Last day

So we finally got to the end of our journey in Europe. We spent our last day in London and went to Windsor to see the castle. We had lunch at a nice pub and walked around for a while, since it was raining and we are more than ready to go back home we came back to the apartment fairly early and just hung out with Sylvia and Peter. At night we went to a party at one of their friend's house. She has a nice flat and a few people came over. Lots of good food and drinks. We really had fun and it felt like a UN convention since there were 2 German girls (Nicole, Siria), 2 brazilians(Sylvia and I) 1 american (Ben), 1 Australian(Peter), 1 Irish (Cora), 1English (Ryan???)and 2 girls from Guernsey (Emilia, Sally???). It was an interesting night and we really enjoyed it.
It is time to go home and we are really ready for it. It has been and AMAZING trip but there is no place like home and we really miss our boys...

Our hosts

Of course Ben did not want to be in the picture... He only took them... Thank you Katia, Patrice, Marie, Clement...

Last day in Paris

We are getting ready to go to the airport and head back to London... Went to the Eiffel Tower again this morning to get more pictures during the day... Awesome trip!!!

Wow

What a day! We started with a breathtaking view of the Eiffel Tower with the sun going up behind it. Then we went to Montmartre and saw the Sacred Heart Church that is on top of the hill. Beautiful church and gorgeous view. Lots of little shops around and of course all the artists from Plaza Tertre. We even had an artist draw a Cubist picture of the 2 of us. We ate at a cafe in the area and walked down the hill and saw Moulin Rouge. From there we went back downtown to Lafayette so Cristiana could buy something for Fabiana. We the went to another cafe where she got me some champagne since apparently one cannot leave France without trying some real good champagne. It was great to see her again and be able to catch up. Also, she is a great tour guide... We learned a lot from her... We said our goodbyes and Ben and I went to Notre Dame and went inside this time, what a beautiful and awe striking place to see. Totally worth the wait. We walked around the Latin Quarter and also saw Le Sorbonne.... Everything g is so different and beautiful, we are enjoying it a lot. For our last night in Paris we went to a Belgium Bar to see our hostess, Katia singing. It was a lot of fun, I tried some traditional Belgium food and believe it or not, Belgium beer which came in a little boot and I convinced the bartender to let me keep it... Perfect souvenir!!! This was a great experience, especially to stay with a typical French family... Love everything! Sunday is our last day in Paris so I will write again. From London...

Paris 2

Our second day in Paris was another wonderful day! We started the day with the Louvre and ended with me making crepres... We saw a lot of things, this is truly a dream come true. Notre Dame, Montparnasse, Paris Opera House, the1st City Hall, the place where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned, Lafayette Gallery... We ate at a traditional Parisian restaurant and it was great, even Ben found something to eat...
We came 'home' earlier so that we could have dinner with our hosts. It was a great dinner an Pat even made a nice plate of scrambled eggs for Ben who bravely tried the food they offered. Katia showed me how to make crepe and I bravely tried to make one with her help... Not too successful though...

Paris

Today we finally got to Paris, my cousin Cristiana was already waiting for us at the airport and we started our journey to where we are staying. After we dropped off all our bags we then went to downtown Paris. First thing we saw was the Eiffel Tower, beautiful and breathtaking, a dream come true. I am also pretty excited with the fact I can understand quite a bit of French... Pretty surprising... We saw a lot more things and unfortunately I will have to keep this post short since I have been up for 23 hours and can barely think straight...

A busy day in London

Today we walked a lot. We left the apartment at 9:30, took a taxi since the tubes are on strike today, got to Westminster Abbey with a sunny day ahead of us, that is until 2:30 when it started raining. We saw the Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, London Eye, Westminster Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Picccadilly Circus, St. Paul's Cathedral, and we ended the day at the Tower of London. We had lunch at a nice Turkish cafe, and dinner at a pub where I had the traditional "fish and chips". It rained most of the afternoon but it wasn't too cold. Ben took over 100 pictures and we really enjoyed the day together... We do miss our boys and it was fun to hear laughter and the little voices of the kids that would walk by... Tomorrow we are going to Paris, we can hardly wait...

First outing

We got up from our nap and after eating a delicious pizza that our host Syl left for us in the freezer, we decided to go for a walk in the neighborhood... There was a lot of excitement around the Thames River, police everywhere, boats in the water searching for something, lots of sirens too... It was a nice walk and we only got one picture of a church. St. Mary's Church...

Weather

Even though it is supposed to rain it is not too bad...

Keys

Ok, so traveling with me is always something interesting, I always make it for the best stories... Well, we arrived at the London Heathrow Airport on time, go through the UK border pretty quickly, the taxi driver was waiting for us with a sign and everything. It was raining quite a bit but we made it to the Syl's apartment with no problems... Then things started going downhill, it was not quite 8 in the morning, very dark and cold. We found the envelope with the keys and could not get the door open, we tried everything with all the keys that were together. I proceeded to try to get in touch with Syl via Internet since my phone does not work in a different country, grrrr. We were getting ready to call a taxi and find a hotel since there was no way we were going to get in when Syl responded to my messages, she told us to use the tiny key on the top lock and that went awry, the key broke in the lock... By now, I have already tried to find one of her neighbors and nothing since it is Christmas Day. Well, Syl was able to call a Locksmith which we knew was going to cost an arm and a leg. We continued trying to open the door but no such luck, when he arrived, he gave us the options and finally around 10:30 we got in the apartment. I was freezing by now since we had been standing outside this whole time. It ended up costing us a lot of money but as we would say in Brazil, "Quem entra na chuva e pra se molhar." I feel horrible about the whole thing but now it is done. We took our showers to warm up and slept for a few hours to try to catch up on our sleep.

Santa and Mrs. Claus

So while we were waiting at the Atlanta Airport, we had the visit of Santa and Mrs. Claus... Of course Ben didn't want to be in the picture but here I am with them... Merry Christmas to everyone! We will be spending Christmas Eve in the plane... :)

Leaving

We are sitting at the Omaha airport waiting for our first flight... So far so good and no delays... Ben looks a little bored but we are very excited... The wait is always boring. We will spend the night in Atlanta and leave to London from there tomorrow evening. The goodbyes were bitter sweet since Lucas said he did not want us to leave. I know they will be fine but it is always hard to say goodbye.

Dream come true

Ben and I are going to fulfill a long time dream. We are going to London and Paris. We will visit with Sylvia and her boyfriend in London and my cousin Cristiana in Paris. Ben has dreamed about going to Paris since he was in High School. Paris has always been a dream of mine too, just seems like a beautiful and romantic place to visit. I fell in love with London the first time I went there. It is an awesome city with so much history.
Now, those of us that know us, you might be asking what our boys will be doing while we are enjoying our time in Europe. Well, they will be staying with their vô and vó for 10 days and they can hardly wait to be spoiled by them. They will have Rex (our guinea pig) to keep them company and keep them busy too. We will also celebrate Christmas a little earlier so that they can get their gifts before we go.

I can't wait to get in the plane and be on our way there. It will be a short trip but I believe it will be awesome.