Paris, France

Now let me caveat this post by saying that this was my fourth trip to Paris.  And it was Todd's second trip to Paris.  Even though it was my fourth time, I still haven't seen or done everything there is to do in Paris, but because it was the kids first time, we had to hit up the usual places first.  But make no mistake... we WILL be going back!

Naturally the night before we left, Grant was feverish and not feeling well.  He was under the weather the entire first day and of course, then Natalie came down with it.  Her throat hurt real bad and they both were really snotty.  GREAT!  By the end of the week, Mommy had it too.  The kids fell asleep in the Uber we took from the airport to our VRBO apartment.  Both kids.  Asleep.  This is how you know they're sick.

But we plowed on!  Because we're Griswolds!

And what do Griswolds do when they are stressed about illnesses?  They order wine and cheese, of course! 

And then what do we do?  We go see some sites! We weren't too far from the Opera, so we went there first. Natalie has been dying to see this place since I went to Paris with my friend Sara in 2013.  This building is so beautiful, I can't even describe it.  It's very ornate, even in the lobby area, as you can see above.  Lots of velvet.  Lots of gold.  Lots of details. 

I mean, look at this place, right?  Deep red velvet and gold!  And tons of it!

They were setting up for a concert they were having later in the evening.

But then, there's the ceiling.  The hideous Chagall ceiling.  This is what Natalie wanted to see.  This massive contrast to the rest of the Opera was done by artist Marc Chagall in the 1960s.  And it's bright and loud and not at all like the rest of the architecture and feel of the place.  It's like La Sagrada Familia to me.  MEH!

Someone get me back to ornate and detailed architecture, PLEASE!  Whew. 

Poor Grant wasn't feeling well so I carried him on my back.  Todd thought his little butt crack was hilarious.  Poor kid!

Despite his weird face, he was actually not in a bad mood when we next visited the Arc de Triomphe!   I think he's trying to grab an airplane out of his pocket here.

The underneath of the Arc de Triomphe shows the major victorious battles of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars.  And some decorative flowers!

It's 164 feet to the top, and it's all stairs for the Bailey's because the lift was out!  The stairs look like a pretty seashell so the climb wasn't too awful.

Once you get to the top though!?   The views!  The views!  Here we are looking down the Champs Elysses.

I was going for the wind blown look here.  Yeah.  Let's just go with that.

Down at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier (from World War I), they were having some kind of a ceremony.  (Look at America, representing on the left!)

After a long day, the kids were excited to ride the metro and were able to look out the front into the darkness of the tube tunnels.

You sent a photo out your window of Paris.  Of what you wish that I could see.  (Five dollars to anyone who can tell me what song that is and who sings it!)  This is the view outside of our VRBO apartment.  While the location was amazing, and the apartment itself was decent... I had issue with the fact that the owner told us no one was staying at the place after us and then pretty much kicked us out on the last day.  He also kept asking whether I paid the cleaning fee (this was not offered to me on VRBO. I don't mind paying it, but if it's not offered to me, don't be mad at me that I didn't pay it.  I guess he thought we were going to clean the place (which I did, but not to his satisfaction). I always leave the place the way that I found it.  But I'm not scrubbing toilets or bathtubs.  You own the place. You do that crap.  That's what I pay a cleaning fee for.  We also would have been more prepared and left earlier than the agreed upon 12:30 pm if he had simply messaged me that they had a new renter that would be coming at 1.  I certainly don't mind, but don't get mad at me because you aren't good at communicating. 

Anyway, off my soapbox and on to the Eiffel Tower!

Ahhhh!  The Eiffel Tower on a beautiful, sunny spring day in Paris!

Which means KILLER views.  I used my long lens and captured this one of Sacre Coeur.

I love this picture with the shadow of the Eiffel Tower over the Seine.

The long lens also allowed for close ups of the Arc de Triomphe!

Panorama from the Eiffel Tower.

This is the Pont de l'alma tunnel, where Princess Diana was killed in 1997.  The Flame of Liberty, a statue originally known as a golden covered replica of the Statue of Liberty's flame, now is an unofficial memorial to the Princess of Wales.

Speaking of Lady Liberty.... A much smaller version of her is situated on the Seine.

There is a little champagne bar at the top of the Eiffel Tower and of course, we had to have a celebratory drink! 

Me and my man having some champagne. 

One cannot simply GO to the Eiffel Tower without having National Lampoon's European Vacation berets made!  By the way, Rusty is actually smiling here.  His smile varies from sweet to painful.

