Days fly by and we wonder where the time went. I can't believe it is September already! Where did the summer go? I am hoping to recap some of our summer adventures, mixed in with some back-to-school events, in hopes of catching up by Thanksgiving. (There. I've put this goal in writing. I am sure some of you will be after me to keep my word. I will try my very best! This fall is looking to be very busy but I am going to attempt to do so.)
Our family had the opportunity to travel this summer to France. We had a wonderful time! It was the girls' first trip to Europe and their first time on such a long flight. We left our travel plans flexible so that we would have the opportunity to 'go with the flow'. We did book our hotel rooms in Paris for our first couple of days, our car rental and the hotel room at the airport the night before our flight home. We also planned to spend some time with our friends outside of Grenoble. The rest we left open to adventure and discovery!
We arrived in Paris on Friday morning. We found our way through the busy terminal (To say that CDG is a crazy-busy place is an understatement!!!!), bought our train tickets and metro passes and boarded the train for downtown Paris! We bought our tickets at the airport tourist kiosk. It saved us time by not having to line up for tickets at the train and metro stations. The lady who served us was very helpful in giving us clear directions to our hotel so we didn’t get lost!
Hotels in Paris and France in general are smaller than North American standards. Most hotel rooms only sleep 1-2 people, which meant we needed two rooms. Some hotels have 'family suites' but they are rare. Fortunately our 2 rooms were on the same floor but sadly not connecting nor that close to each other! Eric ended up sharing a room with Kyra and Alia shared a room with me! At the end of the hall next to the elevators was a bank of windows. We were able to see the Eiffel tower, the dome of les Invalides and Sacre-Coeur way off in the distance.
Since our first day was going to be a long day, with the flight, a 'night's' sleep on the airplane, plus the time change, we did not plan to do much the first day. We did take a walk to Champs de Mars and the Eiffel tower, which was about a 10 minute walk from our hotel! Pretty cool. Paris was pretty busy with the Tour de france arriving on the Sunday! We found a playground near the base of the Eiffel tower and the girls burned off some energy on the parisian jungle gym while the parents relaxed on the park bench and soaked in the atmosphere!
We had our first Nutella crepe and waited out the rain under the shelter at the park. After the rain we took a walk back to the hotel, found some dinner and went to bed early.
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