Sainte Chapelle, Grandma Sue and The Louvre

We were slow to get going Monday morning.  Eventually we managed to get up eat and head out the door closer to 10:00 then the 8:00 we had planned on.  Sue was set to arrive around 11:00 but based on our experience in passport control we figured she wouldn't be ready before 12:00.  Our original plan was to go to Notre Dame but after getting off the Metro Mark saw how close we were to Saint Chapelle and decided to go there instead.  We had bought the Paris Museum Pass the day before and hoped it would help us avoid all the crazy lines, it sadly didn't really. That pass turned out to really not help us much at all so that was annoying oh well.  We waited in one line outside the gates and then another inside the courtyard.  While we were in the 2nd line Mark got a text from Sue that she was ready to be picked up.  We were surprised she was ready so quickly and lucky that her text even came through. The "Gratuit" Wi-Fii at the large tourist sites was really spotty for us.  Mark told her we would be at least an hour and we felt really bad that our timing was so off and she would have to wait so long for us.  I was irritated that our pass hadn't helped us bypass this line as that was a main reason we bought it and decided to go check at the entrance if we could use it.  Turns out we could use it to bypass the ticket line so we quickly did that.  Luckily Saint Chapelle is a comparatively small church in Paris so we could see it quicker than others.

Saint-Chapelle was built in just 7 years.  It is one of my favorite churches I have ever visited.  We walked into the "lobby" and I thought why was Mark so excited about this?  Then we found the staircase up into the sanctuary and I got it.  It was breathtaking. Arranged across 15 windows, 15 meters or 49 feet high (according to a calculation website) there are 1,113 pictures in stained glass portraying stories from the Old and New Testaments covering the creation of the world through the relics arriving in Paris. Its basically wall to wall stained glass windows. Visiting this Church was one of my top 3 favorite things in Paris.  I loved it.

After enjoying the amazing windows we quickly got on the Metro, hopped off and picked up our rental car.  We hurried as fast as we could to the airport and found Sue surprisingly easily. Jared and Lydia were so happy that she came to hang out with us in Paris.  Its a really fun memory for them.  After getting Sue we headed into Paris to check out the Louvre.  Lydia was really excited to see the Mona Lisa.  Before leaving for Paris I had checked out quite a few Picture story books about Paris to read with Jared and Lydia and one of her favorites was "Who Stole the Mona Lisa?" Sue had already been to the Louvre and told me that she thought it was the most overrated painting in the world.  She is not the only one I have heard this from.  She opted to stay down a few floors while we went in search of the painting.  We made sure to enjoy a few others along our way and all commented on how impossible it would be to see everything in that museum.  Mark seemed to enjoy the mosaics we came across, Jared loved a painting of David and Goliath, I loved the kitchen/serving type ceramics/pottery and Lydia loved the Mona Lisa. She also wanted to stay and rest with Grandma Sue but we said no way!

I feel like I have seen this picture in so many textbooks or just art books.  He (Louis XIV) intended to give it as a gift to his nephew in Spain but loved it so much he kept it for himself to hang in Versailles.

After we exited the Louvre we stopped across the street from it and enjoyed some fresh street cart crepes.  Jared Lydia and I had been looking forward to eating crepes in Paris for weeks and they did not disappoint.  Mark got a ham and cheese one, Sue got lemon and sugar, Jared and I got Nutella and Lydia got Nutella and strawberry jam. Another favorite book was "Crepes by Suzette" and we felt like we were a page of the book.

This is my favorite picture from our trip. It makes me so happy. 

We bought a Paris photo frame and I already printed out a copy of it and set it on our bookshelf. 

We headed back to our Airbnb in Suresnes after that and had a lovely dinner of apples and oranges, fresh baked bread (we ate so many baguettes! I loved it) cheese and yogurt, we felt very French.  As we were riding the metro back Sue encouraged Mark and I to go out and have a date night in Paris.  At first we thought no we are too tired but then we realized how amazing it would be to go into Paris ourselves and see it lit up that we decided to go for it.  Sue, Jared, and Lydia were pretty much in bed by the time we left and we are so grateful she suggested it. It was awesome and a really fun unique experience for Mark and I.

