Bonne Annee!!! (Happy New Year)

We spent the afternoon on the Montmartre hill in Paris and had lunch (or dinner not sure) in the cutest cafe.

Xan gets a gummy worm every time he smiles for a picture and he was in a picture taking mood today (or a gummy worm mood). He asked to "cheese" for me a lot today.

And lastly, we rang in the new year right next to the Eiffel Tower. It's a good thing that our apartment is so close. It started pouring rain at about 10 pm and we where able to hide out there until about 11:55. We braved the rain and took the 3 minute walk to the tower. At midnight the whole Eiffel Tower started to sparkle. People shot off fireworks all around us. It was a great evening.

Versailles

Chase me B!!

Xan was on the move today. He spent a lot of the day either chasing Brittany or getting her to chase him. I just hope he sleeps well tonight.

Xan chased her all around Versailles and down the street in Paris.

Rodin, Monet and Renoir

It was a day of culture today in Paris. We visited the Rodin and d'Orsay museums for a little sculpture and impressionists. To balance that out we had dinner at McDonald's.

Rounding out the day we climbed the Arc de Triomphe and strolled down the Champs-Élysées.

674 steps + 40 extra pounds

Despite the fact that we all slept till noon, we saw Notre-dame cathedral, Medieval Paris, Sainte Chapelle Chapel, Palais de Justice, La Conciergerie, and the Louvre. And since our apartment is right next to the Eiffel Tower we threw in a night time visit there too. To cap off the evening, we had a very Parisian 11 pm dinner.

After a very busy day, Grant still had the energy to carry Xan up all 674 steps of the Eiffel Tower (after that point, everyone is required to take the elevator). I think the ticket taker, that laughed at Grant (with Xan in the backpack) as we entered the stair well, fueled him on.

We have arrived in the City of Lights

I have to brag on Xan. He did so well, like an old pro, on the flight over to Paris. He played with trains, watched movies and finally fell asleep 5 minutes before landing.

On our first day in Paris, we walked around to take in the city's unique atmosphere and festive holiday spirit before making an early night. We had been awake for more than 24 hours by this time.

Test blog post

Our hosts in Italy