Trip to Paris....

On Christmas day, Christina was surprised with a trip to Paris planned for mid January. Paul had the whole thing already planned out and paid for ahead of time and we later learned that Paul's mom, step-dad, and two sisters would be joining us in Paris as an end to their visit to England. It was so wonderful to have more family visitors and we managed to stay pretty busy touring our little Mildenhall and neighboring towns, including Cambridge and Ely. Bella was a little shy and unsure of having 4 more people in our home, but it took her very little time to warm up to everyone. She loved having more people to play with and was always pretty worn out by the end of each day.

On Tuesday morning with plans to see London in a day...we first got stuck in traffic, then could not find a place to park at the train station until finally the parking attendant slipped us in, probably illegally. It was not the prettiest day for travel, but a typical winter day in England...cold and rainy. At last we boarded the train and we were on our way to London...not nearly on schedule. We managed to find our hotel located just near Paddington station and began what seemed like a wild goose chase for a place to eat lunch. After taking the wrong bus and having to start all over again, we finally found a nice Italian restaurant and enjoyed a leisurely late lunch. By the time we were ready to start sightseeing...it was 3:00 and just beginning to rain. We didn't manage to see as much as we hoped, but did get a lovely view of Big Ben, Westminster Abby, and the Eye. Still I think that we were all hoping that our luck might change for the rest of the trip.

The next morning we boarded the Eurostar which took us by train to Paris. We arrived in a couple hours and began the next part of our adventure...navigating the Paris Underground to get to our different destinations. Paul's family stayed at a friends apartment just minutes away from the Louvre and Paul, Christina and Bella stayed at a hotel not far from the Eiffel Tour.



That night, we walked along the Seine and watched as the Eiffel tour was lit up. The view from the top was spectacular and very romantic as you looked down upon the lights of Paris. The next days were spent touring the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, and the Cathedral of Notre Dame, and of course, enjoying the wonderful food. Bella was a wonderful traveler and while there were a few bumps along the road...the trip over all was a huge success and enjoyed that much more as it was with our extended family.

Well, considering that it is now February, and we took this trip in January, you can bet that we have been pretty busy and Christina forgot to post this blog before leaving England. Now, Bella and Christina are staying with family in Minnesota while Paul is deployed till April. Since we are away from our home computer, there are only a few pictures from our trip. We might have to add more when we all get back to England. Hope everyone is well and we should be posting some fun news about baby #2 in a few weeks as well as some pictures of Bella playing in the snow.