Airbnb and The Eiffel Tower

We arrived in Paris early Sunday morning.  The line for passport control was crazy long.  We were in line for well over an hour.  After we made it through we headed over to pick up our rental car. Originally we had not planned on renting a car but when we heard about the train strike and Mark's mom decided to join us we went ahead and did it.  Mark did a great job navigating Paris.  We stopped by our Airbnb to drop off our luggage and then planned to go into the city.  We really lucked out with our Airbnb.  Our original reservation was for Wednesday - Saturday but when we contacted them Saturday night in Raleigh and asked if we could switch our reservation to Sunday through Thursday they had openings and were okay with it.  When we met them at the apartment Mark quickly found out they spoke Portuguese and was happy to use his Portuguese.  As we were trying to communicate with them they asked if we spoke Spanish assuming that was more likely and when Mark said Portuguese they were pleasantly surprised.  One was from Portugal and the other was from France but her parents were from Portugal.  It was really nice that Mark could communicate with them so well. The Airbnb was clean and just right for us.  It was a short drive to a metro stop and it was nice to see a regular little city with people going about their regular lives outside of Paris.  To stop by their grocery stores and pass flower, cheese, bread and meat shops to see them jogging in the park and walking their dogs.  A few overall impressions of Paris:  its really busy!  I have been to a decent amount of European cities and was surprised at how much longer the lines seemed to be in Paris, for everything!  It is also really spread out and expensive.  When we went to Rome I felt like it was a much more walkable city.  I could be wrong but that is how it felt.  It is also dirtier than other cities.  This is not to say we didn't like it or have a good trip just some observations.  Rome is still my favorite European city that we have been too.

Pain au chocolat- fresh from the bakery down the street. 

Jared and Lydia did great riding the Metro.  It can be a little nerve-racking riding with kids who don't regularly ride the Metro but we all managed to get on and off our trains together and find all the right stops.  The Metro was thankfully not affected by the rail strikes and the trains were every 3 minutes so even if we missed a train we did not have to wait long.

After settling in we hopped on the Metro to check out the city. When Mark asked Jared and Lydia what they wanted to do in Paris they both said they really wanted to climb the Eiffel Tower.  We had actually sort of planned to climb the Arc De Triumphe instead as a friend had recommended it over the Eiffel Tower but decided since they really wanted to we would make it happen.  I actually ended up really enjoying it and we were all glad we did it.  We did a longer then planned walking tour of the city passing the Louvre and Orsay Museum and passed through lots of fun "French" neighborhoods.  It was a pretty long walk and Jared and Lydia did great.  Finally we made it to the Eiffel Tower our main destination of the day.

The Louvre

Orsay Museum

Such a cool tree!

The line to get into the tower courtyard was long and the line to buy tickets to go to the top of the tower was long and slow.  It was really cold too.  Moving around in cold weather is one thing but just standing in line is a totally different thing. We opted to climb to the top rather than take the "lift".  If we were going then we were going to be able to say we walked it! There are 2 options for the Tower.  You can take the stairs to the 2nd level and stop or go all the way to the top.  As we waited in line Lydia decided she only wanted to go to the 2nd level.  Jared knew right away that he wanted to go all the way up. We decided Mark would stay with Lydia and I would head up with Jared.  There are 669 steps to the 2nd level of the Eiffel Tower.  After checking out the 2nd level Jared and I headed up.  We actually didn't know that you rode on a separate lift to get to the top.  We thought you had to climb stairs all the way there, all 1063 feet of it.  Jared and I were pleasantly surprised when we got in line (after being irritated there was another line) and realized it was a line for an elevator!  I don't have a fear of heights but as we were moving up I found myself thinking that this elevator was going up for a really long time! If we had known it was an elevator we probably would have convinced Lydia to go up too.  The view was of course amazing and we are glad that we did it.

