Cheney Vacation Week 1

WOW!  Talk about National Lampoons European Vacation.  Anything that could make you laugh looking back on it happened.  We had an amazing time, I think we wore Grandma and Grandpa out. 

I'll start with week one in Paris and post the other ones here soon. 

Mom and dad flew to Paris and we gave them a day to get rested up before we met up with them.  Saturday, March 31st we flew on an early morning flight to Paris to meet up with mom and dad to have a week in Paris.  We got to the airport in Paris and our arranged taxi didn't show up.  Jimmy called and somehow they overlooked us, in the mean time Jimmy found us another taxi that could accommodate us before they could even dispatch us another car.  This new taxi driver Patrick became our taxi ride for our whole Paris trip.  He was the nicest guy, loved playing peak-a-boo with Clara, and most importantly was reliable.  We got to our apartment (about 10:30 a.m.) and we knew mom and dad would be showing up really soon so we waited out side to put our luggage in the tenants storage (it was too early to check in).  We waited, waited, and waited.  After 11 am Jimmy started calling their arranged taxi service (a completely different company from the service that didn't show up for us), and all he got was the voicemail.  Getting nervous Jimmy called their hotel from the night before and they confirmed that my parents had checked out and left as far as they knew.  So we kept waiting, finally closer to 12 noon (their taxi was suppose to show up around 10) they showed up.  Their taxi also forgot them and they had to get their own ride.  That was just a start to the crazy fun we had.  Dad also got a nasty black eye from getting hit by a door on his way out of their hotel that morning.  We then got our luggage checked in at the apartment, turns out we had the penthouse view top floor.  It was the 6th floor and there was no elevator!  So Jimmy, dad (bad back and shoulder), and I took all the luggage up.  The tenant asked if we could come back around 3. 

After a quick bite at Subway (oh man it tasted so good, I truly miss Subways) site seeing was next on the agenda, first stop, you guessed it the Eiffel Tower!  We took the metro over to the Eiffel Tower walked around the Gardens of Trocadero (a park across the street).  On our way back to the metro a group of girls ran right in front of us all draped in blankets and had a large paparazzi following them.  Jimmy looked at me and said "We need to go", I was confused and trying to figure out what was going on, but it was already too late.  The girls just ran a few feet from us dropped their blankets and were holding up signs that said "Naked War" and well they were just that. Luckily the paparazzi blocked our view and we couldn't see hardly anything, the kids missed it all and we made it to the metro station before we could even discuss it.   We then headed over to the Arc de Triumph.  Jimmy and I have been there before but this was the first time we got to go up to the top of it.  Luckily for us we had Clara and we were able to take the elevator to the top (remember we get to do plenty of stairs at the apartment, not to mention the hundreds we did through the metro systems).  After the Arc we were able to get back to the apartment to rest for a bit.  The apartment was very nice, two bedrooms and a pull out bed for the kids. One bedroom was more like a loft and Clara enjoyed playing on those steps.  The room wasn't baby proof at all, but we managed to keep her busy enough that we didn't break anything.  After naps for most everyone we set out for a nice dinner and another ride on the metro back to the Eiffel Tower.  We missed the 9 p.m. sparkle show of the Eiffel Tower so we had to wait for the 10 p.m. show.  We were able to keep everyone entertained enough, and watching the tower sparkle is truly amazing. 

Mom and Dad with their first Eiffel Tower  glimpse

The Tower from the top of the Arc de Triumph

Tower with mom and dad

Emma stopping to smell the tulips (oh yeah the Eiffel Tower is there too)

One more group shot.

Grandpa and Clara with big smiles

Grandma and Emma resting

Grandpa and Emma (I love the look she's giving grandpa)

Grandma with two big loves

Clara playing with Grandma

Fresh Flowers that Jimmy got me (it's hard to find flowers in Spain)

Sunday was set aside to go see churches.  We set out on foot to see four churches.  On our way to our first church we found a nice little Sunday market, with all sorts of fresh produce, meats, seafood, and lots of fun things in between.  We bought some amazing macaroons and dried fruits there.  Our first church was Eglise Saint-Eustache as we walked in we realized it was Palm Sunday.  We walked through St-Germain-des-Pres and then walked to St. Chapelle (but it had a concert with going on with a long wait, so we skipped it).  We found another market along the way, this market consisted of live animals, fish, small rodents, chickens, a large assortment of birds, and flowers; we enjoyed walking through this market. We then ate lunch and then made our way to Notre Dame.  In Notre Dame we also took their tour through their treasury, what an amazing collection they have. These churches are all amazingly beautiful. We decided no one was really ready to call it a day so we walked a bit further and found the Paris zoo.  If you ever have extra time to kill in Paris the zoo is a beautiful zoo, the cages are so unique.  Then we made it back to the apartment and had a great dinner of KFC.

