Well you are stuck with me (Jason) again. Kasee has been working hard over at theaprongal.com so I told her I would take over the reigns for a little bit to keep the family "journal" going. Plus I think it will be fun to relive Paris.

We absolutely loved Paris! By the time we drove from St. Omer, France to Paris and got to our hotel we only had a day and half in Paris but we saw a ton. One wonderful thing about Paris is the metro. It was super easy scooting around town. The first day we saw the hotel de ville, Notre Dame de Paris, Le Louvre and walked the Champs Elysees and did some shopping as the sun set on our way to the Arc de Triumph. A lot in just a half day. At the Hotel de Ville they had a jumbo screen set up to show the French Open. It was a pretty cool to watch tennis with a bunch of Frenchies with the backdrop of the hotel de ville and Notre Dame de Paris along the river. It was a great way to start our stay in Paris.

We only walked by the Louvre. I know, we went to Paris and didn't go inside the Louvre but unfortunately we just didn't have the time. It was beautiful walking around the grounds though. 

Notre Dame was awesome. It was fun comparing the cathedrals of Rome to France. Notre Dame definitely holds its own against  the Roman ones. It was beautiful walking in the Cathedral and walking around the grounds along the river.

Although its not pictured we finished the evening with a trip to the Champs Elysee. It was beautiful and very romantic. To remember the evening we stopped off and picked up some very "cute" skirts for Kasee.
The next morning we headed straight to Versailles. It was one of my favorite stops during our entire trip. It was beautiful and more grandiose then I even imagined.

After Versailles we headed to the Rodin Museum. Kasee had been to Paris before and tried to go to the Rodin Museum and failed so we rushed to make it before it closed. You may recognize some of these famous pieces. My favorite was the Thinker. "The Kiss" is Kasee's favorite work of all time and she was so excited to finally see it in person. She is a big art history buff and Rodin is her favorite artist. 

To close out our trip we headed to the Eiffel Tour. I didn't understand the appeal of the Eiffel Tour before... but now I see why. Not only is it a beautiful area but the view is truly one of a kind. Kasee gave in to my request to hike the stairs to the second platform instead of waiting in the long line to take the elevator. I really thing that hiking up really made me enjoy it a a lot more. Maybe its because I didn't have to wait in line for 2 hours. 

After walking back down the Eiffel Tour we headed to our hotel and prepared to head back home to Utah. Although we were sad to have our adventure end we were excited to come home to family and friends.


Next up is our trip to Oregon with the Thomas family and our move to Texas!

France!

This is Jason again providing the next installment of our trip (I promise only Paris is after this post). We continued on with my mission theme by visiting a few more of my cities. To do this we rented a car and headed to France. We first stopped off in Lille. My actual area was mainly Villeneuve d'Ascq but as there is not much to see there we checked out mainly downtown Lille as well as the chapel.

On the way to downtown Lille we stopped off to see the Gare de Lille. One of my favorite parts about France is the old stations. I think they are fun to watch people as they come and go. We walked around the center of town for a while and enjoyed the good weather!

We spent the afternoon eating baguette sandwiches and walking the streets.

 We stopped by my old chapel in Villeneuve D'Ascq on our way out of town. We made it to St. Omer, France by the late afternoon. St. Omer was probably my most favorite area during my mission. St. Omer is a small town in the countryside. We got around by bike and I was lucky to be there during the spring and summer when the town was beautiful and the weather was wonderful. Some of my best memories are here with Elder Smith and Elder Smith (Yes, I had two companions in a row with the last name Smith).

While there we picked up some French style Chinese food  (I wouldn't recommend it) and ate a bunch of delish pastries (not pictured but probably should be).

 We took a walk in my favorite park as well. We were surprised with a little rain but that didn't dampen our spirits.

On the way out of town to Paris we stopped off at a windmill overlooking the countryside. We took in our last gulps of fresh air before we went back to the city for our final stop! I loved being back in my mission. It was so much fun to speak French again and see the familiar sites and people.

Next stop: Paris!