Weekend in Paris...

After my last post, our family was struck by what I referred to as the "European Flu Outbreak." Henry was struck on Wednesday, I was struck on Thursday, and Friday was Ryan's turn. Luckily, it only lasted about 24 hours, so we were all on the mend and ready to explore for our weekend in Paris.

Before I get into the details of our weekend explorations, I must first explain the chaotic final hour we had in Paris. Ryan and I were good, responsible parents, and left our hotel with plenty of time to arrive at the train station, with plenty of time to relax, check in, and begin our journey back to London. Our taxi pulled up in front of the train station, the man unloaded all our luggage, we said goodbye, and as I grabbed the stroller handles to push Henry into the train station, or final moments in Paris became very chaotic with Ryan's words, "Stop the taxi!" as he ran off after the taxi. I was left in front of the train station with all our luggage, and Henry. I watched Ryan run down the street and the only thing I could think was that he left either his wallet or phone in the taxi. I clearly remembered him with his wallet in his hand outside the taxi, so I knew it had to be his phone. It was starting to rain again, so I carefully and slowly inched my way into the station, pushing the luggage ahead, and Henry's stroller. I found a place near the doors and anxiously waited for Ryan to return. After a very long time, I saw Ryan walking up the street with a look of defeat on his face. I knew he had not been able to catch the taxi. I had to think of something to do, there was no way we would make it our remaining days, weeks in Europe without his phone. Ryan walked into the train station and confirmed my fear. Not one single red light along the way, he could not catch the taxi. I told him we had to do something, he was at a loss for ideas. A gentleman was standing near us, typing away on his phone, I figured it was worth a try...

"Excuse me, sir. Do you speak English?" "Yes." It was then I began to explain to the man about our taxi ride, our forgotten phone, and kindly asked if we could use his phone to call our hotel. I was able to call our hotel and explain to the concierge what happened, and asked if they could call the taxi company and ask for the driver to return with Ryan's phone. Many phone calls later, and this kind man that stayed with us to help (this man was traveling to Morocco for work, he missed his first train to the airport because he was helping us), we came down to the final phone call, the hotel had reached the taxi company, the taxi company had reached the driver, the driver would return to the train station in 30 minutes with Ryan's phone! We expressed our immense gratitude to the man for the use of his phone.

Our train was due to leave in 40 minutes, if the taxi arrived in 30, we would miss our check in window for the train. We went up to the train ticket office, explained our situation, and the man in the ticket office exchanged our tickets for a later train. We now had new tickets, and all we had left to do was wait, and hope the taxi would actually return. I sent Ryan outside to wait for the taxi, and would you believe it, the taxi actually came back, Ryan got his phone back!!!

With 15 minutes, and not wanting to have to take the later train, we sprinted back to the ticket office, asked the man to exchange our tickets back to our original train. With our tickets in hand, we ran to check in, I raced to the business premiere line, hurriedly pushed our passports at the border control, filled out the customs paperwork, threw our things through the security scanner, and raced to the train. We had just taken our seats, breathed a sigh of relief, and the train began to move. What was suppose to be a relaxing, calm hour at the Paris train station turned into one of the most chaotic hours I have experienced in travel. But in the end it was an amazing example that there are truly wonderful people in this world, willing to help a complete stranger in need.

We were last in Paris for New Years 2014. We loved the city then and we still love the city today. It is the perfect location to walk for hours and take in the excitement of the city. Not wanting to deal with the long lines that inevitably form for any and all attractions in the city, we decided to create our own walking journey, see the major sights, explore new areas of the city, just get lost in the City of Light.

Our hotel, the same hotel we stayed at two years ago, welcomed us back, now a party of three. We dropped off our things, and were off to the Eiffel Tower.

Prior to our trip to Paris, I had expressed to Ryan an interest in a particular store, and possibly a particular purchase. After seeing the Eiffel Tower, we began our walk to Champs-Elysées. My particular store was located, and after some fun and exciting shopping my particular purchase was made.

Since we were already here, we made a stop at the Arc de Triomphe for another series of photos. It was then we decided to walk all the way to Notre Dame. Why not? The weather was gorgeous, and nothing is better in Paris than wandering the streets. A quick stop for a Nutella Crepe to fuel our journey, and we were off. Crossed the Seine. Stopped at the Louvre. And finally made it to Notre Dame just as the bells began to play. A beautiful sound and ending to our Paris wanderings.

A very entertaining woman did an amazing job yelling Henry's name to
get his attention for the picture.

Trying crepes for the first time.
Pondering all the wonderful things the world has to offer.

A quick metro ride back to the area of our hotel, a relaxing dinner, and we were all tired and ready for bed. The next morning, we woke to rain. No worries, after our wanderings the previous day, we were ready for a more laid back, relaxing day. We enjoyed sleeping in, breakfast, and a walk back to the Arc de Triomphe. We initially planned to climb to the top, but given the long line, we decided it would be best to explore at street level. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped in a wonderfully inviting macaroon shop and purchased some of the most delicious macaroons we had ever eaten.

Thank you, Paris for another wonderful visit, though this one was short, I am sure we will see you again in the future.

If you would like to see our other pictures from our weekend in Paris, click on the link below:

Weekend in Paris Photo Album

We learned earlier this week our time in England will be shorter than expected. The team is mobilizing to Kazakhstan soon. Ryan needs to get back to the States to process his Visa. We return to the States next week. This weekend, our final weekend, we will spend a long weekend in Belgium visiting Brussels and Bruges.