Mom enjoying the Flower Market

Veggies, Fruits

Emma buying a ring

Kids enjoying the birds at the market

Emma smelling the roses (she loves flowers)

A beautiful bird

A view of the river with Grandma and Landon

Tommy and Cindy still in love

First looks at Notre Dame

Monday we spent the day at the Louvre.  The line for the Louvre was huge, but when you have a stroller you get to use the elevator which had no line!  The bad part of having a stroller in the Louvre is navigating to different elevators inside, this gets you lost pretty easily, it's a fairly difficult place to navigate as is.  We finally made it to Mona Lisa our first major art work to see.  Dad's back was bothering him enough that he said he'd wait there and wait for us to come back and get him.  So we went on.  Saw The Coronation of Napoleon, The Winged Victorian of Samothrace, Cupid and Psyche, Venus de Milo, and on our way to find the elevators to get upstairs to see Vermeer's work we got lost.  While lost we stumbled upon a large collection of pocket watches, swords, old guns with bone worked into the handle, armor, and a Sphinx.  We finally made it up to the top floor to see Vermeer's two paintings the Astronomer and the Lace Maker, then we had the challenge of getting grandpa out of the Louvre as well.  I found him asleep by the Mona Lisa, guess he was still dealing with jet lag.  After the Louvre we all went back to the apartment to rest up for the night.  Closer to evening we went back out to take the metro again up to Sacre Coeur, the beautiful white basilica on the hill.  We enjoyed walking through the church but the area was crazy busy, so we decided to go back and have dinner near the apartment.  After dinner we needed to get back to pack and get ready for Disneyland!

Emma enjoying a rest at the Louvre

Prism and Cupid

Clara was pretty excited to get out of the stroller

Emma made a beautiful picture (back at the apartment) and asked if she could hang it in the Louvre

The Winged Victory of Samothrace

Landon hanging out on the steps

A beautiful look at the stairwell

Sphinx

The kids hanging out in a stairwell

Sacre Coeur

Emma enjoying a muscle (she really liked them)

Clara was so excited to ride the tram up the hill to Sacre Coeur

Tuesday - Thursday we spent at Disneyland Paris.  Our new trusty taxi Patrick was there right on time to pick us up and take us to our new hotel at Disney.  We checked in and checked our luggage (too early to go to the room) and made it into the Disney park before it officially opened.  Yeah!  So we got donuts on main street (they were absolutely delicious).  First ride turned out to be the Haunted Mansion and we got fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain (a family favorite).  We spent the whole day at the Disneyland park, and enjoyed every bit of it.  We didn't do Fantasy Land at all (because we had magic hours to do those later).  Had a nice dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe, and called it a night.  We had adjoining rooms with mom and dad, so we told the kids if they woke up they needed to wake up grandma and grandpa. Too bad they were just plain exhausted and never exercised this new freedom.  Wednesday was mostly spent at the Hollywood Studio Park, two favorite rides Crushs' Coaster (way fun Nemo ride, needs a fast pass though) and The Tower of Terror (both kids went into this trip not wanting to ride this ride even though they've done it before, both of them rode it and said they loved it!). For lunch the restaurant selections were slim at this park for some reason so we walked back towards our hotel and found Earl of Sandwich, now this was the best tasting sandwich I have ever had!  I love my sandwiches too, Subway, Potbelly's, JJ's... maybe if I get back to TX and there's not one there yet, I might just have to look and see about bringing one there. Oh my goodness these were amazing!  So good Jimmy and I had it for dinner that night too.  Thursday we used our magic hours and did all of Fantasy Land in an hour, with little to no wait!  Packed up the hotel and put our luggage in storage and then back to the park for a little more fun!  Took a late flight out and got back to our house in Spain a little after midnight!  What an adventure.  And this was just the beginning of week one!  More to come soon.  Hope you enjoyed! 

The kids with the castle

Emma and Landon navagating with the trusty maps

Pirates of the Carribean Castle

Clara trying to keep up with the big kids

Landon and Emma in the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House

Pirate Ship

Lanond and Grandpa just went on the Tower of Terror

Landon and Emma waiting for Crush's Coaster

20th Anniversary of Disney Paris

Clara trying to do a thumbs up with Grandpa

Big Balls always a favorite to do out side our hotel

Clara, just being cute.