Day 10 - Our first event

We had another great day. First of all, we had an American type of breakfast. At the hotel, they have a breakfast that's complimentary and they had cereal, sausage, eggs and toast. It was really nice to have some normal food for a change. We decided to go to the Olympic Park, where our event was, so that we could enjoy it as long as we could. You have to have a ticket to get into the Olympic Park, either for an event or just a single Olympic Park ticket. This may be the only time all four of us can get into the Olympic park so we wanted to take advantage of it.

First of all, the transportation to the Olympic venues is really easy and convenient. There are also hundreds of volunteers helping you get to where you're going. The trains are so much nicer and cleaner than they were in Paris. Once you get to the train station by the Olympic Park, it's a little bit of a walk before you can get in. You only have to go through security once, which is really nice. The Olympic Park is really large. We never got to see the whole thing. There are also thousands of people in it. For as many people as were there, we still were able to get around without any problem. The walkways are very wide and it's easy to get where you want to go.

We started by looking at a big map and Jarret found where the Today show was taping....so we decided to go take a look. We got there about 11:30 and the sign said they were taping at 12:00. There was nobody waiting so we decided to wait it out. One of the employees told us where a good place to stand was and another employee gave us something to make a sign. We waited and and the stars of the Today came trickling out. It was fun to see them and get to talk to them briefly. I'm sure they do this every show but it was nice to see them banter with the crowd. Also, there were some US Olympic medal winners that walked around the crowd. Brendan Hansen, a swimmer who won a bronze medal, walked through the crowd and let people touch and hold his medal. It was a really neat thing for him to do. Rylee even got to hold the medal and we got a picture with them both.

Jill has always liked Matt Lauer and she finally got to meet him and talk to him for a minute. Al Roker worked the crowd as did Natalie Morales and Savannah Guthrie. Also, Ryan Seacrest was there and we got to shake his hand. Meredith Viera was there also. Jill really likes her as well so she gave her one of the pens I made. We were very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to watch the Today show. It's happened that way quite a few times on this trip.

We needed some food so we hit one of the vendors. After getting some Pizza, we headed up to the lawn area where we could watch the big screen TV with thousands of other fans. We also tried to Skype with KHQ at this point. We were almost ready to do it live when we lost our signal. It was too bad but we figured we'd try later.

We headed to the London 2012 Megastore to buy some gifts. There was a long line where you wind back and forth before you get into the store. We kept walking and didn't have to wait but probably had to walk in the queue line for about 5 minutes. The store had a ton of stuff but there were many sizes of shirts that weren't there because they couldn't stock the shelves as fast as things were disappearing. We also noticed that a little bit when we were trying to order food. It seems like they were caught off guard with the number of people but I'm not sure how you prepare for an onslaught of that many people. I'm just guessing but there were probably over 100000 people in the park.

After the store, we got a message from KHQ and that's when we did the Skype session. It worked out pretty good except it was a little hard to hear. Also, it would have been nice if I combed my hair but the wind was blowing anyway so it didn't matter.

We headed off to our event, the Men's Hockey game. When we got there and I took a close look at the tickets, I discovered that one of the tickets was in a different area. When I got the tickets, I didn't look that close at them. They're all in the same section, they were just in a different row. When we go to Canoeing today, we'll also have to sit apart. However, it looks like we'll only be one row and 6 seats apart this time. The rest of the events, our tickets are together.

Hockey is an interesting sport. They play it on Astroturf that they keep wet. It helps make the ball go faster. The ball can't hit another players foot. If it hits another players foot inside of the half round circle by the net, the team gets a Penalty Corner. For that, the team guarding the net has players that put on some protective gear, helmets, pads and cups, and then the other team gets a shot at scoring. It's a fast paced game with a very hard ball. We saw one guy get hit in the head with the ball and they took him off in a stretcher. I hope he was OK. The first game we saw was Great Britian versus Argentina. It was fun because we were watching the home team. Great Britian won 4-1. At the second game, a lot of people left so Jill and the kids came down where I was sitting so we all got to enjoy it together. Jill ended up sitting next to someone from the US that sounded like he was helping the US team, maybe with some scouting of opponents.

The event finally ended, we made our way out of the park and back to our "Closet" as we like to call it. It was a another great day.

 Olympic rings from the side of the Aquatic Centre

 Boat might have been used to haul the Olympic flame

 Olympic Stadium and the Orbit

 Savannah Guthrie from the Today show

 Matt Lauer talking to Jill....she finally got to talk to him....he's her favorite...I'm not jealous but did you know he doesn't wear socks!

 Al Roker

 Natalie Morales

 Ryan Seacrest

 Meredith Viera signing Jarret's sign.