We attempted to recreate this picture but we couldn't get onto the lawn part right in front of the Eiffel Tower.  And our heights are ALL off here, ha ha.  But it was really funny having our silly Griswold hats!

Grant "I just want to run around the Champ de Mars" Bailey.

Now THIS is the life!

After the Eiffel Tower, we stopped at a cute little place for some yummy crepes.  Todd got one with egg and ham in it, interestingly wrapped not completely unlike my Christmas present wrapping.

Funny story about our trip to Paris.  I was leading our functional fitness class one day last week when two girls who are in my class mentioned that they were going to Paris the same time we were going to be there.  Cool!  But then one of them mentioned that the Eiffel Tower is sold out until April 25... and I totally panicked.  We managed to find a deal online for tickets to the top of the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and a nice 1 hour Seine cruise! (Plus a bonus:  Skip the line passes!) Since the day was so beautiful, we decided to take the cruise right after lunch.  Here is the Pont Alexander bridge!

Even though she wasn't feeling very well, she was still super cute!  We hung out on the top of the boat for about half the ride.

After the Seine cruise, we were walking near the docks and I saw this Cosmos bus!  Back in 1989, my family (the original Griswolds) took a Cosmos tour of Europe!  Flashbacks to Fausto falling asleep at the wheel in the Alps, aaaaaaaaaahhh!

Me and my bubby.  Someday he'll be taller than me.

Hey, you know what makes everyone feel better?  Herme macarons!  I spy with my little eye both my favorite classic Rose flavor and the new AMAAAAAAZING licorice and lilac flavor! (Queue me passing out due to the sheer perfection of these cookies!)

While we nibbled on macarons, the kids (ok... make that Grant and Todd) ran around the fountain outside of Saint Sulpice.  Still one of my favorite churches.

Todd took this.  I'm pretty sure it's the lion version of a creepy baby head.

Grant "I just want to run around and chase pigeons in front of Saint Sulpice" Bailey.

We got up bright (???) and early the next day to hit up the Louvre.  Now.  Before you judge, please note.  Our kids are 6 and 8.  It was raining, and therefore packed.  And both of my kids are sick.  So we knew going in that we were going to hit 5 or 6 highlights and get the heck out of there. 

Highlight 1:  The Winged Victory of Samothrace.  The Greek goddess Nike (hence the swoosh!) from the 2nd century, BC. 

Highlight 2:  My babies with their buddy Mona. (If anyone knew what it took to get Grant to smile in this picture...)

Highlight 3:  Liberty Leading the People, by Delacroix.

Highlight 4:  Todd Bailey, pretending to be a Slave Dying (1513 and 2016).

Highlight 5:  Venus de Milo.

And with that, we concluded our tour de Louvre.  Unfortunately, Natalie just wasn't feeling well at all.  Her throat was really hurting, she had a fever and just wanted to lay down.  So everyone went back to the apartment and I went up to the Galleries Lafayette to do some shopping.  (Ok, ok... I did most of my shopping at the MUCH less expensive H&M!)  Did I mention that I forgot ALL of Natalie's pants on this trip?  On EVERY trip we take, I forget something.  Usually it's something of my own, like pajamas.  This time, it was Natalie's pants.  All of them.  But if you ever get to the Galleries Lafayette, be sure to check out the ceiling above the perfume ladies.  It's beautiful!

Later in the evening when we went out for some dinner, we had to snap a very bright selfie in the incredibly small elevator in our apartment building.  Legit.  Todd wouldn't fit in here, so he always took the stairs.  My mom would have NEVER gotten in this thing!

The last morning of our trip to Paris began with a trip to see Notre Dame.  It never fails to stun, even when the weather isn't as beautiful.

One of my favorite points in all of Paris.  The geographic center from which all distances in France are measured.  I'm such a geek!

I can't figure out why I can't take a straight picture ha ha.  But this 800 year old church is still dark and beautiful!

There are scenes from the Bible surrounding the choir.  One of my favorite stories is that of Doubting Thomas.  The detail in these sculptures is amazing.

The north Rose window, by candlelight.

The gargoyles outside are super fun.  Some are super creepy.  Some look bored.  Some are eating grapes.  My very favorite is one I dubbed years ago, "The Gorton's Fisherman."  Seriously.  Doesn't he look like him??

Last but not least... since we didn't find any creepy baby doll heads in Paris, Todd decided to chronicle his dead bird sightings.  For realz.

Next up, Disneyland Paris!