Shanghai Sonshine: Detour..Europe

Before heading back to the US, Lindsey and I had the amazing opportunity to visit Europe for a week (early celebration of her sweet 16 birthday!). What a treat, not just to see the beautiful cities but to spend so much quality time with my amazing daughter! First it was a wonderful experience on Emirates Airline (flying through Dubai UAE)...power outlets at every seat, little lights on the ceiling to represent stars when they dim the cabin lights, big screens at your seat for the on-demand movies, taking a Polaroid picture of us & framing it for free...guess our expectations are low coming from US airlines where you don't even get peanuts anymore!
Our first 5 days were spent in Paris...we ended up with a darling little hotel (and yes I mean little in the literal sense!) right around the corner from the Eiffel Tower - you really couldn't have gotten a more cute & quaint place or perfect location. We loved the Eiffel Tower...climbed its 669 steps to the second platform (thank goodness the only choice is an elevator from there to the very top!), marveled at it during the day, watched it light up at night (did you know the lights twinkle for 5 minutes on the hour after dark?), enjoyed the views from it, ate chocolate/banana/strawberry crepes below it and enjoyed the view of it from every other landmark in the city as it is so enormous!

View from Notre Dame

While every day we did spend some time at the Eiffel Tower, we also took in Notre Dame (climbed those 422 steps to the top of the tower!), Arc De Triomphe (climbed those 292 steps to the top... noticing a trend??), walked along the Champs Elysees, ate macaroons at Laduree (yes we waited in line to get into this upscale pastry shop with the best macaroons in the world!), meandered the side streets of the Latin Quarter, took the River Seine cruise, rested at the Tuileries Gardens and viewed some of the best known art in the world from painters like Monet, Van Gogh, Da Vinci and the list goes on. Now call me shallow but the more amusing thing than seeing the Mona Lisa was getting up to the front to see the Mona Lisa. It is in a large room in the Louvre (an absolutely over-whelming astounding museum)...the room is then filled with people all trying to see the one painting (that is actually quite a bit smaller then expected). So we'd heard the stories about how you won't get to see it, only the backs of other people taking pictures of it but this is where our China skills came in very handy...within 15 minutes of entering the Louvre we found the Denon wing, found the Mona Lisa room, strategically meandered (not pushed!) our way through the crowd and were standing right at the rope in front of the painting. I was actually looking for more of a challenge!

On the London Eye

From Paris we headed off on the high speed train under the English Channel to London! Given we were only spending 3 days in London we chose to do the Big Bus Hop On Hop Off tour and loved it! Great way to hit all the big sights and learn more about the city from the bus tour guides...useless trivia and all! So we...toured the National Gallery, saw St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, House of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, rode on the London Eye and took in two shows: Phantom of the Opera and Wicked. Loved all the double decker buses, London taxis and telephone booths! Totally different from Paris and as Lindsey says....she could live in London too!