Day 4 Paris and the Eiffel Tower

We slept until 10 am. The late nights weren’t doing much to help us adjust to Paris time.

 

There was a small grocery store next to the entrance to our Airbnb. Chris and I picked up some

juice, almond milk, cereal, and bananas for breakfast. I had packed some oatmeal packets and

they were a good option for breakfast for everyone.

That is, once we figured out how to work the combo oven/microwave. That's where Google comes

in handy.

 

We left the apartment around 1 pm for a chill day of exploring.

 

Since we were planning to leave for a cruise next week and needed to test negative for Covid, we

wore our face masks on the metro and in large crowds.

 

We were treated to a trumpet performance on the Metro as we traveled to our first stop of the day,

Rue Cler. We started a Rick Steves’ audio tour and then as we explored the street, we decided

instead to get lunch. The girls weren't too disappointed.

 

So we went from shop to shop purchasing baguettes, cheese, strawberries, raspberries, lunch

meat and drinks. 

 

Misha has been doing Duolingo for the the past couple of months to learn French and made great progress. She was pretty comfortable ordering when it was just her and her sisters together.

 

With all of our lunch stuff, we climbed on the bus to Trocadero and found a great place to

enjoy lunch on benches that overlooked the Eiffel Tower. 

 

The park was busy with tourists and hawkers, so it was fun to enjoy the ambiance, people watch,

and see the view.

 

From there we wandered around the city and ended up in Jardin du Luxembourg. Our first stop

was the toilet. 1 euro each! For future reference, if you skip this restroom and walk further into

the garden toward the back entrance, you will find a free toilet.

 

It was here that was finally shared a surprise with our girls—Disneyland Paris! They were just a

little bit excited.

 

We had dinner at Le Golfe de Naples with freshly made pasta, followed by macarons, pastries,

and ice cream from a very fancy McDonalds close to Arc de Triomphe.

 

Chris had reserved tickets for us at Arc de Triomphe at 9:30 pm to see the Eiffel Tower at sunset

and to watch the sparkling tower. We climbed 221 steps to the viewing platform.

We hopped the train back to Gare de Lyon and happily fell into bed for a much earlier bedtime than the previous night.

Day 3 London to Paris

It wasn’t until the middle of the night when I tried to flush the toilet in Room 319 and found that

the button for it was completely broken. We still had the keys for the room next door, so in the

morning, Chris and I were glad to still have the keys for room 320.

 

Chris wanted the girls to see the changing of the guards on Monday morning, so we were all up

fairly early for our jet lagged bodies.

 

We met the girls downstairs at 9:45 am for breakfast.

 

With the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, much of the road was blocked off and everything in front of

Buckingham Palace was off limits. There wasn’t a whole lot to see, a few passing guards, some

guards on horseback. A lot of waiting around for a little bit of excitement.

We stopped for some fun pictures.

We decided to continue on to a boat tour of the Thames from Westminster Pier. We boarded across the river from the London Eye.

 

The London Eye - Ferris Wheel

Taking the river cruise was a different perspective from what Chris and I had seen before. We

ferried under a number of bridges including London Bridge and Tower Bridge until we got off

at Greenwich Pier.

 

Franco Marco was our stop for a pizza lunch.

 

We walked through a park and up quite a steep hill to the Royal Observatory. We found the

meridian line.

 

The Museum of London Docklands was our next stop. It detailed a history London with the slave

trade, the spice trade, growth of industry, and politics. It had a lot of fun hands-on areas for

younger children to enjoy.

 

We made our way back to the hotel to retrieve our luggage and then took the train to another

train station to board the Eurostar train from London to Paris. The girls were disappointed that

there wouldn't be much to see whilst going through the Chunnel.

 

As soon as we got to the station, there was a huge back up and we were directed to a queue that

became fantastically long. There was a broken train coming from Paris, and it was delayed for an

hour. We stood in line for at least two hours and walked at least a mile in our queue.

 

Finally we made it through security and then immigration. The girls were excited to get a stamp

in their passport.

 

Once we found our seats on the train, we headed to the cafe car to find options for dinner.

Sandwiches. That was our option.

We were an hour late arriving in Paris. After setting up our Navigo trains cards (Tip * print

your own pictures at home), we were on our way to pick up the key for the Airbnb.

 

And that’s where the night went downhill further. We had to pick up the keys to the apartment

at a hotel a couple of blocks away. The night desk attendant at that hotel didn’t know which

keys exactly were the one he was supposed to give us. 

We waited for the keys for at least 45 minutes. Chris was able to reach the manager by phone and finally we were on our way. We finally reached the right Airbnb with a code for the front door, a key fob to release the second door, another code for another gate, another code and another gate, three long flights of stairs, and finally the key to open the door to our apartment for the next couple of days.

 

The apartment was unique to say the least. I would never recommend it.

