while and had a nice time enjoying the beautiful grounds.

Crazy Crowds!

The kids would have stayed all day, chasing after the cat.  Haha!

My favorite picture of the trip!

The only group photo we managed to take.  We should really have done more, but at least we have the one!

Once leaving Versailles, we decided to go back to the Eiffel Tower, have dinner in the area and see the tower lit up at night.  It was a fun place to be during our last night in Paris.  The sights, the sounds, the smells...  Ahhh, Paris...

The kids and Grammy all enjoyed riding the carousel, at sunset, in front of the Eiffel tower.

Our flight back was in the evening, so we had almost an entire last day to enjoy in the city.  We headed back up to Sacre Couer and to the area known as Montmartre.  If you've seen the movie, Moulin Rouge, this is that part of the city.  There is a fun area with a lot of shops and people painting. 

We toured the inside of Sacre Couer and then did some shopping and had lunch.  It was fun to meander along the streets and see the sites.  We didn't have any definite plans for the day beyond this, so I suggested we try to find the Moulin Rouge.  After wandering down many crazy little roads, we made it to a main street.  We were quickly dismayed to find ourselves in an area with a lot of questionable buildings.  Chad walked across the street to see if he could see the Moulin Rouge, but said he couldn't and we decided we just need to get the kids out of the area.  Especially since we were standing under a sign advertising Table Dancing and XXX Girls!  Haha!  It wasn't until later on, when I pointed out a picture of the Wind Mill at the Moulin Rouge that Chad said he had seen it when he crossed the street and we were right by it.  He didn't know what he was looking for.  Oops!  Anyway, we headed over to the Montmartre Cemetery.  I find cemeteries fascinating and beautiful and this one was so amazing!

 All the old mausoleums are above ground and just so beautiful.  We wandered around there for a while before heading back to take the funicular up to Sacre Couer and then heading back to our apartment where we cleaned up and headed off to the airport for an uneventful trip home.
Paris was amazing!  Seeing all these old, iconic sites was something I absolutely loved.  I didn't enjoy the crazy crowds, but oh, the macaroons, the panini, the hot chocolate, the crepes.  All the street vendors hawking their 5 for 1 Euro Eiffel Tower keychains and then running once a police officer comes around the corner.  The military packing machine guns roaming the streets.  It was an experience and what is life, but experiences?  I was so glad to have been there with my loved ones.  What a grand adventure!