"In all of living, have much fun and laughter." - Gordon B. Hinckley
Jeff and I spent two wonderful weeks in Europe. We flew into Germany and then drove through the French wine country into Paris. It was so beautiful to see all the vineyards and old castles. We then spent four days touring Paris. Paris is gorgeous, I loved it. We saw so many beautiful sites, and I got to see where Jeff served his mission. We went to the Louvre, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Musee D'Orsay, Monmartre, Arc de Triumphe, Sacre Coeur, Moulin Rouge, Sainte-Chapelle, and walked around the Champs Elysees looking at all the Paris fashions, and took an amzing river cruise at night to see all the Paris lights at night. It was so beautiful and so romantic. It truly is a magical city. We also met up with Jeff's old mission friend Brian and his wife Laurel who happened to be visiting Paris at the same time. We stayed with a family Jeff baptized when he was on his mission in Paris, the Randriankoto family. They were so nice. After Paris we picked up my parents at the airport on the last stop of their "around the world" trip, and we went and saw the beautiful Palace of Versailles. We then drove up to Normandy and saw Rouen, a pretty city Jeff served in, and also saw the American cemetary at the D-Day beaches. It was humbling seeing all of the graves. There were so many. After that we went to Mont St. Michel, which is this cool fortess that is on an island off the coast of France. Half the day it is surrounded by water and half the day it is land, because of the tides. After that we drove down to the Loire Valley where there are tons of chateaus. We saw so many castles and chateaus there, and it was amazing to think that something so beautiful could be built that long ago. After the castles we visited Orleans and Dijion in France and then headed to Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. When we were in Austria we stayed in an old castle at the top of a tower. The room was amazing and it had been left just the way it was when King Ludwig lived there, and everything was gold. It was also a little creepy because it looked like it was haunted or something, but we survived the night. In Austria we also went mountain biking and went on an "alpine rollercoaster" which is a personal coaster that you control the speed and you shoot down the mountain. We visited the Neuschwanstein castle in Germany and Munich and got lots of torts and preztels. Lastly, we visited one of my favorite cities Rothenberg, Germany and walked around and looked at all the pretty colored houses. It was an amazing trip. Here are some photos in a slideshow above.
