Permits

The permits for the animals came the other day. Now the only thing we need to cross off of their to-do list is to get their health certificates, which has to be done within 10 days of our arrival in Maui. Less than a month away till we arrive at our new home. And our shipping container shows up in 11 days, guess we should start on finishing packing soon. 

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Paris

Next stop on our tour: Paris!

After we got off the train from London and checked into our teeny tiny quintessential Paris hotel we hit the ground running. First stop, Arc de Triomphe.

I promise Matthew was having a good time, it just doesn't show in this photo.

And this is the ONLY photo I have of us together.

Oui Paris!

We stuck around the Eiffel Tower until it lit up and had some dinner at a cafe below it. Yes, we did have french fries with our meal. We even got a light show with blinking lights on the tower.

And our last stop before heading back for the evening was to see the Louvre Museum lit up.

Day Two 

Into the Louvre!

We saw so many amazing works of art! But It was time to get some food.

I actually had "eat at Angelina's" on my Paris bucket list and there was one in the museum. Their hot chocolate is to die for.

I had a huge sugar rush after this. So yummy!

Back to the exhibits. The first selfie.

And another bucket list item: Ladurée macarons.

Day Three
Matthew's mom, Janet, flew through Paris for a conference she was giving so we got to spend a day in Paris with her. Matthew and I went to Sacré Coeur Basilica in the morning to check it out.

Janet, Matthew, and I then spent the afternoon at Musée d'Orsay soaking in some of our favorite impressionist artists. We weren't allowed to take any photos inside though so I don't have any photos from there. I was in awe the whole time, I couldn't believe I was getting to see some of my favorite pieces of art that I've only seen in picture in person. Quite amazing.

Day Four
We said goodbye to Janet after we had breakfast together and headed out to enjoy our last day in Paris.

Neat buildings and architecture was everywhere I looked. Seems to be a common theme in Europe.

One of the many bridges that is covered in love locks.

Matthew taking a break after figuring out how to get to Notre-Dame. He's holding a painting that we got along the river from a vendor. I'm hoping we get it framed soon.

Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Replica model that was inside the church.

Last look before we head back to the hotel get our bags to head to our next stop.

We took an overnight train to Venice. This was our cabin on the train. It was interesting trying to sleep on a bunk and being woken up every time we rolled into a train station because the train stopped moving.

And that's Paris folks! If you would like to see all the photos that we took click here. See our previous stop in London. Up next, Venice, and Rome {one, two, three}.

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London

I'm finally getting around to posting pictures from our Europe trip that we got back from in mid October. Things have been pretty busy around here though with the packing and coordinating things for a 3700 mile move, so I think it's reasonable that I'm just now getting to this.

First stop on our European Tour: London!!

Day one in London: First thing we did after checking into our hotel, take a walk down the river to explore the sights.

 And our first glimpse of Parliament and Big Ben

So pretty.

London Eye and Westminster Station Undergound

View from our hotel at the end of day one.

Day Two:

Start the day by riding the London Eye

That's Buckingham Palace in the middle of the greenery (which is St. James Park)

Saw this second hand pop-up book shop under one of the bridges

The Globe Theatre

London Bridge

HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge

Tower of London and the traitors entrance from the river

Poppies at the Tower of London for Remembrance Day

Traitors Gate 

Our Beefeater tour guide at the Tower of London

Changing of the guard

We had to climb so many stairs in the White Tower to get to the exhibits

More climbing, this time with a view

One of the infamous ravens in the Tower. The Tower has to have six at all time plus on in reserve. There were nine when we visited.

We also saw the Crown Jewels. We didn't have enough time to go in the Bloody Tower though. We'll just have to go back at some point.

Big Ben all lit up at the end of day two.

Day Three: What I like to refer to as the nerding out day.

First stop, King's Cross Station to see the Harry Potter stuff

On our way to platform 9 3/4. While walking there I asked Matthew on a scale from 1 to 10, how big of a Harry Potter fan are you? My response 9 3/4.

And on to our next nerd stop: 

The British Library

Matthew in front of the King's Library

We couldn't take pictures of the exhibits, but we got to see manuscripts from Jane Austen, Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. As well as a Gutenberg Bible, the Magna Carta, and lots of other amazing stuff that I can't even remember right now.

We then went to Harrods to explore the store that takes up a whole city block and grab some lunch.

Mmmmm tea. We explored the store for a few hours before I became overwhelmed and had to leave. 

And our last stop of the day, Dr. Who's box. They were doing construction around it so I couldn't get close enough to touch it :(

Day Four: Our final day in London. 

Westminster Abbey

The greens inside the abbey. We ended up have lunch and high tea at a cafe in the abbey.

 

Matthew wanted a picture of the Institute of Civil Engineers

St. James Park, basically the front yard of Buckingham Palace

  

And we arrived and our final stop, Buckingham Palace!

If this wasn't enough pictures for you, you can see the full album here.

Up next on the European Tour: Paris, Venice, and Rome {one, two, three}.

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