Lydia posing as the Eiffel Tower

The very top

After the Eiffel Tower we headed back to our Airbnb outside of Paris and stopped by a bakery for dinner.  We also stopped by a grocery store to get some provisions. Its true what they say, the bread in France is amazing. Throughout our time there we all kept commenting on it, even Jared and Lydia tasted a difference. Once we settled in for the night Mark, Jared and Lydia fell right asleep.  None of us had a great nights sleep on our flight.  Lydia slept for about 2.5 hours and I think Mark was the same. Jared slept for about 3 so by the end of the day we were all exhausted. I sadly didn't fall asleep until almost 2:00 and Mark sadly woke up around 2:00 and didn't fall back asleep until 5:00.  Just before 5:00 he came into our room and told me the exciting news that it had been announced at General Conference that a temple would be build in Richmond VA!  This was really exciting and did not help me fall back asleep quickly.  As we tried to catch up on some conference news we commented that this was quite the conference to miss, so many exciting announcements.  Because we were all so tired we slept it the next morning and headed out the door later than anticipated but it worked out fine.  Soon enough we would be in Paris and then we would go pick Sue up from the airport.

Raleigh NC

The Friday Spring break started was a half day at school so as soon as Mark finished we headed down to Raleigh which is just under 4 hours away.  Its funny because we went to Raleigh last year for Spring break and before living out here I never really thought about hanging out in Raleigh NC.  Mark wanted BBQ for dinner and we stopped at a recommended place but were not terribly impressed with our dinners.  We headed over to our hotel and got ready for bed.  We were impressed with our breakfast at the hotel the next morning.  It was nice to have a leisurely morning at the hotel before we headed downtown.

Since we were there last year we knew we wanted to eat at Dames Chicken and Waffles again and spend some time at the Children's museum. In a way spending time in Raleigh was kind of like a back up plan. If we didn't make the flight we would have at least done some fun things in Raleigh.  The museum was fun and our lunch was delicious.  After eating we headed back to our hotel and took the shuttle to the airport.  Parking at the hotel was a really good deal as you could stay for up to 10 days for 15$ and use the free shuttle for pick up and drop off.

Children's  Museum

Lydia built this structure and was pretty proud of it. She ended up using all the pieces in the room. 

Lydia and Jared both love this "sports exhibit"

They frequently talk about how fun it is. Jared was particularly excited that he was now tall enough to dunk on one of the baskets. 

Dames

Flying Standby

When we got our seat assignments to Paris

Flying stand by is such a guessing game. When I flew out to California my flights out went just as we planned. Charlottesville to Atlanta then to Sacramento.  Coming back was a whole different story. I got to the Sacramento Airport at 5:45 in the morning and didn't leave that airport till after 12:00 (lunch).  I had intended to take the same route back but was having no luck getting to Atlanta.  Eventually I made my way up to Seattle then to Atlanta then to Richmond where Mark picked me up during his planning time at school. On my flight to Seattle I got a seat in First class which was nice but funny too as it was the shortest of my flights.  I don't prefer to spend 6+ hours in an airport then 2+ more in another one but when you're by yourself and have good books to read its actually pretty pleasant.  I met some really nice, helpful standby travelers while waiting in airports out West.  They have been flying standby for years and happily helped me list myself on other flights and gave me tips.  Most people Mark and I talked to who fly standby or work/ed at airports told us there was no way we were going to get out of Charles De Gaulle when we wanted.  They were sure we would get bumped off the list or have to pay to get home. They all said it was really hard to get out of there and that the agents at the airport were quite unhelpful and gave preference to French travelers over others even if they weren't supposed to.  This admittedly made me really nervous but when you are flying standby you just have to be wiling to risk it! I would not describe myself as a risk taker or a spontaneous person who loves or seeks an adventure but flying standby will add more of that into my life for sure. I am however a fairly even tempered person and don't get mad too easily and fully believe that things will work out. I know I will always eventually find a way home. And fortunately for us we didn't have any of those things happen to us with this trip.

