Europe Trip Part 7: Sea Day and Train to Paris

June 24, Saturday

We had a great day at sea today. I loved sleeping in. I took my time getting ready for the day. The kids wanted us to go to the pool with them. Michael wanted to sleep and I still needed to get ready so they went up by themselves and I eventually joined them and watched their stuff for a little while. It was windy and cold up there. Emily, Andrew, and I all went to El Loco Fresh to try some tacos and quesadillas and nachos. They even had cheese sauce. Emily wanted to get a soft serve ice cream cone and I went to the Windjammer to get the regular ice cream. That vanilla ice cream is amazing! It kind of tastes like cake batter ice cream. At 2:30 PM, most of us went to the AquaNation show at the Aqua Theater. It was the same people that did Hiro and they did some of the same tricks but it was still fun to watch. 

Nathaniel, Audrey, and Jonny didn't join us but the rest of us were there. Emily and I went to check out the pictures. We had to request more and also get some that were put on her room and combine it with my account. There was Star Wars trivia at 4 PM but nobody cared about it so we didn't do it. Nathaniel, Audrey, Daniel, and Andrew all had their escape room at 5 PM. Emily and I wanted to go see the “king of the world” spot. She showed me where it was off the solarium and we took a few pictures. It was really cool out there. We met a couple from Guatemala and took pictures for them and they took pictures for us. 

Escape Room-they did it!

Then it was time to go to dinner. Our servers, Raj and Jean, have done a great job. We really enjoyed all of the food. The kids especially love the cheese bread. Michael got a cottage pie tonight that I wish I had ordered but I got the steak and it was good. They even had red velvet cake which was nice. Emily, Michael, and I went to the Flight: Dare to Dream show. The show was pretty cool. It was a little random and goofy at times, but it was still really nice. The singing and dancing were great and I loved the acrobatics they did. They even had like a life-size airplane model from the Wright brothers that went over the audience on wires. That was pretty cool. 

After the show was over, it was already time to go to Friendly Feud. We all wanted to go to that, but it was so crowded and we could barely fit in there. They never called us up so I went and made the final selections for the pictures and got those and figured out how to download them to my phone. Michael was up on the deck watching the waves and waiting to see the stars. He also watched the sunset. I walked into the Windjammer one last time to see if I could get ice cream but they were putting everything away so I just got some Jell-O and a strawberry shortcake treat and came back out. The actors from the play were all there and I saw one of the main guys getting some coffee or something and I told him that they did a good job and he thanked me. Then I went outside to meet up with Michael and Emily for a bit. It was cold and windy so I didn't stay long and went back to my room to pack. Nathaniel needed help fixing his suitcase so I found a little mini screwdriver and Michael was able to fix it. He was pretty impressed that I was prepared with that.

June 25, Sunday

Once again, I woke up too early. I was able to get myself all ready and most of my packing was done by 7 AM. The kids met with us in our room and we had a family prayer and then we went up to the Windjammer to eat breakfast. We all finished packing and checked the rooms and headed up to deck five. We had to go to terminal B line, I think it was. It was a little treacherous getting down the escalator with our suitcases. Michael and a couple of the kids carried their suitcases down the stairs. We left the terminal and got in line for the taxis and it didn't take long. We said our goodbyes to Nathaniel and Audrey and got them in a cab quickly. They even made it right on time to church at 9 AM. I think it was about 8:45 AM by the time they got in the taxi so that was nice. Luckily, they found us a big van and they fit all of our luggage and all of us in it.

