May 31, 2015 (Paris to Berlin, Germany)

Our last day in Paris. Nate left early for the airport while I got packing. It was great and so glad his work has been supportive of Nathan joining us on our adventure. Sam really loves having his dad along and last night was especially great for the two to have some alone time zipping around on the scooters and going to the concert. We hugged him and look forward to seeing him in a month back in Croatia when our whole family will meet up with us for our last leg of our trip.

We left the hotel and caught an Uber car to the LDS Church which was just 10 mins down Rue du Rivoli from our hotel. The church is in a large stone building with a great courtyard which allows for parking. There were many visitors and many students that are studying in Paris. There were probably 200 people there and a great  mix of people. There was an overflow room which was pretty much packed and they had a large screen tv so that you could see the speaker and they translated the service into English in this room.

They mentioned at the start of the meeting that one of our 12 apostles Elder Tom Perry had passed away the night before. He was a great and humble, devoted leader in our church and did a series of videos that Sam and I had recently watched about the Priesthood. We will keep his family in our prayers.

Today was Mother's Day in France, which it sounds like is usually the last Sunday in May. All the talks were about mothers and appreciating the women in our life and recognizing the great roll of women. There was a young man who spoke whose talk was the most memorable to me. He spoke of how close he was to his mother when he was young. As he grew up he became rebellious for a while and wasn't close to his mother. Later as he was able to serve a mission he was teaching a woman who as he taught her to pray she directed her prayers mostly to asking for the Lord to look after her daughter and pleaded with the Lord in behalf of his daughter. There it struck him how this was probably just like his mother, praying for him. A mother's faith and prayers  go to God and in turn He can bless those for whom we pray for. It was comforting to me to be reminded of this and be reminded there are so many mother's praying for their children. It too was comforting to be reminded that those prayers are answered, it requires our faith and then often our patience.

We visited with a few people who were at the church, mostly visitors including a BYU student Mitch that was there doing a study abroad after serving his mission in French speaking islands in the Caribbean. Love going to church in other countries. For many years I really didn't think too much about it, had such a short time on vacation and wanted to take advantage of the sites to see, but we have found going to church out of the country have been some of our favorite experiences. It gives us a chance to hear from locals  and to talk to people and get a feel for what it would be like on a Sunday if I lived in this area and who some of my friends would be. We have really enjoyed it and the fresh set of experiences we are able to hear about. The spirit is always felt whichever LDS church we have gone to and there is a feeling of "being home."

Following church we made it to our hotel to gather our bags and were out the door to the airport. We took a quick spin up the Champs- Elysees and around the Arc De Triomphe so Sam could have a look. Our flight was turbulent but otherwise uneventful and we were met at the airport for by a lovely lady who was head of guest services, Nicky, who took us to the hotel. Very cute in our room was waiting a chocolate race car with Sam's name on it :) We were thrilled that the hotel had incredible wifi, best honestly than anywhere in the world we have been, and could finally upload our blogs and photos and get caught up. We spent 3 hours getting caught up and updated and then I met with the super helpful concierge to get our plan for the 4 days we are in Berlin. So much to see, reminds me honestly of Washington DC with all the great museums. We decided the best way for us to get around will likely be by ebike, so the hotel kindly rented us a few so we can go far and wide. We figured out our next stop which Sam can hardly wait for - bird park about 3 hours west of here and found a hotel to stay and so we are set through Saturday. It should be a great week!

May 30, 2015 (Paris, France)

So excited that we were able to get tickets to Roland Garros today!!! The concierge advised us to get there earlier than what they had projected for the game to start. So we arrived around 11:40 and when we came in the woman's match was just finishing up and Djokovic was about ready to head onto the court. He was playing an unranked 19 year old from Australia. Djokovic is number one in the world right now and we knew the game was going to be great, and it was! The rallies were incredibly long and both of them ran for drop shots that seemed impossibly to get. It was exhausting to even watch. I have never seen such amazing tennis and the two had serves over 210 kmph. It was a great match which Djokovic won 6-4. 6-4, 6-4.

The weather went from cool in the shade to hot in the sun. Grateful for sunny clear weather and honestly just perfect. Our seats were about 12 rows up in the corner. Great seats and easy to get in and out from. So glad we got tickets and good ones!!!! We took a break during lunch and found some sandwiches and enjoyed some shade before making our way back onto the court to watch the Frenchman Richard Q  play. Wow the match went for nearly 4 hours!! There was a tie breaker and the third match went to 7-5 and then the Frenchy was  in the lead and took the match beating the player Anderson who is higher ranked. The crowd was going wild for their countryman and there were chants and waves and calls throughout the game. It was definitely the most crowd participation of the 3 matches we attended or heard. We were loving it.

