Day 5- Paris to Barcelona

On day 5 we said goodbye to the City of Lights and boarded a plane to head to Barcelona. I wanted to mention our hotel in Paris first. It was so wonderful and the location was perfect. We were perfectly centered around every big thing in Paris and we had a metro stop just a few stops away. Everyone at the hotel was so helpful and made our stay so comfortable!

My Hotel in Paris- Opera St Georges!

They were out of baby cots, so they brought us up another bed, King Kade called the middle :)

 

Kade's last picture in France, about to head to Spain!

After a quick flight, we made it to Barcelona. After going through customs, catching the train, and a short walk we made it to our hotel. And I have to say that our hotel in Barcelona was right acros the street from the Mediterrean and was a LUXURY compared to our hotel in Paris. It was so nice and so comfortable. I was so so so so so so so happy with our hotel here :) So was Bryan :) We settled in, cleaned up, and headed out to go walk down the famous Las Ramblas. It was fun, but most of the shops were closing for the day when we got there. We enjoyed it though. We ventured over to La Boqueria, a famous market in Barcelona. And also wondered up our favorite square! We finished the walk down Las Ramblas which ended at a huge harbor. We found the closest metro and headed over to La Sagrada Familia. We were planning on touring the church the next day but we really wanted to see it lite up at night. I have to say that this church is with out a doubt the most amazing thing either of us had ever seen. The outside alone was something to start at for hours. It was breathtaking and like NOTHING we had ever seen before. Seeing the outside at night only got us more excited to go back the next day to tour the inside. 

Day 4- Paris

The fourth day of our trip was Mother's Day. I don't think I could have asked for a better day with my sweet husband and the little boy who made me a mother. We started our day by heading out to Versailles. We toured the Chateau and then went outside and walked around the beautiful gardens. The whole morning was perfect and the weather was amazing. When we went out into the gardens there was a musical fountain show going on. We found a bench near one of the fountains and had our picnic lunch while listening to the music. Kade was running around and having fun, the scenery was amazing and I felt like I was living a dream. It was the best, best, best morning. After wandering through the garden's some more, making a trip to Marie Antionette's place (who had the best decorating style!) we decided to head back into Paris.

 

After we got back into the city we headed to Montmartre to go see the Sacre Coeur. Along the way we stopped for some Mother's Day pastries! The Sacre Coeur was breathtaking, and the views of the city were amazing. My only complaint was the number of people! It was so crowded!! Before heading back to out hotel we walked around the cute streets of Montmartre.  

 

 

We headed back to the hotel to rest and let Kade run around a play for a bit. We got cleaned up and went to dinner. We ate at a cute restaurant near our hotel and then headed back over to the Eiffel Tower to see her again at night and go to the summit! I secretly did not want to go to the summit, I do not like heights and I was perfectly content staying on the ground or just going to the second level (which is still really high!) But Bryan really wanted to go so I sucked it up and said I would. As we were in line to buy tickets we noticed that the summit was closed due to the crowds. We still decided to go up to the second level to take a look around. I was secretly really relieved and excited. And then as the person in front of us was buying their ticket they opened the summit back up. Bryan was excited, and I cringed. But we bit the bullet and bought out ticket to the top. On the elevator ride to the top I was having silent panic attacks. My heart was racing, and we kept going up. When we made it to the top it was really crowded  and we fought our way to the ledge and all I could think was how freaking high we were. Sure the views were beautiful but all I want to do was get back on the ground. We took it in for a little while longer and headed back down. Even though I was scared out of my mind I couldn't have planned a more perfect last night in Paris!

Us at the second level about to head to the top.

 

Day 3- Paris

We woke up feeling much more rested this day. We got dressed (still the same clothes for B and I :) and went to explore Île de la Cité. Our first stop was Sainte Chapelle. The entire thing was stained glass and it was absolutely beautiful.

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Next up was Notre Dame. We walked around the outside/inside. It was breathtaking and very typical of the Gothic architecture. We then used our lovely museum passes to climb to the top. When we were in Florence several years ago we decided to climb to the top of the Duomo. It was absolutely terrifying for me. I am scared of heights/ledges and tight spaces. It included all three of those. I actually need to make a post about that because it still goes down as one of the stupidest/scariest thing I have ever done in my life. As we were getting in line to go to the top of Notre Dame I started having flashbacks of the Duomo and told Bryan I would stay with Kade and he should just go by himself. He said no, that it probably wouldn't be as bad and he would carry and hang on to Kade the entire time. I am so happy that I listened to him. We might have been up as high, but they make it so sercure and safe up there. A complete 180 from the duomo. The view was gorgeous and my favorite part of it all was when Kade looked down and (dramatically) said "Woooooooah, up high!" Yes, son we are up WAY too high!

Next was a walk around the Latin Quarter. I loved all the little narrow roads!

We headed over to the Louvre this afternoon. Bryan says this is embarrassing and that we shouldn't say it out loud but we really aren't that into art museums. Yes, we like SOME things, but we are not going to spend hours staring at pieces of art. (Gasp!) We would much rather look at different architecture and things of that nature, more on that when I make it to Barcelona. So needless to say we made it through the Louvre is record time, we hit all the big things, plus a few more that we thought would be neat to see. 

 

After the Louvre we went back to our hotel to rest, we had already had a long day! When we got their our bags were sitting there waiting on us! (Yay, happy dance!) SO we went up to the room and rested, showered, and changed clothes...WOOHOO! After this we went to dinner and took a nighttime Seine River Cruise and it was so much fun! We got to see everything light up and as we were cruising past the Eiffel Tower the twinkle lights started going off on cue, it was MAGICAL!

How is that for a "cheese" smile :)

There she is!!