On Saturday, November 27th we departed by car for our first trip to Paris as a family. By car it took us approximately five hours from our house to our hotel in the center of Paris. Our hotel was located in a great location right on the Seine river directly across from Pont Neuf in the St. Germaine district of Paris. immediately upon our arrival we put our things in the hotel room and strolled to the Eiffel Tower. The temperature was in the high 30's with a fairly stiff wind, but that was no match for the hearty Feriancek's from Minnesota on their first trip to the Eiffel Tower!Ryan has been enthralled with major world landmarks for quite sometime and the Eiffel Tower has always been his favorite. The look on his face was priceless once he saw it up close. I think everyone remembers the first time they saw the Eiffel Tower as it is quite impressive. We waited in line for about 30 minutes and then took the elevator to the top. It was dusk by the time we reached the top which was ideal because Paris at night is very beautiful. Was lingered at the top for about 20 minutes before going back down, we even walked down the stairs for the last half of our desent!
On Sunday we went to the Lourve and Jen and I were a bit surprised by how much the kids enjoyed it. The interactive audioguides were a nice piece of new technology to keep the kids engaged. The Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and the Lourve archetechture were the highlights of our trip.
For the afternoon the boys and girls split up (boys to the Museum of Modern Art and the girls shopping) and we reconvened for dinner in the evening. Monday morning started with a quick trip to see Notre Dame before jumping in the car to head home so we arrived in time for Ryan's Basketball practice.Paris did not disappoint. Despite the chilly weather, we had a great time seeing the sites, enjoying dinners together and even a little gelato!
Take care,
John