 The Basketball Arena

 Olympic Rings on the Basketball Arena

 Velodrome

 Family Pic

 Go USA!

 Big Screen for people to watch

 US Flag at the Riverbank Arena

 Hockey

 Nice sunset at Hockey arena

 Getting ready for a Penalty Corner

 Coca-Cola exhibit at night

 Basketball Arena at night

 View of the Water Polo and Aquatics Centre

The Olympic Stadium and Orbit

Rylee holding Brendan Hansen's Bronze 2012 Medal

Day 9 - Back to London

Day 9

London Bound          

I was a little premature on the Perfect Day in Paris post… I had two glasses of Cabernet and that ended the day with perfection…

I’m writing this as we are on the Eurostar, heading back to London. We have seats with a table in the middle, so it makes it a little easier, even though it’s only a two hour train ride. I got one last look at the Eiffel Tower as we were in the countryside; it’s a little hard to spot, but it’s there. We started the day by getting up a little early, since we wanted to do a couple of things before we had to leave. First off it was time to find some food. We really didn’t want a sit down restaurant since that would take too much time. Yes, we should be drawn and quartered, but we decided on McDonald’s at about 9:30 AM because it was the only thing open.  We walked in to order a couple Egg McMuffins only to find out it would be a 20 minute wait, but then they said they couldn’t make them. We figured if they couldn’t make them, we’d go somewhere else. There was a Quick restaurant, but we found out they didn’t open until 11:00. We discovered that on a Sunday morning there’s not much open. We did find a market, though, and settled on bananas, Special K bars and some juice or yogurt drink….the breakfast of champions. From there we boarded the Metro to Notre Dame. Once we got back up to street level, we found an interesting thing for the Olympics. They were showing some events live in a square on a giant television. They had chairs and big bean bag chairs that you could plop down on and watch the events as they unfold. We consumed our morning meal as we watched Table Tennis.

Notre Dame was a special moment on the trip. I had read somewhere that Notre Dame didn’t compare to some of the other churches, but we caught it at a special time.  You can walk into the church for free, and we discovered that there was a service going on at the same time. You can take pictures as long as there is no flash, which was unique compared to the other churches we visited. Most don’t allow you to take pictures at all. Anyway, we were able to hear the priest talk and sing, and we were also able to hear the organ. It was an amazing experience to hear it in that giant church. There were incredible stained glass windows throughout and the tall arches were spectacular. I hope I was able to take some pictures that capture it a little bit. I was also able to take a little video on my iPhone that I hope can let you hear what it was like. We saw a sign that Notre Dame was celebrating it’s 850^th anniversary…..no I didn’t type that incorrectly. We feel so lucky that we decided to make a trip there to see it.

We walked around Notre Dame a little bit and saw some street performers, flower markets, pet stores, and plant shops. All the little things that people that live there need for their daily lives. We also walked along the Seine river and crossed the Pont Neuf bridge on foot so that we could take in the sites. The Pont Neuf bridge is the oldest in Paris and has survived numerous floods from the river Seine.  At this point, it was time to go back to the hotel and get checked out. We still had a little time before we had to get to the train station, but we needed to relinquish our room.

After checking the bags, we decided to take one last walk along a canal that was a couple blocks from our hotel. It was very interesting to see. There were a series of locks that allowed boats to travel on the canal……Oh we just entered our trip in the Chunnel…… We were lucky in that we were able to follow one boat as it went through the locks. The boat entered, tied up to the side, and then was lowered to the next level as the water was released into the lower lock. Once the water was level, the big gates opened up and the boat could continue on. The last point we saw was the boat going into a tunnel that was still part of the canal. From there I don’t know where the boat would end up because 100 feet on the other side of the street was a park where the canal should be. We finally decided we had to leave Paris and headed for the train stop. No issues (which if you know me and border crossings – is a good thing), other than not being able to understand the English speaking border agent. We’ll head to our London hotel for the remaining 5 days of our trip.

Jill and I were both talking on the train and have come to the same point of view. Paris is an amazing place that we’re so fortunate to experience but I don’t think we’d go back just to see it again. While there’s so much amazing history and sites, it’s a really dirty and crowded city. I think there would be more places that we’d like to go and experience. Despite the person that tried to scold Jarret because he must have cut her off as we’re taking our luggage to the Metro (he didn’t know what he did and I think she was just in a bad mood), the people there were very nice. I’d heard a lot about the attitudes of Parisians towards Americans, but we just didn’t experience any of it. Maybe it was because we had kids along with us or because we tried to speak the language a little bit. Also, nobody got their pockets picked.

