The River Seine

TUESDAY, JULY 24th, 2012
We devoted this day to the 2 islands in the Seine River in Paris, Ile de la Cite and Ile Saint Louis.

A view of the back of Notre Dame as we were walking to the islands

 We started off at the Conciergierie.  Once a palace, it became a prison during the Revolution and many people, including Marie Antionette, were held there leading up to their execution.

Conciergerie

Someone has a dark sense of humor (at Conciergerie)

Next we toured a little church, Sainte Chappelle.  From Wikipedia: "It was commissioned by King Louis IX of France to house his collection of Passion Relics, including the Crown of Thorns - one of the most important relics in medieval Christendom. Begun some time after 1239 and consecrated on the 26th of April 1248, the Sainte-Chapelle is considered among the highest achievements of the Rayonnant period of Gothic architecture. Although damaged during the French revolution and heavily restored in the 19th century, it retains one of the most extensive in-situ collections of 13th century stained glass anywhere in the world."

 It has a pretty little chapel on the lower level but the top level is really where it's at.   All the walls are just covered in these gorgeous 50 feet tall stained glass windows.  A section of windows was covered as it was undergoing restoration work.  You can see that on the left side of the first picture below.  It was still breathtakingly gorgeous though.

 After touring Ste. Chappelle, we walked through this pretty little flower market.

In front of Notre Dame cathedral, there is an archaeological crypt.  There you can see foundations of buildings dating from ancient times up to the 19th century.  Very cool stuff.

 Of course, we then went to see the beautiful Notre Dame de Paris.  We did not have the time to wait in the long line to hike up the 387 steps to the top of the south tower, but we definitely checked out the interior.  It was just amazing.  Next year, Notre Dame is celebrating its 850th anniversary.  That kind of blows my mind.

A little rest at the park behind Notre Dame

 Since we were touring the islands on the river this day, it seemed appropriate to also put our boat tour on this day, so we did.

Notre Dame from the boat tour

Look, Zack's parents were there with us.  I have proof

Conciergerie from the boat

Kissing under "the most romantic bridge in Paris

Musee d'Orsay

Pont Alexandre III in the background there

Baby got just a little fussy on the boat.  She hates sun and wind, both of which were plentiful

Breast feeding, and windblown

 We polished off the day with a walking tour of Ile Saint Louis.  It is mostly just a posh residential area these days, but it was fun to walk around and look at all the pretty houses.

This church had a cool tower and clock

A big mansion

Are you ready for this?

Okay folks, welcome to my travelog blog.  We had an epic time in France and I want to record it.  We were there for 2 and a half weeks so this will probably span several posts.  I hope you enjoy hearing about it.

SATURDAY JULY 21-SUNDAY JULY 22
We decided to fly out of JFK because it was almost $1000 cheaper to do so.  In order to get there, we had Weston drop us off at 30th street station.

From there we caught an Amtrak train to Penn Station in New York City.  Then we took another train to Jamaica Station

LIRR train from Penn Station to Jamaica Station

where we could catch the airport train to the correct terminal.

On the Air train to our terminal

From JFK, we flew just over 5 hours to Reykjavik, Iceland.

Cold and rainy in Iceland

Stretching out

Iceland

There we had just enough time to stretch our legs, grab a quick bite, and let the baby stretch out a little before hopping on our about 3 hour flight to Paris.  This flight was more pleasant than the first because we got to have a seat between us, so I could actually put the baby down a little bit.

Whenever the fasten seatbelt light was on, they made me put this ridiculous seatbelt around the baby.  It attached to my seatbelt then went around her.  I can't imagine that it'd actually do anything if there were turbulence or something, and it made it a real pain in the butt to hold her.  Luckily, the seatbelt light was really only on for takeoff and landing.

The airplanes had personal tvs on each of the seats with a selection of several movies.  Zack got a kick out of this choice.

He thought that it probably wasn't the best time to watch something about a large passenger vessel crashing in the north Atlantic.
When we arrived in Paris, we met Zack's parents at the airport and took a train to a subway and finally reached the apartment where we were staying approximately 20 hours after leaving our apartment in Philly.  Clara was a perfect angel throughout the entire travel day.  She slept almost the entire time and probably cried a grand total of 5 minutes in that 20 hours.  It really could not have gone any better with her.  Since we arrived in the late afternoon, we spent the rest of the day getting settled in to the apartment and trying to stay awake until a reasonable bedtime hour.
MONDAY, JULY 23
We devoted this entire day to the Louvre.  We got there soon after it opened and stayed until closing.  It was just fantastic.  There was so much to see, and the building itself is pretty amazing in many places.  We started by going to see the Mona Lisa.

