Louvre and more crepes.

On Monday we went and looked at the Louvre and Tyler and Spencer had more crepes. :) The Louvre was very beautiful and interesting, and quiet! It felt like we were in a sacred place, even Spencer kept a quiet voice most of the time. To keep Spencer entertained while visiting this vast museum, we printed out some of the paintings and sculptures that are in the Louvre and told him he was on a treasure hunt! He loved it! We had 11 things for him to look for while we were walking around and he found 6 of them! I'm really glad we thought of that, so then he wouldn't be moaning about his legs and feet hurting (the day before was walking miles at Versailles). But it was great fun, and we got to see the Mona Lisa, which is beautiful. And yes, I actually looked up into the archways to see if there was any kind of bars that came down to get the robbers like in Da Vinci Code...I didn't see any, but that's okay. At least now I have a better visual of the place when I read the book. :) Enjoy the pictures.

The pyramid under the museum, we saw this first since we came through the metro way.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace, the first staircase we went up.

Mona Lisa

We saw this a couple of times, of painters painting the paintings on the walls. (how many times can you say some form of paint in one sentence?!?)
One of Spencer's treasure hunt finds!! Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix

The Consecration of Emperor Napoleon I and the Coronation of Empress Josephine in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris on 2 December 1804 by Jacques-Louis David. We saw this same painting at Versailles in the coronation room...which one has the real one?? The one in the Louvre, I read in my Versailles book that Jacques-Louis David did another one for Versailles between 1808 and 1822. Fun fact for today! :)

Aphrodite (Venus de Milo) another one of Spencer's treasure hunt finds.

Spencer and Tyler outside the Louvre.

The pyramid and part of the Louvre (it really was massive!).

The Arc de Triomphe.

Tyler and Spencer went on Monday afternoon/evening to go get their last crepes and some pastries for us that night. We had a great bread/pastry shop right beside our hotel that we could walk to, and a crepe tent thing that was right next to the hotel. Tyler was in heaven for sure!! I took a few pictures of them getting their crepes from the hotel room. Yes this is the same road the police were marching down the evening before!

Can you pick out Tyler and Spencer?? They don't seem to understand that you wear black or dark colors in Paris! :)

BEST MOTHER'S DAY EVER!!

My Mother's Day this year was spent walking around beautiful Versailles, seeing the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. Then coming home to relax and having the riot police right outside our window of the hotel!!!! I love seeing action like that, not being apart of it, but just being the spectator, and we had a fabulous view of everything going on!! We had protesters across the street from our hotel the whole weekend. It was about the things going on in Sri Lanka, and the Tigers (what the group of people were called) were out there. Well they had just been on the grass by the huge roundabout, but they decided that afternoon/evening to start chanting in the streets and sitting down in the middle of this busy intersection. The drivers were not pleased, and so the police came to push them back. It wasn't anything too big, but a guy did almost get arrested. So here are the pictures to commemorate this event! :)

Versailles, Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame

 Enjoy! :)

Yummy, Yummy Crepes!!

When I talked to my Mom yesterday and told her I was going to go buy some crepes for dessert, she told me to take a picture and then write about how yummy the crepe was and since it is Mother's Day today, I decided to fulfill her wishes.  I love crepes, and always have.  Usually I go for the Crepes sucre (sweet crepes) as opposed to the crepes with fromage and meat. So in between dinner and taking Spencer on a Carousel, Becca and I bought two crepes, one with sugar and one with honey.  I ate the honey one.  For anyone not familiar with crepes, or those whose American pride don't allow them to call crepes, crepes, then you can just call them very thin pancakes. 

Here in Paris they have a honey crepes, Nutella, crepes, sugar crepes, crepes with jelly and various other crepes.  As mentioned earlier I ordered the honey crepe.  It was delicious, and although it probably didn't taste any better than crepes eaten back in the United States, the fact I was eating it in Paris made it all the more delicious. I plan on buying several more before we leave in two days.  

We will post more pictures later of the sights around Paris, but I thought I would add a few pictures of Spencer on a carousel near our hotel.  He loved it, even though he didn't discover how to make the jet move up and down until the ride was about to finish.  Needless to say he has already been on three carousel's and probably will go on two or three tomorrow.

In Paris!

Just wanted you all to know we've made it to Paris and are having fun. We'll update as soon as we get back to Congo. :) The only thing so far that we've done is walked around by our hotel, since it was raining today and we couldn't see Notre Dame or the Eiffel Tower. But I do already feel under-dressed, everyone here seems very spiffy in their dress. O-well, I am the American/Congolese tourist. :) Spencer did go on one of the carousel's today, he loved it. Tyler has gotten his crepes already, which were really good. And tomorrow for Mother's Day I get to go to Versailles, we are all happy. More later! OH and you can't see the Eiffel Tower from every window in Paris. ;) 

Days 4-8 of Vacation

The blog below will be full of pictures and this one short on words...hopefully. :) Quick run-thru: Monday to Thursday it was just Spencer and I at the house. Our routine consisted of us waking up at 9am every morning, for some reason Germany makes Spencer sleep-in (which I love!). We would get up, eat breakfast, get ready and then play the Wii...most likely MarioKart for an hour or two. Lunch would come next and then after that Deric and Stephanie would be coming home from work. Wednesday night Stephanie came home and picked up Spencer and I for a girls night out, Spencer just tagged along. We went shopping and saw "Confessions of a Shopaholic"...which Spencer did really good at! :) It was fun going out with Stephanie. 

One day for lunch Deric picked us up and took us on base to eat some Popeyes, and then Tyler came home on Thursday night. We were excited to see him back with us, and today on Friday we went out and got pictures and ate one last time at Taco Bell, and that's about it. We did go by a playground and Spencer had a blast at it, I think he really thought this was all too good to be true. Tonight we are going out to eat with Deric and Stephanie and then tomorrow we get on the train to Paris. More to come after we get home after Paris.

The Pictures from Germany

Church (and church bells that ring at 7am!) by Deric and Stephanie's house

Down the street from their house.

The pastry shop we walk to from their house. 

Village road.

Germany houses.

Yummy gelato place we eat at, it's sooo good! 

Road signs to Air Base.

Road signs.

Doorway I thought was cute. :) 

This is how most of the villages are out here, just kind of on their own, so quaint. 

Windmill energy type things up on the hill.

Bridge that are over most roadways and usually have TONS of bikers on them, young and old. 

Cute houses.

Deric and Stephanie's village from afar.

Church door by Deric and Stephanie's.

Seats/chairs outside of the church.

Colorful house.

Street and houses in Germany.

"The hills are alive, with the sound of music!!"

House we saw driving around that had a wildflower garden on the roof, or as the roof. :) 

Plane in sky is from the Air Base.

Deric and Stephanie's street. 

Deric and Stephanie's house, cute, eh? 

Church from their house. 

Hope you liked them! :)