There were two bedrooms and a pull out couch. In our room, Chris and I had a sink and a shower. The shower only had a two foot wide glass wall, so when we showered, the water splashed all over the floor. At least the A/C worked. We finally fell asleep around 2 am.

Day 2 Landing in London

We landed in London around noon local time.

After going through immigrations and customs and walking at least a mile to get to baggage claim, we found the right train to Victoria Station.

We were able to drop our luggage off at the Hampton Hotel. The girls had their own room and Chris and I had a room.

 

We set off to explore by taking the train to Covent Station. There was a cool market there plus plenty of places to have lunch. We wandered around Covent Garden Market for a bit, found the Apple Market, and then reached Trafalgar Square.

We did our best to stay busy and to avoid the need to sleep for most of the day.

We had only a half an hour to explore the free National Gallery at Trafalgar Square but decided to make a quick walk through.

 

As the Queen was about to celebrate her 70th Platinum Jubilee, there were flags and flowers everywhere. This area of the city was spiffed up and ready for a celebration.

 

The girls were able to see Big Ben, the London Eye (Ferris wheel), St. Paul’s Cathedral, and the River Thames, before getting tired and cold. Chris was doing his best to keep all of us awake.

We found a little Fish n’ Chips spot called Fishcoteque for a proper London dinner.

 

We arrived back at the hotel so tired. Unfortunately, our air conditioning wasn’t working. We called the front desk and they changed Chris and I from 320 to 319 right next door. 

 

We moved our stuff over and got settled.

Day 1 Flight to London

We left for the airport at 5 pm on Saturday evening, planning to have a relaxed let’s-not-race-to-our-gate kind of dinner. Unfortunately, the restaurant that Chris gets credit at was closed for dinner service when we arrived.

In an attempt to keep from contracting Covid before our cruise, we wore masks on all major transportation.

Plan B. Chris and I visited the United Lounge for some free dinner and the girls got Chick-fil-A.

We boarded our flight to London at 7:30 pm. Chris and I had been upgraded to Premium Plus and the girls sat together in Economy. 

 

I had begun dozing before the dinner service started; Chris woke me up for that meal. I had a hard time going back to sleep after that. Even with a Unisom, I only slept for about four hours and woke up shortly before the breakfast service.

Fortunately, we only had about an hour and a half left of our flight.

Top Gun Maverick Movie

Since we weren’t leaving for our flight until later in the evening on Saturday, Chris booked tickets for all of us to see Top Gun Saturday afternoon.

Amy has been waiting (not so patiently) for this movie to be released for years. It was delayed a couple of times during Covid which caused much sadness.

We all enjoyed the movie. If you haven’t seen it yet, we recommend it.

I HATE Swallows

The swallows are pretty consistent with trying to find new places to build nests every Spring.

We should know better than to plan a trip at the end of May/beginning of June. 

We planned to leave for London Saturday evening and the swallows began swarming and building nests on our house that morning. Talk about stressful. We did our best to remove their nest-building attempts during the day before we left, but Chris pretty much resigned himself to dealing with the problem when we get home.

In previous years when we have been home, the swallows require constant attention at least twice a day to spray off their mud nests. Because they seem to remember from year to year, we have to be vigilant in removing their nests.

The crazy thing is that some homes on this street aren't bothered at all, while other homes are bombarded with swallows. Our house is one that is bombarded.

Amy Arrived Home

Amy flew home on Friday evening prior to our leaving on vacation on Saturday.

Misha went to the airport to pick Amy up on a roundabout way home from her apartment in Denver. It was late by the time both girls arrived at the house, so Amy quickly came into our bedroom to give hugs and then we did our best to get some sleep.

Speaking in Church

I got the opportunity to speak in church today. I always enjoy the opportunity to prepare and to speak.

Teaching in the Savior’s Way

Pretend I am writing on a whiteboard.    My life is my message.

We are going to reference that a few times, so I want you to get a good picture in your mind of those words right here!

If you have your scriptures, turn to 2 Nephi 25:26. We’ll come back to it in a minute.

A couple of years ago, I had to laugh in church one Sunday as the speaker, a young husband, shared an experience he had with his wife who seemed as though she was upset with him. 

In his perceptive, husbandly way, he asked, “Is something wrong?”

His wife snapped back, “No! Nothing is wrong.”

Noticing her clenched jaw and angry eyes, he regrettably remarked, “Well, you should tell that to your face!”

What does your life (or your face) say about you? What is the message that the world sees when they observe YOU day to day? 

In Acts 10:38 it sums up the life of the Savior with a few words: He “went about doing good.” That is the message to each of us.

2 Nephi 25:26 And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophecy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children (and I think you could add here: our coworkers, our friends, the check out lady at the grocery store) may know to what source they may look to for a remission of sins. 

As you consider the phrase: My life is my message, I want you to consider also the Savior, the master teacher. As we talk, rejoice, preach and prophecy, we are representatives or “teachers” of Christ in all that we do. What is your message?