Then we took a 90 minute guided tour of some of the highlights.  I actually really enjoyed that despite the fact that our tour guide was kind of a punk.  She noticed we had a stroller after a bit of time (and several flights of stairs).  She got mad at me for not pointing it out to her at the beginning (although I don't know how much more obvious it could have been) and she tried to make us leave the group to take the elevator every time we hit a flight of stairs.  With how crowded it was and how fast the tour guide was walking, we were already having a bit of a challenging time staying with her, and we knew that we would just be hopelessly and permanently separated from the tour if we did that, so we just ignored the elevators and stayed with the group.  We were glad that we saw Mona Lisa before the tour because by the time we saw it on the guided tour, the room was so, so crowded and it would have been nearly impossible to get a picture with it.
There were so many fun things.  I wish I could take you all to the Louvre and we could see it all together.  Since I can't, here's a few pictures.

Breast feeding was a favorite theme of mine

Who doesn't love Egyptian antiquities?

This is silver salvaged from Pompeii

Michelangelo's Dying Slave

See how gorgeous the building itself is

The Coronation of Napoleon

Look who we saw again at lunch :)

Cupid and Psyche

More Egyptian antiquities

Egyptian furniture from 1550-1186 BC

Code of Hammurabi (from about 1772 BC)

We weren't staying horribly far from all the touristy stuff so after our day at the Louvre, we decided to walk the couple of miles back to our apartment and see some fun stuff in between.

Saint Eustache is a gorgeous church built between 1532 and 1632.  It has the largest pipe organ in France.

St. Eustache

St. Eustache

St. Eustache

A Renaissance fountain

A not-so-Renaissance fountain (Stravinsky Fountain)

The Pompidou Center is a large modern art museum.  We weren't really interested in going in, but the outside of the building was kinda cool.

Pompidou Center

The Place des Vosges is now a public park but it was once the site of jousting tournaments and the like.  Victor Hugo lived at one of the houses on this square, which we walked past.

Place des Vosges

We sure saw a lot that day.

A change

Today I was cleaning a picture frame. It contains 4 pictures: an 8x10 of the Liberty Bell, and 3- 4x6s of Zack and I.  In one, we are kissing in front of the Love statue at Love Park.  It was taken by my cousin when she and he husband came to visit almost 5 years ago.  Another shows us in front of the Joseph Smith family frame home.  We got that one on a upstate New York trip with Zack's parents a couple of years ago.  The last one shows us smiling away on a hot summer day on a New Jersey beach.  We have done so many fun things in the last 5 years.  I love this place.  And I am going to miss it.

Have I mentioned that we're moving back to Utah?

