sept. 9-10th

we have started our five and a half week journey to Europe with our girls!  sunday, sept. 9th, we boarded our plane on Icelandair at 5pm, had a layover in Iceland(oh beautiful but cold!), and made it to Paris on monday the 10th around 1pm.  by the time we got to our cute apartment, it was 3:30, took a nap until 5:00 , and then we headed up more of Montmartre a little more.  we found the place jarom and i loved to eat when we were here two years ago-oh that yummy salad with ham, egg, puff potato slices and i don’t know what else.  we found a patisserie for a couple of baguettes, and a couple of chocolate desserts.  we headed up to the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur, and sat on the steps eating our dessert overlooking the city.  we then took the girls through the magnificent church, and i still can’t believe we are here, and with our girls!…it seems like just yesterday jarom and i were here(it was two years ago).  i loved it so much, and am excited to take the girls around to places we have been, and haven’t been.

we have made it through a couple miss-haps, which always happen of course:)  like leaving for dinner and forgetting the code on the table to enter our apartment building.  thank goodness for a tech-y husband who can log into the mailbox on my mac, and look up all the emails we have saved for this trip.  otherwise, we probably would have been on the streets tonight…ew gross!   i didn’t even pull out my new camera this evening i was so tired, so we took them with jarom’s iphone.

and luggage… i’m not sure how to even fix this issue, i guess i haven’t learned to simplify enough.  we each have a suitcase, and a backpack(ok, i had two bags and a backpack and a suitcase), but it is still a lot with 7 total suitcases, and everyone has a backpack to carry things…and it’s unbearable…so much luggage!  we will have to figure a better configuration, because we have a lot of trains to get around on coming up, and we’re going to have to figure it out.  thank goodness for us standing in the airport looking confused-we were trying to figure out the most economical way to get to our apartment…because we figured 60euro per taxi, times 2 taxi’s…way too much.  i was pushing for us to take the metro, which would have been exhausting, and then someone with a taxi van walked up, and took us where we needed to go for 80euro, to two stops.  we had to pick up our key, and then be dropped off a the apartment.  so it’s still a lot of money, but for our load of people and bags, it was a total deal!

the bottom pic, that says picasso, is from where jarom and i stayed two years ago, which was one of picasso’s atelier’s he had stayed in when he was living here.  i’m sure he stayed in quite a few places, but it was neat, nevertheless.

the good part about not sleeping on an overnight flight, is that i feel like we are already on paris time.  we are heading off to sleep, 10:30 paris time, 2:30 colorado time.  good night.