Day Trip To Paris - See All The Things! - Touring Tuesday

Oldest Kiddo had a day off from school on Friday, so we took a day trip to Paris.  That's what you do when your kids have a day off right?!  I'll never get over how easy it is to travel when your base is the UK.  Actually, I booked this trip way back in August when Eurostar had a ticket sale.  

So we took the 7:01AM Eurostar train from St. Pancras International station with an arrival into Gare du Nord station at 10AM Paris time.  Since this was our girl's first time to the City of Lights, we had to see it all.  I bought a day Metro pass so we could ride any train or bus we wanted to not waste a moment.    

The first order of the day was a quality pastry.  It's not really hard to find them in Paris, but I had one in particular that I craved from Du Pain Et Des Idées.  The l'escargot chocolat pistache was well worth the wait in line.  As I fought Oldest Kiddo for each bite I realize that I should have purchased two.  

After my carb fantasy was fulfilled, it was time to see the town!  We hopped on the Metro to the Arc de Triomph.  She loved seeing the humongous traffic circle and the carved funny faces on the warriors.

Next, it was time to fulfill Oldest Kiddo's life long dream - The Eiffel Tower!  Her face was priceless when the Metro crossed over the Seine and the Eiffel Tower came into view.  She could not believe that we were actually there.  We even took a chance while at the Eiffel Tower and used the automated public toilets.  It was a silly experience.

To keep things moving, we got on the bus to get across town near The Louvre.  Our first stop was a walk on the path along the edge of the Seine to the Île De La Cite to see Notre Dame Cathedral.  The line to reenact Quasimodo was beyond comical so we moved on. 

A walk back toward the Louvre took us to the colorful pillars at Palais Royal.  She had a great time hopping between them.  After the exercise we grabbed a quick sandwich and took a little walk through the neighborhood.  Along the way we saw some cool fountains and the Pompidou Centre.  

We then returned to the Louvre to see the must see items with a few thousand of our closest friends: Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory of Samothrace.  The Louvre was very helpful for our expedited touring by placing signs throughout the museum to guide us toward the biggies.  Mona Lisa's harem was a sight in itself.  Our feet started revolting against us at the end of our time at the museum, and we took respite in the Apple Store's free wifi at the mall attached to the museum.  

By this time we had to make a decision, take the slow way back to Gare du Nord or squeeze in one more thing.  

Squeeze in one more thing!!

Our last stop of the day was to see the gorgeous Galleries Lafayette department store.  The atrium is beyond gorgeous and worth any moment you can spend in there.  Oldest Kiddo noticed a sign for the outside terrace, and we could not pass that up.  The view was amazing, but the sun was not in my favor to take any worthwhile photos.  

Then it was time to hustle back to the train.  We stopped into a market near the station for some dinner provisions and settled into our seats for the journey home.  Oldest Kiddo could barely keep her eyes open on the Tube ride home, and I'm sure she fell asleep as her head was falling onto the pillow.  I say it was a successful Parisian rendezvous.  

A4 Update - May 2015

The days are getting longer!

The Colosseum in Rome 

Our friends from America finished up their visit the first few days of the month.  We sure loved having them stay with us. 

Oldest Kiddo celebrated her birthday with her friends on a guided Harry Potter walk of the city.  The guide was phenomenal, and my girl was so happy to act out a scene from the movie with him.  The video takes place at Leadenhall Market which doubles as Diagon Alley.  They are acting the scene where Harry asks Hagrid how he is to obtain all of the supplies for Hogwarts.  Listen closely for her British accent, it's adorable.  

The kids continue to be busy at school.  Oldest Kiddo's grade took their standardized tests, and she's happy they've ended.  The British schools sure spend a lot of time revising (British for reviewing) for the tests. She's pumped for a two-night outdoor trip in a few weeks.  Youngest Kiddo's reading is taking off, and he is still in love with Legos.      

  

The kids had a week off for the half-term break, and we spent the week in Florence & Rome.  Posts on that gorgeous trip are on the way.  Now we need to start planning for summer, which does not start until the middle of July for the kids.  

Matt and I have returned to finding ways to keep the sun from waking us when it peeks in our windows at 4:30am.  We sure don't complain when the daylight sticks around until almost 10pm.

Bring on the summer!

Papa's Shadow

Youngest Kiddo and my dad go together like peas and carrots.  The boys are great partners.  Youngest Kiddo is an eager helper, and my dad is a patient teacher.  It's pretty much a guarantee that if you can't find the boy, he's hanging out with my dad.  

When dad works on a project, Youngest Kiddo grabs his tool belt, safety goggles, and speed square.  Dad always gives him a job to do, and Youngest Kiddo takes it very seriously.  The boy is an expert at holding screws and shining the flashlight.  

While dad's garage (aka the laboratory) was being built, Youngest Kiddo had a blast hammering nails into scraps of wood and measuring everything in sight. 

   

When the work is done, the boys have no problem relaxing.

Peas and carrots

Hello Tooth Fairy!

Matt's mom held on to the Tooth Fairy box that he used as a kid, and Oldest Kiddo had the pleasure of using it for all of her teeth.  She lost her last baby tooth a few months ago for one more milestone achieved in her life.