We couldn't be more fond of Philadelphia, and I think under the right circumstances, we would be happy to put our roots down here forever.  But our families are back in Utah, which suddenly seems like an even bigger deal with our little babycakes in our lives.  Plus we're at this kind of stand still here while we figure out what our next school/work plans should be and we figure we might just as well work all that out in a place where we can be with family.  We don't hate Salt Lake, although we're not particularly fond of it either.  It just seems like the right decision for us right now.
But that doesn't mean it's not a heart-wrenching one.
During our time here, we have been influenced by so many wonderful people, many of whom we already miss as they have moved on, and many of whom we will leave here.  Robert and Natalie, our dear friends from the beginning of our time here, are a rare breed.  They are the kind who can put up with us, and maybe even enjoy our company.  We did so many things with them, from teasing their little kitties to grocery shopping to staying up into the wee hours of morning talking politics and religion and the like.  They moved to Seattle a while back, and definitely took a piece of us with them, but they really helped color our experience here in Philly in a positive way.  Tyler and Becca struggled with us a little bit (we know we can be intolerable), but were still so kind, and tried so hard to be our friends.  Thanks to their kindness, we were able to find the car we wanted to buy, which has made life so much easier.  Jesse and Savanna were the only other "city couple" with us for a while, and we love them for being so nice and putting up with us.  I guess the options of people to hang out with were slim, but they rose to the occasion beautifully.  Savanna helped put on that lovely baby shower for me a couple of months ago.  They and their darling little boy just recently moved, and we miss them.  Weston and Michelle moved in just at the right time, as Jesse and Savanna had recently moved out to the suburbs and we were left alone in the city.  At the time, Oliver would only speak in 2 word sentences, and there was no Madeline.  Over these past 2 years, we have grown to love and appreciate their little family so much.  We have watched Oliver grow into a curious, smart-as-can-be little boy.  We held little Madeline when she was only a few hours old, and have now seen her become an adorable, daring little 1 year old.  We feel like we can be ourselves around Weston and Michelle.  Many of our opinions and personality quirks that bother other people just make them laugh.  We are so thankful to have had them, and we will miss them greatly.
There are so many others who have touched our lives.  Bishop Judkins, who actually asked us what callings we wanted in the church, and who worked so very hard to include everyone in our ward.  Rebecca Sloan, who actually got me to do my visiting teaching once in a while.  Sophie Tailey, who, even though she can't read, listened to recordings of the Relief Society lessons that someone made for her, and used that to plan and give lessons.  Zakpah Kaydea, who made me African bread while I was pregnant and who holds my baby every week in Relief Society.  The Stringfellows, who invited us over for our first Thanksgiving here, when we had no where else to go.  The Howdens, who welcomed us with a smile to church on our very first week, and also had us over for dinner.  Quilley and Mary, who have adopted us as their children, who call just to see if we're alright, and who absolutely adore our little baby.  The list goes on and on.  I wish I could name each person by name and thank them for touching my life.
Change is hard, but with it comes the opportunity to meet new people, and to experience new things.  So, on August 24th, Clara and I will hop on a plane, and Zack will hop in the car, and we'll head for our next chapter in Utah.  I hope we can make the most out of life wherever we are.

Live and Learn

Before Clara was born, I was an absolute expert on baby gear.  I knew exactly what I was going to need.  I knew exactly how each of these things would be used.  I relied on advice from others, my own past experiences, and tons of research about baby gear.  Enter the baby.  Exit all expertise.
Some examples:

Pre baby: My child will sleep flat on her back in her crib every night.  I have the firm mattress with a well-fitting crib sheet.  No stuffed animals, bumpers, pillows, blankets, etc.

Now: Baby has reflux and has to sleep partially upright.  A wedge under the mattress does not provide enough elevation so she sleeps in her bouncer.  The crib will come in handy after the reflux clears up (I hope) but for now, it's just taking up space.

Pre baby: We got this cute little bouncer chair for cheap on a sale.  It may or may not provide the baby with some entertainment.
Now: This item has been our salvation in a lot of ways.  Baby sleeps in it every night (yes, we know it is not made for that purpose), and she likes to sit in it when we need to put her down.  She loves the calming vibrations.  We took it with us to the beach the other week.  We took it with us to fireworks on the 4th of July.  We love that thing.

Pre baby: I need a travel system.  I want the baby carrier car seat with matching stroller.  We saw those snap and go type strollers around and thought they were a total waste of money.  After all, you can really only use them while your baby is in the infant seat, then they are useless.
Now: We actually came around to the idea of a snap and go stroller before the baby was born, but we got it to use on our upcoming trip to France.  We thought it would be good for travel.  Turns out that we love that thing so much, we have almost beat it into the ground in 2 and a half months.  And we've only taken our travel system stroller out once, to try it out.  I'm sure it'll come in handy more later once the baby outgrows her carrier, but for now, we love the compact size of the snap and go.

Pre baby: This outfit is cute.  I have to have it.
Now: This outfit is cute.  Will it be easy to get her in and out of it?  Will it be easy to change her diaper in it?

Did this happen to any of you?

Independence Day

It is tiring to celebrate the 4th of July.

We actually kept the day pretty low key with a birthday party for a little boy in our ward in the morning, a trip to the mall in the afternoon to keep cool, and some fireworks in the evening.  We wanted to watch the big fireworks show that they put on downtown, but we didn't want to brave the downtown crowds with the baby.  We scoped out a spot at a park right across the river.  It was still very crowded, but not as bad as downtown would've been.  We had a really great view of the fireworks.  Clara seemed to like them.  My grandma sent her that cute little outfit.  It says "mommy's little firework" on the front.  Thanks grandma.  It was adorable on her.