Day 1 of "Trip to Paris"

Well, it is now 10:45 AM on Tuesday morning.

What. A. Week. We've. Had.

Now, if I sat here and wrote down ALL the details of the things that have occurred since we arrived, I would be writing nonstop, and you would get tired of reading it. So, I'll try to summarize the highlights...

Let me begin with last Wednesday when we left to go to Paris. We had decided to drive ourselves to Paris (which was supposed to take five hours from our house) rather than take the "high speed train" (which was supposed to take less than three hours). Now, there were several reasons that we decided that this was the best route for us... 1. It was cheaper (the train costs roughly 80 euros per person, and with five people, that was pretty costly), 2. Since this was our first European vacation, we felt like we had more freedom to kind of figure things out, since we wouldn't have to be on a strict schedule. 3. This also would alleviate all of us having to drag all of our luggage from cab to train to cab to hotel and back. 4. This would give us a chance to see the countryside! :-)

Before we left the house, we made all the children go to the bathroom, and we had a "serious" talk about how in Europe, the bathrooms are few and far between-AND-you have to PAY to go potty! So, if we stop, everyone tries to go to the bathroom. No exceptions!

So, our first challenge was trying to fit all five of us and our luggage in a two-door, eleven year old BMW. Yes, I said a two-door. Downsizing from a nice, roomy minivan to a two-door coupe was no easy job, but we managed.

So, after loading the car with luggage and kids and setting the GPS, we finally began our trek at about 11:30 Wednesday morning. So, by our calculations, we should arrive by, say by 5:00, right? Sounds great!

Well, of course, the kids were starving, so we had to make a run by McDonald's in Leidschendam (about 15 minutes from our house). They had a great set up for kids, too! In the Happy Meal, they got chicken nuggets, fries, a drink, a dessert (cup of fruit) and a balloon on a stick, if they wanted one. We'll definitely come back here! Oh, and when I say "make a run," I don't mean in the drive-thru...there is not one. We had to physically get out, go in, order, sit down and eat. Who does that in America when traveling with kids?

So, after filling our bellies, we finally got going! Paris, France, Here We Come!!

We began the easy drive through the Netherlands and made our way to Belgium with no problem. And, let me just say that Belgium is beautiful! It is very green with lots of grazing cows. We drove along enjoying the scenery, and honestly, the kids did great in the back seat. They occupied themselves with DS's and iPods and a couple of little mini car games. We had told them that if they needed to go to the bathroom, they should give us PLENTY of warning, because it might take a while to find a bathroom. Sure enough, we were right. Now, I'm sure there are lots of places to go potty, if you are a local and you know where to go. But, since we couldn't read the signs, we finally figured out that if there is a fork and spoon sign, generally there are bathrooms close by. So, we had to stop twice in Belgium...at 2 euros a pop.

So far, so good! We kept going...went through Belgium and entered France. Again, France is beautiful, too! It is very, very flat with lots of farmland. We did notice that there were many more McDonald's in France than in Belgium. (We had been told that, generally, one can go to the restroom free of charge in most McDonald's, so we tried to look for those.) Anyway, we were making pretty good time when we started seeing signs for Paris, so we knew we were getting very close! We all were getting more excited by the minute!!

So, we finally entered downtown Paris, right on time, because it had taken us roughly five hours to get there! We were doing great!

Until, we came out of the tunnel to enter the "true downtown Paris."

Then, it was like a scene out of National Lampoon's European Vacation with the Griswolds.

For real.

There were cars EVERYWHERE!! No one followed traffic rules. If the light was red, they went through it. If you were in the left lane to go straight, you'd better watch out beside you, because the car behind you might go around you and then pull in front of you to turn left. People would cut you off without batting an eye. Oh, and the motorcycles could legally drive between the cars, so you really had to watch out for them! It was almost total gridlock. Talk about culture shock! All five of us were dumbfounded and quiet, just trying to take it all in. S-L-O-W-L-Y we inched our way to our hotel. What was almost a five hour trip turned into a SEVEN hour trip. Yes, it took us TWO hours to get through downtown Paris.

We had reservations at the Citadines Hotel, and our GPS had done a great job of getting us to it. But, we drove by it the first time, because it was not directly on the street. Once we finally located the tiny entrance, we couldn't find a parking place, so we had to circle the block...again. I'm certain the people standing outside the cafe down the street were laughing hysterically at us, because I'm pretty sure we passed them at least four times just circling the block. Finally, we decided to just pull up by the sidewalk and unload our stuff and try to quickly check in. Surely, the concierge could give us some advice on parking!

So, we all got out, unloaded and walked in. We got the key, and I took the kids upstairs to check in while Chris went back out to park the car in the hotel parking garage...thank goodness for that garage!!

Now, I will tell you that the hotel room looked like "normal" hotel room, for the most part. However, we kept tryig to turn the lights on, and they wouldn't come on. We couldn't figure out what was wrong. We looked around the room, and I noticed a strange looking "thing" beside the door that had two lights on it. It looked like it might be something that needed our hotel key, so I slid the key into it, and voila, we had lights!! So, I took it out. The lights stayed on for about 60 seconds and then went off again. I placed the key back in...again. Voila! Lights! So, I took it out...again. The lights stayed on for about 60 seconds and then went out...AGAIN! Finally, Aaron said, "Mama, maybe you have to leave the key in." Gee, I'm so glad we have our children to figure things out for us...what a smart kid. :-)

Anyway, we had managed to make it through Belgium, France, downtown Paris, to the hotel and into the room unscathed. I'd say that makes for a pretty great day!

And, how did we top off the day? Why, of course, at the McDonald's across the street from our hotel! :-)

Stay tuned for Day 2...