There was one funny moment that the kids keep bringing up when we ordered dinner the other night. The waiter came up, I threw out a “Bonjour” and felt pretty good about myself……until he rattled off something in French that I had no idea about. The kids said the look on my face was priceless until the waiter said “English?” and we gratefully nodded. Maybe my  “Bonjour” was so authentic that he couldn’t tell I was an American…at least that’s what I’m going with.

The other funny thing is that the kids have nicknamed each other. Rylee has named Jarret “No Finish Jarret” because whatever he orders he doesn’t finish. Can’t eat the fries, can’t finish the crust, or can’t drink all of his pop. I finally told Jarret he doesn’t get to order pop anymore because he doesn’t finish it. Jarret on the other hand has nicknamed Rylee “No Try Ry” because she won’t try anything new. She’s sick of ham and cheese sandwiches, but won’t branch out to anything else (no escargot for me!). In fact, by mistake on the train, she got another ham and cheese pretzel. Oh well, maybe someday she’ll learn trying new things isn’t all that bad.

Oh, just popped out on the other side of the English Channel and are now in England.

As I’m thinking about our adventure, Jarret did something funny as we’re using the Metro. We have these little tickets that you put into the machine, it pops out the other end, and you grab it before you exit into the subway. As Jarret was getting his ticket ready he sang “ I’ve got a golden ticket…..” which you probably know is a reference to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Jarret did come up with our Walter Emergency Plan in regards to riding the subways.  Ever the thinker and problem-solver, he came up with this plan about our second day in London.  If one of us doesn’t make it on to the subway (which, if you’ve ever ridden the tube or the Metro, this will make sense), then whoever is on the subway will get off at the next stop.  Whoever got left behind will get on the next subway and get off at the next stop, so we would all be together again.  Smart huh? Thankfully, we haven’t had to put his plan into use yet.  Our Walter routine is to enter the subway as quickly as possible, sit or stand as close to a door as possible, then get off quickly and run to the wall for our Walter family meeting.  We would come up with our game plan, then break, and off we’d go.  It’s been working well so far. But I do wish they had more lifts or escalators so we wouldn’t have to lug our big, heavy bags up all those stairs.

Some of the keys to traveling together and keeping the kids happy are to always feed them, separate them whenever possible, and say things like, “we’ll be there soon” or “I think it’s just around this corner”.  Hmm, these are some of the things we did when they were toddlers…

Well, au revoir, Paris!  And hello London again J

We just got into our hotel, did some laundry to get us through the rest of the week and are having a pizza delivered. Our hotel room is really small by our standards but it’s clean and should be comfortable enough. Jarret might end up sleeping on the floor on a cushion instead of the sofa hide-a-bed but we’ll see how that goes. Also, I did a Skype session tonight with Dave Cotton from KHQ. We’re going to send in a few pictures and Skype with him on the 6 AM news broadcast tomorrow morning. He said we’d be on between 6 and 6:15 so keep an eye out for us. Not sure where we’ll be but hopefully we’ll be somewhere interesting.

 Notre Dame

 Inside the church

 Performing the service

 Beautiful stained glass

 Point Zero at Notre Dame. The point where all places are measured from the city of Paris

 Notre Dame

 Street performer by Notre Dame - pretty amazing and had to leave some money for him

 Pont Neuf bridge

 Statue in front of our hotel that is in the midst of renovation. Check out the graffiti on the lion and statue

 The canal where we walked

 The canal

 Olympic rings at St Pancras station where the Eurostar arrived.

 In St Pancras station

Day 8 Perfect Day in Paris

Today was a great day. The weather was just perfect, it was probably in the low 70’s and a little overcast. We decided today to take the hop-on hop-off bus through Paris. We did this in London and really enjoyed it. It was also very good in Paris. It allows you to see the major sites of the city without having to walk a lot or use the subway. The subway is very efficient but you don’t see much since you’re underground.  The only thing is we wished it moved along a little more quickly. At times we had to wait 5-10 minutes at a stop. I think the buses in London run a better schedule. Anyway, we started on one loop that took us around the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Arc De Triomphe. Place de la Concorde, and Notre Dame. Jill and I both are amazed at the age of everything. Buildings, squares and monuments are all hundreds of years old. When the oldest thing in Spokane is maybe 150 years old, it just doesn’t compare. Every street we see has buildings that are older than anything we have in Spokane.

