Day 9--Paris (long post with lots of pictures)

After getting up early to be at the airport for our flight from Berlin to Paris, we were a little cranky when the check-in process was less than efficient and rather frustrating. Eventually, all was worked out and we were on our way to Paris.

I knew the weather was going to be much warmer than we had been used to in Berlin, and that was a bit of a concern for me. It did cause my legs and feet to swell over the day as we walked all over the city, and the next day, the 11-hour plane ride didn't improve the situation, only made it worse. Luckily, the swelling went away within a couple of days of being home and I felt like myself again.

The end of our day in Paris was a bit rough, but we managed to finally make it back to our hotel for a few hours sleep before heading back to the airport and getting on the plane for our long ride home.

Now, I know it sounds like our Paris experience wasn't much fun, but that's not the case. I just wanted to get all the bad stuff out of the way before sharing all that we were able to see while we had one afternoon and evening in Paris.

First up was Notre Dame Cathedral. We joined the long queue to go inside, but the line moved quickly. Inside we saw beautiful stained glass, heard an amazing choir, and were able to enjoy viewing the other sights. Next we walked around the outside (being sure to gaze at the famous flying buttresses) and took a few pictures before walking along the Left Bank to our next destination.

The kids in front of Notre Dame

And to prove that I was there too

Joan of Arc

The ceiling

The choir that was performing while we were there. It added so much to our visit to have the beautiful choir music in the background

Gargoyles!

We walked along the Left Bank, eventually coming to the Pont des Arts, a bridge known for all the love locks placed on the fence.

Institut de France

Pont des Arts

Thumbs up from Mom!

We were headed to the Louvre, hoping to be able to see some highlights there in our allotted few hours. We chose the main things we wanted to see and then headed to them, looking at the other displays along the way. Some of the main exhibits we were interested in were Durer's Self-Portrait, Winged Victory, the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the Code of Hammurabi, and the statue of Rameses II. We did see all of these, along with other wonderful paintings, sculptures, and antiquities. The kids took over a hundred pictures in just the two hours we were there. I won't include them all, but we do have them :)

Code of Hammurabi

Winged Victory

Mona Lisa

Cupid and Psyche

Venus de Milo

Rameses II

Next up--ride the Metro to the Arc de Triomphe. The metro station we went to had these old Art Deco signs that I had read about, so, of course, we had to take some pictures.

cue the song "The Metro" by Berlin

Once we got to the Arc de Triomphe, we realized that we needed food pretty soon. Our original plan was to have crepes by the Eiffel Tower, but that was still a couple of hours away. As we started to walk down the Champs-Elysees, we found a McDonalds. So yes, we ate there. Partly to fulfill Carson's goal, partly because it was (comparatively) inexpensive to everything else right there, and partly because hey, it's kind of ironic. Then we went over to the island with the arch on it (via the underground path, of course). The boys climbed to the top, while Maren and I stayed behind at the base.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

I don't know what I was doing with my hands

 

The underside of the top of the arch as seen from the base

View from the top

In the distance the Sacre-Coeur Basilica

The stairs up to the top of the arch

Once the boys came down, we realized we were running out of time. We headed over to the Eiffel Tower and hoped to be able to take a Seine cruise, but it was too late, we had missed out on that one. The Eiffel Tower only had one elevator working so the lines were extremely long. We knew this ahead of time and were prepared to just see it from the ground. Sure enough, the lines were hours long, so we did have to miss going up the Tower as well. We did, however, take lots of pictures, despite the sun going down and losing our light.

It was late and we needed to get back to our hotel, but first we had to eat crepes! We sat on the wall overlooking the Seine and ate our nutella-filled crepes. Yummy!

It was definitely an adventure getting back to the hotel, one that I wouldn't want to undertake again. But we had seen what we came to see in our brief layover in Paris and if we never make it back there again, at least we had our one day to see some of the most famous sights in the world.

Day 8--Berlin (last day in Germany)

(I know this is way past due, but life, and the Olympics, have gotten in the way of my blogging time. I'm sure you've been waiting on pins and needles for the last couple of installments of our trip--or not. Anyway, here is the second to last day of our adventure.) (Oh, and stay tuned for one more post about our day in Paris.)

By this part of our adventure we were tired! We wanted to make to most of the time we had left in Germany, but our bodies just wouldn't cooperate. Needless to say, we got a late start on Tuesday, our last day in Berlin. We headed out to Charlottenburg Palace, and since it is a bit outside of central Berlin, it took a little time to get there. Once we were there, it was well worth it. I think this was one of my favorite places we visited. Maybe because we had audio guides to tell us about the history, people, and furnishings. Maybe because of the beautiful setting. Or maybe just because it was so elegant, but not completely over the top (like Versailles, but that's a story from my past for another day). Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures inside the palace, so we only have a couple of shots from the outside. This was built as the summer palace for Sophie Charlotte, wife of Friedrich III (who later became the first king of Prussia). If we had more time that day and the weather had been nicer, we probably would have explored the lovely gardens behind the palace, but we had to settle for glimpses from the windows.

After leaving the palace, we decided we really needed currywurst one more time. We found a currywust restaurant not far from the train station and had the most delicious lunch. Next on our agenda was the Pergamon museum in Central Berlin. We were excited to see the large exhibits they have there (large meaning actual size, not the number of items in them). We saw (among other things) the Pergamon Altar, a market gate of Miletus,  part of an Assyrian palace, a paneled room from a merchant's house in Aleppo, part of the facade of the Mshatta Palace, and my favorite, the Ishtar Gate from Babylon.

One side of the Pergamon Altar
(Pergamon was an ancient Greek City in modern-day Turkey)

Market gate from Miletus, a Roman town in Asia Minor

Market Gate with people in front to get an idea of the scale of this display

That's Carson on the right side, so you can see just how tall this structure really is!

More Roman stuff on the opposite side of the Miletus Gate

Maren and I looking cute :)

A paneled room from a merchant's house in the Syrian city of Aleppo

A fragment  of the southern facade of the Jordanian Mshatta Palace

(with a person to give it some scale)

A miniature version of the Ishtar Gate and the roadway leading up to it

The Ishtar Gate of Babylon (from the next room back to show how tall it really is.
But the arch cuts off the sides of the gate so you can't really see it's full size.

Along the road leading up to the gate

One of the side mosaics of the Gate

Here's a man walking through the gate--gives you an  idea of just how large it really is

More of the side mosaics

After the museum, we had a little tourist shopping to do before finding a tasty pizza restaurant for dinner. We had to call it an early evening because we had to (sniff, sniff, tears form in eyes) pack for home. Yes, we did have one more day, but that would be spent in Paris, not Berlin.

I wish we could have had more time in Germany, but realize that the end has to come at some time. I am so grateful that we could take this trip and see this part of Germany where Aubrey served as a missionary. It's given our family lots of memories that we'll never forget.