Paris-Part III

One of the many fun things in Paris is walking through the many open markets that you just happen to stumble upon when walking down a random street. Here are some pictures of a market Mark found near our hotel while looking for a bakery for us for breakfast one morning.

The 2nd set of pictures are of the Paris Metro that we used for our transportation around Paris. We found it to be very easy and efficient to use. We were lucky that we had a metro station right across the street from our hotel. The girls loved taking the trains everyday. In the last photo- Lauren was completely worn out from a full day in Paris.

Paris-Part II

We saw too many beautiful things in France to put them all in one post. So I'm going to do multiple posts on this beautiful city. We were fortunate to get to some of the museums during our time in Paris. We went to the very famous Louvre museum where we saw the Mona Lisa and were completely overwhelmed with art and sculptures. The first picture is of the outside of the Louvre museum. We also went to Les Invalides which is a tribute to France's history/armies. The tomb of Napoleon is also here (the third picture). Finally, the last pictures are of the Arc de Triomphe which Napoleon had built to honor the victories in their wars. If you look closely in the pictures you can see that Mark was standing in the middle of the Champs Elysees taking these pictures. Don't worry- he didn't risk his life. There were places to stop in the middle of the road and take pictures without having to worry about being hit by a car.

Paris-Part I

Last week we were fortunate enough to spend 4 days in Paris. Mark and I both loved the city. It's a beautiful city with beautiful architecture and the people were all very nice as well. Mark and I tried practicing our french (for those of you who don't know....Mark is taking french lessons through work), however our french must be very bad because everyone would just talk back to us in english. Oh well- we tried.

The first pictures posted here of the churches/cathedrals we visited. The first picture is of Notre Dame, followed by St. Chapelle, and lastly Sacre-Coeur. The Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris is one of the most famous. St. Chapelle is a beautiful chapel with amazing stained glass. Finally, Sacre-Coeur because it sits up on a hill offers one of the prettiest views of Paris.

Apple Picking in Luxembourg

Here are some pictures when we took the girls to pick apples just outside of Luxembourg city. It was a very nice apple orchard where all the trees were very low so the little kids could actually reach the apples. As you can see, our girls started eating the apples before we were finished.

Ericka's 1st Day of Kindergarten

It's Luxembourg law that all children enroll in school full time at the age of 4. Therefore, Ericka started kindergarten this fall a year earlier than if we were still back in the U.S. We chose to send her to an english speaking private school to make the transition easier for her. She goes to school full time and her curriculum consists of the normal kindergarten curriculum in addition to music lessons, french lessons, and swimming lessons. She's been very tired by the end of the day, however she loves going to school everyday. It gives her a break from her sister!!! She's made many new friends of different nationalities already and one of her very good friends doesn't even speak english! This is a great experience for her! Here are some pictures from her first day of school.

The coast of Belgium

During our stay in Brugge we decided to drive a half hour to the coast of Belgium as Ericka and Lauren love the ocean! Everyone enjoyed playing in the water and walking along the sand.

Brugge Belgium

We were back in Luxembourg for 6 days before we started our travels again. Mark's sister Annah came back with us to Luxembourg from Minnesota and stayed for 2 weeks. We headed for Brugge Belgium which is about a 3 hour drive from Luxembourg.

What is Belgium known for? CHOCOLATE AND BEER!!!!! During our time in Brugge we definately had both! Brugge is a very pretty old town with small canals around it. We climbed 337 steps to the top of the Belfry tower, took a canal boat ride , rode a horse drawn carriage through the city, and saw the "Mother and Child" sculpture by Michelangelo- the only sculpture of Michelangelo's to leave Italy.

We visited the chocolate factory museum to learn all about the history of chocolate and how it's made. You can find a chocolate shop it seems at every block, and it's nothing like the chocolate you get in the U.S. It is WONDERFUL!!!!! Annah and I tried cherry and apple beer because we had heard it doesn't even taste like beer. Apple beer is definately one of our new favorite drinks!! Although Mark thinks its terrible!!

A great little city with a lot of European character!