Europe Part I - Paris!!!

we just got back from europe last week and i must say it was our best trip ever! im going to break the trip up into a few posts because there is just way too much to cram into one. travelling with a 1.5 year old did present challenges but overall aiden did awesome! he did have some troubles with the 9hr time difference, had a few breakdowns from being so tired from us waking him up and dragging him everywhere but for the most part he adjusted very well. another tough thing with him... man... kid only eats asian food! we had to scope out all of the asian places in the area just so we could get him to eat something!

the first city we visited in europe, and probably our favorite of the trip, was paris. we had 5 days there and still felt rushed, i think we could have spent 10 days there easily! four years of high school french totally came in handy too because a lot of people didnt speak english. but i remember quite a bit of it, was able to order food, talk to cab drivers, even talk to a pharmacist about some skin creme for one of aidens rashes.

we were concentrating mostly on sightseeing, so i dont think we really got to experience what paris has to offer in terms of cuisine. but man... we saw A LOT! got tons of pics to post so ill keep the verbage to a minimum. first stop... the eiffel tower!!!


our first family photo of the trip

and just a few more with the tower


and one at night, so cool!

aiden calling his daycare friends back home

the arc de triumph was equally awesome to see!

aiden solo with the arc

view from the top of the arc and evening shot of the arc

strolling the champs elysee

nanci was nice enough not to buy any purses, but cmon i gotta at least let her take pics with the stores?


the one restaurant nanci really wanted to eat at on the champs elysee... CLOSED!!! the place is called laduree, our favorite downtown la restaurant bottega louie was modelled after this place so we really wanted to go. the bakery part was open though so we at least got to try some of the desserts... amazing!!!


ready to hit the town again, so funny aiden was attatched to this book most of the trip even though he never liked it at home. i guess it just reminded him of home, he carried it almost everywhere

paris probably has one of the most easy to navigate metro systems ive ever used


palace of versailles, awesome!!!


nanci and me at the palace gates

inside the gates


aiden exploring the palace grounds

the BIGGEST garden i have ever seen. everything in this picture is the palace garden... and then some!

strolling around the streets of paris, such a beatiful city we cant wait to go back!



fresh fruit stands everywhere

grabbing some snacks at the rue cler market for a picnic in front of the eiffel tower




military school facing the eiffel tower

another shot in front of the tower

nanci excited to be in paris!

les invalides, where napolean bonapartes tomb is kept


napoleans tomb

in front of les invalides, i hurt myself on this one

notre dame cathedral

the inside of the cathedral is amazing... every picture i took in here looked like a painting!


view from the top of notre dame

iconic gargoyles overlooking the city

inside the cathedral bell tower

us in front of the cathedral

the conciergerie, once a parisian prison. prisoners held here were taken to the guillotine!


st chappelle has some of the most amazing stained glass in europe


museum of modern art

me and aiden in the museum


the louvre museum, easily the greatest museum in the world!


the mona lisa and the venus de milo


some of these ancient sculptures are pretty hot!

michaelangelos dying slave sculpture

outside the louvre


the pantheon in paris houses the remains of some of frances most distinguished citizens (voltaire, victor hugo, marie curie, etc)

mmmmm crepes! this is aiden destroying a banana-nutella crepe

aiden and nanci at dinner at one of the many sidewalk cafes

what has two thumbs and loves macarons? THIS GIRL!!!


even mcdonalds had macarons... and they were pretty good! and of course a mcbaguette!

walked through a market on our way to montparnasse tower


view from the top of montparnasse tower, paris only skyscraper

aiden checking out the view from the top

montparnasse cemetary

orsay museum, where you can find the impressionist and post-impressionist works of van gogh, monet, and renoir


crossed the bridge from the museum over the seine river to the tuilleries garden


aiden having fun feeding the ducks at the tuilleries central fountain

paris, we love you!!! were already trying to figure out when we can go back to europe, and when we do we want to at least spend a few days in paris again. stay tuned for the rest of our trip in the next few days, got pics from rome, our quick stop in nyc, and also a video i put together of the whole trip!