Sam and Nate decided to take advantage of the last few hours in Paris and rented electric scooters and visited one of  Nate's friends Joe and his Katie Platt who were here for the weekend and found out we were in Paris from Facebook too. I had our friends Andrew Hartsfield and his son take Sam's tickets and sit with me and watch the next 2 hours of the French match. They only had single tickets on two different courts so fun for them to sit together and for me to have some friends to enjoy the last couple hours of tennis. We started seriously routing for "Frenchy", we affectionately called him due to none of us knowing how to pronounce his name ;)  as a representative of the host country but also because we wanted to see Serena and the sooner he won the more we could see of Serena's game.  Game ended well with  Frenchy/ Richard Q. taking the win to the crowds excitement and we then were able to see about 40 mins of Serana Williams play against a woman from BLR. She is just  fierce. It is amazing to watch her and her brute strength and court finesse.

We decided we had best leave an hour before to catch our event at Sainte Chappell that night but after 25 mins of the Uber car circling to find us he dropped us and then we had to make a run to a corner to catch another Uber. The fellow was awesome with kicking tunes, and was all into what kind of music Drew, Andrew's son liked. Traffic was terrible and we got to Saint Chappell too late :( They had locked and closed the doors and we missed our front row tickets of the concert but thankfully Nate, Sam, Jen and Ethan got to see the concert and they said it was fabulous. Feeling beaten and Drew not having eaten all day we parked ourselves across from the chapel and ate dinner. I had seen the concert with my daughters years before and it was excellent, I felt badly for Andrew and Drew though. I was so glad that Nate and Sam saw it and they said it was excellent, nothing like Vivaldi in one of the most beautiful stained glass churches in the world!

After we walked around a bit and said our goodbyes and hopped on a Cyclo which took us on an evening ride back to our hotel.  It had been a great day at the courts and so fun to see the worlds best players and the Frenchman who gathered more crowds than all the number 1s. Beautiful weather and great sports with family and friends- just perfect.

May 29, 2015 (Paris, France)

I woke early to be able to have a conversation with the Concierge who has been so busy and I wanted to make sure that I was able to get us tickets to the French Open. It turns out that it is the hardest event I have ever tried to get tickets to. Can't seem to get any online and they only come available after 5 pm and then are sold out before you can even try and get them and scalpers are selling them for as much as a motorcycle!  The concierge was very helpful and he said he would try several ways to get tickets and I gave him a price range I was willing to spend on the athletes we wanted to see. I also picked up some museum passes which allows us to skip some lines and get right into several museums we had plans to visit. We spoke about a reservation for dinner with the Hartsfields we found out were in Paris too and then the GM was so delightful and was kind enough to insist on returning our rental car for us, since it was not in the place it was supposed to be and down in some parking structure. Was worried about a 10 min excursion taking an hour. It was a productive morning and then we were off.

We chose as a group to hit the Louvre first. It is overwhelming and HUGE but you have to do it. We made a game plan,  we rented the headsets so we could have some information about the paintings and sculptures we hoped to see. The device was pretty handy. We made our first move to the 0 floor and the Venus de Milo sculpture. It was found actually in a field with no none artist but considered one of the most beautiful sculptures and intriguing without arms. Off to Leonardo's Mona Lisa but on the way I noticed paintings that I remembered from an art class. They were lovely and as we walked over to take a look they were three of Leonardo's other works. Really beautiful and honestly they do stand out from the rest. The devices were handy because we could listen to info about each work.

As we began to wander other areas of the Louvre and there were thousands of people in the museum honestly we literally bumped into my cousin's daughter Michelle. She was there with her friend just having come from London and between heading to South of France. No idea she was in Paris on a graduation trip and it was so fun to see her and meet her friend. What a coincidence...although I believe there are never coincidences.  We wandered around other parts of the museum and then finished with the Royal Apartments which were lavishly decorated and home of Napoleon. Need to do some more research about Napoleon because it seems ironic that during the French Revolution they overthrew and beheaded Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette but then 100 years later they have an emperor and living lavishly again in a palace...hmmm.

We left Louvre very tired and hungry and hopped on a Cyclo and took a nice ride over to Notre Dame. Sam has been craving a banana nutella crepe for days and none of the creperie's have had banana but I recall this one place that sold crepes on the corner by Notre Dame that was delicious and have been there many times of the years. After lunch at a neighboring restaurant, where we also ran into Michelle again walking by!!- we picked up a banana nutella crepe and it was delicious!

The line going into Notre Dame has about 100+ people in it but surprisingly the line took only 5 mins and we were able to go inside and admire the amazing huge rose windows and many other smaller rose windows.

Sam decided he really needed his bird fix, so the boys located a bird/pet shop near by and we went strolling to find it. Along the river there was an area that had about 3 pet shops and the last one was huge with the largest selection of birds I have ever seen for sale. There were all different breeds, sizes and colors. Sam was in heaven and they had tons of little dogs and cats, some we all (even I who is not a cat fan) adored these little grey fluffy kitties.

