Belgium Trip – Part Four – Paris, France

Day Eight – Tuesday, January 7th

Today we headed to Paris, France. Yes it is true. We were going to Paris. It is about a 3 hour drive from where we were staying in Belgium so Bro David and Sis Esther picked us up and off we went. I’m so glad they went with us. It made the trip so much better and honestly, I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it much at all if they hadn’t been with us. They knew the best ways to get around, spoke the language and had the hotel situation already figured out. Plus they are just so much fun to hang out with. We laughed a lot and had some wonderful conversation the entire trip.

The Arc de Triomphe.

Notre Dame. This was so cool to see. Beautiful Architecture and design.

Bro David and Sis Esther

Me and Esther

After leaving Notre Dame, we stopped at a local coffee shop to get some coffee and a pastry.

We took the Metro to get around because Paris is so huge that it would take hours to walk everywhere you wanted to go.

We got to see the Effile Tower after dark when it was all lit up. I must admit, this was much bigger and more beautiful than I expected. We did not go inside of it. It’s way to high for me, but we enjoyed seeing it from the ground.

We had a nice dinner afterwards (I had steak and fries)…

…then we went to our hotel for the night. It was a really cool 14th Centry Hotel. They tried to keep as much of the old style as possible but had some modern conveniences for a better stay. The stairway to get to our room was spiral and so narrow that Trevor could barely get up the stairs with our suitcase. We could take the elevator to the 4th floor but then we had to take the staircase to the 5th floor. I thought the elevator in Neuwpoort was tiny, but this one was even smaller. As if that’s possible. We were smashed in there pretty tight, but laughed the whole time.

Our room.

Day 9 – Wednesday, January 8th –

Breakfast was great. They give you a tiered tray of pastries and croissants, plus you could have yogurt, granola, and freshly cooked eggs if you wanted.

Today’s plans were to visit the Louvre Museum. Bro David had bought tickets a few weeks back because they sell out fast so you have to get them pretty far in advance. It’s a huge museum. We were there for 5 hours and still didn’t see everything.

It was raining today, so I’m glad we were mostly going to be inside. We had to stand in line for about 30 mins even though we already had tickets. That’s just how popular this museum is.

This is a two side painting of David and Goliath. How cool is that?

We got to see the Mona Lisa. This is the original, not a copy. It was so crowded in this area that people were smashed together like sardines. I almost aborted seeing it because it was so crowded but I pushed through and now I can say I’ve seen it. haha

This painting was really cool.

There was so much to see in this museum. Paintings, sculptures, Artifacts, Old pieces of building, etc.

The coronation of Napoleon.

This guy has a mustache! Not sure why I found this funny, but I did.

This pillar was from the time of Esther and is very likely one of the ones in the palace of King Ahasuerus Xerxes. Now that’s worth seeing.

Trevor doing what he often does….videoing himself telling the history of something he found fascinating.

This is info about the piece that Trevor was talking about.

This is supposed to be Nimrod.

This one is funny. It seems like the man is hugging his pet cat a little too hard. haha

This is supposed to be a lion. But if so, he looks a bit scared to me. haha

Coffee and Lunch break at the museum.

David playing for King Saul

This is the Code of Hammurabi. It’s the oldest know written code of laws dating back to 1760 BC in Babylon.

A painting of Michael fighting Lucifer.

After the museum, we started our drive back to Belgium. The traffic in Paris was pretty heavy, which slowed us down a bit and then about 45 mins out of town it started snowing and then sleeting. This caused us to have to drive a lot slower than normal, so our 3.5 hour drive back to Belgium turned into a 6 hour drive. But we made the best of it. We had great conversation and enjoying talking about life and ministry. Bro David did an amazing job navigating us through the snow and ice and we made it back to our host’s house safely, ready to call it a night.

to be continued….