Je t'aime Paris! Oui Oui

Paris was an unexpected stop on our anniversary tour of Europe this year. I've been so blessed to see so many spectacular sights in our 15 years of marriage. Thanks to Frank's frequent (and I mean frequent) travel, we have been able to come back to Europe 3 times now. Germany holds a special place in our hearts as we met there on our missions and it just feels like home to us. I've always wanted to see Paris and it just has never worked out, but due to our 4 hour delayed flight on Continental it became a reality!

The story in a nutshell is this: We spent the previous night in Frankfurt (yeah German food and catching up with old friends) only to find our flight the next morning was 4 hrs delayed. We were going to miss our connection in Newark to SLC and Frank was going to miss his flight the following day to Phoenix for work. Since we were flying on a rewards ticket (miles) and Continental is no longer part of the Delta Skyteam they basically said too bad you're stuck overnight in Newark. We ran over to Delta to see if we could get on the flight leaving in a few for JFK and no such luck; it was an oversold flight. I was crying (not being very helpful) because I was at that point where I just wanted to go home and see my kids, be in my own bed and use my stuff. Does anyone else get that? I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I'd reached my limit of airports! My brilliant husband called Delta in the states and said will you check out rerouting us through Paris to SLC because they have a direct flight and she said, "you know what, I think that will work." She got us on the next flight to Paris and rebooked our business class reward tickets on Air France. They were so accomodating and did this all without charging us a cent. We are resolved only to fly with Delta International from now on (we learned our lesson). All this juggling got us back to SLC the following day 6 hours sooner than the overnight in Newark. Paris vs Newark overnight? No brainer. So, we had 1/2 a day to see the city of love and it definetly is that! Je t'aime Paris!


Waiting for our flight to SLC in Paris (we were anxious not to jinx this flight not being on time).


Winston Churchill in front of Le Petit Palace.

Yes, we stood in the middle of the road to take this one of the Champs-Elysses. I don't know what we were thinking given French drivers are insane!

Finished with our boat tour of the Seine, Frank and his "harem" as I called it. They seemed to go everywhere we were!

The Eiffel Tower all lit up. It is absolutely amazing, beautiful and a sight to behold. I would have never thought a building outside the temple could evoke such emotion from me. Truly spectacular!

It wouldn't be Paris without a couple naked guys :). Ok so they were covered up, but apparently you can't swim in the Seine River. Really? There are stupid people everywhere.

The backside of Notre Dame. All I could think about was Quasiemodo lol. It was stunning. Someday, I hope to see the front.

Waiting in line at the Eiffel Tower. I was so giddy! I think I embarrassed Frank with being so touristy!

The Dome des Invalides from the Eiffel Tower.

Another view of Notre Dame at night.

We had to kiss in front of the Eiffel Tower. It's harder than it looks to take a self-portrait, kiss and not laugh. Frank was not happy. He hates PDA!

Lawns in front of the military academy in Paris. It is amazing! Can you imagine school there?!

The red canopied restaurant is where we ate for dinner. I had the best egg, ham and cheese sandwich, fries (think Better Off Dead) and crepes stuffed with bananas and Nutella. That stuff should be illegal it's sooo good!!

Our train ride into Paris from the hotel. It was so fun and I was so happy to know we were there and not Newark even though I was missing our girls!