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European Vacation Day 8: Greetings from Berlin!

Daily Selfie II from the Berlin Hauptbahnhof. 24 July 22: We made it to Berlin! Our apartment is VERY spartan, definitely East German-ish. But again, the location can’t be beat! We arrived just in time for the 9pm sunset…and now it’s dinner time! (more…)

European Vacation Day 6: Notre Dame Cathedral Restoration

Here are some photos of the work being done on Notre Dame cathedral. If you recall, it suffered a massive fire in 2019. We didn’t get a chance to visit the cathedral itself, it’s likely to remain closed until Spring 2024, France and the church hope it can open up in time for the 2024 Olympics, to be held in Paris. You can see the “back” of the cathedral beyond the bridge.

European Vacation Day 6: Bateaux Parisiens Cruise

There’s another version of this with all of my face but the boys don’t look quite as pleasant. So we’ll go with this one… We took a Bateaux Parisiens one hour guided Seine River cruise tonight, right at sunset. It was raining when the cruise started but it ended about 5 minutes into the trip. As it was a Friday night, the river was full of dinner cruises and party cruises…so much so that the…

European Vacation Day 6: More Louvre Photos

22 July 22: Here are some of the many photos I took at the Louvre today. I think I was more in awe of the sheer size of the buildings and galleries and the stunning architecture than the art. Also, as is probably the case with many American visitors, I am having to process how OLD much of this is. I don’t mean the antiquities on exhibit…I mean the fact that the museum opened (as an art museum) in…

European Vacation Day 6: Mona Lisa Pro Tip

Pro tip: Get the 9:00am — opening time — tickets to the Louvre. Any other time and getting close to the Mona Lisa will take a LONG TIME. It wasn’t bad at all if you get to the gallery with a sense of purpose upon entering the museum. There was a bit more of a line if you wanted a family photo with it but we didn’t do that. So we were maybe about 15′ away. You can’t get closer than about 8′.

European Vacation Day 6: Louvre Thoughts

22 July 22: I’m at the mall attached to the Louvre, sipping a cappuccino, processing everything I got to see today. So many thoughts about the 6.5 hours Dave and I spent there (the boys left after about 4 hours). Here are a few: (more…)

European Vacation Day 5: Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and Moulin Rouge

Admittedly, the boys are being good sports with the selfies. 21 July 22: Photos from the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and Dave’s and my date night at the Moulin Rouge! ~20,000 steps for me! Speaking of tomorrow: we will be at the Louvre right when they open! Dave and I cannot WAIT to see all that art…it’s been a while (the Frieda Kahlo exhibit in Denver?) (more…)

European Vacation Day 5: Foodie Walking Tour of Paris

Daily selfie from the wine class. Tim was included in this, to his delight. Today was a “Foodie Walking Tour of Paris“. Leo (short for Eleanor) took us through the Les Halles and Montorgueil sections of Paris, including the patisserie that invented the Baba ah Rhum and showing us one of the original restaurants that specialized in escargot. (more…)

European Vacation Day 5: Eiffel Tower Selfie!

21 July 22: Daily Selfie. Obligatory Eiffel Tower photo.

European Vacation Day 4: Eiffel Tower at Night

Good night!

European Vacation Day 4: Dinner in Paris

We had a classic French dinner this evening at a corner bistro. The food was amazing (I had duck confit and a salad) and we shared a great bottle of wine. The waitstaff were sweethearts. The boys are loving getting to order beer and wine with dinner. Tonight we relax and rest up for some sightseeing tomorrow. (more…)

European Vacation Day 4: Arrival in Paris

Daily selfie II. The view that greeted us when we came up out of the subway. Jacob looks ready to move on…he was. 20 July 22: After a 3 hour drive back to the airport to turn in the car…then a 40 min train ride…then a 15 min subway ride…then a discombobulated walk starting in the wrong direction thanks to Apple Maps not knowing the address of where we were going (Google Maps knew)…we have…

European Vacation Day 4: Travel Day from Port-en-Bessin to Paris

20 July 22: Daily selfie! We hit this cafe every day we were here! Today we had a full breakfast there before we head back to Paris. (more…)

European Vacation Day 3: Caen Memorial Museum Part 2 & Longue-sur-Mer

The boys asked to be awakened early so they could hit the market and bakery to pick up breakfast and dinner food. Unfortunately I overslept so they did too. They hit the market about 30 min later than planned. 19 July 22: More photos from our day at the Caen Memorial Museum and Longue-sur-Mer. The heat prevented doing anything more. Fortunately a line of thundershowers came thru the area and…

European Vacation Day 3: Caen Memorial Museum

Our daily selfie in front of the Caen Memorial Museum. War veterans receive free admission, and students are only €5. 19 July 22: We started our day at the Caen Memorial Museum. We are (a) grateful for the air conditioning, (b) in awe of the gorgeous exhibits, and (c) fascinated by the telling of the stories with a French point of view. We will see if we do anything else after this. It’s…

European Vacation Day 2: Beaches of Normandy

Our daily selfie, from the center of Carentan. An exhausting, emotional, and educational day. We visited 8 sites throughout the Utah and Omaha Beach areas, painting a story of the American forces’ role in Operation Overlord. Once we got >1 km from the coastline — such as in La Cambe and Carentan — the heat became somewhat debilitating. Because of this we decided to forgo the Maisy Battery in…

There’s a canal that bisects the town, where the fishing boats can be stored safe from the incredible tidal variations. We are at the vehicle bridge that crosses the canal.BTW I’ve been getting lots of genuine smiles out of my boys when I ask them to pose for a selfie. I appreciate that so much  17 July 22: We made it to Port-en-Bessin-Huppain, a town on the French northern coast, in the early…