My Mom and Dad Christmas in Europe

We returned from Paris December 23, getting back to the house around 7 pm. So Katie and I generously gave my parents the evening off before putting them back to work on Christmas Eve. They thought they were coming here for a vacation. They're cute that way. Oh no, we have work for them to do. Hanging art work (sadly we ran out of nails), making ginger bread, and my dad is like an obsessed rubbish removal machine.

We have given them a modest leave window for events of cultural significance. For example, we went downtown at 5 pm on Christmas Eve to hear the simultaneous ringing of all the church bells in Frankfurt, which you can kind of hear in this video:

We also allowed them to participate in the Christmas morning reveal, as shown in the longish home video below (warning, content most appropriate for grandparents; individuals age 25 and below may experience severe boredom):

We also visited Baden-Baden in the Black Forest and enjoyed the first snow my kids have seen in three years.

My Mom and Dad in Europe (Paris Leg Final)

This is the not-that-creative travel log entry for Paris days 3 and 4.

Monday, stop 1, The Louvre. I am not a museum guy, but the Louvre was awesome. I am willing to accept that part of the awesomeness was that we only saw about 3 percent of it and left while we were still curious to see more.

The compulsories:

Getting these shots just right turned out to be exceedingly not easy.

 

She's really not that impressive. So at least now I never have to waste any more time trying to see her again.

We enjoyed The Wedding Feast at Cana and The Coronation of Napoleon, paintings we anticipated and sought out. Then we all discovered a new favorite, The Young Martyr, by Delaroche. We also enjoyed the gilded room below. The experience turned Madeline into an art historian, at least for the day. She could not stop reading the guide book we purchased with its brief histories of a few hundred pieces.

We also really liked this winged statue, for which I did not locate a name.

Musee d'Orsay is closed on Mondays. Duh. I should have looked that up in advance. So we visited the Montparnasse Tower observation deck instead.

After which the boys were exhausted and returned home for an evening of iPad movie watching while Pam, Katie, and Madeline did some credit card damage shopping around Montparnasse.

Tuesday, final day. Sacred Heart church and Tertre Market, Montmartre, very near our apartment. We loved, and purchased, the street art.

Mom is very excited about her art purchase.

Finally, why not a macaroon at Charles de Gaulle 

My Mom and Dad in Europe (Paris Leg Part 2)

Based on estimates from my Nike Fuel Band, we walked about 7 miles exploring Paris the first day. We bested that on the second day, exceeding 10 miles of urban hiking while using the hop-on-hop-off bus tour. Turns out touring Paris is good exercise.

Also, dad very much enjoyed pastry shopping in Paris, as pictured below.

Stop 1: Tuileries

From Tuilleries to the Seine; this is the bridge with all the locks, but they had covered up the locks.

Stop 2: Notre Dame, where Katie and the kids lit candles for Nana Shanley

It wouldn't have felt like a Paris trip without lunch at a cafe.

Stop 3: Arc de Triomphe

On top of the Arc de Triomphe looking down Champs Elysees. If you look closely, you can see the giant Christmas ferris wheel at the end of Champs Elysees.

Stop 4: Eiffel Tower; at this particular moment, the tower's flashing Christmas lights had just been turned on

In mom's words: So many times the real thing doesn't live up to my expectations but the Eiffel Tower was so much more impressive than I had imagined.

As a matter of record keeping on my mother's behalf, sites observed from the bus tour also included the military academy that Napoleon attended, Les Invalides (military hospital, museum, and former armory), Place de Concorde with the Temple of Karnak obelisk "gifted" from Egypt, the opera house (inspiration for The Phantom of the Opera), and Ernest Hemingway's favorite road full of cafes and bookstores.

My Mom and Dad in Europe (Paris Leg Part 1)

Arriving

My parents' flight out of Idaho Falls was delayed because of "fog." Now that I've lived in Germany and visited London, the idea of fog in Idaho Falls is funny to me. But I digress. So the generous 3 hour layover to the connecting flight in Denver was reduced to a 45 minute sprint. Mom and dad did their 70-year-old athletic best and it was just good enough. We gave them a day and a half of recovery time and then put them on a 7 am flight from Frankfurt to Paris.

Paris Day 1

Despite jet lag and an early start, they showed few signs of fatigue. My crew, for their part, has become a pretty well-oiled traveling machine. Henry is too tired to do anything until it is time to drag a suitcase through the airport, which for whatever reason he absolutely loves. And they all get a kick out of subway surfing in new cities. I think they like the subways better than the attractions.

Here we are having just emerged from Marcedet Poissoniers metro stop near the flat we rented in Montmartre.

First item of business, a croissant at our apartment. 

Then we just enjoyed some Paris streets on our way to the first major visit, the catacombs.

Near Strasbourg Saint-Denis

The bones of more than 6 million "long dead" Parisians are stacked in the catacombs.

From the catacombs to the Christmas Market of Champs Elysees.

Nothing Says Christmas Like a Crossbow

We set out for a Christmas market and may have ended up at a larper convention. Turns out Christmas markets are a great place to pick up Lord of the Rings costumes. And they had crossbows.

Favorite Things 2014 and Other Updates

My favorite things that I discovered, used for the first time, or otherwise fell in love with in 2014:

1. The Work Uniform--Gray slacks, white or blue shirt, the same blue tie, a black sweater when it's cold...every day to work. All from Banana Republic because they have the clothing equivalent of frequent flyer miles and I'm so far in after years of Old Navy stuff for the kids that I get sweet discounts on everything. It just makes life easier, plus it has become a bit of personal branding in a way.
2. Nike Dri-Fit Wool Crew long sleeve running shirt--Perfect for running on chilly but not quite cold evenings in Frankfurt. Also perfect for lounging around the house quite comfortably and being able to go to almost any activity without changing and still look cool. Also perfect for cats to sharpen their claws, sigh.
3. Evernote--The cross-platform solution for a lifelong list maniac. I have lists of my lists. And now it's all searchable in Evernote.
4. St. Peter's Basilica--I found the Sistine Chapel underwhelming (smaller than I thought, hard to see because they keep it kind of dark all the time, super crowded and uncomfortable) but I cried upon entering the basilica.
5. Guardians of the Galaxy--Geek bonding with my kids is pretty sweet.
6. Fish and Chips (skin on) from London pub--So delicious.
7. Katie Hart--I've been in love with her all along, of course. Then she turned 40 this year and it had this effect like "I just turned 40 so I'm not going to worry about the crap anymore." New level of awesome.

Sampling fish and chips

In other news

German Christmas Markets are cool

Tired on the Underground

Happy Thanksgiving! Well done, Katie Hart.

A common pose for me and my cat