Easter

We interrupt this Europe travel log for Easter. Easter was the day after we returned from Europe. The kids spent those 10 days with my parents and had a great time! Only a couple nights did the 3 older ones ask for their mom and dad. Mo was having a grand ole time. :)

Getting ready for an egg hunt: Must wear a Europe shirt and proper head gear.

 Mo wanted to let everyone know that 'My grandpa helped me find some eggs and I picked a blue bucket. I'm a great picker'

 Abbey was a little disappointed she wasn't finding anything.

 5! She found 5 and life is so much better now. :)

 There's 1 more.

 she fit the entire egg contents in her little mouth.....can't share if you eat them all. haha!

 want to see a neat trick? swing your basket full of candy in a circle and no candy falls out....

 Easter success!

 

Grandma did family history and indexing.

 They went to the library while we were away and this was Mo's favorite book - he had it memorized. 

'Caps for sale'

 'You monkeys!! You better give me back my caps!'

 They learned about the Prophets and Apostles - General Conference was the next weekend.

and played with our new toys! Thank you mom and dad for staying with our kids - they had a great time with you and will always remember spending time with you.

Notre Dame

 From the Pantheon to Notre Dame. We were ready for more stairs. Because we had the Museum Pass, we didn't have to pay additional money to get into the tourist sites. Here's the map of the Notre Dame Towers. You can tour through the doors of 10, 9, and 11 for free. To get to the stairs and the upper decks, you have to wait in line - limited space up there - one way only.

 Can you see the people on the top of the right tower?? That's where we're going!

 There were stands set up for the 850 year anniversary! Check out the detail on every arch.

 

I have this look alot - mostly because I never knew when Jeff was actually taking the picture. haha - I really did have a good time. :)

 The nave/alter. Which I thought was strange to have this huge gathering place and then smaller chapels around the outside of the nave, until I was sitting in church yesterday and realized our LDS church is set up much in the same way. Except the 'chapels' around the outside of our Chapel are classrooms dedicated to the worship of Christ not patron saints. And definitely to a much lesser degree of craftsmanship and detail. Still a place of worship regardless of the decor.

 The line to get into the towers. Jeff went across the street to get a side view of Notre Dame.

 The bored Gargoyle

 This is looking towards the bored gargoyle and you can see the line of people - single file. There was only one place where I got nervous and this spot was it - you walk around a small corner on a worn down path and then back against the building. whew, I made it. :) I almost turned around to go back for Jeff, but there was someone else behind me and I had to keep going. (I'm a chicken)

 There's a place you can go see the bells.....it was closed because the day we left Paris, they installed and unveiled new bells in the Belfry. bummer!

 Haha, we made it to the top and it circles the very top of the right tower on the map above, then you go back down, down, down, down, until the stairs start blending together and you have to stop and refocus on the steps. :)

 The other tower

 The Eiffel Tower

 This is the staircase.....claustrophobic you might become.

 another height conquered - love my French guy. :)

Paris - day 2

So far we've seen most of the Left Bank, Eiffel Tower and the Musee D'Orsay (no photos allowed).

Today's agenda:

The Pantheon

Notre Dame

Napoleons Tomb

 Arc de Triompe - Champs Elysse Walk to the Lourve

Lourve

(translation - A LOT of walking!)

Only about 7 miles of road walking which doesn't seem like that much, but then there was all the walking in doors and climbing stairs, wow the stairs.

We ate at any Sandwich shop we could find - usually Le Pret A Manger. Fabulously yummy and filling.

Let's start with the Pantheon: The one thing I loved about these tourist places was the pamphlets - each language had a specific color. I figured that out when we went to Notre Dame and I didn't have time to stand and look at the various pamphlets available and I just grabbed the light green one. Someone was thinking to color coordinate those babies for each tourist site. In 507 AD, after being converted to Christianity, King Clovis was the first to build a basilica - a tomb for him and his Queen when they died. Saint Genevieve was buried here in 512 AD - protected Paris from the barbarians - Patron Saint of Paris. King Louis XV attributed his recovery from serious illness to prayers made to Saint Genevieve and pledged to dedicate a church to her name. In 1755, Soufflet who's goal was to outdo the church of St Peter in Rome, built what is now the current day Pantheon. For two periods during the 19th century, the church was used for Christian worship, before giving way to secular use for the funeral of Victor Hugo in 1885.
There you have a brief history of the Pantheon. Now for the picture overload. This place was huge!

 see - and that is only half way up the wall.

 this is where my husband was stalking me with the camera - it was really cold in there. My hands were freezing!

 gotcha!

 this reminded me of the Eyring Science Center at BYU.

 TO THE CRYPT!

 so funny story - we took a picture of Jeff next to a tomb.......notice the one behind him? that's an actual tomb, the one he's posing by.....noone there yet....oops. :)

 Then there was this random tv set up down there??

 I loved this - the picture of Marie and Pierre Curie!

 we walked out to this view! Stay tuned for more photos of more museums and really old stuff. :)