2/5 - Monday- Travel Day. We flew from SLC to Dallas and had a layover there for a few hours. Then flew from Dallas to London. We arrived early in the morning in London.
2/6 - Tuesday-
Land in London at 6:50 am. No sleeping for us. We're off on our adventures. Luckily our Airbnb let us check in early so we could stow our luggage.
First up was the London Eye.
Next we visited Kings Cross station. We grabbed some food and went to platform 9 3/4.
Next we made our way over to the shuttle bus to get to WB studios Harry Potter tour. We saw a lot of fun movie sets and props.
After the long day we returned to our Airbnb for much needed sleep!
2/7 - Wednesday
Our first stop today was at the British Museum.
After the museum we made our way over to the Palace theater for a full night of the Cursed Child Play. Part 1 started at 2:00. Part 2 began at 7:00.
After part 1 ended, around 4:30, we walked around the neighborhood to get some food. We saw Mozart's old house!
We returned to our Airbnb around 10 pm.
2/8 - Thursday
Today was our Hop on Hop off bus day.
We saw the Tower Bridge
A view over the glass floor in the Tower Bridge.
Next was a visit to the Tower of London.
We walked on the London Bridge for a nice view down the Thames, then headed to Borough Market for some chocolate strawberries.
We had planned to go to Windsor Castle today too, but our bus tour was much slower than we thought. In part due to a garbage truck breaking down right in front of us. So we had to scratch that off our list.
2/9 - Friday
Got on the Hop on Hop off bus to get to Buckingham palace this morning to secure a spot for the changing of the guards that started at 10:45. It was fun to experience, and a bit rainy.
We ate lunch at a mall area, and Sawyer got to try Nando's like he wanted to while in London.
Next we visited Westminster Abbey
Mary Queen of Scots
The coronation chair
Right near the abbey is Big Ben.
After Big Ben we got on the Uber boats to head to St. Paul's Cathedral.
On the way there we spied: Scotland Yard
Shakespeare's Globe Theater
Crossed over the Millenium Bridge (notable for it's appearance in the Harry Potter movies)
Had some good views on the bridge
Then on to St. Paul's Cathedral
We hiked up to the top for some nice views
Iconic phone booth across from the cathedral
We walked up to Trafalgar Square, but unfortunately it was closed as they prepped for Lunar New Year. Luckily we had seen it from the Hop on bus yesterday. We did a bit more evening walking around before we headed in for the night.
2/10 - Saturday
After we checked out from our Airbnb, we tried to find the Jellycat store for McKinley. We apparently had a lot of misinformation online, because we never found it. So we then headed to the metro to get to the train station.
We grabbed some food and then got on the train to cross the chunnel to Paris. After a transfer to the metro and a 45 minute ride, we arrived at our next Airbnb just off the Piquet Grenelle stop. We caught our breath for a minute and then walked about 15 minutes from our place to the Eiffel Tower to watch it sparkle. Some of us got crepes too.
2/11 - Sunday
Today was Disneyland Paris day.
Great shot of Josh noticing the discrepancy in our scores on Buzz Lightyear!
Aurora's Castle. In the basement you can visit the dragon.
We stayed for the light / drone / firework show and arrived back at the Airbnb around midnight.
2/12 - Monday
Miscalculated what time we'd need to be in line for the 10 am river cruise, so we ended up on the 10:40 river cruise. This put us behind on a very busy day.
Countdown to the Paris Olympics
Alexander III bridge
View of the Eiffel
The Statue of Liberty's twin in Paris. Our two statues face each other across the ocean
Next up, the Arc de Triomphe
We climbed up to the top of the Arc.
View down the Champs Elysees. At the very end you can make out an obelisk. We'll visit this in a minute.
McKinley said that the warrior face was originally considered for the face of the Statue of Liberty, but they decided to go with a more peaceful one.
Josh felt Parisian in the gift shop
We definitely got our step workout on this trip
We rode to metro over to Musee de l'Orangerie. We visited the obelisk (mentioned above). There is a plaque at the bottom that commemorates it as the spot that Marie Antoinette was beheaded.
The plaque is upside down (I couldn't figure out how to flip it on here)
Then we made it over to Musee de l'Orangerie. It had mural sized Monet lily paintings. It was beautiful, but we didn't have much time to spend here unfortunately (for me, maybe not the boys).
Then we were off to the Louvre. It was another short (in my opinion) visit, but we saw a few of our "must-see's".
French Crown Jewels
Winged Victory of Samothrace
The Mona Lisa.
This room was packed and we got so sweaty.
Hayden had to get a shot by an art piece of his choosing for some homework.
Psyche revived by Cupid's Kiss
Venus de Milo
Next, we were scheduled at St. Chappelle at 4:30. We saw a rainbow on the way! We arrived at St. Chappelle at 4:32, and the guard wouldn't let us in :(
So we went to Notre Dame instead. It is still under construction from the fire, but they have seating made to view it outside. At least we got to rest our legs for a bit.
Afterwards we headed back to the Airbnb for a bit of a rest before our tickets to see the Eiffel tower at night at 9:30. We rode the elevator to the top.
look up from the below the tower
Views from the top
View to the bottom on the glass panel flooring
2/13 - Tuesday
We spent the morning at Versailles. It was massive and beautiful!
The Hall of Mirrors
A view of the gardens outside
After a 1 1/2 hour ride, and a very uphill climb, we made it to Sacre Coeur.
Some of us climbed to the top of the dome, while others sat and waiting on the stairs instead.
It was too bright to open our eyes
Views from the dome
Then we walked down the hills through the Montemartre area. We got some world famous macarons from Paris Hermes, and I must say it's the first time I've actually loved macarons!
The area had some cool street art.
Next we visited Palais Garnier. It is a famous opera house. It was actually the inspiration for the Phantom of the Opera. In the olden days, the giant chandelier crashed and killed a person.
Then we went to Hotel Invalides. There is also Musee d'Armee there (army museum) which we bypassed. We were interested in the Invalides portion. It is where Napolean's tomb lies (and others).
Chapel
Napolean's sarcophagus. It was gigantic. If I remember correctly, it consists of 8 layers of materials culminating in the coffin.
After Invalides we headed back. It was time for dinner. The boys opted for McDonald's while McKinley and I went to Carette, which is apparently a trendy dessert place. We got their famous Carette chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) and crepes. It was right across from this beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower so we stopped by and took pictures again.
Our last stop of our vacation was to the Paris Catacombs. It was interesting to hear the history of how they came to be, as well as imagine all the humans those bones belonged to down there.
Halt! This is the realm of the Dead
This well was built to represent the well from the Woman at the Well.
2/14 - Wednesday
Flight from Paris to Dallas. A 4 hour layover in Dallas. We were able to get the boys Global Entry interview done while we were there. Then our last flight from Dallas to back home. We arrived around 8 pm. Exhausted.
