Paris

Day 6: Tuesday - Train to Paris We thoroughly enjoyed the high speed train. It reached a top speed of 190 mph which was incredible. It was hard to gauge just how fast we were moving until we went parallel to a highway and were going almost 3x the speed of the cars. Peter and Mike also confirmed this speed with their Garmin GPS running watches. Pretty zippy doing a 19 second mile! Card games on the train Brady was smitten with Uncle Steve We arrived at our hotel, Le Meridien. It was a much different experience than the royal treatment by Steve and his staff in Amsterdam. We ran into a bit of a challenge as they would not allow all 4 of us to stay in one room. They tried to sell us another room for $800/night and then just a cot for $50/night. Peter told them that one of our children would be spending the nights elsewhere and escaped the absurd extra charges. Apparently they didn't realize they were dealing with someone that would rather leave his child outside to freeze to death before needlessly shelling out hundreds of extra dollars. Of course, we all stayed in the room together and nobody even noticed. Not off to a great start with the French. We ended up going to a local restaurant for lunch then Uncle Steve helped us all navigate our way onto the subway to see La Tour Eiffel.  Les Griswolds Inseparable pair Being New Year's Eve we headed back to the hotel, fed the kids and left them with Mike and Betsy while Tobey, Steve, Becky and Peter took the subway to the Arc de Triumph for dinner. We found a steakhouse for dinner, got seated and glanced at the menu. Upon realizing they were charging $27 for a glass of Heineken we snuck out of our seats and found a suitable Chinese restaurant next door. Dinner was very nice and afterward we walked up the Champs-Élysées to the Arc to celebrate at midnight. We tried to get close to the Arc for the stroke of midnight. The closer we got, the more crowded it got. Being that our hotel was on the other side of the Arc, our reliable navigator Steve had the brilliant idea of going through the subway tunnel to come out the other side. Not one of his better decisions. We ended up getting funneled into a mob of people, up a flight of stairs and into an already packed and confined area. It was actually a pretty frightening experience being pushed and shoved and not being able to escape or do anything about it. So it wasn't the most romantic stroke of midnight but at that point we were just happy to get out of there alive and walked back to the hotel. Day 7: Wednesday - In Paris Somehow the kids slept until 9am. What a gift after a late night! After having croissants at a local patisserie we met up with Tobey and Steve to do a morning sightseeing cruise on La Seine.  Croissants were as good as advertised         On a boat? Let's play "Go Fish!" After the boat ride we had to say goodbye to Tobey and Steve as they had an afternoon train back to Amsterdam. No more help with shoulder rides. Betsy, Mike and Peter went for a short run while Becky and the kids rested. That night we had dinner at a great Italian restaurant. Tired of trying to navigate European menus for hearty vegan fare, Mike fell off the wagon and ordered Spaghetti Bolognese. So much for New Year's resolutions.    Day 8: Thursday - In Paris Tyler and Peter got back into the morning gym routine. After breakfast we walked to the Arc de Triumph. It was a much more pleasurable experience than our previous visit on New Year's Eve.     Becky and the eternal flame under the Arc. "It burns in the darkness to recall the sacrifice of an unknown French soldier who gave his life during World War I."   Brady got this cool fuzzy hat. Apparently he thought he was in Siberia. Along with Mike and Betsy, we all went on a double decker bus tour through Paris. Probably some important statue? La Seine Becky got this great picture of La Tour Eiffel with the sun shining through the middle. We stopped and visited Notre Dame Cathedral. What an amazing place! Baby Jesus Awesome stained glass The church was decorated for Christmas.  Happy Birthday Jesus! After Notre Dame we stumbled upon an incredible vegetarian restaurant for lunch, Le Grenier de Notre-Dame. What a diamond in the rough! After lunch it was time to say goodbye to Mike and Betsy as they had to catch their train back to Amsterdam. We took the subway back to the Eiffel Tower in search of a souvenir for the kids.  Okay, enough of the darn Eiffel Tower! Didn't you Gonnermans go anywhere else? We successfully negotiated a deal on an Eiffel Tower souvenir and had a little bit left over to have a street artist do a caricature of the boys. We relaxed and watched some kids doing stunts on roller blades for a bit. Ty was mesmerized by them. We took the Subway back to hotel then got dinner at local pizza place where the kids got to watch their pizza being made. Ty insisted on going to work out at 7:30pm. Not exactly behavior you'd expect after scarfing down a bunch of pizza. With a big day ahead of us the whole family went to bed early. Day 9: Friday - Train to London Peter misread the tickets and we didn't realize that we had to clear both French and British immigration and customs. We raced down to the train and were the last ones to board. An attendant frantically helped us throw our luggage on the train (we had bags between 5 different cars but luckily they were all accounted for).  We made it to our seats with about 45 seconds to spare. Meanwhile our seats had been taken by people that assumed they were going to stay empty. After all, who boards a train 45 seconds before departure? Only Americans apparently. The guy in Peter's seat was extremely perturbed that we had the nerve to cut it so close and inconvenience him. We definitely didn't help our image as Americans. Overall, we really enjoyed our time in France, the beautiful old architecture, the amazing food and of course the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triumph. We wish we could have stayed longer and seen more. Au Revoir France! Hello London!