Paris, Belgium & Luxemburg

Since we only had 2 days and we were with my mom, we had to pack it in!  Thanks to some friends, we were given some really helpful tips to help make our stay wonderful, like seeing the Eiffel Tower from the perfect place and seeing it sparkle at night, and finding sugar bread in Belgium.  Of course, all of the bread and other bakery items were to die for.  The baguettes in Germany are good, but the French ones are also good in a different way, softer maybe.

We packed a picnic lunch for the way there (only a 5 hour drive) and thought it was funny that we were eating grapes from Chile, cheese from Holland and German sausage in France.  For all you Fancy Nancy fans out there, we thought it was funny that even the symbol for bathrooms is more fancy in France.

I loved the drive--seeing fields of gold and all the cute little villages in valleys, always surrounded by an old church.  We even got to see a beautiful castle on a hill lit up at night.  We got an extra scenic drive through Belgium when we came upon a very long detour.

Notre Dame was breathtaking.  The Eiffel tower was much bigger than I'd expected.  I loved the little side streets we walked down that were filled with florist shops.  The Louvre and its gardens were amazingly big.  The girls were excited to find a park with a playground in the middle of it.

Carly told our friends that we walked so much Myles got a hole in his new shoe.  We did walk a lot, even in the cold and rain.  (I know, we're such demanding parents).  We did let them have some rest in the hotel room.  I had to laugh when I saw that they were glued to Tom and Jerry's rendition of The Wizard of Oz in French!

It was weird feeling like we weren't really supposed to be speaking German or English.  My mom did get to put her HS French to use for us a few times.  German suddenly felt a lot less like a foreign language to me while being surrounded by French.  I did think it was fun to listen to.

Upon returning after the break, Macy's report to her kindergarten class was, "We got to rent a big, black van and 2 of the seats could turn around backwards."

I was impressed with Myles' driving and parking skills.  When we arrived at our hotel, we discovered that our van was too tall for its parking garage.  A very nice security guard at another garage went the extra mile to help us out.  We were pleasantly surprised with how friendly and helpful people were, especially since we'd often heard that the French aren't always super fond of Americans.

My second grade teacher warned me that if I kept squinting, I'd get wrinkles.  I guess she was right.  Little did she know that my wrinkles would be in the shape of a world-famous landmark.  I should have have been charging people for a limited-time photo opp.  Oh, well.  Maybe next time.