Month of April- Europe Edition

Here we go on getting caught up! April 2014.

April started with a dream vacation to France and Belgium with my mom, dad and Lexi. I lucked out on the vacation lottery by not having a small baby or being in school. 

We flew out on April 3rd and had a pretty great flight. I was surprised at the amount of food Delta served us. Every couple of hours we were getting either a meal or a snack and this pregnant girl wasn't complaining... besides some of the smells. 

 

Once we landed, we were super happy to have our 15 minutes of free wi-fi while waiting for our luggage. We then rented a car and started a 5ish hour drive across France to the Britany region.

Our drive was lovely (I slept most of it) and included our first of many french pastires. We stayed that night in Quimper. 

The next day we enjoyed the coast! Old churches, French pastries, an incedible town dating back to the 1500s, crepes, and a chocolate store! The creperie was built in 1585!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 3 included Downtown Quimper, discovering my love of tuna fish sandwiches, and the most adorable caurosal I have ever seen!

 

 

 

 

 

 Day 4 meant traveling back to Paris from Quimpar. On our way, we stopped in a medieval town of Dinan and at Mont Saint-Michel. We saw a lot beautiful country side and ate a few more pastries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, Les tried to nap in the car when he got tired of the touring...

Day 5 ended up being our church day in Paris! Sainte- Chapelle, Notre Dame (and climbing the stairs to the top), and the Basilica of the Sacre Coeur. We threw in a tour of the Concierge and Marie Antoinette's (replica) cell. We ended the day with Lexi seeing missionaires and dinner with some of her friends from the mission.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 6 included The Lourve (and Mona Lisa), The Orsay (wtih a Van Gogh exhibit), climbing to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, dinner on the Champs-Elsees, and the top of the Eiffel Tower!

(It also included some awesome asian tourists at the Mona Lisa. Liz made a new BFF.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 7 was a laundry day, a final trip into Paris to get souveniers, Versailles, Les practicing his photography skills, lots of traffic, and a late night Kabob for some and seafood surprise pizza for others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 8 started with a final french pastry then off to Brussels! Town square, waffles, chocolate, Les learning to photobomb, and a  huge Iron atom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 9 found us in Bruges! Mary and child by Michelangelo, canal rides, wooden toys, and chocolate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 10 was our last day in Brussels. We loaded our car, headed to church, and then had our world rocked. Someone broke the car window and stole all our luggage. Clothing, souveniers, shoes, makeup, and my work computer. Fortunately we all had our phones, passports, wallets, and cameras. Also, we were very blessed to have Marie-Pierre and her family help us out and let me borrow some clothes to fly home in.

 

 

We had a nice drive back to Paris as we all slowly remembered all the different things that were stolen (my retainer that I had from the 8th grade and wore every night.) The next morning we got to the airport and breezed through security. :) We also made a lot of  "traveling light" jokes. All in all we had a wonderful vacation. I was also happy to find out our home owners insurance covered the theft after I met our deductible.

Thanks mom and dad for a wonderful trip! And thanks Lexi for serving a mission so we had the chance to go back! Looking at these pictures make me want to go back ASAP!