Our greatest joy over our last seven years of travel has been visiting our extended family and having them come to visit us at our various homes around the world. We have a standing offer to all of our children and grandchildren for unlimited all expense paid trips to visit us wherever we may be. Most of them have taken advantage of this offer numerous times, much to our delight. We also have open invitations to other family members and have hosted brothers, nieces, nephews, cousins and spouses. We guess that we would have to add that even our friends that we have met around the world have open invitations to visit us also. Our most popular destinations by number of guests have been Paris and Amsterdam where we hosted 30 and 25 guests respectively. Our personal favorite destination has been London, hence this return for the fourth time.
First guests to arrive in London were daughter in law Catarina and granddaughter Natalia from Florida. These two have visited us previously in Paris, New York City, Rome and we have been to The Azores together.We headed into Westminster almost immediately as Natalia’s first agenda item was the London Eye followed by Shrek Museum.We got off at the Embankment tube station and crossed over the Thames on the Golden Jubilee Bridge named in honor of the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth the second.Friendly people offer to take your picture when you are attempting a selfie. London skyscraper view across the Thames.Catarina is afraid of heights so she booked a champagne London Eye ride for Natalia and Sandy. They waited in this lounge before the tour guide escorted them on to the ride skipping a long line of people. Well worth the extra pounds.Views from our ride.Jubilee Bridge.Big Ben and House of Parliament. Most people do not know that Big Ben is the name of the bell and not the clock face. Champagne toast for a special experience with a special granddaughter.London Eye capsule.More views from The Eye.Natalia loves Shrek and this is her second time going to this Museum on the banks of the Thames.Natalia is a very mature 19 year old but is still “a child at heart” which is one of the things that we love about her, so of course she can’t pass up a carousel ride. Grampy brought out his inner child and did the ride with her. Grandchildren do keep you young.Natalia on the Westminster Bridge with Big Ben and impressive Parliament buildings.Tower Bridge for us is memorable as we had the opportunity to run across it when we did the London Marathon a few years ago but it seems like yesterday.Day two we took them to the Tower of London where they wanted to see the Crown Jewels. Yeoman Warders have been guarding the Crown Jewels since Tudor times. They are nicknamed Beefeaters due to their mighty stature and hearty daily duty-ration which includes a large portion of beef. Today’s Yeoman need to have at least 22 years of military service and to have reached a certain rank within their service as well as been awarded a good conduct medal.Taking pictures of the Crown Jewels is strictly prohibited. The photography ban is in place to stop any would be criminals using footage to spot security weakness around the jewels. There are over 100 cctv cameras and guards round the clock. Somehow Natalia managed to sneak a quick snap on her camera without being caught. Paris is always a good idea, Mais Oui!So we booked the Eurostar and Voila in less than three hours we were in the City of Lights and Love.We arrived at Gare du Nord Station where the weather was considerably warmer than London.Catarina treated us to suites in The Regina Hôtel Louvre.This luxurious boutique hotel is opposite the Louvre and the tranquil Tuileries Garden.It was a return visit for Catarina and Natalia as they also stayed here for Natalia’s 16th Birthday and Christmas gift in 2022.Both rooms had spectacular Eiffel Tower views.We did a blast from the past of 2017 when we first had an ice cream here.Natalia 2017.Of course no trip to Paris is complete without a shopping spree.While the women were shopping Jim spent one morning walking 10 miles and reminiscing about our four months in Paris. This is Saint-Sulpice Church which was only a few blocks from our Paris apartment. Quite a memorable and emotional morning for Jim.We did squeeze in some Parisian culture with an afternoon in the Louvre.2017Natalia’s first experience of “inappropriate art”😯 was in 2017. We have since learned that this piece of art refers to an old Roman legend about Cimon who was punished by starvation while in jail. His daughter Pero could not see her father suffer such a death so she convinced the guards to let her visit him promising she would not bring food or drink. Every day she came to visit she breastfed her father so he didn’t die. And there you have the rest of the story…..🤓Mona Lisa smiles.We also had some fun once again recreating another photo op in the Courtyard of Palais Royal and did poses on the Colonies de Burden or Les Deux Plateaux. This bold modern art installation was created to conceal ventilation shafts of the Palace’s parking garage below.2017Jumping with joy to be in Paris.We took Natalia on a Pont Neuf Vedettes boat ride down the Seine which is a great way to see Paris sights. This boat was also used to transport the 2024 Olympic Athletes down the river during the Opening Ceremonies. The city had many viewing platforms for the upcoming Olympics.Two beauties.Notre Dame still under construction from the fire.
Video of Eiffel Tower. We used to see this from our dining room window every hour on the hour when we lived in Paris in 2017.Hotel Lobby decorated for the upcoming Bastille Day celebration.Jim spent the last morning exploring the Olympic sight preparations. This is in the Tuileries.Grandstands along the Seine in preparation for the opening ceremonies.National Assembly building.Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysee.And that’s a wrap Paris. Merci pour souvenirs.Back to London on the Eurostar.Changing of the horse guards.Natalia loves animals and boy do they love her as you can see in this photo. She has been accepted to the University of Alabama to begin her goal of becoming a veterinarian.Hello its me calling from London.Sweets for the sweetest.Cheerio.
Interesting comparison between this grandchild blog and the family on the Oregon coast experience. They do grow up fast and all of the ages are delightful as a grandparent. One thing we really liked about this visit was that Natalia and Catarina had agendas and had already booked things, not relying on us to be constant tourist guides. This was a lovely whirlwind visit.
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