Paris with the Nierengartens

Dear Grace,


After being back home in Chicago for a week, we were fortunate enough to travel Europe over the next two weeks with the Nierengartens. The goodbyes were very difficult this time, so I was grateful for the hustle and bustle of the airport and especially thankful for getting to travel back with family. Liz Turcy from American Airlines couldn't have been kinder and more helpful while I was trying to check in. She was just a sweet woman who went above and beyond. Unfortunately, that has been rare with my experiences. There have definitely been nice and helpful people, but Liz was exceptional. We did have a bit of a fiasco. I stocked up at Target and Costco the day before we left. Fully prepared to pay a fee (everything is just so expensive in London), I was confused as to why Liz was hesitating while weighing our heavy suitcase. I had not only exceeded the free baggage weight, but I had also exceeded the weight amount the Paris airport would accept. Oops! Apparently you can only bring up to a 70 lb./bag when flying into Paris. Who knew? Good thing Grandpa Den had extra room in his carry-on for 2 BIG bags of your baby food pouches. The first of many great perks to flying with others. We started our European vacation in Paris, went back to London, and then traveled to Prague, Salzburg, Munich and Dublin with Daddy too. Enjoy the first of many posts from this holiday! Grace, in case you haven't picked up on it yet, they call vacations holidays on this side of the pond. 

Love, Mummy


We started our day walking from our hotel, past the Louvre, along the river Seine and to Notre Dame. 

Paris- the city of love.

There is a little museum inside Notre Dame Cathedral which houses relics of the Passion: a nail of the Passion, and a piece of the True Cross. The Holy Crown of Thorns is kept in Notre Dame's Treasury and is shown once a year during the services of Good Friday.  Two priests in the picture below had just flown into Paris and headed straight to Notre Dame to see it's beauty and treasures. They even had their suitcases in hand. 

This happy man sums up our first day in Paris. He claims to know a little bit of every language and while we were dining outside his restaurant he never missed a beat. He literally would call out the city (or at least the country) where he thought people were from. Then, he would just start speaking that countries primary language. What a tourist trap! It obviously worked for us. We were so entertained. We could have stayed there all night, but we were anxious to explore the charming streets of the Latin Quarter before heading back to our hotel.