My European Adventure

"Paris is always a good idea." When my parents suggested I meet up with them in Paris for a week during the summer, I threw caution to the wind and bought my ticket. This all happened while I was at the job I disliked and before I was offered my current job. Planning our Paris trip was just the distraction I needed.

The night before we left was crazy. I was still training for a 1/2 marathon and needed to do laundry. I figured I could run routes around my place and change laundry during each water break. At about 12:30am I was ready to go and drove over to my friend Robin's place. We both slept about an hour or two before packing up and driving to the airport. Our early morning flight helped us both with jet lag. We slept from SLC to Dallas where we added my sister Kathrine to our adventure. I slept most of the way from Dallas to Boston and most of the way from Boston to Paris. This made the trip over more pleasant than I anticipated.

We arrived as the sun was coming up and shining over the Parisian countryside. Beautiful! I have a thing for Europe. Something about it touches my heart. Maybe it is the history nerd in me and I understand all that the people have suffered. Maybe it is the kinship I feel to my ancestors. Maybe it is just far enough away from my problems that I can escape for a while. I greatly needed this escape. I needed to figure some things out in my head and Paris is just what I needed to do that.

The airport actually provided the first adventure. A package was left unattended and we were stuck behind customs for almost an hour before everything was cleared. We made it through customs, changed into our church clothes, and grabbed the train into Paris. When we arrived we went straight to church. It was such a great experience to arrive at what appeared to be a former aristocratic home that had been turned into an LDS meetinghouse. They had 3 different sunday schools and sacrament meetings: French, English, and Mandarin. We missed Relief Society due to the bomb scare at the airport. My parents arrived during sacrament meeting and our group was now complete.

After church, we checked into our hotel which was nestled between the Arc de Triomphe and the Effiel Tower then headed out again. We walked up to the Arc de Triomphe to grab the metro, then headed to the Latin Quarter and the Ile de la Cité (city center). We headed to Notre Dame around 5:00 to hear the organ concert. After hearing the organ concert at Westminster Abbey in London, I made sure we heard the concert at Notre Dame. It was incredible! First, organs were meant to be played in cathedrals. Second, the organist was incredibly talented. After the concert, we walked around Notre Dame and ate dinner.

When it was time to head home, Robin and I looked at a map and came up with a crazy idea. We figured it was only a few miles to the Eiffel Tower and we should walk home along the Seine. Very crazy idea. We definitely underestimated the distance. On a bright spot, we had a great time seeing Paris this way and had an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower.

I'm going to highlight each day this way: short recap and slideshow. The recap is more for me and my journal. The pictures are for you to enjoy.