Paris Getaway

Spring Break this year held a big surprise! Rod had been very busy at work and was traveling to meet with some customers in Europe. His meetings ended up being extended over the weekend, and so we took that opportunity to meet up.....in PARIS! Rod worked out all the details (I planned all the fun) and within a week we were enjoying a fairly spontaneous getaway! We felt so fortunate that my mom and dad were able to help take care of the children for the 4 days I was away. What a huge blessing to have them nearby and willing to help.

When I flew to Paris, Rod was already in Europe. We designated our meeting spot at the Paris Opera, and stayed at the Millenium Hotel. I was a little nervous with knowing under 10 words in french, but I successfully caught the right bus from the airport. I was so happy to see Rod!
Our hotel was around the block from the Opera, and we checked in--and after a ten hour flight without any sleep I needed a nap! After that we were out, eating the food, enjoying the history and seeing the sights.

One of the fun things we did while there was take a Segway Tour. Rod had a good time on the Segway's and we really got to see a lot of amazing things in a short time. We saw the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Napolean's Tomb, Musee de Orsay, Champs de Elysees, the Ecole Militaire, Les Invalides, Alexander III Bridge, Grand and Petit Palais,and the lock bridge.

We discovered the Louvre was incrdibly large. Of course, its home to the Mona Lisa, and Venus de Milo and thousands and thousands of other peices. Our tour guide said that if you spend only 30 seconds looking at each peice of art--it would take you 13 months (no eating, sleeping...etc) to see the entire Louvre. Incredible.

We also visited Notre Dame, we were dissapointed that they closed the bell tower pretty early, but it was incredible to see the great architecture that I studied while at BYU.

On our last night we ate in the Eiffel Tower, with a view that did not dissapoint. We took pictures for a young couple who spoke English, but had just gotten engaged. There was a double marathon happening which ended on the first level of the Eiffel Tower, so runners were crossing the finish line while we headed to dinner. We met people from truely all over-which was kind of amazing and interesting to try to communicate!

We saw so many things, and yet there was still so much more to see!

There are over 500 pictures from this trip, so I just chose a few random ones.