Europe Recap–Paris

This has been weighing on my mind that I’ve got to get the post done and over with so I can get on with blogging life. There are just so many summer things that need to be recorded.

The last stop on our trip was Pair-eee. Paris, I thought, was just like everyone says it is! Beautiful and romantic. We had only one day in the city, but I think it was enough because at the end of 2 weeks, although we were still excited about traveling, we were definitely looking forward to getting back to the conveniences of the States and seeing Casen.

We found a small panini shop off the touristy path. It was just calling to us and we soon found out why. Within a matter of about 3 minutes we’d seen probably 4 sets of LDS missionaries come in and out of the shop. Such a strange sight for such a huge foreign city. We had a lot of fun talking to them and even met an Elder Shumway from Blanding! Turns out a member owned the panini shop.

We took our paninis and crepes to go and ate on the banks of the Seine river.

Notre Dame was amazing!

Climbing to the top was one of the highlights for me!

Into the bell towers -

Loved the gargoyles!

I’m always amazed at how big cities squish so many people into them. With thousands of multi-storied apartment buildings as far as you can see I guess it can be done!

Would’ve loved to stay one night in the Hotel Da Ville!

Next stop – the Louvre

How cheesy in love are we? In such a romantic city, it’s hard to not steal a kiss every now and then from your lover…

The next few hours were spent people watching in the gardens. I loved the little old French man renting out these sail boats. And I adored these Parisian children racing and guiding their boats all around the pond.

The Arc De Triomphe. We walked through the city like 2 hours (an exaggeration) through probably a bazillion people (not an exaggeration) to get to this famous landmark. It was pretty spectacular though. But a bit scary taking the photo. There’s 3 lanes of traffic on both sides of us and the last thing a French commuter wants to do at the end of their work day is slow down for a silly American tourist. I didn’t get the feeling the French liked Americans very much. You’d think they did though – I mean France us the Statue of Liberty! Oh well, I guess years of calamities and such that have happened in the meantime can change a person’s mind…

We topped off the day with an evening and night at the Champ de Mars boardwalk leading to the Eiffel Tower.

I have always been fascinated with that structure and it certainly didn’t disappoint! Had I lived back in the 1880’s, it would have been such a neat experience to attend the World Fair in Paris and walk under the arch as the entrance to the fair! Amazing architecture!

We had dinner here and watched busy people go to and from their activities. We saw everything from a marriage proposal (it was a couple from Utah!) to a drug deal (probably not from Utah).

It was magical laying and cuddling in the park surrounding the Tower as the sun set and the lights came on. Street side musicians quietly played romantic ballads and Gabby and I were the lucky recipients of pretty red roses from a nice French man.

It was a picture perfect night in Paris.

Our trip back to our hotel was a different story. I’ll spare the details but will say that we found out why we were warned by people to not get caught in a bad neighborhood after dark. We found ourselves the only white people on a bus that smelled like a dead body. I kept smelling my rose so my last memory of Paris wouldn’t be that, but the incredible night in the city!

The next morning we sadly parted ways with the Sandberg’s, and Kyle and I were in a first class seat headed for the USA and our Casen’