View of the ship as we left the port 

We were to the train station in about 15 minutes but still he charged us €42. We got to the train station in plenty of time. We couldn't even go through security yet. It said there was access at 9:33 AM, but I think that just meant access to security. Once we got through security, we had to stand there for quite a while waiting to be let onto the train. They had us put tags on our bags even though I already had them labeled. We were in coach number 18, way at the back. We had a little bit of a struggle getting on the train because Michael and the kids were having a hard time with all their suitcases but Jonny and I were already at the seats. I had gotten on first to make sure it was the right place because our seats are at the very back so we are at the tail end of the entire train. It was a nice set up with four chairs, two on each side facing each other with Michael, Daniel, me, and Jonny. Across the aisle was Andrew and Emily. Another couple sat in the window seats next to them. The man asked if they wanted to change but I thought that was a bad idea because then they wouldn’t both be next to us and they would be sharing feet room with strangers and the kids agreed and I think it was better that way. It was nice to all be together and we had a little table. The time flew by pretty quickly. It made quite a few stops in the beginning. We went to the lunch car and got everybody something to eat at 1:30 PM. Emily, Andrew and I went to get the food. We had to walk through a bunch of coaches to get to the food coach. We were in coach 18 and the food was in coach 14. We ordered a burger for Daniel and Michael, ham sandwich for Emily and Andrew, and a croque monsieur for me. I also got this tortilla thing which had eggs and onions and potatoes and it was really good. Jonny just wanted gummy bears and a brioche bun. We also got a Madeline for Michael and a bunch of chocolate chip cookies and some sodas. We got all the way back and realized they only gave us one burger. I took the receipt back to them and they gave me the other burger and we all enjoyed our food. I loved my croque monsieur but it was too big and I gave the rest of it to Daniel and he really liked it. It was cool to know that the train was going 188 mph. It didn't seem like it was going that fast as you pass through the countryside, then when we went through a station quickly you could see the wall zoom by and it was pretty crazy. Everybody slept a little bit except for me. I've just been doing chores on my phone. 

Our train got in a little late. I think it was supposed to arrive at 5:18 PM but it was more like 5:30 PM. It took us a while to get off the train and walk into the station. Then it took us a long time to figure out where to go. The taxi line was really long and some guy approached us and said he could take us to our hotel for €80 but he seemed a little suspicious. I called an Uber and it was supposed to meet us at a restaurant across the street, only I didn't know exactly where that was. In the meantime, some guy in the taxi line said they could take all of us in a big taxi, but I was concerned because why would we be able to skip that entire long line and also, I didn't want to cancel Uber because I'm afraid they'll stop letting us request rides. Michael had told me to go ahead and request Uber and then we had the opportunity for that taxi ride so I told him we should just go to the meeting spot and I led everybody there. By the time I got there, the ride had just disappeared on the app. I tried to get another one but couldn't. Then some guy told us we needed to walk around the corner because that's where they would pick us up so we did. I called another one that was going to be 13 minutes away. Michael found one that was two minutes away. In the meantime, a taxi came that had room for a lot of our luggage and he was dropping somebody off so I asked him if he could take us and he could. He put seven of the suitcases in there and then Michael and Daniel and Jonny got in the Uber with the rest of the suitcases. It was fun driving to the hotel. We drove right past the Louvre and I loved seeing all the shops and cafes. We drove down the Champs Elysees. Our hotel is right off of that road. We got checked in and they gave us rooms right above one another. They only have one triple room per floor. Emily and Jonny and I got a little settled in our room. Well, Emily and I did. Michael called and said that they didn't have room for all their stuff so I went up to help them. It turns out we do have a little bit of extra room because of the way the room is arranged. I gave them some advice on how they can manage it all. The location is fabulous, and all hotels here are small. 

I laid down and kind of dozed off but didn't really sleep. Soon, everybody came up to our room and said we needed to go get food. By then, it was about 8:30 PM. We went to go find a place to eat. There was a place nearby called M George's that I wanted to try (or maybe it was one that Emily had found) but it was closed so we had to turn back and go the other way and cross the Champs-Elysees and go down a block or two to Le Deauville Brasserie. They were able to get us a table inside right away. I got some crepes, Andrew got rigatoni, Daniel got a chicken sandwich, Jonny got a steak, and Michael and Emily got fish and chips. I also ordered what I thought was a sampling of pastries but it was really just a tiny piece of cake for like $12. We finished our dinner and then Andrew wanted to get some Nutella crêpes and then we paid the bill and left. 

We came up to our room to read scriptures and said a prayer. Michael and the boys went back to their room. I'm glad to know that Nathaniel and Audrey landed in New York City fine.

Here is the hotel we stayed at:

https://www.hotelcolisee.paris/