Honeymoon - Days 11 & 12

Day 11

Paris

Last day of our honeymoon

What a great ending to a fabulous trip!

We started off by going to the Arc de Triomphe. Thanks to Napoleon wanting his troops to have a victory march, we have this amazing arch that is quite the tourist attraction. We took and elevator to the gift shop inside the Arch and then went up two flights of stairs to get to the top.

This is the underground crosswalk to get to the Arch. The intersection around the Arch was insane! Crossing it would have proven deadly!

The views from the top of the Arch were amazing... and not nearly as nauseating as the view from the Eiffel Tower.

We tried so hard to get one of "those" pictures holding the Tower. This was about as good as we got.

This guy was pretty confident in his kilt. Hey, it's Europe and ANYTHING goes. Ken flashed this little photo and the guy was not too happy about it.

The stairs back down the Arch to go to the elevator.

The infamous Champs-Elysees. Shopping anyone?

We walked clear down from the Arch to the Obelisk. Our feet were so sore! And then what? We turned around and walked right back!

I loved these little birds!

We don't know what this plant is but we both loved it!

The Paris Opera House. I wonder if the Phantom really lives in the basement...

This man was on the steps at the Opera House. I was totally enthralled with watching him. He wasn't begging or anything. He was clearly homeless. In this picture, you can't see the cardboard box and duffel bag he had. He'd pray for a minute, stand up and get a drink, and then go back to praying. I was fascinated by him!

We had one last meal in France. We ate at this little Italian cafe right on the Champs-Elysees just across from the Arch de Triomphe. We were able to watch the Arch light up as we finished our dessert.

This was our waiter. He was a total crackup!

Back across the street to the Arch.

We LOVED the way the guy standing near the lights lit up in our photo. It's a little spooky.

Beautiful and amazing! That is about all I can say. I loved every minute in Paris!!

Day 12

Heading Home

We took a taxi to the airport and got there plenty early. Good thing because we got there and saw the craziest line for our airline.

One side of our check in wait.

The other side of our check in wait.

One lengthy flight later, we were back in the good old United States. Our layover in Chicago was supposed to be 5 hours but due to problems with our airplane, it ended up being about 8 hours instead.

We "adopted" two missionaries during our 8 hours at the Chicago O'Hare Airport. The Elder on the left was returning to Salt Lake City from Spain, and the Elder on the right was going to the Provo MTC from Spain, and they had never met. It was so random that we hooked up with them both. They spent our layover time with us. He took them to dinner and visited with them, and made sure the Elder going to MTC made it out of the SLC airport. It was a lot of fun for us to run into them.

So now we're home and it's back to real life.

Back to work.

Back to chores.

Back to bills.

Back to reality.

Our time in Europe was so fun! I am so grateful that Ken and I were able to spend that time together in such an amazing part of the world. I am already trying to plan our next adventure together. I'm thinking... Italy, Greece, and the surrounding areas. Something Mediterranean.

Yeah? Sounds perfect to me!!