Monday, September 15, 2008 ~ Paris, France

Just as planned, we got up at 4:00. Alisha was the first one up and woke everyone else up so we could get going. We ate a quick breakfast and headed out the door for Paris. When James and Elizabeth agreed to go with us to Germany, they asked if we could spend a day in Paris. It was a dream of theirs to see the Eiffel Tower and visit the Louvre Museum. We all thought it was a great idea. James took the wheel first and ended up being our driver all the way into the city. Most of us slept for a while in the morning but eventually everyone was awake and hungry. The toll roads in France were getting rather spendy so we decided to try the back roads. This turned out to be one of the best decisions of the day. James kept us headed for Paris but there were times when we had no idea where we were. We traveled through some beautiful farm lands, vineyards and small towns. We stopped at one town and bought a few groceries to replenish what we had alredy eaten from our picnic lunch that we had brought with us.
We bought more breads, cheeses, drinks, cookies and crackers, then jumped back into the van and decided to look for a picnic spot along the side of the road. We almost pulled over when we saw a small bench, however, not knowing if a bus would stop and try to pick us up, we decided to go on. James saw a sign that pointed us back towards the AutoBonn, so we went that way. We would have never guessed that it was leading us to the highway because we drove through another small town, out into the country, and up a hill towards a huge statue. We saw many grape pickers out in the vineyards along the way. And then, all of a sudden, along the side of the road was a picnic table and benches. There was also a most amazing view overlooking the valley below with vineyards up one side and down the other of every rolling hill. It’s hard to explain it so I’ll just include a picture here with the note that this was the absolute, very best, most fantastic picnic spot ever.
I couldn’t help but think of my dad and mom and the “French picnics” they took us on as kids. I remember wondering what a “French picnic” was and hearing Dad tell us that all you take is “bread, cheese, some fruit and a drink.” "That’s what the French people take on their picnics", Dad would say and I have very fond memories of Harmon Family “French picnics”. Dad would have been so proud of us today; having a French picnic in France on our way to see Paris. He might have even had a bite to eat with us as we sat there next to a vineyard high above a little French town. We had some bread and cheese that we “just broke off” like they really do on French picnics, some grapes; which we brought with us- not picked off the vine there, some cookies, crackers, salami, brats, chicken and pops. It was more than our usual French picnics but we were feeding some pretty hungry people. After taking several more pictures, we loaded back up and headed on our way. We even found the AutoBonn again but best of all was that we made a memory from my past come alive and enjoyed the present moments, too.
Coming into Paris was a fun experience as we tried to take pictures of the freeway signs.
We arrived safe and sound in downtown Paris and James did an amazing job of finding a parking place not too far from Le Louvre. Walking into the museum brought back all kinds of mental pictures I had from reading Dan Brown's, "DaVinci Code". The story begins at Le Louvre and speaks of the Pyramids inside, but outside of the museum. I was amazed at the memories I had from reading the story as I looked around me. I had never dreamed that I would actually get to see the place in person. Dad and I have truly been blessed with numerous opportunities to see the wonderful things of this world.


Today was one such day as we wandered the corridors marveling at such sights as the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, the Winged Victory and the Venus statues. Everywhere we turned there was another one of history’s treasures. We had four full hours of treasure hunting before we met up with James, Elizabeth, Seth and Alisha again. Just imagine Dan and me alone in Le Louvre for four hours. What a dream!







As we left the museum, everyone was ready for a light dinner and some souvenir shopping. To add to our Paris adventure we decided to have dinner at a little outdoor café. So, the six of us found three tables and six chairs on the sidewalk outside the Chez Alexandre Grec Grill and Pasta Café. We ordered two pizzas; one of which was Regina. Alisha ordered spaghetti. Sound familiar, Will? Sure enough, we ate every bite. It was a wonderfully warm, breezy evening and we just sat there till everyone was ready to go. We did a bit of shopping and ended up getting post cards to send home to friends as we made our way to the car. We thought of so many people we would have loved to bring something home to, but we never did find the “just right” things.
We got our van out of the parking garage and Seth drove us over to the Eiffel Tower. It was a dream of Elizabeth to actually see it in person and this was the night for her dream to come true. Again, words can’t explain it so; here are pictures so you can see for yourselves.
It was just starting to get dark as we got back into the van and Seth drove us out of Paris, back on the Auto Bonn and headed back to our little castle on the hillside just above Leiwen, Germany. We may have slept in the car before we slept in our beds tonight, but we will never forget our trip to and our day in Paris, France.
On a side note, we almost ran out of gas on the way home, so James drove very slowly for about 2 hours until we were finally back in Trier where we found a gas station open at 2:00 in the morning. After that Seth drove us home quickly and we hurried to bed. We decided to take it easy the next day so we could recuperate from an 18 hour, amazing day trip to Paris.