Paris!!

Getting to Paris was almost the first catastrophe of the trip. We were suppose to board a bus at 5:30 to get to a 7:30 train that was 1 1/2 hours away. A little tight for my taste, made all the worse by three of our boys being late to get on the bus because they failed to wake up. Each blamed someone else, because someone was suppose to wake them up. GRRRRR!!

At 7:20 we were still driving the streets of Bern where we were to catch the train. At 7:26 we pulled up in front of the train station. We madly pulled suitcases off the bus, literally ran down a couple flights of stairs and jumped onto the train with seconds to spare. I am not sure what the contingency plan would have been, but am glad we didn't have to find out.

The first day in Paris was pretty awesome. Every image I had of Paris was confirmed. It looks and feels exactly as I imagined it would. We are staying outside of Paris at a holiday inn that caters to people headed to euro Disney. It is the most American hotel we have stayed in, and some of the amenities are quite welcome. Like a full sized shower. Although we are not in the best part of town, judging by the guy guarding the door when we got back at night.

The group took the above ground subway into the city. We gathered in front of the Opera house with all the other tourist groups. Side-note: I am pretty ready to be done with traveling in a pack. We had a couple hours before dinner and Nicole, who has been here twice before wanted to go see the Arc de Triumph. Our bus will drive us by it today, but she has never gotten out to see it. The tour director said it would be a 40 minute walk each way, but we were up for it. The kids followed as well. It was definitely a hike, but we got to walk up champs élysées and the size of the arc really surprised me. It was awesome!!

Dinner was these flat bread pizzas. It was really good and we had worked up quite the appetite.

After dinner the group decided to head back to the hotel. Nicole really wanted to get a glass from the Hard Rock so we decided to venture out on our own. We did a really good job of navigating and finding our way. It was so nice to be on our own, away from the children. I am really looking forward to the next leg of our trip.