We really lucked out with our flights for our trip to Paris. We planned to take the direct flight from Raleigh to Paris leaving early evening Saturday and that is the one we took.  Having only one flight to make is really helpful when flying standby.  As much as we love the Charlottesville Airport for its size and convenience there aren't that many flights to places we want to go that are direct flights.   We tentatively planned to take the same flight back seeing as how we would need to get our car from there but made sure we knew our other options too.  Our whole trip got rearranged due to the Railway strikes in France and this ended up working in our favor as far as flights go (now if we can just get a refund from them for our unused tickets.) Originally we were going to fly out Saturday travel by train to Montpellier to see a friend of Mark's then take the train back to Paris on Wednesday and stay in Paris from Wednesday - Saturday.  When we read about the rail strike the article specifically said to not travel Tuesday and Wednesday by train. It also said that Air France (partners with Delta) was planning to strike on Saturday so some flights would be affected. Even if our flight wasn't strictly Air France preference would be given to those who were revenue customers over us to help with canceled flights.  So we ended up flying out Saturday as planned and then flying home Thursday.  We looked at all the lists the night before (Wednesday) and decided to switch from the Raleigh flight to one going to Detroit as it was a larger plane and had more open seats.  From Detroit we would take a flight to Raleigh all together to pick up our car then drive home or split up and have some take the flight to Richmond and some go to Raleigh.  The flight from Detroit went from being pretty open Wednesday night to really tight Thursday so when we got through security in Detroit (yes we had to go through security again even though we never left the terminal after our Paris Flight, maybe it was because it was an international flight?  It was annoying and unexpected for sure) and talked to the agent we listed Mark on the Raleigh flight and Lydia, Jared and I on the Richmond flight.  There were only 3 seats on the Raleigh flight so we were really nervous about picking up our car.  The Richmond flight was really open so we all got seats together in comfort class.  Jared even had the seat next to him empty.  We debated sending one child with Mark and one with me but because there was so much more space on the Richmond one the three of us went together.  We spent about 2.5 hours in the Richmond Airport waiting or Mark but it was fine.  We all got home on the day we wanted for free.

When thinking about this trip I was the most worried about getting out of Paris.  Mostly because of what everyone had told me.  I felt that if we could make it to the United States then we would be fine.  We were extra lucky for our flight from Paris in that we all got seats in Delta One, or First Class.  First Class on an international flight is amazing.  I admittedly can not think of many other times in my life when I have felt more out of place.  From the food (delicious!) to the real glasses and silverware? The cloth napkins?  Padded chairs that recline to be completely flat, pillows and down comforters, ice cream?  It was amazing.  Jared could not get over it.  He was in heaven.  It was a highlight of the trip for him.  We will have to remind him that not all flights are created equal and he is in no way entitled to first class every time we fly and that he needs to just be grateful when we make flights wherever our seats are.  On our flight to Paris we did not end up with seats together but the agent managed to get 2 together in the main cabin and 2 just one row apart in comfort class.  We had Jared sit in the row in front of Mark, the seat right in front of him in comfort class and Lydia and I sat together in the main cabin.  It worked out fine.  I was just so glad we all made it on the flight. I can't really imagine trying to get more than the 4 of us on a flight together but we know people who do.  I am so glad it worked out.  We had a great trip and Mark even managed to convince his Mom to use her flight benefits from him working and join us for part of the trip.  We were really nervous about sending her home on her own since Mark would be in the air and unable to help her with listings but she got on her direct flight to Salt Lake and got Delta One too.  We are so glad we could have this adventure and also so glad to be home and have a few days to readjust before normal life starts again. Mark of course can't wait to fly internationally again!

Charles De Gaulle Airport, ready to attempt to get home. 

Lydia's suitcase maneuvering skills were greatly enhanced from this trip.  

We love Delta One.