We only got off the bus a couple times today. The first time was to get some lunch on the Champs-Elyees and get a close look at the Arc de Triomphe. We found a restaurant called Quick, which had hamburgers. It was the first hamburger I’ve had since we left and it was very good. It was also quick and easy because you order at a counter and get your food. Getting served at a sit down restaurant is a little different. First of all, it’s harder to navigate your way through the menu although many of them have them in both French and English. After you are done, you need to get the waiter’s attention to let them know you’re ready to pay. Sometimes it takes a while and when you’re in a hurry to get going, it gets a little frustrating. It probably says more about the way we’re used to having a meal. Get in, get your food, eat and get out. It probably would be better absorbing the French way by taking time with your meal but as a tourist, I want to get going so I can get to the next site. Food is just fuel in the tank at this point. One thing that amazed me was at the Arc de Triomphe, there is a roundabout surrounding the Arc and there are no lane markers and I’m not sure if there are any traffic lights. Cars, bicycles and buses were going every which way. A couple people ran across the street to get to the Arc and I was amazed nobody got hit. It almost reminded me of a game of Frogger, where you move the frog back and forth across the street to keep from getting hit. I have some video but I don’t think I can post it on the blog.

The next stop was at Montmartre. At the top is the Basilique du Sacre-Couer (Basilica of Sacred Heart), it’s an amazing church that we walked through. It was only built in 1857, I think, but it was beautiful. The artwork in the ceilings, the stained glass and the huge organ all were very unique. You can’t take pictures because it’s still a place of worship even though thousands of people walk through it every day. The church sits at the top of a hill so that you get a great view of Paris. For an additional charge, you can climb 300 steps to get to the top of the dome to get an even better view. Jarret and I took the challenge. Up to the top we went up a narrow spiral staircase. 25 steps – 50 steps and a landing – 75 steps – 100 steps and a landing to take a breather – 150 steps and out of breath – 200 steps heart beating, sweating and Jarret giving me the look like what’s taking you so long – 250 steps  what was I thinking! – 290 steps had to take another break even though I could see the end – 300 steps and the view was priceless. You could see the whole city of Paris as you walk around the dome. We finally spotted Jill and Rylee at the street waiting for us. After enjoying the view for a while, we started the hike down. We headed back to the bus along a street that’s filled with tourist shops. It was nice because the prices were fairly reasonable. We picked up a few trinkets, hopped the bus and headed back to our hotel. Jarret, thanks for making the trip up with me even though you really didn’t want to. He did say something like “ I don’t want dad to have to go up alone” and I appreciated that. We’ll always be able to say we did that together.

A couple of impressions today:

First of all, we had the male – female age-old discussion about asking directions. In my world, I like to find things on my own. It helps me figure out where we’re at and how things are laid out. We walked around a little bit before finding the place where we got our tickets for the bus tour. Jill finally had enough and asked a person on the street. Although I would have found it, Jill confirmed my suspicions on where we had to go. (Jill probably has a different take which I’m sure she’ll share when she reads this).  Jill’s take: Although I value initiative and self-motivation in trying to locate a destination, it soon became clear we had no idea where the bus office was.  After walking in a complete circle and still not finding the office, and realizing I really don’t need to find my own way because I’ll never be here again and don’t need to memorize the route, I did the smart thing:  I asked directions, gasp!  In less than 1 minute, we had found the office.  Which route would you rather take?  J Craig – my way.

Second, A little extra sleep does us all a little good. We stopped a little earlier than normal yesterday so that we could rest. We’ve been on the go for a week now and it was taking its toll. The kids were crabby and we were about to join them. Also, I think the change in the weather helped us a little bit. It’s nice not being so hot and tired all the time.

Next, Paris is a dirty city. The subways aren’t that clean, there is graffiti everywhere, even up by the Basilique du Sacre-Couer. More than once we got a whiff of the bathroom even though there wasn’t a bathroom nearby. I guess it’s because of the number of people that are in the city every day but it would be nice if they picked up after themselves a little better.  It’s just sad to see the amount of trash everywhere, even around the beautiful monuments.

Next, there is a restaurant on every corner for any kind of taste in food that you can think of. Trying to please four people is very hard but pretty much everything we’ve had from a sit down restaurant to a small shop has been very good.

Last, many of the buildings and sites were designed 150+ years ago with strict guidelines so that they were similar in size and design. This foresight made for a very unique and striking city.

Tomorrow we have the morning in Paris and then head back to London to start the last few days of our vacation. I can hardly believe it’s already half over and we only have 6 days left. We got a free drink ticket when we checked in and Jill and I are going to take advantage of it in a little bit. A good glass of French wine sounds just about right!

 A view of the Louvre from our tour bus

 The Eiffel Tower in the distance

 Notre Dame

 The kids at Arc de Triomphe

 Champs Elyees

 The Eiffel Tower - too easy not to take another picture

 A Metro Sign

 Up the hill to Montmartre

 Basilique du Sacre-Couer

 Basilique du Sacre-Couer

 Jarret climbing the steps to the dome

 Almost to the top

 At the top of the dome

 What a view

 Picture of Jill, she's the one under the tree waving her hand

 Jarret and I at the top

 Another view with the Eiffel Tower in the distance

 Another Metro sign