PARIS!!!

The city of lights...the city of love.  Oh how fitting that we were in Paris over Valentine's Day weekend.  I'm not sure that Jake will ever be able to top this Valentine's Day, but somehow I'm okay with that.  We met the Burks on Thursday night and we all headed out Monday.  We had an amazing weekend of lots and lots and lots of walking.

Our first morning there was exactly how I imagined it would be.  The sun was shining.  Perfect blue skies.  And as we sat on a bridge over the Seine River, paninis in hand, gazing at Notre Dame, we listened to an old man play that song from the movie Sabrina on an accordion (you know, the one she says they play just for the tourists).  Yes, I can say that I was in heaven at that moment. 

So without further ado, here is our trip to Paris in a nutshell.

In front of the Louvre

669 steps up, the 2nd level of the Eiffel Tower

All of us on the Eiffel Tower

Mmm....Gellato

Drinking hot chocolate in front of the Eiffel Tower

Notre Dame

A Really Old Rock Formation

Stonehenge and Bath took over our weekend.  We took a day trip to see these little gems.  We couldn't very well come all the way back the the States without seeing Stonehenge, right?  Well, we decided to add the city of Bath onto the trip and make a day of it.

Jake's a little bit cold...can you tell?

It was just a little windy, I gave up trying to keep my hair from going all over. 

A look at Bath through the window of the bus.

One of the Roman Baths, unfortunately, we couldn't swim in them.

All the streets were lined with shops.

The amazing Mexican restaurant we had lunch at.

The Last Week...Or So

Last week, I decided to go to the Changing of the Guard.  Jake wasn't very interested in seeing it, but of course, it was on my list (which I am proud to say is slowly dwindling).  So while he was at school, I made my way to Buckingham Palace to see the event.  I got there about 15 min. early and quickly decided I probably should have been at least 45 min. early.  There were lots of tourists already there, and I'm pretty sure that none of them spoke English.  I am so glad that I went to see it.  It wasn't anything like I had expected.  Some of the guards made up a marching band of sorts and they played music for much of the half an hour program.  I had to laugh when they started playing Michael Jackson's "Thriller".  It was great.

Me, the Palace, and the millions of other tourists

That weekend, we went to the Tower of London.  I think Jake was just excited to have me stop talking about it.  I have been telling him for weeks that we needed to go there, so we finally made the trip.  It was incredible to read about everything that had happened there.  I wish I could have taken pictures of the crown jewels, but I guess they don't want people to take pictures of the inside of their vault.

The White Tower.  When we were there, this is where they kept a lot of the past King's armor.

Me with a knight

Yes, my friends, this is Jake putting a metal soldier in a headlock.

The Tower Bridge is right by the Tower of London

Hodge Podge

So here is just a mix of pictures that we have accumulated over the last week.  We start with a visit to Big Ben.  We had seen him on two other occasions.  One was in the rain and the other was at night.  Jake thought I was silly for wanting to see it in the day, not while it was raining.  He said that he had seen enough of good old Ben, so while he was at school, Sue and I went to see it again so I could get some pictures.  We also stopped by Westminster Abbey, just to see it.  We didn't take the chance to take a tour though.  Jake will with his school, but I'm hoping we can go back sometime so I can go through it too:)

I was having fun with the color settings on my camera.

The London Eye with Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Later in the week we went to a couple museums.  Both of which, I had planned with Jake in mind.  He really likes Sherlock Holmes, so we went back and did a tour of his house.  After that, we went and took a tour of the Imperial War Museum.  He loves history, and I think he was in heaven walking through all the artifacts they had from all the major wars of the last hundred years. 

This is where Sherlock Holmes would have sat by the fire...If he was real:)



Us with the man himself.



There were lots of wax figures in the museum.  They were acting out scenes from the stories.  And were a little creepy.

This was awesome!  It was on the wall of the tube station.  The whole thing is made up of little tiny Sherlock Holmes' heads.

Imperial War Museum

This is a piece of the Berlin Wall, just outside of the War Museum.

Windsor Castle

Jake & I decided to take a day trip to Windsor Castle, so we jumped on a train, and an hour later we were there.  We expected to be there the entire day but when we got to the castle, we found out that we wouldn't be able to do the entire tour.  The cost to get in was much cheaper, but it also meant that we wouldn't really get to go into the actual castle at all.  I was pretty disappointed, but we were still able to walk around the grounds and go inside the chapel.  The chapel was incredible.  There were so many past kings and queens that were buried there.  They also don't allow photography inside the chapel.  It's too bad, because it was spectacular!  So we just had to make due with the pictures from the outside.

Just entering the castle grounds

This would be incredible to see in the spring, when all the flowers would be in bloom

Just outside of the entrance to the "Queens Dollhouse"-really, it is just a big dollhouse

The Guards:)

This was about our 8th attempt at getting a picture with both us and the castle.  We had asked one of the workers to take a picture for us.  We should have specified that we wanted the castle in it too because he only took it of us.  So this ended up being the poor attempt at getting one by ourselves.

After we were done at the castle, we took a walk around the town.  This was just a really cool leaning shop that we came across.

We have arrived...

After a ten hour flight to Paris, five hours waiting in the Orly Airport, another hour flight, and a half an hour car ride, we arrived at our home for the next three months.  Here is a little taste of what has been going on the first week that we have been here.  I am sure things will slow down, now that Jake has started school and is studying all the time, but hopefully we will continue to do a little site seeing.  After all, this is a once in a lifetime experience for us!



This is the street that we live on.  A little different than Utah.



Sue's home, that she is kind enough to share with us for a while.

Trafalgar Square
Even in the middle of the night, the sky is never actually dark.  Good old light pollution:)



Trafalgar Square

St. Paul's Cathedral-This is where Mrs. Poppins fed the birds for tuppence a bag.  I hope we can come back here.  We didn't have enough time to go inside, and I hear it is spectacular.

Self explanitory, but this is The Sherlock Holmes Museum:)

This is the Natural History Museum.  Totally worth going, even if it is just to see the building.  The whole thing was good to see, but the building was amazing.

This, my friends, is Kings Cross Station.  Another place that we need to go back to.  We walked around blindly trying to find Platform 9 3/4, but were unsuccessful.  I need to do a bit of research and find out exactly where it is before we go back.