We hopped on bikes and decided to explore. We rode down to the Eiffel Tower partially along the river where they had some fun exhibitions going on where we played a form of paddle ball/tetherball. At the Eiffel Tower they had some temporary tennis courts set up where they had young tennis matches happening and on the lawn they had a megatron and were showing live tennis from Roland Garros. They had a both that had a speed radar to tell how fast your serve was. Sam and I stood in line and took a turn. I surprisingly had a faster serve than Sam and registered 118 mph. Sam had 114 mph serve. We rode back to the hotel through Concorde Square and it is just an incredible open area with statues and fountains. The gilded Oblisque that stands in the middle was a gift from Egypt that we learned about when in Cairo and the Egyptians were proud of the gift they had presented but ticked, yes a pun, when the clock they were given in return from France didn't tick.

For dinner we joined our friends the Hartsfields from Utah who saw we were in town and met up with Andrew and Jen and their two boys, once of which is around Sam's age. We enjoyed dinner at Montmartre and then wandered up to the Basilica where musicians gather and folks congregate to watch the sun go down and enjoy the view. It is a beautiful view and the moon was shining directly above the city and centered on the Basilica and seemed like a painting. As we wandered into the church, which is all aglow on the mountain top with grand staircase leading up to it, there was a mass going on inside. We listened for a bit, because intermittently there would be a nun I believe sing parts of the program and the organ would play and it was magical. As our friends hopped a cab back we wandered down the steps and strolled a bit more looking for a cab and then thanks to Sam called Uber and caught a car back to the hotel. Around 11 p.m. at night we heard from the Concierge at the hotel that they were fortunate enough to get us tickets to the tennis match! The woman helping us honestly had been working all night. We are so appreciative and we can't wait to go tomorrow!

May 28, 2015 (Chambord to Versailles to Paris, France)

Could hardly wait to get up and go bicycling along the Loire River. We stayed in the Louis the 15th room in Muides Sur Loire at the Chateau du Colliers, right along the river. The spot had been in the families home for over 150 years and they now kept as a bed and breakfast so that I am sure they could maintain the upkeep. The rooms were very vintage but filled with beautiful old bombay chests and marble topped inlay side tables,... Our room opened up right over the river. It was more charming than photos could capture. We grabbed a bite to eat in the dining room and then hopped on our bikes. As we peddled along the river the tall grasses dotted with buttercups and tiny white flowers set against the Loire River moving quietly along and rather wide in some parts just was breathtaking. There are small cottages of stone with winding vines and colorful creeping flowers making their way up some of the homes through the rocks. It all was picture perfect. We came across a school group of likely 5th graders who has set up tables along the river and were doing a painting class- dreamy!

We cut through small narrow roads in the town and jumped onto a bike bath. The path was remarkable, hadn't seen such perfect paths since Switzerland. The path meandered for about 6 miles through wooded areas and meadows unit we arrived at Chambord. We enjoyed the grounds and grabbed a bite to eat for lunch in town before making it back to Chateau du Colliers and hopping in our rental Peugeot and off to Versailles. 

Around 2 hours later we arrived at Versailles. Holy Smokes! I have been to Versailles probably 4 times before but it had been heavily under construction in the front street side and after coming from Chambord which seemed huge, it was just jaw dropping with what looks like fresh gilding all along the gate and entry. We strolled through the apartments and it is really remarkable all that has gone into renovating these rooms and the antiques and fabrics. We made our way into the children's rooms and then down through the miles and miles of gardens. Some modern art piece was being constructed in the center of the green area  below the main fountain, no idea what it was and thought that it could be cool, simply because of the extreme contrast of the piece, but only temporarily- hope it's not hear to stay. 

After renting bikes we made our way over to Marie Antoinette's village that she had created so she could play "Milk Maid" essentially equipped with small homes and water wheels and farm animals and ponds. We came across several small buildings and tons of winding paths and even a small grotto which was closer to her Petit Domain - smaller home and refuge for Marie Antoinette. It is strange to think of all this opulence and really a way to just pass the days being a queen. Her demise was in stark contrast to the way she lived her decadent life, but again a beheading on the center stage of Paris in Concorde plaza, seems a dramatic end to a story which she lived. 

We went to return our bikes and then thought we should make one lap to around all the fountains- that was several miles along tree lined paths. It was fun to circumnavigate all the grounds and just beautiful and something I may not do again. It was great to be at the far end of the property- like being at the Washington Monument looking back at the Capital. 

After we grabbed dinner in a little Italian restaurant in Versailles before making our way through traffic and back to Paris and to our hotel. Promptly settled into bed and watched part of Marie Antoinette on our laptops since it was perfect to see the film in the place where we had spent our afternoon.