(post by John, pictures by Jen)
Grandma Betty made her second trip to Europe to visit us in early May, 2012.
When she arrived, we began her trip with a tour of Amsterdam that included visiting the Anne Frank house and a canal cruise.
Later in the week, we visited Kokenhoff to view all the flowers in bloom.
But the highlight of the week was Betty’s first trip to Paris.
We left for Paris on Thursday evening, May 10. Our road trip took a little over five hours before we arrived at our hotel in the heart of Paris. We stayed in a hotel right on the river Seine overlooking Pont Neuf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_Neuf.
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| Allison and Bella overlooking the Seine |
We brought Bella with for the first time on this trip. In the heart of Paris with a dog…why not? We’re not rookies anymore J. We awoke Friday morning to a partly sunny and windy day. The weather forecast was much better for Saturday and Sunday so we made Friday our indoor day. After sleeping in (we needed some extra sleep after the late night car ride) we went to the Lourve. Now, dogs are very welcome in Paris, but not in the Museums. So Betty, Jen and Ryan went to tour the Lourve while Allison, Matthew and I hung out in the parks in the grounds of the Lourve. The park team actually found a dog park for Bella to stretch her legs. We also did a little window shopping on one of the trendy Paris streets (Allison thoroughly enjoyed this).
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| In front of the Lourve |
In the Lourve, Ryan showed Grandma the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and a number of other museum treasures. Ryan is a big fan of museums so he enjoyed this immensely.
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| Ryan and Grandma in front of THE Mona Lisa |
Friday night we found a great seafood restaurant that has been frequented by the artisan crowd for over 100 years. The food was excellent and it was fun to dine in a restaurant that previously was frequented by Picasso among others.
Saturday afforded us the best weather of the weekend so when we woke up (which wasn’t too early) we went directly to the Eiffel Tower. Although I have seen the Eiffel tower many times and have now seen many other European landmarks, the structure built for the 1889 World’s Fair is still my favorite http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower.
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| The Eiffel Tower |
Grandma, Jen and Matthew went up in the Tower while Allison, Ryan, Bella and I relaxed on the grounds in front of the Tower. I was very happy to enjoy a siesta in the sun.
We enjoyed dinner near the Tower plus a stop at our favorite Gelatoria in Paris!
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| Gelato! |
Sunday included a tour of Notre Dame and some shopping! Allison was more than willing to lead the shopping team of her, Grandma and Jen while I led the boys and Bella to the park for some play time.
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| Notre Dame |
We departed for home Sunday evening and had an uneventful ride back. We are constantly amazed at how much there is to see in Paris. We look forward to our next trip!
Betty left for the U.S. the day after returning from Paris. We enjoyed her stay and look forward to her next trip!
Take care,
John
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