I want to share 3 things we need to do to best represent and teach as the Savior would:

FIRST - We need to Recognize the Savior

You can’t teach what you don’t know any more than you can become like someone you don’t know. Do you know the Savior enough to teach His message? I mean, really know him?

14 years ago our oldest had surgery after a burst appendix. As she was in recovery, the nurses asked Chris and I to talk with her to help her wake up. I remember the recovery room was full of lots of crying children, noisy machines, and loud beeping sounds. We walked to Amy’s gurney where she slept peacefully. I touched her shoulder and bent down close to her ear to say, “Hi sweetie,” and immediately her eyes popped opened. I thought it was amazing that in the room full of so much noise and chaos, it was my voice and Chris’ voice that she responded to.

In the chaos and noise of the world, the movies, the music, the social media, our friends... when the Savior reaches out to you, do you recognize Him? What does your life’s message say about your relationship with Jesus Christ?

SECOND - We need to Act as the Savior would act

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf shared:

“It is not enough merely to speak of Jesus Christ or proclaim that we are His disciples. It is not enough to surround ourselves with symbols of our religion. Discipleship is not a spectator sport. We cannot expect to experience the blessings of faith by standing inactive on the sidelines any more than we can experience the benefits of health by sitting on a sofa watching sporting events on television…” (“The Way of the Disciple,” General Conference, April 2009)

I am thankful for good people who act as the Savior would act and love as the Savior would love. 

A couple years ago, I helped at a funeral for a man who died of a stroke. Scott was young, vibrant, and well-loved by his family, the community, and his co-workers. As family and friends mingled after the service, I watched a young man walk to the front of the chapel where a large canvas picture of Scott rested on an easel. I took note as this young man paced in front of this picture, stared at it, and seemed to ache for the loss. You could just tell that there was an emptiness in his heart and unbelief that Scott was gone.

As I walked in and out of the kitchen, serving food and cleaning, I kept my eyes on this young man. He finally sat on the front pew of the chapel with his head in his hands. As I returned to the gym after clearing trays from the serving table, the scene at the front of the chapel had changed. Our bishop at the time sat next to this young man. They sat and talked. Here was a man who acted as the Savior would act and loved as the Savior would love.

His simple actions taught me…

Going back through my journal, I was reminded of an example of Misha following this very principle of “acting as the Savior would act” ten years ago.

She came home one afternoon and said, “Mom, I hope you won’t be mad at me.”

…Misha was at lunch. One of her classmates did not have a lunch and the money in his lunch account was all used up. Misha quietly moved to the lunch line, purchased a school lunch using her own lunch account, and returned to the table with a lunch tray for this boy. She set the tray down in front of this hungry young boy and then returned to eating the lunch I had packed for her.

She taught me…

When you remember the phrase My Life is My Message and choose to act as the Savior would act, you choose to be changed. Every day. Even when it is not convenient. Even when no one is watching. Even when everyone is watching. Even when you are driving!

The THIRD thing we need to do is to Be Converted

One of the lessons we are taught in the Parable of the 10 Virgins, is that the oil in the wise young women’s lamps represents their righteous living and obedience every day, drop by drop. It reminds me of the talk given by Peter M Johnson where he focused on the words “Everyday. Everyday. Everyday.” "Power to Overcome the Adversary"

We each fill our own lamp with our obedience and righteousness every day. And it goes back to: My life is my message. The five foolish virgins' were not valiant and were not ready when the bridegroom came. They were unprepared. You need to know that Conversion is a personal journey that happens drop by drop, day by day.

It makes me think of my seminary students when I taught who showed up Every day. Every day. Every day. 

During the Spring of 2013, our family had the opportunity to visit the Philippines. We met a family that my husband was blessed to meet and baptize many years ago while serving a mission. 

In August 2015, their city of San Fernando was flooded.  (We know something about floods, don’t we?) 

The flood waters were ten to twelve feet deep at their gate and 8 feet deep within their house. They lost much; they had little to begin with and it was very terrifying for them as they feared they might also lose their lives.  

It was a defining event in their lives. Even though they had been baptized so many years ago, this experience inspired them to become more converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ, to focus on the Book of Mormon, and to work toward being sealed as a family in the temple.  

It would have been easy to say, "All is lost. We have lost our furniture, our pictures, our refrigerator." (Which they said they watched float away.)

I love THIS imagery of their worldly possessions floating away because it emphasizes the choice they made to cling to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

What are you doing each and every day to be a representative of Christ and “teach” his message through the life you live? What does the message of your life say about YOU?

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Who you are speaks so loudly I can't hear what you're saying.”

I testify that as we are converted to the Savior, as we love and act as the Savior would, and as we recognize the Savior in our lives, every day, every day, every day, our lives become our best message and lead others to Christ.

As the Sacrament Meeting ended, I left the stand and walked to where Chris and Kristen were sitting. Kristen gave the highest "teen" compliment. "Mom, you're a girl boss!" Apparently, that's a good thing.