European Vacation {Day 5} – Louvre to London

We spent today roaming the Louvre. The Mona Lisa by far was the most popular exhibit. I did wiggle/push my way to the front of the crowd for an unobstructed view.

We ate a light lunch from a deli cart on the balcony overlooking the courtyard.

Back inside we checked out the Egyptian exhibits.    

Egyptian Hippos! 

   

We took a train to London this evening. I found the train station just as frustrating as I did 19 years ago; however, I thought the French people were much more friendly.  It was so hot in the train station that when we took off our backpacks to get through security we were all wet through – yuck!

We met up with Justin and the kids at our London flat where he had them fast asleep after their long flight and spending a full day in London. Mad props to him and my awesome little travelers. 

Here’s his summary of their day getting to & exploring London:

Grandma and Grandpa Fletcher picked us up and we went to Jersey Mike's on the way to the airport.  The flight was long and the kids slept very little.  We arrived in London and waited to get through Heathrow Airport.  I was anxious and excited to get going so was a bit disappointed it took so long to wind through the lines. 

Justin’s line at customs doesn’t look any better than ours was   

   

Next we found a bus and headed straight to Hampton Court Palace with our bags in tow, our first opportunity to use our London Pass.  Unfortunately my patience was further tested as I don't think we took the most direct route.  

Hampton Court Palace, a sight I had researched and was interested in visiting, was Henry VIII's favorite royal residence with hundreds of rooms and large gardens.  Upon arrival, we dropped our bags in storage and the kids decided our first stop would be the UK's oldest surviving hedge maze where we spent an hour running around and getting lost. The kids absolutely loved it.  Definitely a highlight for them. 

We followed that up with the palace tour. It is huge.  We explored many of the rooms including the Great Hall. We had fun taking a break in the game room where we learned to play the card game Brag.  It was nice to get off our feet.   I could have spent many more hours delving into the history of this amazing place but the kids weren't overly interested.

We snagged some food and finished up the excursion going to the outdoor kids play area which had much shorter lines by early afternoon.  We caught a train into London, found our flat, dropped off our luggage, did some grocery shopping, ate some microwave mashed potatoes for dinner and waited for the girls to arrive.  Naps were intermittent throughout the day.  Each of the kids fell asleep on the train and/or bus but overall they did much better than I expected considering how little they slept.   

This guy traveled across the sea

Alone with these three

Now we'll travel as seven

And pray help from heaven

We are so lucky are kids are such awesome travelers!

European Vacation {Day 4} – Versailles, France

We spent the entire day in Versailles today.   It was so, so hot when we arrived and the line was long and didn’t offer any shelter from the scorching sun.  We decided we would take shifts – one of us would wait in line and the other two would find some shade.  15 minutes later we’d switch.  Carly was gracious enough to let me take shelter under a shirt she fashionably tied around her waist.

The palace was beautiful albeit a bit crowded in some rooms.

Hall of Mirrors

When we headed outside in search of water the grounds were much less crowded and we were able to take a couple pictures.

The gardens were expansive and beautiful. 

We were grateful to find a little snack shop tucked away in the groves where I enjoyed my first French crepe of the trip.

As we were walking around the gardens I saw someone who I immediately knew I’d seen in a movie or TV show.  Not surprising, cause I’m terrible at names and I have a cruddy memory, it took me nearly two hours to finally figure out it was Melissa John Hart (most famous for her role as Sabrina, the Teenage Witch).  A celebrity sighting is always cool – this was even better cause we’re in the middle of France where likely few would know she was anything special.  She was a frazzled mom just trying to buy her kid a popscile on a hot day.

Paris offers free admission to most museums and points of interest for students so the girls got in free to most of the places we visited.  Including the Palace of Versailles.  We walked over to the Palaces of Trianon thinking my Versailles ticket would get me admission but it would be an additional $10 if I wanted to go in.  I was feeling a little palaced out so the girls went in alone.  I thought they’d only be 15-20 minutes, but I think they were in there over an hour.  When I saw how many pictures they’d taken it was obvious that they’d had some fun photo shoots while I waited outside.

We were so close (or so it seemed on the map) to the newly opened Paris temple that we walked, and walked, and walked AND walked {cue primary music} to explore the temples grounds and had a lovely, informative visit with the senior missionary couple serving there. A special, holy place to be (and we appreciated the AC and cold water).  There was so much opposition building this temple; however, since it’s been completed the community has really come to support the temple and it’s beautiful grounds in their community.

It was interesting to hear the story of the Christus standing in the garden plaza.  It clearly testifies that we are a Christian church.  This statue is an exact replica of the statue in the Salt Lake Visitors Center – both created from the original Thorvaldsen’s Christus statue in Copenhagen, Denmark {which we would see later on our vacation}.

I gifted the girls with an Uber ride to the train station, which closely resembled a 007 scene. Seriously those French drivers are insane.  Macarons and a shower were the perfect conclusion to our day.