Together in Paaaaaris!

On April 19th we took a train to Paris in order to visit grand-papa and grand-maman and attend the temple open house which was scheduled to start on the evening of the 22nd. 

We combined that visit with lots of fun things:

First time in the TGV for the boys (unless I'm not remembering correctly)

On the 20th we had an appointment at the US embassy in Paris to renew William's passport. The embassy is conveniently situated near place de la Concorde.

Posing in front of La grande roue and L'obélisque, "oldest" monument in Paris

Turn around and you see the Arc de Triomphe all the way down the street :

After the passport appointment, we spent the day walking around Paris and visiting iconic places the boys had never seen before (except for Joshua who came to the US embassy in Paris as a baby to get his certificate of birth abroad in 2009).

 

 A few minutes walk from Place de la Concorde is The Louvre :

As could be expected the boys were more interested in their Eiffel Tower key chains than the beautiful building and monument behind them.

After a long walk along the Seine we made it to the iconic Eiffer tower and ate lunch sitting right under the tower.Next, we crossed the Seine in direction of Palais de Chaillot. We found a playground between the Eiffel Tower and the Palais de Chaillot where the boys enjoyed running around, climbing and jumping for a little while.

Next we stopped at Palais de Chaillot for more sightseeing and pictures.

 And finally we walked all the way from Palais de Chaillot to the Arc de Triomphe (30min):

The boys remember this place because a few hours later that evening a terrorist attack happened on the champs Elysées (a few hundred meters away) where a man fired an automatic weapon at a policecar parked on the side. He killed one policeman and injured two others as well as a passerby. Sad times.

"Fortunately" we were exhausted. We'd been on our legs for 5 or 6 hours and we had our fill of Paris so we head back to Versaille several hours before the attack.

After the TGV, the Paris RER

When we finally made it back to the temple site, we had regained our energy so I went back out to the Visitor's Center.

The first thing you see as you enter the Visitor Center is this beautiful stained-glass art of the Savior.

And in the garden is this soul-stirring replica of the Thorvaldsen Christus inviting all people to come to him and find peace inside His arms.

What a perfect way to end a perfect day.

 

...

 

(Actually, this is how the day really ended:)