Youngest Kiddo then became obsessed with when he'd loose his first tooth.  He would frequently run to us with his fingers in his mouth and garble that he had a loose tooth.  Unfortunately, it was just wishful thinking.  

Just about a month ago, Youngest Kiddo came running to us with the same garbled statement.  However, this time he was right!  He had a loose tooth!  It was not super loose, but it had to start somewhere.  I saw a lot of this:

Then when eating dinner one night, he casually said his toot fell out.  Leave it to Youngest Kiddo to be all calm about losing his tooth.  The tooth box graciously came out of its short retirement and has a new owner.

The first tooth must have told its partner that it was time to go because a few days later the next one was loose, too!  That tooth was ready to come out, but Youngest Kiddo was having nothing to do me pulling it out.  He wanted to hold on to it.  Truth be told, it looked disgusting in his mouth.  I'll spare you a photo.

We soon found out why he held on to the tooth.  He wanted the tooth to come out on vacation.  As soon as we got on the metro train in Lisbon he indicated he was ready for me to pull it.  Two teeth down, eighteen to go.  

Yes, the Tooth Fairy does visit Portugal.  

Birthday Tradition

We have a long-standing birthday tradition at our house - the morning birthday hat photo.  I try to get into their rooms just as they wake up in order to get their bleary-eyed smiles.  The party hats tend to mirror the kids' interests.  This year Oldest Kiddo chose a Union Jack (how apropos) and Youngest Kiddo chose pirates.  

Oldest Kiddo has obviously changed over the last ten years.  However, Matt and I feel that she changed a lot from her year 9 to year 10 photo.

Youngest Kiddo has just a few pictures, but he's changed a lot as well.  He's changed from a roly-poly baby into a rough & tumble boy.

Do you have any birthday traditions at your house?  

Harry Potter Studio - Touring Tuesday

*there are a lot of photos in this post - be sure to click on the small pictures and you'll see a larger size*

Oldest Kiddo loves Harry Potter.  She started off listening to me read the stories to her when she was around six or seven years old.  Once her love of reading took off she devoured all seven books.  She even rereads her favorites from time to time.

She was thrilled (and so was I!) to learn that the actual sound stages used to film the Harry Potter movies were not very far from us, and they were open for touring!  We bought her a ticket (and Hermione Granger's wand) to the Harry Potter Studios for Christmas.  It took us until April to go because, as I've said before, the Brits plan ahead, and the weekend dates were all taken until April.  So it was also a bonus after her birthday as well.

Matt and Youngest Kiddo stayed home as neither one of them have any knowledge or interest of Harry Potter.  I hope to change that with Youngest Kiddo quite soon.  

Anyway, there are some logistical things one needs to know before visiting the Harry Potter Studio Tour.  The first thing is that there is no way I can accurately describe this incredible place.  The photos will tell the story, but it's only a small portion of the photos taken.   

• If you don't want to drive to the studio, it's an easy train ride out to Watford Junction where an official tour bus takes you to the studio for a mere £2 round trip.
• You must purchase your tickets in advance.  There are no walk up sales available.
• Your ticket is for a timed entry, and I can almost bet that the rule-following Brits will not make an exception if you are late.
• There is a small cafe on site, and many families brought picnics for an outside meal.  We grabbed a sweet snack and a beverage before taking the bus back to the train station.  

Once we got off the bus, the magic started!  In the vestibule, Youngest Kiddo matched her hands with the impressions of Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, and Rupert Grint.

Whilst queueing for our time into the tour, we could see Harry's cupboard under the stairs.  

Our tour group was taken to a small theatre where we watched clips from the movies and a little history of the studio.  The most magical moment of the whole tour happened after the movie clips.  The screen retracted into the ceiling to reveal a set of huge wooden doors.  The tour host had the crowd join her down at the doors and asked if anyone was celebrating a birthday.  I pushed Oldest Kiddo to the front as her big day was just the day before.  One other girl joined her at the front and they got to push the actual doors open to the actual Hogwarts Great Hall!  I still get goosebumps when I think about that moment.  

As I said we went into the actual Hogwarts Great Hall.  Yes, the actual one.  It was surreal to know that the movies were made in this spot.  The floor in the Great Hall was made of actual stone to accommodate the trolls, duels, and general hijinks of the movies.   

After leaving the Great Hall, we followed the tour path through the sound stages.  In the first building my girl and I saw many sets including: the Gryffindor Common Room, the boy's dormitory, Dumbledore's office, Snape's classroom, and the Weasley's magical kitchen.

The next part of the tour was an opportunity to see some of outside sets.  You'll notice Oldest Kiddo in front of what looks like the Dursley's house.  It's actually the house next door at Number 3 Privet Drive.  My girl is practical in that she didn't want to wait in the queue for Number 4 Privet Drive.  After all they are identical houses.  

The final part of our tour focused on the technical aspect of the movies and Diagon Alley!  We viewed many animatronics, goblins, and the amazing scale model of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry.

As with every good themed-location, we ended in the gift shop.  This is a quality gift shop with anything you could ever want.  My girl wanted an iron-on patch for her school bag that, sadly, was out of stock.  So she felt a book about the studios was a suitable replacement.  

The two of us had an amazing day.  If you are not a Harry Potter fan, you will still enjoy this tour.  The creativity and thought behind the sets is beyond anything I could ever create.

It was worth every pound.