RTW - week 17 (Paris)

Being in Belgium, we were only a short few hours from one of the most famous cities in the world – PARIS. We looked into getting train tickets from Brussels, but the price was a steep $700 for the 5 of us to get there and back, not to mention the cost of parking your car at the train station for 2 days (which is expensive!).

Bryan felt like he was up to the challenge of the drive (he has come a long way this Sarnia boy), so off we embarked one early morning. We have heard horror story after horror story about driving in Paris, so we booked un underground parking spot close to the Eiffel Tower and relied on public transportation for getting around the city.

The drive was actually a breeze, 3 hours later we were safely parked and on our way to explore the city.

Seeing the Eiffel Tower is so surreal, I can’t think of more famous landmark. It truly is beautiful! Every night after sunset on the hour, the tower lights up for approximately 10 minutes, so we made a point of ending our night there in the garden running around with the other children. It was pretty magical.

First up on our trip was the Roman Catholic Church of Notre-Dame de Paris (meaning, our lady of Paris). This stunning building is every bit as beautiful in person as you would imagine.

No trip to Paris would be complete without a visit to the Louvre, which is absolutely breathtaking in every way. This place is MASSIVE though, and despite giving it several hours, we didn’t even feel like we saw it all. A few hours in, the girls were feeling pretty tired (something about staying up till midnight watching the lights at the Eiffel Tower? )

It’s a good thing these three kids aren’t shy when it comes to the human anatomy, because literally every sculpture and most paintings everyone is naked. Anyone care to weigh on why that may be?

But thankfully, we did get to see the Mona Lisa as well as several other iconic pieces that are home to the Louvre.

Hunter and I woke up at 5am the morning that we were there (classic) to see the sunrise over the Fountain of Warsaw. From this location, you can see the sun rise from behind the tower which is supposed to create the most fantastic sun rise. Seems up my alley right?!

5 am rolled around and it was cold and bordering on rainy. We were both determined though, so off we pushed. Our hotel was a brisk 20 minute walk (sweater conveniently forgotten on the floor of our hotel room), and when we did get there we patiently waited for the sun to rise.

If it wasn’t for my sunrise Buddy I would never make it out the door in time to see all these beautiful sunrises. I am not very motivated when it comes to getting out of bed in the early morning, especially just for a photo, but thankfully my son doesn’t sleep and seems to have a love affair with the wee hours of the morning – so all I have to do is put a bug in his ear and rest assured – we will be there.

Canvas for Paris achieved! Thanks Hunter