Monday, October 15, 2012

Day Four - Paris in a Day!


Watch out Paris, here we come.
We had to wake up at 4 am to get ready to leave for the train that was going to take us to Paris.  
I'm telling you we really didn't sleep much this week.  
We sat in these cool seats that had a table in between them.  
Thanks Tim for booking those for us.
We ate breakfast on the train and the rest of the 2 hours we were asleep.  
Here's Tim wishing he was sitting with the cool kids.


When we got off the train we were underground and right where we needed to be to get in line for the Louvre.  The line was long but not as long as it could have been.  We waited for about an hour.
Haylie getting tired of the wait and maybe not feeling too great either.
At least there was an Apple Store to look at and admire while we were waiting in line.

We are almost there.  And we took pictures to pass the time.

In my opinion once you get in the Louvre the crowds were absolutely nuts.
Too many people everywhere and the pinnacle was where the Mona Lisa was.
Crowds of people just pushing forward to get a better look at this beauty?
It was nuts!

We wandered a little more throughout this HUGE art museum.

But we were all pretty anxious to get out to the streets of Paris. 
Check the Louvre off the list of things to do in my life.  
I won't be back there anytime soon.
I hate to say it but it was my least favorite thing I did all week.
All the art lovers can shoot me now!

Outside of the Louvre it was much more enjoyable.
Fresh air and some sun light can fix all your problem.


The next stop was the Notre Dame and of course lunch.
At this point it was all about the food and the ambiance.
We ate crepes with Nutella, bananas, and strawberries.
Bread with pesto. 
Macaroons and...

 GELATO
And this was amazing gelato.  
I think it compares pretty close to the gelato I've had in Italy.
YUM!!!




At the top of the Arc de Triomphe.
Haylie was so excited to get her first view of the Eiffel Tower.

Heading down the stairs...















Haylie has been obsessed with the Eiffel Tower for some time.
I can't adequately put into words just how excited she was to finally see it in person.
It is much bigger and more grand than I had even imagined.
The base of it was larger than I thought it would be and it really is so beautiful.
And now you must endure all of our jumping pictures!
What can I say, we were excited to be in Paris.
Oh, and remember that Sara is pregnant.  What a stud!



Tim came over to take pictures with us. 
I think he was just jealous because he saw how much fun we were having.
He informed us that he would never take a jumping picture.
I guess he's too mature for that sort of non-sense.







I love it...below is my favorite one.  
It's nice to have a fun brother.


We slept the entire train ride back to London.
Dreaming of our awesome day in Paris.
My nice sibling indulged me and they let me have a little Harry Potter moment after our long day.

Now we are back in London and it has been a long day.  It's between 10-11 o'clock at night.
And lucky for us we got on the tube with this character. 
My favorite tube rider of the trip.
He had his music blasting and an open bottle of alcohol. 
So of course I had to turn my Madonna blasting i-phone music up even louder.
He eventually stood up to let the cool London breeze blow through his awesome hair.
Can you say "Richard Simmons"!


Farewell lovely Paris.  
It was a day I will never forget

Thanks Tim for being our tour guide.  
You are good at it and none of this would have happened without you.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Day Three in London: Sabbath day, Picadilly Circus and some OJ

Day three in London:  The sabbath day.  We started out by going to church.  Tim and Tanya take the bus to church.  When they get off the bus they still have a bit of a walk.  This was a fun way to travel to church.  I love going to church on vacation and this experience did not disappoint.  
It was a great ward.


After church we needed to do some sight seeing.  
And we were off to Picadilly Circus.

 Regent Street was getting ready for the Olympics.  
It was really cool to see all of the flags of the world flying over head.

 This was my favorite cake in a bakery window.  
So amazing.
 Cute Marisa and Natalie starring at the yummy treats in the window.
 I went inside the bakery to get a picture of their faces and I totally got busted.
Oops!  I guess that's not allowed.
 Here were some London fashionistas! 
Check out those pants.
Good people watching all around.






 This is what it looked like when we were hanging out in the flat. 
By the way, Tim, you look like such a cry baby in the picture above.  Haha
We did so much talking...
And as a side note we didn't sleep much.
We stayed up way too late each night talking but we solved the worlds problems.

 Trafalga Square was closed to set up for the Olympics.
This is about as close as we got.


 This is a funny story, before we went home we got some treats at the grocery store.
Tanya bought this OJ because she loves juice.
Once we left the store she had a drink and gagged on it.  She couldn't believe how gross it was.
Everyone else took a drink too and thought the same thing.
Then I took a drink, I agreed it was gross.
Then I looked at the label.  It was OJ concentrate.  
So funny!
 Riding on the tube with the family were some of my favorite times. 

 We are almost back to the flat.
Just up the hill a little more.
 At the end of the night we stood outside the local pub to watch the big soccer game on TV.
This was entertaining.  
We met a drunk man who seemed to have a limited vocabulary- bad, and crude words.
I'll never forget watching the soccer game here.  
 Thanks Tim and Tanya for letting us visit and for being our tour guides and cooks.
Day three was another success!


 Stay tuned!
Day four takes us to Paris!